Re: Advise on how to debug screen with only GRUB and blinking cursor and possibly save my dualboot installation

[Sophoklis Goumas]

On Mon, 19 Dec 2022 at 18:42, Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> wrote:
>
> Le 19/12/2022 à 15:20, Sophoklis Goumas a écrit :
> >
> > This kind of confirms the output of the boot-repair-disk which I've only 
> > used
> > for debugging the situation, namely:
> >
> >> Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks
> >> at sector 2048 of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img
> >> can not be found at this location.
>
> Can you post the full report from the current state, excuding the
> grub.cfg part ? After you ran grub-install, the core image should be
> present again in sda1. But /boot should now be gone.
>

I don't know whether I should/could attach files to this e-mail
but what you requested is on the end of this e-mail.

>
> > I haven't used any of that disk's/utility's "repair" options so that
> > the system will not get messed up any further and I'd like to retain it's
> > current status for the reason I explain further down.
>
> If you ran grub-install on /dev/sda, it messed up the system.
>

This was the first suggestion when I asked for support
@ #debian on the OFTC network, to reinstall grub.

>
> >> This is wrong. A BIOS boot partition (bios_grub flag) should not contain
> >> a filesystem. The purpose of this type of partition is exclusively to
> >> store a raw GRUB core image.
> >
> > This setup, as unconventional/wrong as it is, WAS working flawlessly
> > for more than 4-5 years
>
> Such setup cannot possibly work and is doomed to break. The same
> partition cannot be used as bios_grub and /boot at the same time. Also,
> I fail to see how Windows could be the culprit unless it messed with the
> partition table itself and merged the two partitions.
>

But how then my system was working for so so many months then?

Sophoklis


boot-info-4ppa203                                              [20221215_0856]

============================== Boot Info Summary ===============================

 => Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector
    2048 of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img can not be found at
    this location.
 => Windows 7/8/10/11/2012 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       BIOS Boot partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       LVM2_member
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/10/11/2012: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 10 or 11
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/10/11/2012: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:
    Boot files:

sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 7
    Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:
    Boot files:



================================ 3 OS detected =================================

OS#1:   Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid  on mapper/sojourn-root
OS#2:   Windows 10 or 11 on sdb1
OS#3:   Windows 7 on sdb3

================================ Host/Hardware =================================

CPU architecture: 64-bit
Video: GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] from NVIDIA Corporation
Live-session OS is Ubuntu 64-bit (Boot-Repair-Disk 64bit 20200604,
bionic, x86_64)

===================================== UEFI =====================================

BIOS/UEFI firmware: 2202    from American Megatrends Inc.
This live-session is in Legacy/BIOS/CSM mode (not in EFI mode).



============================= Drive/Partition Info =============================

Disks info: ____________________________________________________________________

sda    : is-GPT,    hasBIOSboot,    has-noESP,     not-usb,
not-mmc, has-os,    no-wind,    2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sdb    : notGPT,    no-BIOSboot,    has-noESP,     not-usb,
not-mmc, has-os,    has-win,    63 sectors * 512 bytes

Partitions info (1/3): _________________________________________________________

mapper/sojourn-root    : is-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,
nogrub,    nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    not-far
mapper/sojourn-opt    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,
nogrub,    nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    not-far
mapper/sojourn-var    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,
nogrub,    nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    not-far
mapper/sojourn-usr    : no-os,    64, apt-get,    grub-pc ,    grub2,
  grub-install,    no-grubenv,    update-grub,    not-far
mapper/sojourn-home    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,
nogrub,    nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    not-far
mapper/sojourn-tmp    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,
nogrub,    nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    not-far
sdb1    : is-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,    nogrub,
nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    farbios
sdb2    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,    nogrub,
nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    farbios
sdb3    : is-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,    nogrub,
nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    farbios
sdb4    : no-os,    64, nopakmgr,    no-docgrub,    nogrub,
nogrubinstall,    no-grubenv,    noupdategrub,    farbios

Partitions info (2/3): _________________________________________________________

mapper/sojourn-root    : isnotESP,    fstab-without-efi,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
mapper/sojourn-opt    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
mapper/sojourn-var    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
mapper/sojourn-usr    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
mapper/sojourn-home    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
mapper/sojourn-tmp    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,
no-winload,    no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
sdb1    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,    haswinload,
no-recov-nor-hid,    bootmgr,    notwinboot
sdb2    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,    no-winload,
recovery-or-hidden,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
sdb3    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,    haswinload,
no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot
sdb4    : isnotESP,    part-has-no-fstab,    no-nt,    no-winload,
no-recov-nor-hid,    no-bmgr,    notwinboot

