Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Grub2 wrong UUID Problem

I did a fresh, plain-vanilla install of Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala. No dual-boot, no fiddling with defaults. The installation machine is a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with the old hard drive replaced with a 250Gb from Best Buy.

Unfortunately, the machine wouldn't boot, with grub giving a 'device not found' error, listing the uuid of the hard drive.

I rebooted with the space-bar pressed so I'd get the grub menu. The default entry looks like this:

recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1653855e-9973-46eb-b744-306e221aab95
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=1653855e-9973-46eb-b744-306e221aab95 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic

The uuid given matches what's in /etc/fstab and in the 'device not found' error, and what I get when I run the blkid command.

Moving into a grub command line, I could get the machine to boot with these commands:

root (hd0,1)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
boot

LiveCD installs of Ubuntu 9.10 default to Grub2. Others have experienced problems - see bug 392836, for instance.
( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/392836 )

This page on Grub2 contains much wonderful information: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2.

My personal, don't-know-what-I'm-doing-fix is to utilize the custom-command add-on function available in the "/etc/grub.d/40_custom" file, which is meant to add your personal weird alternative entries to modify the boot process. In this case, I'm adding an entry that I know works, even if I don't entirely know how I'm getting away with leaving out all the other items in the original entry.

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom

I make it look like this (indented for clarity, only):

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry "Works" {
set root=(hd0,1)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
}

Now run 'update-grub':

sudo update-grub

Check the results:

cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Now, write the results into the boot sector of the hard drive (?? I think ??)

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Now I reboot the machine, pressing the spacebar to get the grub menu. If I pick the new last entry "Works", the machine boots. There's probably some way to make it the default - more on that later. Maybe the bug'll get fixed soon.

Comments welcome!!!

Cyclades

Cyclades

by Bent DeCosta

Welcome, thief,

Invade my tomb.

Enjoy my mysteries bare.

Take any pretty things

You find

There's one, over there.

My mourners placed them

Carefully.

A comfort for a while.

I don't need them,

Anymore.

I'll trade one for a smile.

Your fingers slide

Along my slip

Mysteries profound.

Lips touch mine

Softly betray

Treasures

You've not

Found.

Visit me, again, soon,

Thief.

"...these figures have been looted from burials

to satisfy a thriving Cycladic antiquities market

since the early 20th century." en.wikipeida.org, Cyclades

---its been a while since we've published anything from Bent. This is one of our favorites...

Smith and Wesson Model 36

Looking Through Walls via existing WiFi signals

Imaging movement in a room using existing wifi signals.
Good news for privacy - it takes 34 receivers for one-meter resolution.
Bad news for privacy - the receivers are commercial, off the shelf.
AND
Do you really think development stops here?