Grub2Testing

Revision 468 as of 2009-10-30 04:03:25

Clear message

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 2006 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 that 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

Note: If you do this from Jaunty YOUR MACHINE WILL NOT BOOT. Read the instructions about changing "root" to "uuid" below.

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 USB disk available should you be unable to boot following the installation.

How to Install grub2

sudo apt-get install grub-pc

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, allowing one to chain load grub2 and test to see if grub2 works on one's 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 was a bug in the grub2 installer (LP#376879) where it modifies the existing grub configuration incorrectly. If you experience this problem, 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

NOTE: Make sure that you hit the space bar to select /dev/sda when it asks you the location where grub needs to be installed. If you hit enter on this screen it will not install grub on /dev/sda and your system will not boot.

If you messed up

If you did hit enter, and now your grub reports an error boot, you need to boot the system using a USB Key or LiveCD. On my laptop root is on /dev/sda2 and /boot is on /dev/sda1, you can find this out by doing

$sudo fdisk -l

mount each to see which /dev/sda has what. Once you done that you need to mount your root 1st, in my case /dev/sda2

$sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

if you ls your /mnt you should see /boot, /dev, /home etc from your HDD. Now mount your /boot in my case it is on a separate partition called /dev/sda1

$sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Next you need to bind mount all your devices from USB to the HDD...

$sudo mount --bind /dev/ /mnt/dev

chroot into your HDD system and fix things...

$sudo chroot /mnt

now you can run the command grub-install again to install grub to your /dev/sda

$sudo grub-install /dev/sda
$sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

Hit CTRL+D to get out of the chroot, unmount dirs in LIFO order, /mnt/dev, /mnt/boot and /mnt. reboot the system and you are good to go!

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:

bunzip2 bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img.bz2
  • Insert a 4GB or larger USB pen drive into your machine
  • Copy the image to the drive. If it appears as block device /dev/sdz, do the following:

sudo dd if=bootable-grub2-2.5GB.img of=/dev/sdz

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.

Editing

nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg   ### Do not edit directly. See /etc/grub.d/

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?)

Abit IT7 homebuilt

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty + Windows XP SP3

No

Abaco Primo

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Acer Aspire 3055

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Acer Aspire 3680

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Acer Aspire 4530-5627

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic + Windows 7 (pre RC)

Acer Aspire 4520

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Vista

Acer Aspire 5050

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Jaunty

Acer Aspire 5022

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows XP

No

Acer Aspire 5024

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows XP

No

Acer Aspire 5051

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows XP

No

Acer Aspire 5515

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows 7RC

No

Acer Aspire 5520

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows XP

No

Acer Aspire 5672

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows XP

No

Acer Aspire 5735

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows 7RC

Acer Aspire 5737Z

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows 7RC

Acer Aspire 5738ZG (GeForce G105M)

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows Vista

No

Acer Aspire 5920 (Intel GM965 Graphics)

PASS

PASS

ext4 (ext3 for /boot)

Hardy + Jaunty(with 2.6.30 kernel) + Windows XP + Fedora 11

Root on LVM

Acer Aspire 5920

PASS

PASS 1

ext4

Ubuntu Jaunty, Windows Vista

Acer Aspire 5930G

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty, Windows Vista

Acer Aspire 6930G

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows Vista

Acer Aspire One

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Windows 7 + Haiku

Acer Aspire One

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows 7 + Moblin2

Acer Aspire One D150

PASS

PASS

ext3

yes (encrypted)

Acer Extensa 5220

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Acer Extensa 5620Z

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows XP

Acer Extensa 5630Z

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Acer Ferrari 3400

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + WinXP

No

Acer TravelMate 3260

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows 7 + Fedora 11

No

Acer TravelMate 6292

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows Vista + Karmic

No

Acer TravelMate 8471

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Windows Vista

No

Acer TravelMate 8106wlmi

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows 7

No

Apple Macbook 1.1

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Apple Macbook 2.1

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Apple Macbook 3.1

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

OSX + Karmic + Windows 7

Apple Macbook 4.1

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Apple Macbook 5.1

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

Karmic alpha 2 + Windows 7 but NOT OSX 2 3

No

Apple MacbookPro 4.1

PASS

PASS

ext3

No (MacOS-X with Refit, not GRUB)

Apple MacbookPro 5.1

PASS

PASS

ext4

No (MacOS-X with Refit, not GRUB)

