[Bug 1936967] [NEW] grub fails on fresh Ubuntu 21.04 installation

Tue Jul 20 17:34:26 UTC 2021

Public bug reported:

I did a fresh Ubuntu 21.04 installation from a USB drive on a machine
which already had Windows 10. I selected default settings for dual-boot,
did not connect to Wifi since I didn't have time to wait for downloads,
and checked 3rd party software. Everything went fine until it was time
to set up grub, at which point I got a fatal error saying grub
installation failed on /dev/sda. The installation program launched
desktop mode, so that I could investigate the problem. I downloaded
boot-repair and launched it but it failed, since the installation
program was still running. Next I shut down the computer and was
surprised to notice that the hard drive did actually boot grub, from
where I was able to select Ubuntu. Though the system had started, I
decided to run boot-repair again just to make sure nothing's missing.
Boot-repair suggested some commands (including apt install -fy) that I
copy-pasted to term, and as a result I lost access to Wifi and could not
mount the USB drive anymore - apparently it had removed network-manager
plus other important packages and had not reinstalled them. At this
point, booting from the hard drive had stopped working, as I was only
presented with a "grub rescue" prompt, so I booted a live system from
the Ubuntu installation flash drive, downloaded boot-repair and ran it
again. Boot-repair claimed to have fixed something but even after that,
I only got a grub rescue prompt. Then I rebooted from the Ubuntu USB
again, and selected reinstallation without removing user files. This
time I connected to Wifi but unchecked updates during installation.
Everything progressed normally until it was again time to set up grub,
and the system gave me the same fatal error as in the beginning. I'm
still looking for a way to make everything work.

The machine is an older HP Pavilion g series laptop with BIOS (no UEFI),
Windows is on /dev/sda1 with around 250 GB of space and the partition I
tried Ubuntu on is at the end of the hard drive with around 450 GB of
space. There are a couple of smaller partitions in between (Windows
rescue etc.).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
Package: ubiquity 21.04.19
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.11.0-16.17-generic 5.11.12
Uname: Linux 5.11.0-16-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu65
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckMismatches: ./pool/restricted/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers-390/libnvidia-gl-390_390.141-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb ./pool/restricted/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers-460/libnvidia-gl-460_460.67-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
CasperMD5CheckResult: fail
CasperVersion: 1.461
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue Jul 20 16:59:52 2021
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Release amd64 (20210420)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=fi_FI.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=fi_FI.UTF-8
 LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
RebootRequiredPkgs:
 linux-image-5.11.0-16-generic
 linux-base
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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

** Tags: amd64 apport-bug hirsute ubiquity-21.04.19 ubuntu

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubiquity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1936967

Title:
  grub fails on fresh Ubuntu 21.04 installation

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I did a fresh Ubuntu 21.04 installation from a USB drive on a machine
  which already had Windows 10. I selected default settings for dual-
  boot, did not connect to Wifi since I didn't have time to wait for
  downloads, and checked 3rd party software. Everything went fine until
  it was time to set up grub, at which point I got a fatal error saying
  grub installation failed on /dev/sda. The installation program
  launched desktop mode, so that I could investigate the problem. I
  downloaded boot-repair and launched it but it failed, since the
  installation program was still running. Next I shut down the computer
  and was surprised to notice that the hard drive did actually boot
  grub, from where I was able to select Ubuntu. Though the system had
  started, I decided to run boot-repair again just to make sure
  nothing's missing. Boot-repair suggested some commands (including apt
  install -fy) that I copy-pasted to term, and as a result I lost access
  to Wifi and could not mount the USB drive anymore - apparently it had
  removed network-manager plus other important packages and had not
  reinstalled them. At this point, booting from the hard drive had
  stopped working, as I was only presented with a "grub rescue" prompt,
  so I booted a live system from the Ubuntu installation flash drive,
  downloaded boot-repair and ran it again. Boot-repair claimed to have
  fixed something but even after that, I only got a grub rescue prompt.
  Then I rebooted from the Ubuntu USB again, and selected reinstallation
  without removing user files. This time I connected to Wifi but
  unchecked updates during installation. Everything progressed normally
  until it was again time to set up grub, and the system gave me the
  same fatal error as in the beginning. I'm still looking for a way to
  make everything work.

  The machine is an older HP Pavilion g series laptop with BIOS (no
  UEFI), Windows is on /dev/sda1 with around 250 GB of space and the
  partition I tried Ubuntu on is at the end of the hard drive with
  around 450 GB of space. There are a couple of smaller partitions in
  between (Windows rescue etc.).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
  Package: ubiquity 21.04.19
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.11.0-16.17-generic 5.11.12
  Uname: Linux 5.11.0-16-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu65
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckMismatches: ./pool/restricted/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers-390/libnvidia-gl-390_390.141-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb ./pool/restricted/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers-460/libnvidia-gl-460_460.67-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
  CasperMD5CheckResult: fail
  CasperVersion: 1.461
  CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
  Date: Tue Jul 20 16:59:52 2021
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Release amd64 (20210420)
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=fi_FI.UTF-8
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=fi_FI.UTF-8
   LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
  RebootRequiredPkgs:
   linux-image-5.11.0-16-generic
   linux-base
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1936967/+subscriptions