SOLVED linux mint won't boot

[mrsteve0924]

so i installed linux mint on a secondary hard dirve. other hard drive was windows 7 but i disconnected it before installing MInt. didnt want to mess with bootloaders and the like...

installed fine, i was messing around with it all day and then decided to make the linux drive the first OS drive in the boot order in bios.

after i did that it wouldnt boot up. just hung with a black screen and a blinking cursor.


so after a bunch of trial and error i figured out that the system did not like when i moved that storage only HDD out of the second spot in the boot order.

so the order before i installed linux was

DVD drive
HDD
win 7


after installing linux...and this is the boot order that didnt work
dvd drive
linux
win7
HDD

When i moved the HDD back to the second spot linux booted up no problem
dvd drive
hdd
linux
win7


now dont ask why i ever had that storage HDD in the second spot. my bios seems to always move stuff around. i figured it was harmless enough to leave it there.

i dont know of any reason for this behavior. the only thing i can figure is when installed linux that HDD was in the second spot in the boot order and somehow now linux expects it to be there.

 

[Stratus_ss]

i dont know of any reason for this behavior. the only thing i can figure is when installed linux that HDD was in the second spot in the boot order and somehow now linux expects it to be there.

It could be, that's an easy thing to debug

post your /etc/fstab and your /boot/grub/grub.cfg in code tags

 

[mrsteve0924]

It could be, that's an easy thing to debug

post your /etc/fstab and your /boot/grub/grub.cfg in code tags

there was nothing in the fstab folder

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd3,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=30
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=hidden
    set timeout=0
  # Fallback hidden-timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  elif sleep --interruptible 0 ; then
    set timeout=0
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
	set gfxpayload="${1}"
	if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
		set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
	else
		set vt_handoff=
	fi
}
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
  if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
        set linux_gfx_mode=keep
      else
        set linux_gfx_mode=text
      fi
    else
      set linux_gfx_mode=text
    fi
  else
    set linux_gfx_mode=keep
  fi
else
  set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2' {
	recordfail
	load_video
	gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd3,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	fi
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-32-generic root=UUID=d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2 ro  quiet splash $vt_handoff
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2' {
	menuentry 'Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit, with Linux 3.19.0-32-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.19.0-32-generic-advanced-d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2' {
		recordfail
		load_video
		gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
		insmod gzio
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd3,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.19.0-32-generic ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-32-generic root=UUID=d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2 ro  quiet splash $vt_handoff
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic
	}
	menuentry 'Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit, with Linux 3.19.0-32-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.19.0-32-generic-recovery-d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2' {
		recordfail
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd3,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.19.0-32-generic ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-32-generic root=UUID=d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2 ro recovery nomodeset 
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+)' {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd3,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	fi
	knetbsd	/boot/memtest86+.elf
}
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)' {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd3,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd3,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd3,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci3,msdos1  d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2
	fi
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

 

[knoober]

there was nothing in the fstab folder

there has to be an fstab or your system wouldnt boot (I think). How did you try to view it?

 sudo nano /etc/fstab

sudo vi /etc/fstab

 sudo gedit /etc/fstab

all are valid ways of accessing the fstab configuration file from command line (depending on what utilities come with Mint- one of these will be there and will work). If you try to see it through the GUI my guess is that it may be a "hidden" file.

 

[mrsteve0924]

all are valid ways of accessing the fstab configuration file from command line (depending on what utilities come with Mint- one of these will be there and will work). If you try to see it through the GUI my guess is that it may be a "hidden" file.

ah yes i did use the gui. i will use command line and repost. thanks

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sdd1 during installation
UUID=d137c9c1-cef0-439b-89f9-9153f7074ca2 /               ext4    errors=remoun$
# swap was on /dev/sdd5 during installation
UUID=ddc26837-d484-468e-a255-0aa821742fff none            swap    sw           $

 

[knoober]

Fstab looks find to my eyes, but I could be wrong I also am not proficient at reading the brub file you posted.

But when you boot: does GRUB load and give you a choice of which OS to boot into? When you said

didnt want to mess with bootloaders and the like...

I wonder if you skipped GRUB installation ? Im glad you found the fstab though, it has been one of the most important files Ive had to work with in any linux system

 

[mrsteve0924]

Fstab looks find to my eyes, but I could be wrong I also am not proficient at reading the brub file you posted.

