Recovering moved .mod files using grubrescue

Question

I did a dumb thing... I forgot that Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) switched to GRUB 2 which puts a ton of *.mod files (kernel modules) in /boot/grub. I thought they were soundtrack files put there erroneously, and I moved them. Needless to say, the next reboot was traumatic. I was presented with something I had no memory of ever seeing... a 'grub rescue>' prompt.

With the help of Fixing GRUB error: “error: unknown filesystem” however, I was able to recover...

I discovered that GRUB rescue does not have 'cd', 'cp' or any other filesystem commands except its own variation of 'ls'.

So first I had to find the partition with the /boot directory containing vmlinuz file and other boot image files... (approximation from memory of failed attempts, as well as blank lines for clarity, added 2014-07-10 by docsalvage)

grub rescue>  ls  
(hd0,4) (hd0,3) (hd0,2) (hd0,1)  

grub rescue>  ls (hd0,4)/boot
... some kind of 'not found' message

grub rescue>  ls (hd0,3)/boot
... some kind of 'not found' message

grub rescue>  ls (hd0,2)/boot
... grub ... initrd.img-2.6.32-33-generic ... vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic

I found a /boot directory containing the vmlinuz file vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic on partition (hd0,2).
Then I manually booted from the 'grub rescue>' prompt. The following commands will...
- Set the root to use the /boot directory on partition (hd0,2).
- Load kernel module linux.
- Set that module to use the kernel image vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic.
- Set initrd(initialize RAM disk) to use the image initrd.img-2.6.32-33-generic.
- Boot Linux.

grub rescue>  set root=(hd0,2)/boot  
grub rescue>  insmod linux  
grub rescue>  linux (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic root=/dev/sda2
grub rescue>  initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-33-generic  
grub rescue>  boot

This boots and crashes to the BusyBox prompt which DOES have some rudimentary filesystem commands.

Then I moved the *.mod files back to the /boot/grub directory...

busybox>  cd /boot  
busybox>  mv mod/* grub
busybox>  reboot

The reboot was successful, but that was a lot of work.

Is there an easier way?

Boot-Repair would be way easier, in my opinion. Check out one of my multiple answers on Boot-Repair for details on using it. — SirCharlo, Oct 11 '12 at 19:56
The "easiest" way is not always the best way. I strongly disagree with all the comments that suggest using a Live CD; it's really very difficult to boot from a Live CD on systems that don't have a CD/DVD reader. — Simón, Sep 14 '13 at 23:15
ican not locate the partition with the /boot directory.All partitions upon ls command give unknown filesystem output. — Rafed Nole, Jul 09 '14 at 18:36
I've added some details to the "question" above that may help. — DocSalvager, Jul 10 '14 at 10:18
Thanks , Upon ls command I get (hd0) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1) and I have tried /boot with each of them and always it says unknown file system.Please help. — Rafed Nole, Jul 10 '14 at 13:19
Are you sure the first partition is (hd0) and not something like (hd0,0)? I assume the others are MSDOS formatted partitions. Wish I could be of more help. Can anyone else help? I'm getting into the weeds. — DocSalvager, Jul 11 '14 at 13:17
Your post was very helpful for manually booting the kernel and initrd, but my system could not find dev, sys or proc, etc/fstab or sbin/init. That led me to another post, which suggested loading the kernel and setting the root as detailed in the manual boot directions in the grub documentation, eg: grub> linux (hd0,X)/boot/vmlinuz-a.b.c-d-generic root=/dev/sdaX, where X is the partition with /boot, a.b.c-d is the kernel version. Then my system booted fine! Thanks! — Mark Mikofski, Sep 26 '14 at 07:16
in addition to Fixing GRUB error: “error: unknown filesystem” [duplicate] another great link that covers these steps is How to Rescue a Non-booting GRUB 2 on Linux, the grub 2 manual is also very helpful — Mark Mikofski, Sep 26 '14 at 07:40
I have had the same ptoblem, stuck in grub_+rescue when upgrading from Ubuntu 13.10 to 14.04, but the situation is even worse because I do not have the alt gr key, so no slash key. — Claudio Gorodski, Oct 27 '14 at 12:56

score 7 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 07 '13 at 00:38

7

Here are some general and basic instructions to help with boot errors such as GRUB loading stage 1.5 error 15 (e.g. after the installation of Windows on different disk drive) :

