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Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sdb

Unfortunately (as you can see) I cannot install grub. I have tried /dev/sda as well.

Here is my partitioning schema:

My partitioning schema

Troubleshooting + problems:

  • Installed Windows 8 to logical partition (somehow got marked "active")
  • Found Metro BCD to be lacking (takes forever to load, doesn't have other non-Windows OSs)
  • Installed EasyBCD, couldn't detect the BCD. So I made my Win7 primary the active
  • Something stuffed up in its BCD, it redirects to Win8 BCD, so I want to make GRUB default
  • 11.04 GRUB can't be activated for some reason

So I download 11.10 x64 Beta on my old laptop, push it to a USB, and attempt to install it on my other hard-drive.

Then I get the first mentioned error. I have also tried (before and after) running sudo grub-install manually on the respective drives, to no avail.

When I now attempt to boot to the hard-disk, I get PXE boot.

Please suggest further troubleshooting steps (e.g. LILO?).

N.N.
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A T
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2 Answers2

3

I got the same error message. The installation configuration that led to this message is as follows:

/dev/sda1        ntfs :windows partition
/dev/sda2        ntfs :windows partition
/dev/sda3        ntfs :windows partition

/dev/sda5             :swap  partition 
/dev/sda6        ext4 :/     partition
/dev/sda7        ext4 :/home partition
/dev/sda8        ext2 :/boot partition

So, what worked -after lots of tests- is the configuration where I have changed the ext2 format of the /boot partition (/dev/sda8) to the ext4 format. I don't know if the problem was really in that point but at last it worked. I hope this will be helpful.

htorque
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Moha
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1

I don't believe grub reliably supports booting a btrfs partition, you'll either have to use a separate ext4 formatted /boot or just use a ext4 /.

I think trying to use grub with a btrfs / works in some cases but not others. It's not very well tested yet.

Jeremy Bicha
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