But when you boot: does GRUB load and give you a choice of which OS to boot into? When you said I wonder if you skipped GRUB installation ? Im glad you found the fstab though, it has been one of the most important files Ive had to work with in any linux system

no. no grub. no choice. i purposely disconnected the drive with windows before installing linux so i wouldnt have to mess with choosing. i just bring up the boot devices manually if i need to boot into another OS.

 

[Stratus_ss]

no. no grub. no choice. i purposely disconnected the drive with windows before installing linux so i wouldnt have to mess with choosing. i just bring up the boot devices manually if i need to boot into another OS.

Grub is installed, it just hides itself if Linux is the only OS. If you hold SHIFT while booting grub will unhide itself. If you can bring up the grub menu when you have switched your drive order we can start doing some debugging from there

 

[mrsteve0924]

Grub is installed, it just hides itself if Linux is the only OS. If you hold SHIFT while booting grub will unhide itself. If you can bring up the grub menu when you have switched your drive order we can start doing some debugging from there

ah. ok. so i should arrange the boot order back to the way it is when it doesnt boot, hold the shift key and see what it brings up?

 

[Stratus_ss]

ah. ok. so i should arrange the boot order back to the way it is when it doesnt boot, hold the shift key and see what it brings up?

Ya that helps to narrow down what is causing you problems

 

[mrsteve0924]

well i re-arranged the boot order, hit the shift key repeated;y while booting and nothing. no grub. just hangs. grub does come up though when i have the boot order that works, but i guess that is expected.

 

[Stratus_ss]

It almost sounds like changing the order in the bios is not selecting the right drive. The reason I think this is because grub should error out in the event that it has a problem.

What happens is the bios is supposed to read the first sector of the hard drive which has the bootloader. Once the bootloader is loaded it then tries to run its config. Its usually at this point that it will throw an error if there is a problem with drives, or finding the /etc/fstab. Since this isn't happening, it points to the fact that either:

A) something weird is happening in your bios and it actually isn't selecting the correct drive
B) some other hardware issue because you have established that given a different boot sequence grub loads

Sometimes different bios will not throw an error if it cannot find a bootloader (in the olden days it would throw "no operating system found"), this is what it really sounds like to me.

Now that I am typing this, I wonder, did you have your HDD unplugged when you did the linux install? The symptoms almost sound as if the bootloader was installed on the wrong hard drive

 

[mrsteve0924]

Now that I am typing this, I wonder, did you have your HDD unplugged when you did the linux install? The symptoms almost sound as if the bootloader was installed on the wrong hard drive

yes i did leave the HDD plugged in. didnt think i needed to disconnect it since there was no OS on it. maybe i can poke around with EasyBCD or something? im sure there is a terminal command for that

*EDIT*
well i have been searching google and came across instructions to check out /etc/default/grub file and /etc/grub.d/ but looks these are above my pay-grade.

**EDIT**
so found something something called grub-customizer. nice GUI, I do see an entry for a windows 7 OS, but don't know enough to change anything.

 

[mrsteve0924]

*UPDATE* so on a whim i manually brought up the boot menu options. i selected the storage HDD and system booted into linux. so i guess that HDD has GRUB on it. strange, i then opened gparted and i do see a boot flag showing on the HDD and no boot flag on the linux drive.

so how do i fix this? can it be fixed ?

 

[Stratus_ss]

*UPDATE* so on a whim i manually brought up the boot menu options. i selected the storage HDD and system booted into linux. so i guess that HDD has GRUB on it. strange, i then opened gparted and i do see a boot flag showing on the HDD and no boot flag on the linux drive.

so how do i fix this? can it be fixed ?

yup its pretty easy. Boot into linux, and type mount

Look for your root partition like so:

stratus@stratus-desktop /tmp  $ mount
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
dev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=16440724k,nr_inodes=4110181,mode=755)
run on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
/dev/sdb5 on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,discard,data=ordered)

There is a lot more than this that will show up. In my case it's sdb. So then I would do something like

sudo grub-install /dev/sdb

That should be all you need, reboot and select the linux drive

 

[mrsteve0924]

There is a lot more than this that will show up. In my case it's sdb. So then I would do something like

sudo grub-install /dev/sdb

That should be all you need, reboot and select the linux drive

nice. that did it. thanks for the help!

 

[Stratus_ss]

Excellent. You should maked this as [SOLVED]