Asrock 775 Dual VSTA home built

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Asrock P45TS

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows Vista

No

Asus A6Ja

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty

No

Asus A6K

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + WinXP Home

No

Asus A7V8X-X

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic

No

Asus A8N-E

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic

No

Asus A8N-VM CSM

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows Vista

No

Asus A8Sc

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Gentoo

No

Asus A8js

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows XP

No

Asus EEE-PC 900

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Asus EEE-PC 900A

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Recovery

Asus EEE-PC 1000

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Asus EEE-PC 1000H

PASS

PASS

ext3

jaunty + recovery

Asus EEE-PC 1000H

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Asus EEE-PC 1000H

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Jaunty + Fedora 11

No

Asus EEE-PC 1000HE

PASS

PASS

ext3

jaunty + winXP + Win recovery

Asus EEE-PC 1005HA

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Asus EEE-PC 1005HA

PASS

PASS

xfs

Karmic + WinXP

No

Asus F3Jc

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows XP

No

Asus F9F

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Win Vista

NO

Asus F5SL

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Win Vista + Win recovery

NO

Asus M2A-VM

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty

LVM

Asus M2NPV-VM

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty64 Jaunty32 Hardy

No

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext3 (ext2 for /boot)

No, only Jaunty

No

Asus M4A78T-E

Untested

Pass

ext4

Karmic x64 + Vista x64

No

Asus M4N82 Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Vista x64 (XP 64 failed to boot)

LVM

Asus M51SN

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows 7

NO

Asus N10J

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic, Jaunty, Vista

NO

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Asus P5B

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic

No

Asus P5B

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty 64bit, Windows 7 RC 64 bit

No

Asus P5B-Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext3, ext4

Jaunty 64bit, Windows 7 RC 64 bit

LVM

Asus P5B-Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic 64bit, Windows 7 RTM 64 bit, windows XP

NO

Asus P5GD2-Basic

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, XP

No

Asus P5LD2

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic, Windows Vista

 Asus P5K

 PASS

 PASS

 ext3 mounted as ext4

 Karmic, XP

 encrypted root

Asus P5K-E

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

Jaunty

No

Asus P5K-E Wifi-AP

PASS

PASS

ext3

Koala + Windows XP

No

Asus P5N-E SLI

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty, Intrepid, Debian Lenny, Windows XP

No

Asus P5Q-E (AHCI) Intel Q955

PASS

UNTESTED

jfs

Jaunty, Win7 RC

No

Asus P5Q Deluxe

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Karmic + Win7 RC

Asus P5WDG2 WS pro

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Karmic + Win7 RC

Asus P6T Deluxe V2

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Asus Z7000 (Notebook)

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Asus Z8PE-D12X Board

PASS

PASS

ext4/2TB+

UNTESTED

UNTESTED

BenQ Joybook 5000

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty + WinXP

No

Compal JHL90

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty + Arch

No

Compaq Deskpro EN SFF 667

PASS

PASS

reiserfs

No, Jaunty 9.04 Server

No

Compaq FL90

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + WinXP

HP Compaq dc7100

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Debian

HP Compaq dc7800

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes. Karmic Koala and Windows 7 RC

Compaq Presario 2158

PARTIAL

PARTIAL4

ext4

Yes, Jaunty+Windows

No

Compaq Presario C700

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Windows 7 RC

Compaq Presario CQ50

PASS

PASS

ext4

vista

Compaq Presario CQ60

PASS

PASS

ext3

vista

Compaq Presario F700

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Compaq Presario F761US

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Compaq Presario SR1000

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Compaq Presario SR1135CL

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows XP

No

Compaq Presario SR1940IL

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Compaq Presario SR2129

PASS

PASS5

ext4

Vista + Recovery + Karmic

No

Compaq Presario V2000

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + WinXp

Compaq Presario V5120

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + WinXP

Dell Dimension E520n

PASS

PASS

ext3

9.04 + other Linux + no MSWin

Dell Dimension 1100

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Dimension 3100C

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

No

Dell Dimension 4550

PASS

PASS

ext3

9.10 beta + XP

Dell Dimension 4600i

PASS

PASS

ext4

9.04 and WinXP SP3

Dell Dimension 8200

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Yes, MD RAID 1

Dell Dimension 8400

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + XP

Dell Inspiron 510M

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows 7 RC (labeled Vista)

No

Dell Inspiron 530

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 530s with extra hard disk (BIOS boots from /dev/sdb)

PASS

FAIL6/RECOVERED

ext4

Karmic + Vista

No

Dell Inspiron 535

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 1420

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 1420

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Dell Inspiron 1501

PASS

PASS

ext4

jaunty + karmic + vista

Dell Inspiron 1520

PASS

PASS

ext3

karmic + Windows 7

Dell Inspiron 1521

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Vista

Dell Inspiron 1525

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 1525

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

No 7

Dell Inspiron 1545

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 1720

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

kub-jaun + stud-jaun

No LVM

Dell Inspiron 5000

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell Inspiron 6400

PASS

PASS

ext3

Vista

Dell Inspiron 6400

PASS

PASS

ext4

Win7

Dell Inspiron 640m

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Inspiron 8600

PASS

UNTESTED

ext3

No

Yes LVM

Dell Inspiron 8600

PASS

PASS

ext3 (ext2 for /boot)

