During upgrade of Lenny to Squeeze I run into an an issue with upgrading grub to grub2. My 4x2Tb drivers were created using GDP partition. As a result of the upgrade the grub-pc had an issue with my gpt partition. If you receive any of these errors you might be in a similar situation. The fix is pretty easy, so hopefully this will guide you through it.<\/p>\n
\ngrub-installer: grub-setup: warn: This GPT partition label has no BIOS\r\nBoot Partition; embedding won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be possible!\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\nor<\/p>\n
grub-installer: grub-setup: error: Embedding is not possible, but this<\/p>\n
is required when the root device is on a RAID array or LVM volume.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
or<\/p>\n
\ngrub loading...\r\nno module name found\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\nor<\/p>\n
After restart I can only see “GRUB>”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
(If you have above please read the whole post, and especially the “debug” portion.)<\/p>\n
I’ve started from Debian cd (rescue) mode. Then I’ve assembled my raid partition (sdb1,sdc1,sdd1) and
\nexecuted into shell of my lvm root group mapper_xyz_root. From there I run “upgrade-from-grub-legecy”<\/p>\n**Long story short.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems as the because I am using 4 x 2TB drivers and all 4 were
\ncreated using GPT partition table, and my computer\/mother board was
\npurchased before 2010 it does not support GPT EFI, so grub needed more
\nspace then MBR allowed, and was telling me no module<\/strong> found because it
\ndidn’t have enough space to be installed.<\/p>\nSteps:
\n1. First I tried running the “grub-install \/dev\/sda<\/strong>” I would get:<\/p>\ngrub-installer: grub-setup: warn: This GPT partition label has no BIOS
\nBoot Partition; embedding won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be possible!<\/p><\/blockquote>\nand
\ngrub-installer: grub-setup: error: Embedding is not possible, but this
\nis required when the root device is on a RAID array or LVM volume.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI found this post:
\n<http:\/\/www.shuvoovuhs.com\/linux\/grub-installation-issue-with-2-tb-hdd-gpt-requires-bios-boot-partition\/<\/a>>
\nwhich said ( *have to* create a BIOS Boot Partition<\/strong>).<\/p>\n2. Reading up on it I concluded that my motherboard does not support
\nGPT EFI and therefore I do indeed need that partition:
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/BIOS_Boot_partition<\/a><\/p>\n3. Now since I only have one boot partition on \/dev\/sda1 (100mb) I had
\n199.9GB free. I decided to create a partition right after my 100mb. In
\nrescue mode cd I installed parted (in case its not installed)
\naptitude install parted
\nthen proceeded to install my new partition.
\nparted \/dev\/sda print
\nparted \/dev\/sda unit MB print
\n##this showed partion 1 as (31.4kb to 100MB)
\nparted \/dev\/sda
\nmkpart biosboot 100MB 101MB
\n##above created partition 2
\nset 2 bios_grub on
\n##Above enabled the bios grub partition<\/p>\nThen I did grub install and it successfully installed. (I rebooted and
\nit worked.<\/p>\nI hope you have enough room to create a new partition. This should help you out. Most time took to research why I\u00c2\u00a0 “HAVE TO CREATE BIOS BOOT PARTITION”, and how to use “parted” to create a new partition, since none of the fdisk tools work with GPT partition table just yet. Enjoy. See the debug portion for how to get additional information out of your system.<\/p>\n
Debug: More details :<\/strong><\/p>\n
In the process of upgrading from debian lenny amd64 to debian squeezy amd64 I was able to successfully upgrade to kernel 32 and new udev as Debian Release notes suggest<\/a>. Then after reboot I followed with apt-get dist-upgrade.<\/p>\n
Everything went fine, but towards the end I was asked to upgrade to
\ngrub-pc. During this choice I was asked to specify mbr to install new
\nboot loader. I’ve selected my a wrong driver. Instead of selecting “\/dev\/sda” I’ve selected a different drive. (Always select the first hard drive in the list if you are not sure)<\/strong> (I thought it was “flash” drive that I have used before to hold my “boot” partition, but on this machine my boot parition was on\u00c2\u00a0 \/dev\/sda1″<\/p>\nAfter restart I can only see “GRUB>”.
