Arch Linux

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

GRUB2 install

After today's upgrade of GRUB2 (1.99 RC2), I can no longer install GRUB to my MBR partitioned drive. The error I get is:

/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Your embedding area is unusually small.  core.img won't fit in it..
/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
/sbin/grub-setup: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

Does it mean that the standard MBR layout with the first partition starting at logical address 63 is no longer supported? Is this some kind of joke? I don't get it.

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

Re: GRUB2 install

so, I re-created my boot (sda1) partition at 2048.
grub_bios-install --no-floppy --recheck /dev/sda finished w/o errors.
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg finished w/o errors.
rebooted ...into grub recovery with "not found" message (very descriptive)
The same procedure works as expected with grub2-1.99~rc1 (reinstalled from cache)

skodabenz

Banned

From: Tamilnadu, India

Registered: 2010-04-11

Posts: 382

Re: GRUB2 install

Can you post output of (1.99~rc2)

grub_bios-install --no-floppy --recheck --debug /dev/sda

---

My new forum user/nick name is "the.ridikulus.rat" .

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

Re: GRUB2 install

Can you post output of (1.99~rc2)

grub_bios-install --no-floppy --recheck --debug /dev/sda

You mean all the 100kB? :))
No, I don't think so ...but it's here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25169171/grub.output

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

Re: GRUB2 install

...and here is the output from RC1: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25169171/grub_rc1.output
The difference is that RC2 thinks, my boot partition is sda5 (which is root)

skodabenz

Banned

From: Tamilnadu, India

Registered: 2010-04-11

Posts: 382

Re: GRUB2 install

...and here is the output from RC1: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25169171/grub_rc1.output
The difference is that RC2 thinks, my boot partition is sda5 (which is root)

Looks like /dev/sda1 is not mounted at /boot/ . So grub2 thinks there is no separate /boot fs. Check your /etc/mtab whether /dev/sda1 is mounted (at /boot).

---

My new forum user/nick name is "the.ridikulus.rat" .

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

Re: GRUB2 install

Looks like /dev/sda1 is not mounted at /boot/ . So grub2 thinks there is no separate /boot fs. Check your /etc/mtab whether /dev/sda1 is mounted (at /boot).

It is. ...
/dev/sda5[/__active] / btrfs rw,noatime
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw,noatime,nouser_xattr)

skodabenz

Banned

From: Tamilnadu, India

Registered: 2010-04-11

Posts: 382

Re: GRUB2 install

grub2 1.99~rc2 add btrfs booting capabilities (without separate /boot) so i think your error has something to do with this. Report this error to bug-grub mailing list or #grub in irc freenode .

---

My new forum user/nick name is "the.ridikulus.rat" .

laloch

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 186

Re: GRUB2 install

Already fixed upstream. Filed a bug report: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/23892
Thanks skodabenz

metre

Member

Registered: 2011-03-13

Posts: 130

Re: GRUB2 install

You can also try syslinux (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux)