How to manually install GRUB after a failed installation or disk corruption of the MBR

This document (7001376) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service

Situation

BIOS error message about no bootable drive
After first installation, server will not boot with BIOS error message

Resolution

This issue has been observed on some servers with CCISS devices and on some RAID cards. The "grub-install" script that shipped with SLES 10 SP2 incorrectly identifies the root device. If this happens, a manual installation of Grub may by required.

For this example, /dev/sda1 is the assumed /boot and /dev/sda2 is the assumed root partition.

LVM and EVMS users:

If you are using LVM, then the devices should be automatically seen. Type "lvscan" to make sure that your logical volumes have been detected.

For users using EVMS, the LVM volumes should be detected. You may use "lvscan" to find the volumes. Since the changes are being made to the /boot partition, LVM is not needed."

Procedure

Mount root to /mnt. If root is on an LVM or EVMS device, use the LVM or EVMS name for the device

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
Mount /boot to /mnt/boot. This device should be a traditional partition.
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
Mount system pseudo file systems under /mnt
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
"change root" or chroot to /mnt
chroot /mnt
Under /boot/grub, there is a file called "device.map." The file needs to be populated according to your disk layout. The first disk should be (hd0 ) . If the file looks fine, then continue to the next step. If it is missing or looks incorrect, populate it according to the following template.
(hd0) /dev/sda
(hd1) /dev/sdb
(hd2) /dev/cciss/c0d0
(hd3) /dev/cciss/c0d1
Launch the grub interactive shell
grub

In the interactive shell, you will see a "grub>" prompt. With grub the first partition on the first hard drive is hd0,0. The following example will install Grub on the first parition of the first drive.

grub> root (hd0,0) 

Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> setup (hd0) 
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes 
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes 
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes 
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  15 sectors are embedded.succeeded 
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2/boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

Type quit
Type exit
Type reboot

The server should now reboot.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

Document ID:7001376
Creation Date: 17-Sep-2008
Modified Date:15-Mar-2021
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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