Bug 801130

Summary:	FC16 hangs on GRUB after system update
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Bill Norman <bluevox.inc>
Component:	grub2	Assignee:	Peter Jones <pjones>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	urgent	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	16	CC:	dennis, pjones
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2012-03-07 21:02:59 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Bill Norman 2012-03-07 18:05:24 UTC

Description of problem: I have been running FC16_64, successfully on my laptop for several months. This is a dual boot configuration with Windows 7, which I hardly use.

I just did a Fedora system update that included installing a new kernel (3.2.9-1.fc16.x86_64). The update completed and I rebooted the system. The machine restarted but hangs up with the screen showing only GRUB and a flashing cursor.

I booted from the rescue disk and did chroot /mnt/sysimage. I see that /boot/grub2/grub.cfg has been modified to add the new kernel. But I do not see anything obvious that would cause the system to hang. 

This system obviously is dead. I cannot use Fedora or Windows. It is a real problem because it is my development system and I was in the middle of some important work. Can you please advise how I can get this system to boot?


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):3.2.9-1.fc16.x86_64


How reproducible:


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start system
2. BIOS loads
3. Observe boot screen hangs with GRUB displayed and flashing cursor
  
Actual results:


Expected results: Grub should start and display a list of linux kernels and Windows 7 start options


Additional info:

Comment 1 Bill Norman 2012-03-07 21:02:59 UTC

resolved by running 


# grub2-install --force /dev/sda

in the recovery session.

I had to use --force because I was seeing a set of warnings:

warn: Your embedding area is unusually small. core.img won't fit in it.

warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are unreliable and their use is discouraged.

error:will not proceed with blocklists.

I will have to resize partition 1 to start at 2048 to eliminate the use of blocklists.