Partitions info (3/3): _________________________________________________________

mapper/sojourn-root    : not--sepboot,    no---boot,
fstab-has-bad-boot,    not-sep-usr,    emptyusr,    fstab-has-goodUSR,
   std-grub.d,    sda
mapper/sojourn-opt    : maybesepboot,    no---boot,
part-has-no-fstab,    not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,
  no--grub.d,    sda
mapper/sojourn-var    : maybesepboot,    no---boot,
part-has-no-fstab,    not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,
  no--grub.d,    sda
mapper/sojourn-usr    : maybesepboot,    no---boot,
part-has-no-fstab,    is-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,
 no--grub.d,    sda
mapper/sojourn-home    : maybesepboot,    no---boot,
part-has-no-fstab,    not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,
  no--grub.d,    sda
mapper/sojourn-tmp    : maybesepboot,    no---boot,
part-has-no-fstab,    not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,
  no--grub.d,    sda
sdb1    : not--sepboot,    no---boot,    part-has-no-fstab,
not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,    no--grub.d,    sdb
sdb2    : not--sepboot,    no---boot,    part-has-no-fstab,
not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,    no--grub.d,    sdb
sdb3    : not--sepboot,    no---boot,    part-has-no-fstab,
not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,    no--grub.d,    sdb
sdb4    : not--sepboot,    no---boot,    part-has-no-fstab,
not-sep-usr,    no---usr,    part-has-no-fstab,    no--grub.d,    sdb

fdisk -l (filtered): ___________________________________________________________

Disk sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk identifier: CAB4E45D-5A0D-4348-8655-D29BF75A1436
         Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
sda1      2048    4196351    4194304     2G BIOS boot
sda2   4196352   37750783   33554432    16G Linux swap
sda3  37750784 1953525134 1915774351 913.5G Linux LVM
Disk sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x0f500f50
      Boot      Start        End   Sectors   Size Id Type
sdb1               63  594544785 594544723 283.5G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sdb2        594546688  595593215   1046528   511M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
sdb3        595595264 1577062399 981467136   468G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sdb4       1577062400 1953519615 376457216 179.5G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk mapper/sojourn-root: 59.6 GiB, 63996690432 bytes, 124993536 sectors
Disk mapper/sojourn-opt: 14.9 GiB, 15997075456 bytes, 31244288 sectors
Disk mapper/sojourn-var: 29.8 GiB, 31998345216 bytes, 62496768 sectors
Disk mapper/sojourn-usr: 83.3 GiB, 89397395456 bytes, 174604288 sectors
Disk mapper/sojourn-home: 698.5 GiB, 750000275456 bytes, 1464844288 sectors
Disk mapper/sojourn-tmp: 7.5 GiB, 7998537728 bytes, 15622144 sectors
Disk zram0: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram1: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram2: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram3: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram4: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram5: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram6: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors
Disk zram7: 1000.6 MiB, 1049145344 bytes, 256139 sectors

parted -lm (filtered): _________________________________________________________

sda:1000GB:scsi:512:4096:gpt:ATA WDC WD1003FZEX-0:;
1:1049kB:2149MB:2147MB:ext4::bios_grub, legacy_boot;
2:2149MB:19.3GB:17.2GB:linux-swap(v1)::;
3:19.3GB:1000GB:981GB:::lvm;
sdb:1000GB:scsi:512:4096:msdos:ATA WDC WD1003FZEX-0:;
1:32.3kB:304GB:304GB:ntfs::;
2:304GB:305GB:536MB:ntfs::diag;
3:305GB:807GB:503GB:ntfs::;
4:807GB:1000GB:193GB:ntfs::;
mapper/sojourn-home:750GB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:750GB:750GB:ext4::;
mapper/sojourn-opt:16.0GB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:16.0GB:16.0GB:ext4::;
mapper/sojourn-usr:89.4GB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:89.4GB:89.4GB:ext4::;
mapper/sojourn-root:64.0GB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:64.0GB:64.0GB:ext4::;
mapper/sojourn-var:32.0GB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:32.0GB:32.0GB:ext4::;
mapper/sojourn-tmp:7999MB:dm:512:4096:loop:Linux device-mapper (linear):;
1:0.00B:7999MB:7999MB:ext4::;

blkid (filtered): ______________________________________________________________

NAME                               FSTYPE      UUID
               PARTUUID                             LABEL
    PARTLABEL
sda
├─sda1                             ext4
52a151cd-0ad7-4455-b445-cfe72d775605
05f43beb-995b-4403-afcd-196ac65dd92f
├─sda2                             swap
0db1134f-95d7-44fe-97ce-89f2c8cd8580
92ff0bc9-b888-4a3f-8813-0f37e3285e55
└─sda3                             LVM2_member
r5SeiQ-qLvN-3EUz-c3U3-ekHs-jVF1-Wz4495
7c1a4ec9-d7c2-4de6-ab9f-ce1259575123
  ├─sojourn-root                   ext4
a7b88e0d-6cfc-4e4c-9974-9559b95f7549
  ├─sojourn-opt                    ext4
25f4431a-2bb9-4748-91b5-bb8df3539307
  ├─sojourn-var                    ext4
fab72757-7313-4a17-aab6-a0bdd398b4b6
  ├─sojourn-usr                    ext4
cab5e308-4cc9-4628-bff3-0f626c00904d
  ├─sojourn-home                   ext4
e2d525bd-ba0c-47aa-a581-be59c81acc1e
  └─sojourn-tmp                    ext4
0f904333-24f9-4bab-8e39-11bfe418ab8e
sdb
├─sdb1                             ntfs        0C36529A3652851C
               0f500f50-01                          Win10x64
├─sdb2                             ntfs        E84099B4409989C8
               0f500f50-02
├─sdb3                             ntfs        069A618B9A6177D7
               0f500f50-03                          Win7x64
└─sdb4                             ntfs        248E6FBD8E6F85E0
               0f500f50-04                          Fileyard

