Grub is acting very weird...

[krakola45]

Hello. My computer is running Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy and when I restarted it to fix a problem with Adept, it did whatever and then said,


Error 15 : File not found

Press any key to continue...


Then, when I press a key, it loaded into this screen and gave me the following:


Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+


At the bottom of the screen, it says,


Use the [up] and [down] keys to select which entry is highlighted. Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before booting, or 'c' for a command line.


So I pressed enter on the first option, and it did the same thing as when it first loaded, i.e.


Error 15 : File not found

Press any key to continue...

I did the same for the second, and it did the same as above. The third, well, it did something weird, like a memory test of some sort. I have no clue what to do. Also, it will refuse to shut down. Continuously holding down the power button just turns the screen black (probably a mistake on my part)! Please help! Thanks in advance.

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub is acting very weird...

Have a look at Reply #23 GRUB Errors under this how-to post (and please post any questions back here again):
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

Very strange – your system was working fine, and you re-booted and it now it doesn't work?


EDIT: Just check out the Error 15 part.

[krakola45]

Re: Grub is acting very weird...

Thank you for responding!

----- 15: GRUB Error 15: File not found
This error is returned if the specified file name cannot be found, but everything else (like the disk/partition info) is OK.

This is perhaps the most commonly encountered error. It occurs when you tell GRUB to access a file and GRUB can't find the file.
-- Examples. Error 15 will occur in each of the following examples:

>> Consider: kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=cbd79e1b-6095-49ca-9b42-4cfca49b899c ro quiet splash

If you edited this and made a typo by typing vmlinux instead of vmlinuz, you'd get error 15.
If you typed 2.6.22-14 as 2.6.22.14, you'd get error 15.
If you typed 2.6.22-14 as 2.60.22-14, you'd get error 15 (it's supposed to be .6, not .60).
If you omit the space between "generic" and "root" in "vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=," you will get error 15 (i.e., "vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-genericroot=UUID=" is improper).
If you type "boot" as "bot," as in kernel /bot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic, you will get error 15.
If you somehow introduce an extra / and space at the front, like in "/ /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic," you will get error 15.

In the statement "configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst," suppose you type this as "configfile /boot/grub/menulst," (i.e., you omit the dot), then you'd get error 15.

Unfortunately, it is not this problem. Everything seems to be correct...

>> You must have the correct root (hdx,y). Consider our example again:
title Boot by kernel--Kubuntu 7.10 sdb5
root (hd1,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=cbd79e1b-6095-49ca-9b42-4cfca49b899c ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

If somehow, say by making a typo, it reads
root (hd1,5)
and suppose the partition (hd1,5) exists. But suppose that (hd1,5) does not contain any such kernel & initrd files (or it contains kernel & initrd files, but not the ones referenced in this boot entry). Then you will get error 15: File Not Found (because GRUB cannot find the kernel & initrd files listed here).

Mine says:
root (hd0,0)
I remember putting no partitions onto my computer; that is probably why. Now,

Another case for Error 15: Broken initrd file:
Both files listed in the kernel and initrd statements must actually be present in the /boot directory! In the above example, those two files are vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic and initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic.
Especially after a major kernel update, it may happen that the files are changed somehow. It usually happens with the initrd file. For example, when you look in the /boot directory, you may not find the initrd generic file but only a backup file called, for example, initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic.bak. In this case, here's a fix that may work:
> Using the Live Kubuntu CD, open Konsole and Open Konqueror as root by typing kdesu konqueror, access /boot, then rename the bak file to initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic (right-click on the bak file then Rename then remove the extension .bak). Re-boot to test it.
> That solution often works. In the future, when getting another major kernel & initrd update, you may again have a problem booting; e.g., either Error 15 or a kernel panic. (It may happen because by simply removing the .bak extension, things might not all quite fit together, or hook-up, the way they should.) One possible fix for that, and also a fix you might try instead of simply renaming the initrd file (above, by removing .bak), is the following:

Suppose, as an example, that the broken Kubuntu is in partition sda2.
From the Live CD, chroot into the sda2 partition (see how-to note below).
Issue the following command:
sudo update-initramfs -u -v
and let it run and put things together & right for your initrd.

Chroot -- How-to
To chroot into sda2 from the Live Kubuntu CD at Konsole:
sudo mkdir /media/fixthings
sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/fixthings
sudo chroot /media/fixthings
(Now you are “in” sda2 as root and can work from there as if you were actually booted into it.)

I will try the above (when I get my Live CD back from my friend who is borrowing it at the moment). Thank you very much!

PS. If it interests you, I was running Kile 1.9, Konsole, and Konqueror when I typed something into Konsole. I believe it was:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Then, something came up and something happened...(I forgot what exactly happened..this happened yesterday). It told me to manually install " build-essential ". I needed this package to install something from source code (Kile 2). Anyway, when I ran up Adept, it told me that some application was using it and I could not access it. This was not abnormal, and restarting the computer always seemed to help when this error message came up. I did exactly that and Error 15 came up after Grub loaded.

Anyway thanks again. I will post again if something bad happens. 8)

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub is acting very weird...

Try the other possible cause mentioned in your post above: “Another case for Error 15: Broken initrd file:”; very strange—I never heard of Adept causing this unless it was running a major kernel update or something like that.
Also, in the Live Kubuntu CD, open Konsole and run the command
sudo fdisk -lu
(it shows your partitions and hard drives).

In case I'm not here part of today, I'll mention something. You might chroot into that partition (using the live Kubuntu CD and the instructions in your post above), open Konsole and run these commands to try to clean up apt
sudo dpkg --configure -a
then,
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install