[Bug 693597] Re: System fails to boot if 2 hard disks attached

[Marcus Tomlinson]

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** Changed in: grub2 (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Incomplete

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Title:
  System fails to boot if 2 hard disks attached

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: plymouth

  I downloaded Ubuntu 10.10 and burned it to disc.  I attached a second
  SATA hard disk to this HP Pavilion p6140f computer.  The disc
  connected to SATA port 0 (a WD hard disk) has Windows Vista on it.
  This second SATA hard disk (a Hitachi hard disk), which I attached to
  SATA port 2, had previously been formatted as an ext4 volume.  Both
  hard disks are 1TB in size.

  I configured the BIOS so the hard disk boot order was Hitachi, then
  WD, and booted from the DVD.  I went through the installer and because
  I feared what might happen to the WD disk if I chose "Erase disk and
  install Ubuntu", I chose the "Advanced" option.  I chose to delete
  each Hitachi partition and create a new partition table with about
  990MB primary and about 10MB swap as a logical partition.  I then
  chose to install Ubuntu on the Hitachi disk.  I chose to install the
  boot loader on the Hitachi disk.

  Installation seemed to go OK.  When I rebooted, after the computer's
  BIOS screen appeared, I got a black screen with a blinking cursor on
  or about line 3 or 4 from the top of the text window.  After googling
  this, I tried hitting F1, Alt-F1, and Ctrl-Alt-F1, and then tried
  banging on the keyboard like a monkey, but the computer remained
  frozen.  Hard disk indicator light was off.  I tried reinstalling
  using the same parameters but with the boot loader installed to the WD
  disk, and had the same problem.  I tried again several times with
  slightly different swap partition sizes (and switched back to
  installing the boot loader on the Hitachi drive) and each time had the
  same symptom.  I confirmed in the BIOS that it was booting the Hitachi
  drive first.

  Booting from the Ubuntu DVD showed that the Hitachi disk seemed to
  have all the usual ubuntu folders and files present.

  Finally I disconnected the WD drive and when installing, chose the
  "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" option on the Hitachi drive.  This
  worked and is what I'm using right now.  I have not yet tried hooking
  up the WD drive to see whether this system will boot while it's
  attached.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
  Package: plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu5
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-24.42-generic-pae 2.6.35.8
  Uname: Linux 2.6.35-24-generic-pae i686
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Wed Dec 22 14:32:19 2010
  DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-logo/ubuntu-logo.plymouth
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
  MachineType: HP-Pavilion NP192AA-ABA p6140f
  ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-24-generic-pae root=UUID=7f43e7bb-4bc8-4ca5-b83b-35f7d0a4d8c1 ro quiet splash
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.utf8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
  SourcePackage: plymouth
  TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-text/ubuntu-text.plymouth
  dmi.bios.date: 05/06/2009
  dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: 5.39
  dmi.board.name: Benicia
  dmi.board.vendor: PEGATRON CORPORATION
  dmi.board.version: 1.01
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
  dmi.chassis.type: 3
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
  dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.39:bd05/06/2009:svnHP-Pavilion:pnNP192AA-ABAp6140f:pvr:rvnPEGATRONCORPORATION:rnBenicia:rvr1.01:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
  dmi.product.name: NP192AA-ABA p6140f
  dmi.sys.vendor: HP-Pavilion

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