22

Whenever I boot Ubuntu 16.10, just before the Plymouth screen, I'm seeing this message:

No symbol table found. 
Press any key to continue...

and it remains there for a minute or so before showing me the log in screen. If I press any key it will be stuck for ever and I'll have to restart the computer.

Any help is appreciated..

Ron
  • 20,938

2 Answers2

24

Try this one, first from USB/Live CD (if you can't access Ubuntu from HDD), and then, or directly from your "HDD OS":

sudo fdisk -l

This will list all partitions on your HDD. Find under the Type section your root partition labelled Ubuntu or Linux and its Device (like /dev/sda).

Then, do

sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

Where sdX is the device you found with fdisk. Note that you install GRUB to a drive, not a partition, so sda would be correct while sda1 would be incorrect.

Finally, run

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot
Zanna
  • 72,312
Rafael SoWhat
  • 341
1

I also got this when trying to update from 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS. However, when trying the sudo grub-install command as mentioned I get:

Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of '/cow'.

But by following these instructions instead I solved my problem:

How to Repair, Restore, or Reinstall Grub 2 with a Ubuntu Live CD or USB

FlyingD
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