Arch Linux

gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

GRUB Error 18

Hello all

I thought I had my perfect Arch install up and running.  In fact it has been running for a good few weeks however I went to boot it yesterday and got a GRUB 18 error.  I switched it off and came back later and it worked fine.

I have this evening tried to boot it it and despite trying several times I keep getting the GRUB error 18 message.

Please help.

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

Are you by any chance dual-booting with Windows? I have heard of people that have gotten this error doing that, but I don't know if there is any correlation.

From http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual … ge2-errors:

Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
    This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in general).

Last edited by cesura (2010-06-01 18:38:45)

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

yes I am.  Although I have been switching between the two without problems for a couple of weeks now and the issue has only just appeared.

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

yes I am.  Although I have been switching between the two without problems for a couple of weeks now and the issue has only just appeared.

The first thing I always try when I get GRUB errors is to boot from the Arch Live CD and reinstall it:

grub-install /dev/sda

* http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gru … stallation

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay tried that and I got an error 27: Unrecognized command?

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay tried that and I got an error 27: Unrecognized command?

Did you run grub-install from the regular shell? It is a normal command, so there is need to run it from the grub> prompt

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

I booted the arch live cd then pressed 'c' to get a command line, then inputted your command.  This gave me error 27

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

I booted the arch live cd then pressed 'c' to get a command line, then inputted your command.  This gave me error 27

Boot the CD like you would when you are installing, to when you get to where you log in as root. Instead of running /arch/setup to install the OS, run grub-install /dev/sda.

I suppose you could also go into the installer and select install bootloader at the bottom, but I haven't tested that.

Last edited by cesura (2010-06-01 18:56:03)

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay did that, it probed devices for a minute or two then came back with:

'Could not find device for/boot:Not found or not a block device'

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay did that, it probed devices for a minute or two then came back with:

'Could not find device for/boot:Not found or not a block device'

Maybe this could be of use:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=504678

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

okay thank you I will give that a try

gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay, I have followed the information there.  Everything so far seems to be okay, I am going to reboot a few times just to make sure.

Any idea what would have caused this?

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay, I have followed the information there.  Everything so far seems to be okay, I am going to reboot a few times just to make sure.

Any idea what would have caused this?

I really have no idea what caused it for you. I would have to investigate more.

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gredawarha

Member

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 36

Re: GRUB Error 18

Okay now I am getting (although not every boot) :

GRUB Loading stage1.5 Read error

Any ideas, I am getting frustrated and considering installing again

Last edited by gredawarha (2010-06-02 19:09:37)