Grub2Testing
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|| Thinkpad R51 || UNTESTED || PASS || ext3 (Karmic) || No || | || Thinkpad R51 || PASS || PASS || ext3 (Karmic) || No || |
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|| Toshiba A215-S4697 || PASS || PASS || ext4 || No || No || |
There is a desire always to ship the latest and greatest of any product; boot loaders included. However upgrading a bootloader is at best frightening and risky. The primary bootloader for x86 platforms is currently grub. That however has not been updated since about 1996 and is getting long in the tooth. It also does not support newer BIOS forms like EFI and it never will.
There is a replacement for grub, which has been claiming to be the replacement for it for some years (about 6 at least), grub2. Switching to this would bring support for newer systems, internationalisation, updates and bug fixes etc.
So it's clear we would like to switch the default bootloader to grub2. It makes sense, it's the way forward, why do we not just do it? Well, does grub2 support every single machine out there? All those odd broken machines that grub supports? We do not know. That's where this page comes in.
Testing grub2
If you are running Jaunty Jackalope or later, grub2 can be installed in parallel with, and as a chainloaded sub-bootloader of, your existing grub installation. This allows you to boot actually with grub and then select grub2 from the menu. Then you can confirm grub2 works correctly before electing to switch to it formally.
Even if you are only able to test in chainloaded mode that would give us some information as to the viability of grub2.
Before you Test
Though it is unlikely you will have any issues we would always recommend taking precautions before attempting a bootloader update. It is recommended that you have an up to date backup of your system before attempting this (you have backups right?). It is also recommended that you have a bootable CD or a bootable memory stick available should you be unable to boot following the installation.
How to Install grub2
sudo apt-get install grub2
At the first prompt, select OK. Next, at the "Chainload from menu.lst" prompt answer "Yes". And at the "Linux command line:" prompt just press the Enter key.
This will install grub2 and modify the existing grub boot loader menu allow one to chain load grub2 to allow one to test to see if grub2 works on your machine. At this stage, the original grub is still the main boot loader and keeps the original boot menu items.
Note: In Jaunty (but not Karmic), there is currently a bug in the grub2 installer (LP#376879) where it modifies the existing grub configuration incorrectly. At the "Chainload into Grub 2" menu item, press 'e' to edit the configuration. Press 'e' a second time to edit the top boot line and change:
root xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
to:
uuid xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
and press the Enter key after editing this line. Then press 'b' to chainload and boot grub2.
Note: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx is your partition UUID number.
If one can boot from grub2 successfully, one can then install grub2 onto the system as the main boot loader using the command:
sudo upgrade-from-grub-legacy
Alternative Test
If you do not want to install grub2 on your machine but you do want to see if it works with your BIOS, an alternative test is as follows:
Download the bzip2 compressed image bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img.bz2 from http://people.ubuntu.com/~cking/grub2-boot-tests/bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img.bz2
- Uncompress it:
bunzip2 bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img.bz2
- Insert a 4GB or larger USB pen drive into your machine
- Copy the image to the drive (assuming it appears as block device /dev/sdb, do the following):
sudo dd if=bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img of=/dev/sdb
WARNING: Make sure you are writing to the correct block device before proceeding!
- Boot your machine with this image. If it boots OK, add your hardware to the list below. Note: This image boots from an ext3 partition.
Results
(Please add your machine in the correct alphabetical order)
NOTE: if you only test chainloaded, put UNTESTED in the native column.
Machine |
Chainloaded |
Native |
Root Filesystem |
Dual Boot |
Root on LVM and/or MD (which?) |
Acer Aspire 4530-5627 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
Yes, Karmic + Windows 7 (pre RC) |
|
Acer Aspire One |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Asus EEE 1000HE |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
jaunty + winXP + Win recovery |
|
Compaq Presario CQ60 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
vista |
|
Compaq Presario SR1000 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 530 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 535 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 1420 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 1525 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 1545 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Inspiron 6400 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
Vista |
|
Dell Mini 9 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Mini 10 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Mini 10v |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Latitude C640 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
No |
Dell Latitude E6400 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell M1330 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Optiplex |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Studio 1535 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Studio 1537 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell XPS M1530 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Studio 14xx |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Studio XPS 1340 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Dell Studio XPS 16xx |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
HP 530 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
Yes. Jaunty and Windows 7 RC |
No |
HP Compaq nc6320 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
HP DV6000t CTO |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
Yes, Windows 7 Beta, 8.04 Hardy on other partition |
No |
Intel Quad Core self-build (AMI BIOS) [lana] |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
|
Intel Quad Core self-build (AMI BIOS) [chloe] |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
|
Intel Core 2 Quad self-build (based on a ASUS P5K) [kalon33] |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
Yes, with Win7 RC, Jaunty and Karmic alpha |
|
Intel DQ35JO |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
root on LVM on md RAID1 |
Lenovo 3000 N200 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Lenovo 3000 V100 |
Untested |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Lenovo Ideapad S10 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Lenovo T61 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Lenovo T61 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
|
Lenovo X200 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
No |
|
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
No |
|
Sony Vaio VGN-FE31H |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 and ext4 |
Yes : jaunty(ext3) + karmic(ext4) |
-- |
Toshiba Tecra A9 Tecra A9 |
PASS |
PASS |
reiserfs |
Yes (Jaunty+Vista)) |
No |
Thinkpad T23 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
No |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
No |
|
Thinkpad T30 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Thinkpad T42P |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Thinkpad X301 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Thinkpad R51 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 (Karmic) |
No |
|
Thinkpad R61 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext4 (Karmic) |
No |
|
Thinkpad T60 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Thinkpad X61 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
Factory Vista repair/rescue, WinXP |
|
Thinkpad X61T |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Thinkpad X300 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
No |
Toshiba U400 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 (ext2 for /boot) |
Yes |
No |
Toshiba A215-S4697 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
No |
PASS |
PASS |
ext2 |
No |
||
PASS |
PASS |
ext3 |
Vista |
||
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
Yes |
|
PASS |
PASS |
jfs |
No |
||
PASS |
PASS |
reiserfs |
No |
||
PASS |
PASS |
xfs |
No |
||
VMWare Fusion 2.0.4 |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
No |
No |
VMWare Workstation 6.5 |
UNTESTED |
PASS |
ext3 |
No |
|
Xps1710 |
PASS |
UNTESTED |
ext4 |
No |
|
Zepto Znote 6214W |
PASS |
PASS |
ext4 |
XP, Win 7 RC |
No |
KernelTeam/Grub2Testing (last edited 2010-07-21 12:55:26 by 193)