Ubuntu 9.10 Beta doesn't boot from usb-attached hard drive, exits to busybox console

Bug #442679 reported by Daniel
36
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
High
Unassigned
Karmic
Confirmed
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 Beta using IA64 ISO to a external usb-attached hard drive. (System already has a internal hard drive but can't install anything on that one).

Installation process finished alright with default options, using entire hard drive which was correctly recognized during installation.

When I try to boot the system, I get the usual GRUB menu with the correct options (normal boot, failsafe, memtest, etc). However, after choosing the normal boot the system exits to a busybox console giving a similar error message as the one that follows:

---------------------------------------
Boot from (hd0, 4) ext3 682bc0ce-b500-488e-b36e-4bc7ad043776
Starting up...
Loading, please wait...
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
 -Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
   -Check root delay = (did the system wait long enough?)
   -Check root=(did the system wait for the right device?)
 -Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/682bc0ce-b500-488e-b36e-4bc7ad043776 does not exist. Dropping to shell!

Busybox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-2ubuntu7) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
---------------------------------------

Apparently, from dmesg output it only finds one hard drive (sda), which seems to be the internal one. BUT it is capable of reading GRUB menu, so at some point it actually recognizes external hard drive.

Workaroung of adding "rootdelay=90" at grub.cfg (remember it's GRUB2) doesn't work, neither typing "exit" after a few seconds.

Will try to provide "dmesg", "uname -a", "sudo lspci -vvnn" on following updates.

System is a Dell Latitude D630 with Intel Core 2 Duo CPU.

Tags: ubuntu-boot
Revision history for this message
Mansour Behabadi (oxplot) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage . I have classified this bug as a bug in grub2.

affects: ubuntu → grub2 (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Daniel (dchana0) wrote :

Output from uname -a:

Linux (none) 2.6.31-11-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 25 06:37:23 UTC 2009 x86_64 unknown

Output from cat /proc/cmdline:

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=40582bc9-bf74-4000-8ec4-52c1bd2ef634 ro quiet splash rootdelay=90

Output from cat /proc/modules:

nls_iso8859_1 5280 1 - Live 0xffffffffa00a9000
nls_cp437 6976 1 - Live 0xffffffffa00a2000
vfat 13184 1 - Live 0xffffffffa0099000
fat 59832 1 vfat, Live 0xffffffffa0085000
usbhid 43968 0 - Live 0xffffffffa0075000
ohci1394 33780 0 - Live 0xffffffffa0067000
usb_storage 65952 1 - Live 0xffffffffa0051000
ieee1394 100896 1 ohci1394, Live 0xffffffffa0033000
tg3 123748 0 - Live 0xffffffffa000f000
ssb 40944 0 - Live 0xffffffffa0000000

Can't get output of "lspci -vvnn" as it isn't a busybox built-in command.

Please see attached dmesg.log

Revision history for this message
Daniel (dchana0) wrote :

Please see attached "lspci -vvnn" output gotten with the Ubuntu 9.10 Beta Live CD.

Revision history for this message
Daniel (dchana0) wrote :

I've got some interesting news.

I installed Ubuntu 9.04 and then I did a full upgrade to 9.10 development branch. So now I have grub1 instead of grub2 for bootstrapping. Then on menu.lst I have references to two different kernels:

2.6.31-11-generic
2.6.28-11-generic

Well, it happens that if I try to boot with the 2.6.31 the system waits with the message following message:

"Boot from (hd0,0) ext3 f795cdf6-25af-4d66-bb0d-988d9ec1d656
Starting up..."

And then after a few seconds it exits again to busybox.

However, booting with the 2.6.28 kernel is a success, system starts and everything works as expected.

So now I'm considering this as a kernel bug instead of a grub2 bug!!

Revision history for this message
langer_hans (ich1990) wrote :

I can confirm this bug!
I installed the latest build of 9.10 on my external Disk.

But I can boot into Ubuntu, if I replug the drive at the BusyBox Prompt and the type exit.

After adding rootdelay=90 it boots after a while, see my dmesg snapshot of this time.

My Board is a Gigabyte G31M-S2L.
I think this is a kernel Bug since Grub2 loads fine...

Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
István Miklós Antal (djdarkmanx) wrote :

I found this forum link, but didn't find anything helpful http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1272142
None of the mentioned workarounds worked for me.... is there anything I can try to make this work?

Daniel (dchana0)
Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Ubuntu Boot (ubuntu-boot)
Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

Please attach or paste the output from "lsusb" when the USB drive is plugged in and works (e.g. from a live CD).

Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
assignee: Ubuntu Boot (ubuntu-boot) → nobody
affects: grub2 (Ubuntu) → initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
langer_hans (ich1990) wrote :

I'll attach the output of lspci and a part of lspci -v.
The HDD shows as IDE USB Bridge. The drive is a Fujitsu 20GB 2,5"

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu Karmic):
importance: Undecided → High
tags: added: ubuntu-boot
Revision history for this message
Robbie Williamson (robbiew) wrote :

It "looks" like this is kernel related, but we need more data to confirm.

affects: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu Karmic) → linux (Ubuntu Karmic)
Revision history for this message
langer_hans (ich1990) wrote :

I can provide you any data you want. I would really like to have Ubuntu on my external drive!

Revision history for this message
Daniel (dchana0) wrote :

Today I reinstalled Ubuntu 9.04 and everything worked right out of the box. Then I updated system to latest available version (always inside 9.04) and again it worked as expected.

After that I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 and found same problem as described above. I really think this is a kernel-related issue, because I can actually boot with the older kernel (2.6.28-15) but can't with the new one (2.6.31-12).

Please find attached my "lsusb" output.

By the way, thanks everyone for your time! =)

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

langer_hans, please file a new bug report since you have a different disk/bridge.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

Robbie, maybe you can bump the priority on bug 419231 since duplicates are rolling in.

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