Mount points (filtered): _______________________________________________________

                                            Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/sojourn-home                     4.4G  94%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-home
/dev/mapper/sojourn-opt                     10.1G  25%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-opt
/dev/mapper/sojourn-root                    54.7G   1%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-root
/dev/mapper/sojourn-tmp                      6.8G   0%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-tmp
/dev/mapper/sojourn-usr                      5.1G  89%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-usr
/dev/mapper/sojourn-var                    460.6M  93%
/mnt/boot-sav/mapper/sojourn-var
/dev/sdb1                                    1.5G  99% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb1
/dev/sdb2                                   86.5M  83% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb2
/dev/sdb3                                     12G  97% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb3
/dev/sdb4                                    1.8G  99% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb4

Mount options (filtered): ______________________________________________________


============================== ls -R /dev/mapper/ ==============================

/dev/mapper:
control
sojourn-home
sojourn-opt
sojourn-root
sojourn-tmp
sojourn-usr
sojourn-var

================================= User choice ==================================

Is there RAID on this computer? no


==================== blkid (filtered) before lvm activation ====================

/dev/mapper/sojourn-root: UUID="a7b88e0d-6cfc-4e4c-9974-9559b95f7549"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/sojourn-opt: UUID="25f4431a-2bb9-4748-91b5-bb8df3539307" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/sojourn-var: UUID="fab72757-7313-4a17-aab6-a0bdd398b4b6" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/sojourn-usr: UUID="cab5e308-4cc9-4628-bff3-0f626c00904d" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/sojourn-home: UUID="e2d525bd-ba0c-47aa-a581-be59c81acc1e"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/sojourn-tmp: UUID="0f904333-24f9-4bab-8e39-11bfe418ab8e" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda1: UUID="52a151cd-0ad7-4455-b445-cfe72d775605" TYPE="ext4"
PARTUUID="05f43beb-995b-4403-afcd-196ac65dd92f"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Win10x64" UUID="0C36529A3652851C" TYPE="ntfs"
PARTUUID="0f500f50-01"
/dev/sdb2: UUID="E84099B4409989C8" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="0f500f50-02"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="Win7x64" UUID="069A618B9A6177D7" TYPE="ntfs"
PARTUUID="0f500f50-03"
/dev/sdb4: LABEL="Fileyard" UUID="248E6FBD8E6F85E0" TYPE="ntfs"
PARTUUID="0f500f50-04"
/dev/sr1: UUID="2020-06-13-00-42-55-00" LABEL="Boot-Repair-Disk 64bit"
TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="2c534026" PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda2: UUID="0db1134f-95d7-44fe-97ce-89f2c8cd8580" TYPE="swap"
PARTUUID="92ff0bc9-b888-4a3f-8813-0f37e3285e55"
/dev/sda3: UUID="r5SeiQ-qLvN-3EUz-c3U3-ekHs-jVF1-Wz4495"
TYPE="LVM2_member" PARTUUID="7c1a4ec9-d7c2-4de6-ab9f-ce1259575123"
/dev/zram0: UUID="cf2deab1-1336-4cc8-a861-608f3a0e5de7" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram1: UUID="260006dc-91c3-40ed-847d-1ca0c355adfc" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram2: UUID="20cef79a-5c8d-4be2-a4a7-11c19ba7fac6" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram3: UUID="fb5fc639-182d-48f5-ae1f-5757e268c847" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram4: UUID="b18b15a6-8edb-4d27-b25d-82cae7cac536" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram5: UUID="f43c8cfd-0de2-4040-92f3-dbf9afb6a982" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram6: UUID="86ce5f81-1b16-44d8-807a-19adad1eada4" TYPE="swap"
/dev/zram7: UUID="a6fc3e21-8cd0-44d3-90a8-de025ee32c56" TYPE="swap"


================================ LVM activation ================================

modprobe dm-mod
vgscan --mknodes
  Reading volume groups from cache.
  Found volume group "sojourn" using metadata type lvm2
vgchange -ay
  6 logical volume(s) in volume group "sojourn" now active
lvscan
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/root' [59.60 GiB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/opt' [<14.90 GiB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/var' [29.80 GiB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/usr' [<83.26 GiB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/home' [698.49 GiB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/sojourn/tmp' [<7.45 GiB] inherit
blkid -g



Suggested repair: ______________________________________________________________

The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility would purge (in order to
enable-lvm) and reinstall the grub2 of
mapper/sojourn-root into the MBR of sda,
using the following options:  kernel-purge mapper/sojourn-usr/usr
Grub-efi would not be selected by default because no ESP detected.
Additional repair would be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s win-legacy-basic-fix

Final advice in case of suggested repair: ______________________________________

Please do not forget to make your BIOS boot on sda (ATA WDC WD1003FZEX-0) disk!