Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 139640
grub install fails on large disk arrays
Last modified: 2007-11-30 17:10:54 EST
Description of problem: Installing FC3 on a large (>2TB) disk array leaves it unbootable. The following is displayed on tty5 during the install: grub> root (hd0,0) Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS grub> install /grub/stage1 d (hd0) /grub/stage2 p (hd0,0)/grub/grub.conf Error 12: Invalid device requested grub> After rebooting from the install, grub never displays anything (since it apparently doesn't install). After POST, the system just displays a blinking cursor. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 0.95-3 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Create a >2TB array. 2. Install FC3. 3. Reboot. Actual results: Unbootable system, with no (obvious) errors during the install. Expected results: Bootable system. Additional info: Unfortunately, I'm testing this system out for a client. It is being shipped out tomorrow (2004-11-16), so I won't have much time to do further testing. I'm guessing lilo probably won't have any better luck on this system, but I might try that next.
MS-DOS partition tables don't support devices larger than 2 TB. And BIOSes don't support booting from anything else. Welcome to a land of pain.
I was able to get the system to boot by switching to the shell on tty2 during the install, running grub, and manually feeding grub a bogus (smaller) geometry. I believe the commands I used were as follows: geometry (hd0) 100000 255 63 root (hd0,0) install /grub/stage1 d (hd0) /grub/stage2 p (hd0,0)/grub/grub.conf (In other words, the same thing anaconda does, but with the added "geometry" line.) It seems like there should be some way for anaconda to notice that the boot drive is >2TB and do something like this automatically.
I'm guessing this qualifies as either "low" or "enhancement" given the small number of people/systems affected and the easy workaround.
I just hit the same issue with RHEL4. Notably, LILO does not have an issue booting from the >2TB sda.
Fedora Core 3 is now maintained by the Fedora Legacy project for security updates only. If this problem is a security issue, please reopen and reassign to the Fedora Legacy product. If it is not a security issue and hasn't been resolved in the current FC5 updates or in the FC6 test release, reopen and change the version to match. Thank you!
Closing per lack of response to previous request for information. This bug was originally filed against a much earlier version of Fedora Core, and significant changes have taken place since the last version for which this bug is confirmed. Note that FC3 and FC4 are supported by Fedora Legacy for security fixes only. Please install a still supported version and retest. If it still occurs on FC5 or FC6, please reopen and assign to the correct version. Otherwise, if this a security issue, please change the product to Fedora Legacy. Thanks, and we are sorry that we did not get to this bug earlier.