[nflug] GRUB error 18
Cyber Source
peter at thecybersource.com
Fri Mar 7 16:52:22 EST 2008
The same error can happen when the BIOS detects a disk in a different
way as Linux does. This can happen when changing motherboards or when
moving a GRUB-bootable disk from one computer to another. If this
happens, just boot with a GRUB floppy (rescue cd/knoppix), read the
C/H/S numbers from the existing partition table and manually edit the
BIOS numbers to match
This sounds like your easiest solution.
Robert Meyer wrote:
> Great page that explains what's going on with error 18:
> http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB
>
> --
> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you
> will always long to return."
> --Leonardo da Vinci
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Steve Petersen <business at stevepetersen.net>
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Sent: Friday, March 7, 2008 3:44:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [nflug] GRUB error 18
>
> Thanks again, everyone!
>
> Yeah, as you can see from my first email, it's been my guess too that
> the BIOS just can't "reach" far enough for the later kernels, which
> were probably installed by update-manager on physically further
> cylinders. Since I had to install linux back in the days when this
> was important (and back then I was dual-booting too), I had vague
> memories that BIOSes are pretty myopic.
>
> The motherboard (that's where the BIOS lives, right?) is actually from
> Jan 2006 - at least, that's when I bought it "new" - I think it's a
> Phoenix something, I forget how you find that out. Anyway would
> making a boot partition help, if the BIOS can only look so far? Oh
> wait - maybe because as it stands now a new kernel could be written
> /way/ out there but still under the "boot" directory as far as the fs
> is concerned? Hmn. I think I see.
>
> Ideally I wouldn't re-install from scratch, or play with
> re-partitioning. Maybe that would be best, though I dread backing up
> all my mp3s somehow (especially since linux is /still/ rotten about
> external hard drives, in my experience).
>
> I was hoping there was some way to chain things (so something within
> BIOS range says "go boot this kernel over there"), or maybe update the
> BIOS, or maybe re-order what's where on the physical drive (scary).
> If I mv the images out of the /boot directory, then back but in
> newest-first order, would that put the newer kernels in a more
> accessible place on /dev/hda1? That's the kind of thing I don't get.
>
> Thanks again,
> Steve
>
> On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Robert Meyer <meyer_rm at yahoo.com
> <mailto:meyer_rm at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> Not true. Just by dumb luck, the kernel that boots is below
> cylinder 1024. The kernels that don't boot are above that. It's
> a truly bizarre situation and I've had it happen, before. It's
> usually a whack yourself in the forehead moment when you figure it
> out.
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Bob
>
> --
> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
> you will always long to return."
> --Leonardo da Vinci
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> To: nflug at nflug.org <mailto:nflug at nflug.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 7, 2008 2:20:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [nflug] GRUB error 18
>
> I was thinking about this too but if one of the stanza's boots,
> then I
> would think the others should, thus ruling out this a a potential
> problem.
>
> Robert Meyer wrote:
> > Maybe I'll chime in, here... There are a lot of really old
> machines
> > out there with terminally limited BIOS. These machines cannot
> address
> > anything beyond cylinder 1023 on bootup. The standard solution
> to the
> > problem is to create a /boot partition at the very beginning of the
> > drive that is just big enough for the kernel, the initrd file
> and grub
> > configs, etc. Frequently, there will be enough extra space for
> > multiple copies. Here is the partition map on a machine that I
> work
> > with that does this:
> >
> > Disk /dev/hda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
> > 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
> > Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> >
> > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> > /dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
> > /dev/hda2 14 12161 97578810 8e Linux LV
> >
> > The 'df' output of this machine looks like:
> > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
> > /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
> > 187150052 3822516 173667532 3% /
> > /dev/hda1 101086 11966 83901 13% /boot
> > tmpfs 513476 0 513476 0% /dev/shm
> >
> > So, I would try using that methodology to see if it solves the
> problem...
> >
> > Sometimes it's good to be a dinosaur...
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Bob
> >
> > --
> > "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
> > with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and
> there you
> > will always long to return."
> > --Leonardo da Vinci
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > To: nflug at nflug.org <mailto:nflug at nflug.org>
> > Sent: Friday, March 7, 2008 1:50:16 PM
> > Subject: Re: [nflug] GRUB error 18
> >
> > All the stanzas are the same except the the boot images. I would
> think
> > then that it's not a grub problem but rather a problem with the
> > images/kernels.
> >
> > Steve Petersen wrote:
> > > Thanks again for your help - yes, when I pick one of the
> kernels it
> > boots.
> > >
> > > uname -l output;
> > >
> > > Linux liza 2.6.17-10-generic #2 SMP Tue Dec 5 22:28:26 UTC 2006
> > > i686 GNU/Linux
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 10:01 AM, Cyber Source
> > > <peter at thecybersource.com <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Does anything in that grub file boot?
