Arch Linux

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

Hi lads,

I have set up a dual-boot on my system (Arch and Ubuntu). It's been working for a long time, but recently, after I've updated the kernel on Arch, I cannot boot into Arch anymore, while I can boot to Ubuntu normally. It says: "Invalid or unsupported executable format". I went to wiki and followed recipe for GRUB error 13. Though I can mount my Arch partition and do chroot, I have a new issue - when I try to run grub-install I get:

sda5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive

and I have no idea what's causing this problem. Any suggestions?

Last edited by mandalic (2011-05-19 14:22:46)

Wey

Member

Registered: 2011-04-22

Posts: 217

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

Can you post the actual command used? I guess you shouldn't grub-install to e. g. /dev/sda5, but to /dev/sda.

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

I've followed instructions on: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ext4#GRUB_Error_13

I just replaced /dev/sda1 with /dev/sda5 in:

# mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt/arch

then I did:

# grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

To clear things up: /dev/sda is my HDD, /dev/sda1 is extended partition, /dev/sda5 is Arch root, /dev/sda6 Ubuntu root, /dev/sda7 swap, and /dev/sda8 Arch home partition. While I CAN boot into Ubuntu, Arch is still unaccessable. And I haven't got a clue what may have gone wrong! O_o

Wey

Member

Registered: 2011-04-22

Posts: 217

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

Does the error persist when issuing

grub-install --no-floppy --recheck /dev/sda

in the chroot instead?

Also, try rebuilding /boot/grub/device.map:

grub-mkdevicemap --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map

Then verify device.map contains a line similiar to

(hd0) /dev/sda

Last edited by Wey (2011-05-18 18:41:28)

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

I don't have grub-mkdevicemap command available. I'm using ArchLinux netinstall CD. Currently, I can access my Arch root from Ubuntu and I have the same line in device.map file. Strange... =/

Wey

Member

Registered: 2011-04-22

Posts: 217

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

try replacing the device line map by

(hd0) /dev/disk/by-id/...

also, you didn't report what happens with the --no-floppy switch.

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

Nothing happened with --no-floppy switch. How do you mean 'replace the device line map with /dev/disk/by-uuid/...'? GRUB is installed on /dev/hda, there's no way that I can get UUID for /dev/hda device.

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

IMHO, I think the keyword(s) is "obsolete kernel"... I'll try to revert my previous kernel, and try again. Fingers crossed!

[EDIT]

No, that did nothing. I cannot boot into Arch and I still get the same message upon booting.

Last edited by mandalic (2011-05-19 10:36:27)

Wey

Member

Registered: 2011-04-22

Posts: 217

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

ls /dev/disk/by-id/

Take the corresponding identifier from the ouput of the above command. Then edit your archs /boot/grub/device.map so it binds

(hd0)   /dev/disk/by-id/your-id

Then issue grub-install again.

further, you could try to install grub2 (which has the grub-mkdevicemap command) or making an experimental install of grub from ubuntu, having a look at their device map. The no-BIOS-device-error is usually related to a corrupted device.map.

mandalic

Member

Registered: 2009-11-13

Posts: 43

Re: GRUB error: sdaX does not have any corresponding BIOS drive [SOLVED]

Nope, it was kernel, after all... I switched back to kernel26-lts (2.6.32-lts), and have edited menu.lst accordingly, and now I can boot into Arch (in fact, I'm writing this in Arch). I'll try to run the newest kernel, to see what's going on...

But thanks for help, anyway!

EDIT: I removed and installed kernel26 package, and now it works like a charm. It was a kernel issue! Kernel image(s) were obsolete! Something just went wrong during installation, so GRUB couldn't load the kernel image properly.

Last edited by mandalic (2011-05-19 22:28:12)