\nAt this point I should have tried starting the system by issueing few grub commands. More on it shortly. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/em>
\nWhile Recovering from grub-pc install failure. I’ve started from cd
\n(rescue) mode. I then assembled my raid partition (sdb1,sdc1,sdd1) and
\nexecuted into shell of my lvm root group mapper_xyz_root. From there I
\nrun “upgrade-from-grub-legecy” and this time I’ve selected my usb and
\nsda to install grub.<\/p>\nStill no lock.<\/p>\n
Then I tried “update-grub”<\/p>\n
Now I get “grub loading…
\nno module name found”<\/p>\nWhat should I do now? I’ve logged in with rescue cd again and now my
\n\/boot partition no longer holds other files except for “\/boot\/grub\/..”
\nWhat happened to my kernel files 26 and 32 that were on the \/boot? (This was my fault as it seem \/boot partition was not mounted properly.\u00c2\u00a0 I have my boot partition somewhere else, yet somehow I was looking at\u00c2\u00a0 \/boot on my root partition.)<\/em><\/p>\nI’ve posted to debian mailing list:<\/p>\n
What are my choices on installing grub-pc? Do I need “boot” partition?
\nWhat should be on it? Why did \/boot kernel files got removed? Should I be
\ninstalling grub on my lvm root group? or sda? or \/boot flashdrive?<\/em><\/p>\n> During this choice I was asked to specify mbr to install new
\n<\/em><\/p>\n> boot loader. I’ve selected my “flash” drive that I have used before to
\n> hold my “boot” partition I believe.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nI think the most normal installation is to select your first raw
\ndrive. \u00c2\u00a0That is, if you have \/boot on \/dev\/sda1 and \/ on \/dev\/sda5 or
\nsome such then you would install grub on \/dev\/sda without adding any
\npartition numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n**That is correct, I don’t know why I thought I had a usb, but in this
\ncomputer I did not have a usb driver, so I should have selected
\n\/dev\/sda. \u00c2\u00a0In rescue mode I did that many times and it still failed.<\/p>\n\n> After restart I can only see “GRUB>”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Grub appears to be installed then. \u00c2\u00a0But the problem would seem to be
\nthat grub’s configuration file didn’t point to the root filesystem.<\/p>\n** Correct, at that point I’m not sure if that was still grub 1 or
\ngrub 2(grub-pc). (more on it below) The information below was very
\nuseful after I gut the grub> menu.<\/p>\nIf you have “grub> ” you can:<\/em><\/p>\n
At that point you can issue instructions to grub. \u00c2\u00a0You should be able
\nto get some good information. \u00c2\u00a0It is a little confusing to describe
\nbut the most important thing to know is that TAB will expand and list
\nyour possible options. \u00c2\u00a0Use this to explore your system at that point
\nand to see what is where. \u00c2\u00a0You can type in “help” to get a list of
\ncommands available but that will produce a lot of output and will
\noverwhelm you.<\/span><\/p>\nAt the grub prompt type in “root (” and then hit TAB to have it
\ncomplete. \u00c2\u00a0It will look like this:<\/p>\ngrub> root (<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Press TAB<\/strong> at that point and it will fill out to the available
\noptions.<\/p>\ngrub> root (hd0,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Press TAB again<\/strong> to have it list them out.<\/p>\n
grub> root (hd0,
\nPossible partitions are:
\nPartition hd0,sda1
\nPartition hd0,sda2<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThen select one of them<\/strong> and repeat to list the contents of that
\nfilesystem.<\/p>\ngrub> root (hd0,0)\/
\nPossible files are:
\nlost+found\/ System.map-2.6.32-5-686 vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686 grub\/
\nconfig-2.6.32-5-686 initrd.img-2.6.32-5-686<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat verifies that on my system hd0,0 (\/dev\/sda1) is my \/boot
\npartition.<\/strong> Repeat again with the other partition numbers.<\/p>\ngrub> root (hd0,1)\/
\nPossible files are:
\nbin\/ boot\/ dev\/ home\/ lib\/ lost+found\/ media\/ mnt\/ opt\/ …<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat verifies that on the system I tried that hd0,1 (\/dev\/sda2) is the