> > >
> > > Steve Petersen wrote:
> > > > I've attached my /boot/grub/menu.lst file. Thanks again.
> > > > Steve
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 11:36 PM, Cyber Source
> > > > <peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>
> > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>>> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Show me your /boot/grub/menu.lst file
> > > >
> > > > Steve Petersen wrote:
> > > > > Thanks for the help! I'm afraid I can't make much of it
> > > though.
> > > > As I
> > > > > say, I've been using linux for about 10 years, but that
> > > doesn't mean
> > > > > I've been /understanding/ much of it. I have only the
> > > vaguest grasp
> > > > > of UUIDs and cylinder geometry. I don't know what the
> > > "stanzas" are
> > > > > and I'm not sure what you mean by "the actual drive
> /dev use"
> > > > (unless
> > > > > you just mean /dev/hda, which I believe it is, though
> > > there is a
> > > > > second hard drive I mount separately).
> > > > >
> > > > > Below I give the "fdisk -l" output. Thanks again
> for any
> > > help.
> > > > > Steve
> > > > >
> > > > > Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
> > > > > 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
> > > > > Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> > > > > Disk identifier: 0x0008fac7
> > > > >
> > > > > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id
> > > System
> > > > > /dev/hda1 * 1 38560 309733168+ 83
> > > Linux
> > > > > /dev/hda2 38561 38913 2835472+ 5
> > > Extended
> > > > > /dev/hda5 38561 38913 2835441 82
> > > > Linux swap
> > > > > / Solaris
> > > > >
> > > > > Disk /dev/hdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
> > > > > 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
> > > > > Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> > > > > Disk identifier: 0x000b8293
> > > > >
> > > > > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id
> > > System
> > > > > /dev/hdb1 1 19103 153444816 83
> > > Linux
> > > > > /dev/hdb2 19104 19457 2843505 5
> > > Extended
> > > > > /dev/hdb5 19104 19457 2843473+ 82
> > > > Linux swap
> > > > > / Solaris
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 9:40 PM, Cyber Source
> > > > <peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>
> > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>>
> > > > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>
> > > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
> > > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>
> > <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com
> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>>>>> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Whatever the bios is told as a boot device, if
> it's a hard
> > > > drive, it
> > > > > will go to "first" partition on that drive that has a
> > > "boot"
> > > > flag
> > > > > (fdisk
> > > > > -l), it will be the partition with a "*" declared.
> > > > > First off, I would suspect a problem with the CHS
> > > > > (cylinder,head,sector)
> > > > > geometry that the drive has or is being
> interpreted by the
> > > > bios as, to
> > > > > the kernel.
> > > > > Second off, I would think it's how the stanzas
> are written
> > > > and the
> > > > > UUID's (always a problem I've seen) are being used.
> > > Try changing
> > > > > to the
> > > > > actual drive /dev use.
> > > > > Tell me those things and I'll tell you my reasoning
> > > later, if
> > > > > applicable, sorry lazy typer.....
> > > > > Steve Petersen wrote:
> > > > > > Hi NFLUGgers,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I've been using some form of linux for about 10
> > > years, but I'm
> > > > > still a
> > > > > > newbie in many ways, and I wonder if you can help
> > > me. For
> > > > some time
> > > > > > now my home desktop computer - which has Ubuntu
> 7.10
> > > on it and
> > > > > nothing
> > > > > > else - won't boot any of the more recent
> kernels the
> > > > update-manager
> > > > > > downloads. It gives me
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Error 18: selected cylinder exceeds maximum
> > > supported
> > > > by BIOS
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > until I choose in GRUB an old enough kernel that
> > > BIOS can
> > > > reach,
> > > > > > apparently. I don't know if I have a separate boot
> > > > partition; it's
> > > > > > however Ubuntu set it up default. (No separate
> boot
> > > > partition shows
> > > > > > up on the 'mount' command - but would it?) I also
> > > don't know
> > > > > what my
> > > > > > motherboard is - that's where the BIOS lives,
> right? As
> > > > you see I'm
> > > > > > still pretty ignorant of some basic computing
> concepts.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Anyway this has been going on for over a year,
> probably,
> > > > but the
> > > > > > kernel's old enough now that (without good evidence
> > > either
> > > > way) I'm
> > > > > > starting to worry it'll be sub-optimal in
> noticeable
> > > ways.
> > > > It's
> > > > > > 2.6.17-10-generic, though /boot lists versions as
> > > recent as
> > > > > > 2.6.22-14-generic.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks in advance for any help or thoughts.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Steve
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > >
> > > > > > http://stevepetersen.net
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > > > > --
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> > > > > http://stevepetersen.net
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> >
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