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upgrading grub

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
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hstoellinger
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upgrading grub

#1 Post by hstoellinger »

Hello,
Two days ago I did a "routine" sw-upgrade on my Debian 10 system on an ssd. It also has a Debian 9 system on a hard disk. In particular, grub-pc et al were upgraded. All of a sudden the system won't boot anymore and goes into "grub-rescue" mode. After a lot of "sweat and tears" I managed to get the system up through grub-rescue. I can see the same upgrade available on my laptop (running Kubuntu 20.04). But - for obivous reasons - I shy away from "killing" this system as well. Is there a chance this problem might be fixed in the near future. It DOES IMPACT loads of systems...
Regards
H. Stoellinger

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Re: upgrading grub

#2 Post by cuckooflew »

What problem ? If you think it is a bug, you should report it, following the correct procedure for reporting bugs, telling us here on the Debian Users Forum is not the correct procedure and it is not likely to get fixed if it is not properly reported, of course if it really is a bug, and if it really DOES IMPACT loads of systems, someone else might report it. I am pretty ignorant, so forgive me for asking , what is a "sw-upgrade " what do you mean by that, maybe "system wide",.. then I also wonder what you upgraded to ?
I can see the same upgrade available on my laptop (running Kubuntu 20.04).
I don't follow the kubuntu upgrades. nor updates, and don't see how that has anything to do with Debian.

Are you talking about this UPDATE, https://www.debian.org/News/2020/20200801
Maybe you mean "update", ? Or did you upgrade to Debian testing ? Better details might help get better answers.
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RU55EL
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Re: upgrading grub

#3 Post by RU55EL »

I goofed up grub on one of my computer too. [When performing the 10.5 point update.] The grub update came up with a dialog box requesting the proper location of grub on one of my computer. I was in a hurry and made the wrong choice. My own fault for being in a hurry and not reading carefully. I just had to boot from a Debian installation disk, and perform a grub reinstall. It was quick and easy.

My [once goofed up] computer is a non-ufi older machine. The instructions were simple:

https://debian.wayoflinux.com/installin ... stall-grub
Last edited by RU55EL on 2020-08-01 22:38, edited 1 time in total.

hstoellinger
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Joined: 2010-11-20 18:31

Re: upgrading grub

#4 Post by hstoellinger »

Hello,
For years I have been doing my sw-maintenance like this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt clean && sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
As I mentioned - in the course of doing so on my Lenovo desktop (running Debian 10) grub2 got "upgraded" (amongst some other packages).
Next time I booted, the system got as far as "grub-rescue". With the right actions (i.e., set prefix=..., set root=..., insmod normal, normal)
I managed to start Debian 9, which is also still installed on a second disk.
Now - since Kubuntu is Ubuntu with KDE, and Ubuntu itself being based on Debian, I am somewhat wary of doing the same grub maintenance
on the Kubuntu-laptop.
apt list --upgradable happens to list the following grub-related packages on Kubuntu 20.04:

Code: Select all

grub-common/focal-updates 2.04-1ubuntu26.2 amd64 [aktualisierbar von: 2.04-1ubuntu26.1]
grub-pc-bin/focal-updates 2.04-1ubuntu26.2 amd64 [aktualisierbar von: 2.04-1ubuntu26.1]
grub-pc/focal-updates 2.04-1ubuntu26.2 amd64 [aktualisierbar von: 2.04-1ubuntu26.1]
grub2-common/focal-updates 2.04-1ubuntu26.2 amd64 [aktualisierbar von: 2.04-1ubuntu26.1]

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Re: upgrading grub

#5 Post by cuckooflew »

So any way, does it boot ok now ?
With the right actions (i.e., set prefix=..., set root=..., insmod normal, normal)
I managed to start Debian 9, which is also still installed on a second disk.
It sounds like you were able to solve the problem, ?
You could try the -s option, and see if grub will even be included, seems like it shouldn't , since the Debian grub all ready got updated/upgraded. , the -s option means simulate, see 'man apt-get' for details. You can use that to see what will actually be updated and upgraded. If you make good back ups before doing this, (and you should be , if you don't), nothing to worry about, if all else fails, you can restore it using the back up you made. Another option is to check the Kbuntu forums and website, see if anyone else has had this problem.
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Re: upgrading grub

#6 Post by sunrat »

There was a grub security update several days ago which had a regression which caused dual boot to fail on certain systems. On July 30 there was another update to fix the regression. One can boot the system using Boot Select menu, grub rescue as mentioned above, live rescue disk, or REFInd and run upgrade again to fix it.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debian Security Advisory DSA-4735-2 security@debian.org
https://www.debian.org/security/ Salvatore Bonaccorso
July 30, 2020 https://www.debian.org/security/faq
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Package : grub2
Debian Bug : 966554

The update for grub2 released as DSA 4735-1 caused a boot-regression
when chainloading another bootlaoder and breaking notably dual-boot with
Windows. Updated grub2 packages are now available to correct this issue.

For the stable distribution (buster), this problem has been fixed in
version 2.02+dfsg1-20+deb10u2.
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Re: upgrading grub

#7 Post by cuckooflew »

Ok, that would explain why, I just now updated, and upgraded, and had no problem.
Apparently because it has been fixed.
thanks
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hstoellinger
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Re: upgrading grub

#8 Post by hstoellinger »

Thanks a lot, "sunrat"! You have made my day! :D
Regards from Salzburg, Austria
H. Stoellinger

hstoellinger
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Re: upgrading grub

#9 Post by hstoellinger »

Here I am again!
By the way: regarding posting this problem in the forum - and NOT immediately opening a bug! My 30 years as an IBM-Systems Engineer, looking after big customer's systems (Operating system, networking, database, application software, etc., etc.), have shown me that something like 80 p.c. of problems occurring in these areas are already solved somewhere in the world. So, the obvious "entry point" in this case was to look whether this was so in the case of the boot-problem. And - "sunrat" did of course confirm my theory... Also, my "speciality" at THIS time is NOT linux itself and solving booting problems, but building websites and homepages using Drupal/PHP/MariaDB, Apache2,...
Not that I wouldn't like to help solve "new" problems! But - time is valuable, especially at MY age!
Regards
H. S.

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Re: upgrading grub

#10 Post by sunrat »

hstoellinger wrote:Thanks a lot, "sunrat"! You have made my day! :D
Regards from Salzburg, Austria
H. Stoellinger
Glad it was helpful! :wink:
I think 80% may be an underestimation judging by the number of repeat questions that appear here and on other forums.
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Re: upgrading grub

#11 Post by p.H »

sunrat wrote:There was a grub security update several days ago which had a regression which caused dual boot to fail on certain systems
Irrelevant. Only on EFI setups (OP has grub-pc = BIOS/legacy setup), and only when chainloading, not initial GRUB loading.

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Re: upgrading grub

#12 Post by RU55EL »

sunrat wrote:There was a grub security update several days ago which had a regression which caused dual boot to fail on certain systems
Yup, that is exactly what happened to me with one of my non-UFI dual boot computers.

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Re: upgrading grub

#13 Post by p.H »

Impossible. The regression only affected UEFI multiboot.

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Re: upgrading grub

#14 Post by sunrat »

p.H wrote:Impossible. The regression only affected UEFI multiboot.
You need to explain much more. It seems to have helped 2 posters so far so if it wasn't the grub update, what was it?
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Re: upgrading grub

#15 Post by RU55EL »

p.H wrote:Impossible. The regression only affected UEFI multiboot.
Tell that to my old dual core.

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