GRUB Loading, please wait...Error 24

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 3

Situation

The server is a newly installed machine with a swap partition on local disk /dev/sda1 and 1.2 terabyte partition on local disk /dev/sda2 containing the entire filesystem (including /boot). The error message appears during grub stage 1.5 before presenting the grub menu.

Booting to rescue mode and executing grub-install /dev/sda allows the machine to successfully boot a single time. All subsequent boots end with a grub error 24.

Resolution

Grub error 24 means "Attempt to access block outside partition".

Creating a smaller (200MB in this case) partition to hold /boot resolved the issue.

Disclaimer

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