Boot with a LiveDVD (e.g., the Ubuntu Desktop disk).
Open a terminal, and re-write the grub configuration using these commands:
- sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt
- sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdX

Where /dev/sdX is the disk where Ubuntu is installed, and /dev/sdXY is the partition on the disk where Ubuntu is installed. In other words, /dev/sdXY contains /boot and so on.

Use fdisk -l to verify the Ubuntu installation location.

edited Aug 07 '13 at 00:38

belacqua

23,120

answered Dec 03 '12 at 08:25

lamas

79

Did not work. Perhaps if the directions were more specific, it would have worked. – Tim Stewart Jun 04 '13 at 18:36
When I had a grub2 problem on a machine without cd drive I was able to recover by using my Gparted Live usb memory stick drive. I booted into Gparted live. THEN I started a terminal and typed fdisk -l (that's letter ell, not number 1) The output from that let me identify the partition which had the root partition and from there I followed the excellent instructions above and I was soon happily dual booting again. – Vic Mar 03 '14 at 21:45

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 08 '12 at 17:11

5

No. I think you pretty much found the easiest way to recover from the state of your system using grub rescue; it is a very minimalistic system giving just enough capability to boot the system.

BTW, I believe you must have found the .mod files and executed insmod linux or the linux command would have failed.

The only other way, as mentioned, would be to boot a Live CD and reinstall grub2 after chroot'ing to the 'broken' system.

answered Oct 08 '12 at 17:11

StarNamer

2,847

You're absolutely right! I forgot that I'd done that. Added to my original post above for future reference.
I need to be more disciplined in keeping careful notes in these situations. Please advise if further edits are needed.
– DocSalvager Oct 10 '12 at 05:11
I also had to specify root when loading the kernel as in the grub docs eg grub> linux (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic root=/dev/sda2 – Mark Mikofski Sep 26 '14 at 07:19
Also note, if you found the .mod files, you can restore „grub rescue” to fully-featured GRUB:
`# Inspect the current prefix (and other preset variables): set

Find out which devices are available:

ls

Set to the correct value, which might be something like this:

set prefix=(hd0,1)/grub set root=(hd0,1) insmod normal normal`

Source: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/GRUB-only-offers-a-rescue-shell.html
– MegaBrutal Jan 20 '15 at 19:24

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 08 '12 at 17:53

4

Boot into Live CD
Open Terminal (CTRL+ALT+T)
Enter the following commands:

sudo fdisk -l

And find your Ubuntu partition (should be /dev/sda1 if it is the first partition)

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys

sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc

sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev

sudo chroot /mnt

Now reinstall Grub2

sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub2

edited Oct 08 '12 at 17:53

answered Oct 08 '12 at 15:02

nastys

5,427
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2

Is this a better way better than sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt and sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda && sudo update-grub? – Oct 08 '12 at 17:28

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 07 '13 at 00:45

I had the same problem when I upgraded my system.

I suggest the following simple steps:

Boot your system with ubuntu live CD or live USB.
Open the terminal and run the command sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
Then install boot repair by running the command sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
Launch the boot repair after installing. For example, from the menu, use System->Administration->Boot-Repair (Ubuntu 10.04 only) and follow the instructions.

It may take 15-20 min to figure out the problem and to fix it.

For more help go to the link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 08 '12 at 17:41

0

You could boot live CD, mount your hard drive, open nautilus as root and copy those files to /boot.

answered Oct 08 '12 at 17:41

nastys

5,427
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Recovering moved .mod files using grubrescue

5 Answers5

Find out which devices are available:

Set to the correct value, which might be something like this:

Linked

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