\nroot partition.<\/strong><\/p>\nSo to manually tell grub what it needs to boot I can type in the
\nfollowing:<\/p>\ngrub> root (hd0,0)
\ngrub> kernel \/vmlinuz-2.6.32-3-amd64 root=\/dev\/sda2 ro
\ngrub> initrd \/initrd.img-2.6.32-3-amd64
\ngrub> boot<\/p><\/blockquote>\nUse TAB to complete the filenames<\/strong> to ensure that you have the right
\nlocation and to save you from typing in all of the details of the
\nversion numbers and architecture type.<\/p>\nIf that works then your problem is not your grub install<\/strong> to the boot
\npartition but rather your configuration for grub in \/boot\/grub\/* that
\nis the problem.<\/p>\n> While Recovering from grub-pc install failure. I’ve started from cd
\n> (rescue) mode.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nA debian-installer disk in rescue mode should work okay.<\/p>\n
> I then assembled my raid partition (sdb1,sdc1,sdd1) and<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy did you need to assemble the raid?<\/span><\/p>\n
**I think in the “rescue CD mode it asks you to assemble raid or not”
\nYou can select automatic assemble if you want to or you could pick a
\ndifferent driver as your root. There was no issue with initrd as you
\nare suggesting below, but it made me pay attention to what is mounted
\nand what is not!!<\/strong><\/p>\nThat points to a different problem. \u00c2\u00a0The raid should be automatically assembled by the initial
\nram disk (initrd) and if it isn’t then you are past grub and onto the
\ninitrd phase of boot.<\/span><\/p>\nDid you by any chance add a disk to the raid but not rebuild the
\ninitrd image? \u00c2\u00a0The initrd has the UUIDs of every disk in the raid as a
\ncopy of the \/etc\/mdadm\/mdadm.conf file in the initrd. \u00c2\u00a0If you have
\nadded a disk to the raid and it is required for the lvm to start then
\nthis also needs to be added to the initrd copy of the mdadm.conf
\nfile. \u00c2\u00a0Otherwise it will fail to start the raid at boot time.<\/span><\/p>\n> executed into shell of my lvm root group mapper_xyz_root. From there I
\n> run “upgrade-from-grub-legecy” and this time I’ve selected my usb and
\n> sda to install grub.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nI think you are mixing issues. \u00c2\u00a0I think you mixing up grub with raid
\nwith lvm but really those are all separate. \u00c2\u00a0This is very easy to
\nbecome confused about but just the same I think that is what is
\nhappening.<\/p>\n> Then I tried “update-grub”
\n>
\n> Now I get “grub loading…
\n> no module name found”<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThat I don’t know.<\/span><\/p>\n
** It seems as the because I am using 4 x 2TB drivers and all 4 were
\ncreated using GPT partition table, and my computer\/mother board was
\npurchased before 2010 it does not support GPT EFI, so grub needed more
\nspace then MBR allowed, and was telling me no module found because it
\ndidn’t have enough space to be installed.<\/p>\nSteps:
\n1. First I tried running the “grub-install \/dev\/sda” I would get:<\/p>\ngrub-installer: grub-setup: warn: This GPT partition label has no BIOS
\nBoot Partition; embedding won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be possible!<\/p>\nand
\ngrub-installer: grub-setup: error: Embedding is not possible, but this
\nis required when the root device is on a RAID array or LVM volume.<\/p>\nI found this post:
\n<http:\/\/www.shuvoovuhs.com\/linux\/grub-installation-issue-with-2-tb-hdd-gpt-requires-bios-boot-partition\/<\/a>>
\nwhich said ( *have to* create a BIOS Boot Partition).<\/p>\n2. Reading up on it I concluded that my motherboard does not support
\nGPT EFI and therefore I do indeed need that partition:
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/BIOS_Boot_partition<\/a><\/p>\n3. Now since I only have one boot partition on \/dev\/sda1 (100mb) I had
\n199.9GB free. I decided to create a partition right after my 100mb. In
\nrescue mode cd I installed parted (in case its not installed)
\naptitude install parted
\nthen proceeded to install my new partition.
