[Bug 1521478] [NEW] Precise --> Trusty, grub partition install fails, so it gives up

[Ken Sharp]

Public bug reported:

I have just updated my system from Precise to Trusty. During the process
grub attempts to install itself in /dev/sda5 (the root partition). This
fails and complains about blocklists being disabled (embedding not
possible). Annoyingly the process continues and unless you're staring at
the screen (which I was) then you're none the wiser.

The result being an unusable system: grub drops into rescue and at that
point everything is as clear as mud.

The solution was to install grub in the MBR (/dev/sda) from a Trust live
environment. The system is now usable. It took me several hours to work
this out.

There needs to be some sort of protection from this happening in the
future. An ordinary user would have no hope whatsoever in working this
out and an unusable system is the worst-case scenario to any end user
(discounting complete data loss).

Will I be faced with this dreadful problem against on upgrade to 16.04?
Can't the grub upgrade process at least have the sense to try something else once it has failed?

I had the sense to image the drive before starting the upgrade process,
should it should be reproducible, albeit slowly.

** Affects: grub2 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: i386 regression-release trusty

** Description changed:

  I have just updated my system from Precise to Trusty. During the process
  grub attempts to install itself in /dev/sda5 (the root partition). This
  fails and complains about blocklists being disabled (embedding not
  possible). Annoyingly the process continues and unless you're staring at
  the screen (which I was) then you're none the wiser.
  
  The result being an unusable system: grub drops into rescue and at that
  point everything is as clear as mud.
  
  The solution was to install grub in the MBR (/dev/sda) from a Trust live
  environment. The system is now usable. It took me several hours to work
  this out.
  
  There needs to be some sort of protection from this happening in the
  future. An ordinary user would have no hope whatsoever in working this
  out and an unusable system is the worst-case scenario to any end user
  (discounting complete data loss).
  
  Will I be faced with this dreadful problem against on upgrade to 16.04?
  Can't the grub upgrade process at least have the sense to try something else once it has failed?
+ 
+ I had the sense to image the drive before starting the upgrade process,
+ should it should be reproducible, albeit slowly.

** Tags added: i386 regression-release trusty

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1521478

Title:
  Precise --> Trusty, grub partition install fails, so it gives up

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have just updated my system from Precise to Trusty. During the
  process grub attempts to install itself in /dev/sda5 (the root
  partition). This fails and complains about blocklists being disabled
  (embedding not possible). Annoyingly the process continues and unless
  you're staring at the screen (which I was) then you're none the wiser.

  The result being an unusable system: grub drops into rescue and at
  that point everything is as clear as mud.

  The solution was to install grub in the MBR (/dev/sda) from a Trust
  live environment. The system is now usable. It took me several hours
  to work this out.

  There needs to be some sort of protection from this happening in the
  future. An ordinary user would have no hope whatsoever in working this
  out and an unusable system is the worst-case scenario to any end user
  (discounting complete data loss).

  Will I be faced with this dreadful problem against on upgrade to 16.04?
  Can't the grub upgrade process at least have the sense to try something else once it has failed?

  I had the sense to image the drive before starting the upgrade
  process, should it should be reproducible, albeit slowly.

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