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#1 2010-08-15 23:46:51

Brushstroke
Member
Registered: 2010-08-15
Posts: 8

GRUB error on fresh Arch install

I have a new installation of Arch on a 500 GB Seagate external HDD. The installation went fine, but when I rebooted to login to the new system, I was greeted with this lovely message:

"GRUB Loading stage 1.5.

GRUB loading, please wait..."

Now, while I know it's common to have this message appear with an error number at the end, this had no error number. GRUB just hung there indefinitely. I know I installed GRUB to the right place, to /dev/sdb (the MBR of the external disk) instead of /dev/sda (the MBR of the internal disk), so I'm baffled as to what's going on.

Oh, and if it means anything, every time I run the install CD, it reports a few buffer I/O errors on some sectors of the CD before I get to the root login prompt. I've checked the md5sum on the .iso, and it matches.

Any insight?

Last edited by Brushstroke (2010-08-15 23:48:26)

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#2 2010-08-15 23:50:28

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

When you installed Arch, it was called /dev/sdb, while rebooting is it still named the same? If you have any other usb devices, it could have a conflict.


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#3 2010-08-15 23:55:21

Brushstroke
Member
Registered: 2010-08-15
Posts: 8

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

Here on Ubuntu, the external disk is named /dev/sdf

And the only other USB devices are a microphone, the mouse, and the printer -- all connected in the back of the tower.

?

Last edited by Brushstroke (2010-08-15 23:56:41)

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#4 2010-08-16 00:02:43

my0pic
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2008-05-23
Posts: 206

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

Have you added "usb" to the hooks array in your mkinitcpio.conf? You need it if booting from external usb.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mkinitcpio

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#5 2010-08-16 00:08:06

Brushstroke
Member
Registered: 2010-08-15
Posts: 8

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

my0pic wrote:

Have you added "usb" to the hooks array in your mkinitcpio.conf? You need it if booting from external usb.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mkinitcpio

Yep. Did that during installation.

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#6 2010-08-16 00:27:08

falconindy
Developer
From: New York, USA
Registered: 2009-10-22
Posts: 4,111
Website

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

I'm curious as to why you've chosen to install grub to the MBR of the external disk. Are you chainloading from another Grub? Why not put Grub on the internal disk? There's no requirement that the boot record be on the same drive as the OS.

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#7 2010-08-16 00:32:12

cubeist
Member
Registered: 2010-08-01
Posts: 36

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

I'm out on a limb here, but I am thinking that your BIOS is not passing the right, um, stuff (sorry, can't think of the technical term) to be able to access the MBR on the external USB drive.  Go in to your BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from the external USB drive.


edit
also, if you already have grub on your internal drive... just add your external drive to the /boot/grub/menu.lst

Last edited by cubeist (2010-08-16 00:35:02)

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#8 2010-08-16 00:37:54

Brushstroke
Member
Registered: 2010-08-15
Posts: 8

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

cubeist wrote:

I'm out on a limb here, but I am thinking that your BIOS is not passing the right, um, stuff (sorry, can't think of the technical term) to be able to access the MBR on the external USB drive.  Go in to your BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from the external USB drive.

I checked that, and it is. The external drive is set first in the boot priority.

falconindy wrote:

I'm curious as to why you've chosen to install grub to the MBR of the external disk. Are you chainloading from another Grub? Why not put Grub on the internal disk? There's no requirement that the boot record be on the same drive as the OS.

If I put the Grub from this Arch installation on the internal disk, I'll end up with a Grub rescue prompt if I try to boot into Ubuntu (which is installed on the internal). And I would just have to reinstall Ubuntu's Grub. And if I reinstalled Ubuntu's Grub, I would have no Grub for Arch on the external. Etc.

WAIT! Thank you cubeist. I might just try that.

Last edited by Brushstroke (2010-08-16 00:38:42)

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#9 2010-08-16 00:57:15

falconindy
Developer
From: New York, USA
Registered: 2009-10-22
Posts: 4,111
Website

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

Brushstroke wrote:

If I put the Grub from this Arch installation on the internal disk, I'll end up with a Grub rescue prompt if I try to boot into Ubuntu (which is installed on the internal). And I would just have to reinstall Ubuntu's Grub. And if I reinstalled Ubuntu's Grub, I would have no Grub for Arch on the external. Etc.

WAIT! Thank you cubeist. I might just try that.

That's kind of what I was indirectly getting at. One bootloader to load them all.

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#10 2010-08-16 01:55:56

Brushstroke
Member
Registered: 2010-08-15
Posts: 8

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

Tried setting them to UUID instead of the /dev/sdX format, and that didn't work either.

And falconindy, that would be great but I'm looking to potentially have this same Arch system run on different computers. That's part of why I installed it on an external in the first place. I guess I should have clarified this in the first post. xD

Last edited by Brushstroke (2010-08-16 01:56:35)

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#11 2010-08-16 02:04:31

falconindy
Developer
From: New York, USA
Registered: 2009-10-22
Posts: 4,111
Website

Re: GRUB error on fresh Arch install

Then you've got two options:

1) chainload from ubuntu's grub
2) manually specify the boot drive from the BIOS's boot menu (if such a menu exists)

I assume Grub2 has infested your Ubuntu partition's MBR, in which case I have no idea as to the proper syntax. In legacy Grub, I know that UUID= syntax is invalid. You need a full path such as root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxx-xxx...

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