\nparted \/dev\/sda print
\nparted \/dev\/sda unit MB print
\n##this showed partion 1 as (31.4kb to 100MB)
\nparted \/dev\/sda
\nmkpart biosboot 100MB 101MB
\n##above created partition 2
\nset 2 bios_grub on
\n##Above enabled the bios grub partition<\/p>\nThen I did grub install and it successfully installed. (I rebooted and
\nit almost worked. I got the grub> ) but there was nothing there. I’ve
\nused what you email me to find my problem here.<\/p>\nWhen I did<\/p>\n
grub-install \/dev\/sda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
my \/boot folder was in my “server1_lvmgroup-server1-root but that is
\nnot what I had. My boot was a seperate disc \/dev\/sda1. So the proper
\nway I should have do it was:<\/p>\nls \/boot
\n#above shows only \/boot\/grub folder
\numount \/boot
\n#not mounted
\nmount -a
\n#this mounted my boot driver based on the \/etc\/fstab
\nls \/boot
\n#no I see
\ninitrd.img-2.6.26-2-686
\ninitrd.img-2.6.32-5-686
\nvmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686
\nvmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686<\/p><\/blockquote>\n##Now I do install grub<\/p>\n
grub-install \/dev\/sda
\nupdate-grub<\/p><\/blockquote>\n##When you do update-grub it will find all kernels…it will say<\/p>\n
found kernel 2.6.26…
\nfound kernel 2.6.32….<\/p>\nreboot, and it worked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I really appreciate your help.
\nThis should really be in the Upgrades from Debian 5.0 (lenny), as if your motherboard does not support GPT EFI then
\nupgrade-from-grub-legacy will fail, and there is no instructions on how to go back.<\/span><\/p>\nI can’t really say at what point during the upgrade I had grub>? but
\nit all came down to creating a GPT Bios boot partition for grub-pc
\n(grub2).<\/p>\nThank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n
***your email was most helpful. When I connected the dots with boot
\npartition then it all went smooth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n> What should I do now? I’ve logged in with rescue cd again and now my
\n> \/boot partition no longer holds other files except for “\/boot\/grub\/..”
\n> What happened to my kernel files 26 and 32 that were on the \/boot?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nMounted the wrong partition? <\/strong> They should still be there. \u00c2\u00a0Take a deep
\nbreath. \u00c2\u00a0Remain calm. \u00c2\u00a0Try it again. \u00c2\u00a0They should be there.<\/p>\nIf you have somehow wiped them out then you will need to either
\nrecover them or reinstall them from the chroot.<\/span><\/p>\nI have upgraded many machines from Lenny to Squeeze and although I
\nthink this upgrade has the more problems of any of the previous
\nupgrades I have never had any of the problems you have mentioned.<\/p>\n> What are my choices on installing grub-pc? Do I need “boot” partition?<\/div>\nYes.<\/p>\n
> What should be on it?<\/div>\nFiles such as:<\/p>\n
System.map-2.6.26-2-686
\nSystem.map-2.6.32-5-686
\nconfig-2.6.26-2-686
\nconfig-2.6.32-5-686
\ngrub\/
\ninitrd.img-2.6.26-2-686
\ninitrd.img-2.6.32-5-686
\nvmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686
\nvmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686<\/p><\/blockquote>\n> Why did files got removed?<\/span><\/div>\nOnly you are in a position to know what you did.<\/span><\/p>\n
> Should I be installing grub on my lvm root group? or sda? or \/boot
\n> flashdrive?<\/div>\nSince you are getting the grub prompt then you have successfully
\ninstalled grub and your problem is with a later phase of the boot.<\/p>\nSources:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.rodsbooks.com\/gdisk\/booting.html<\/p>\n
https:\/\/bbs.archlinux.org\/viewtopic.php?id=114420<\/p>\n
https:\/\/help.ubuntu.com\/community\/Grub2<\/p>\n
http:\/\/lists.debian.org\/debian-user\/2011\/08\/msg00079.html<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.shuvoovuhs.com\/linux\/grub-installation-issue-with-2-tb-hdd-gpt-requires-bios-boot-partition\/<\/p>\n
http:\/\/ubuntuforums.org\/showthread.php?t=1736409<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.debian.org\/releases\/stable\/amd64\/release-notes\/ch-upgrading.en.html#newkernel<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.debian.org\/releases\/stable\/amd64\/release-notes\/ch-upgrading.en.html#update-grub<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During upgrade of Lenny to Squeeze I run into an an issue with upgrading grub to grub2. My 4x2Tb drivers were created using GDP partition. As a result of the upgrade the grub-pc had an issue with my gpt partition. If you receive any of these errors you might be in a similar situation. The… Continue reading Upgrade Grub to Grub-pc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate","category-debian","category-linux","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lucasmanual.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}