Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

michaelfsp · 2009-06-23 23:35:09

So I have a multiboot installation with Ubuntu 9.04 and WinXP. GRUB is the one installed by Ubuntu and I've simply added manual entry on this grub's menu.lst in order to boot Arch. This is how my relevant entries on menu.lst look like:

title        Arch Linux
root        (hd0,6)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/7af35dbd-da36-44a5-8e84-c18a60ba3b85 resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/5c4f2689-e44c-461f-b79f-43938ad94ddb ro vga=773
initrd        /boot/kernel26.img
#uuid        7af35dbd-da36-44a5-8e84-c18a60ba3b85

title        Arch Linux Fallback
root        (hd0,6)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/7af35dbd-da36-44a5-8e84-c18a60ba3b85 resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/5c4f2689-e44c-461f-b79f-43938ad94ddb ro vga=773
initrd        /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

It has been working fine until a kernel upgrade today (2.6.29 to 2.6.30). Now I get

Error 13: invalid or unsupported executable format

when I try to boot Arch. Fallback doesn't work either. However, I can still boot on Ubuntu just as before.

It might be relevant to add that I have recently converted the partition where I have Arch installed from ext3 to ext4 using the protocol described in Arch Wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ext4.

It looks like the solution, at least according to http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ext4, is to reinstall GRUB to the MBR but since my GRUB was installed and managed by Ubuntu (and if possible that's I would like to keep it for now) I don't know how should I proceed and whether this will fix anything at all.

Can anyone give me some help?

Thanks in advance.

pjnsmb · 2009-06-24 05:27:39

not a lot of help but have a read of this :

http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p15.html#13

quote :

If you were using the kernel command to boot Linux directly, and you got the GRUB error 13 message, it might be that you have just received a kernel update and your new kernel update didn't go as planned. Something could be corrupted or incomplete there somewhere.

hope we all learn something...............

would a reinstall of kernel upgrade do anything to help ?

michaelfsp · 2009-06-25 01:17:38

Thanks for the tip.

I've just tried it now. I've started from the CD and went for the Arch live option, did everything as described in http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ker … all_kernel, except for I haven't saved copies of the packages so basically reinstalled the same kernel version again (2.6.30). Still get the same problem. Everything ran smoothly without any errors reported but in the end error 13 again...

Anyone has any idea about why does this happen?

Last edited by michaelfsp (2009-06-25 01:19:30)

pjnsmb · 2009-06-25 04:47:40

have a look at :

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Downgrade_packages

you should still have your old kernel on your system :

* Q: I just ran pacman -Syu and package XYZ was upgraded to version N from version M. This package is causing problems on my computer, how can I downgrade from version N to the older version M?
* A: You may be able to downgrade the package trivially by visiting /var/cache/pacman/pkg on your system and seeing if the older version of the package is stored there. (If you haven't run pacman -Scc recently, it should be there). If the package is there, you can install that version using pacman -U pkgname-olderpkgver.pkg.tar.gz.

try your old kernel again......................

michaelfsp · 2009-06-26 22:50:02

Yeah, stupid coincidence is I had ran pacman -Scc just one day before (which I had never done before...) because I was desperate for free disk space... Maybe someone could upload it to some server and I could then try to downgrade it...

Otherwise I could try something with reinstalling GRUB but I wouldn't know how to proceed just to start wit... Do it through ubuntu? Via pacman live CD? Clueless...

But once more thanks for looking it up.

FrozenFox · 2009-06-26 23:12:39

Old packages are kept on the Arch Rollback Machine project site by repo and date.

http://arm.kh.nu/

michaelfsp · 2009-06-28 20:35:16

Thanks for the tip.

This website is actually very useful.

Well, I have downloaded the kernel version I had before the upgrade which has ruined it all, downgraded to that package version from LiveCD (with pacman -U) and still doesn't work. No error message is displayed at this stage and the kernel seems to have been properly installed once more.

If it wouldn't be such a hassle to reinstall the whole system at this stage I would go for that but if I can't find the solution I guess I will have to do exactly that...

pjnsmb · 2009-06-29 04:34:20

from :http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ext4

Note: The ext4 patch is included by default with Arch's GRUB package (at the time of writing, but this will likely not change). Otherwise, GRUB2 is required for booting from an ext4 partition.

Warning: Booting from an ext4 partition is not 'officially' supported by GRUB, and GRUB2 is still under development. While GRUB does currently work, the 'safe' option is to boot from an ext2 or ext3 /boot partition. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

Is Arch /boot on your ext4 ?

I understand Ubuntu kernel has been patched for it's own use to boot it's own ext4 partitions- but perhaps it does not like to boot Arch ext4. !

Can you make a small 250Mb Ext3 partition for a separate Arch /boot ?

Strange it seems to have booted ok before without this but who understands these things ...........................

good luck

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-23 23:35:09

Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#2 2009-06-24 05:27:39

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#3 2009-06-25 01:17:38

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#4 2009-06-25 04:47:40

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#5 2009-06-26 22:50:02

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#6 2009-06-26 23:12:39

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#7 2009-06-28 20:35:16

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

#8 2009-06-29 04:34:20

Re: Grub Error 13 on an ext3 to ext4 converted drive after kernel upgrade

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