Error 17 Message Fix

Ha, Jesse, the line: • At the desktop, open Firefox and navigate to . is not finished. What is it going to be? frank

Not sure about the script, however what I did to fix this issue was to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and change all of the (hd0,0) into (hd0,2).

Here is full info of this bug, including the script Jesse mentioned: http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/GRUB_error_17_after_kernel_update Basically, the script just converts all the (hd0,0) into (hd0,2) in your /boot/grub/menu.lst.

I can concur with this fix. I just received my E1505N today, and downloading the new kernel update (among 50 total updates) triggered this error.

Booting via a Knoppix disc, I was able to see that all the boot options in GRUB's menu.lst were set to (hd0,0), but the /boot partition is on sda2. Hand-editing the boot line at boot, changing (hd0,0) to (hd0,2) allowed it to boot up, and then I was able to "sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst" and correct the four or five (hd0,0) references at the bottom of the file where the boot menu options are actually listed.

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weibullguy wrote: The boot fix is OK, but a script (fix-menu-lst.sh) to accomplish one little sed?

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Because the typical Dell customer would become apoplectic if asked to run that command. Just running a script at the command line gives them cold sweats.

Why does Dell need to have such a convoluted method for fixing this problem? The boot fix is OK, but a script (fix-menu-lst.sh) to accomplish one little sed?

sed -i 's@(hd0,0)@(hd0,2)@g' /boot/grub/grub.conf

Seems a little more involved than it needs to be.

since this is a persistent problem, suggest you also modify GRUB boot menu timeout from 3 to 10 seconds. At /boot/grub/menu.lst, change "timeout 3" to "timeout 10" to permit more time for user to catch the correct entry to edit for boot.

Can the changes be applied before updating the kernel, or is it the update that causes the problem?

Message Edited by pjarvi on 06-13-2007 12:28 PM

I have not yet done any update of the software or kernel on my 1505N, but am thinking about it. After having read the exchanges about the Error 17 message and the fix, my question is:

If a person such as myself has NOT updated their system, It seems to me that one could just edit the "menu.lst" file before you update anything. Wouldn't this prevent the error? Examining the original unmodified factory-supplied file menu.lst, I see the string hd0,0 in lines 40, 73, and 74 (shown below) but that's all (line numbers added).

39 # title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
40 # root (hd0,0)

72 ## default grub root device
73 ## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
74 # groot=(hd0,0)

Being new to Linux, maybe there is something I am missing here. Besides this issue, the computer is working great. Very pleased with the Ubuntu so far.

Thanks

Those lines you show are commented out (by the # sign at the beginning of the line), and are therefore not actually executed by the boot loader. Those are not related to this problem, other than the fact that once you perform the kernel update, the lines you'll want to correct will have that same "(hd0,0)" in them, though those lines will NOT begin with "#".

I'm pretty sure the kernel update process ADDS new lines to the menu.lst file, and it's those new lines that need their "(hd0,0)" corrected to become "(hd0,2)". So, no, changing the lines before you do the update won't prevent the problem.

What I suggest doing before the update is to change the "default" timeout value ( look for a line that starts with "default" but does NOT start with "#" ) to something like 30 or higher, to give you a good number of seconds to see the boot menu choices before the computer picks the default choice and starts trying to boot. That way, after you do the kernel update, you'll have an easier time of reading the instructions on the boot screen that tell you how to select a choice and "edit" that choice (change hd0,0 to hd0,2), because that's the only way you'll be able to boot the computer up. Once you have it booted, you can update the menu.lst file, which will fix the boot issue for good.

Thanks for this information. I am thinking you should be able to fix this before the error 17 message happens by doing this:

1) Do the kernel update
2) Immediately edit the menu.lst file (before rebooting)
3) reboot the computer (system would then use the edited menu.lst made in step 2)

Comment?

Thanks

You are quite right... I obviously had case of tunnel vision, focusing too tightly on the "edit menu.lst before kernel update" idea that it didn't occur to me to just edit the menu.lst after the kernel update but before the first reboot.

Your method is actually the ideal plan, and should probably remain in everyone's "toolbox" as something they should plan to do for each and every kernel update going forward.

Thanks for the smack to my forehead, I needed it ;)

I did the kernel update, restarted, and everything was fine. I didn't have to change anything. I'm guessing Dell must have fixed the problem already on the system they sent me. My laptop was shipped from Nevada on the 11th, hopefully others are receiving systems with a fix already implemented as well.

Yep, it's fixed... hooray!

frank