Jaunty + Windows XP

Dell Inspiron 9300

PASS

PASS

ext3

Grub1 from Puppy Linux in MBR, Grub2 in partition boot record, Grub2 also boots WinXP (untested)

Yes LVM

Dell Inspiron 9400

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows XP

No

Dell Inspiron e1405

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Win 7

No

Dell Mini 9

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Mini 10

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Mini 10v

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Latitude C610

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Windows 7

No

Dell Latitude C640

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell Latitude D430

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + WindowsXP

No

Dell Latitude D600

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + WindowsXP

No

Dell Latitude D610

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + WindowsXP

No

Dell Latitude D620

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + WindowsXP

No

Dell Latitude D630

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic + Windows7

No

Dell Latitude D630

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + WindowsXP

No

Dell Latitude D820

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Dell Latitude D820

PARTIAL8

PARTIAL8

ext4

Jaunty + OpenSolaris 2009/06 + Win XP + OSX86

No

Dell Latitude E4300

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell Latitude E5500

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes: XP/NTFS + Linux/JFS

No

Dell Latitude E6400

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes: Karmic + Vista

Dell Latitude E6500

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Dell Latitude E6500

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell M1330

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Dell XPS Gen 5 lshw

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Dell XPS M1210

PASS

PASS

ext4 (/boot = ext3)

No

No

Dell XPS M1330

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Dell XPS M1530

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

LVM

Dell XPS M1530

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Windows Vista

MD

Dell XPS M1730

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes: Windows XP Pro, Jaunty

Manual Setup

Dell XPS M170

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic Koala, Windows XP Media Center

No(manual setup)

Dell Optiplex 740

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, XP

Dell Optiplex 760

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Optiplex GX270

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Optiplex GX270

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes

Dell Optiplex GX620

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell Precision 390n

PASS

UNTESTED

ext3

No

Yes, LVM

Dell Precision 530 MT (hwdb)

PASS

PASS9

ext3

Yes, win2k, hardy (jaunty partition is chainloaded from hardy's grub)

No

Dell Precision M90

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes (Jaunty/Karmic)

No

Dell Precision T3400

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Dell Precision T3400

UNTESTED

FAILED TO INSTALL

ext3

YES

dmraid 0

Dell Precision T7500n

PASS

PASS

ext4

NO

NO

Dell Studio 1535

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Studio 1536

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + WinXP

No

Dell Studio 1537

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Studio 1537

PASS

PASS

ext2

Jaunty + Windows Vista

Dell Studio 1537

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + Windows Vista

Dell Studio 14xx

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Studio 1735

PASS

PASS 10

ext4

No

No

Dell Studio 540

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic + Windows 7

No

Dell Studio XPS 1340

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Studio XPS 1340

PASS

PASS

ext4

Dell Recovery, Vista, Jaunty

No

Dell Studio XPS 16xx

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Dell Studio Studio Slim

FAIL

PASS (albeit installed on other drive than expected)

ext4

YES, ludicrous setup, Vista and Fedora and Ubuntu between two drives, /boot for Ubuntu on the opposite drive

Lots of LVM

Dell Vostro 1500

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

No

Dell Vostro 1710

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

7xLinux, Vista

No

Dell Vostro 1720

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic, Vista

No

Dell Vostro 2200

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Dell XPS M1330

PASS

PASS

ext4

Vista

No

Dell XPS M1530

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

DNUK Deskcube D500 amd64

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty upgraded to Karmic

md=Raid1 The upgrades to grub-1.97~beta4-1ubuntu2 and dmraid-1.0.0.rc15-11ubuntu3 fixed this double fail for me.

DNUK Deskcube D500 amd64

n/a

PASS

ext4

Karmic beta install

None

eMachines ET1161-03

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Vista

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505

PASS

PASS

ext3 (reiserfs on /boot)

Jaunty + Windows Vista

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Pi1505

PASS

PASS

ext4

Karmic, XP

?

Fujitsu-Siemens Pi2515

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Pa3553

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes. Jaunty and Windows Vista

Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo V5505

PASS

PASS

ext3, ext4

Yes Jaunty/Solaris/MacOS X 10.6

Encrypted LVM, LVM

Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo p5600

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes. Jaunty/WinXP SP3

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Xa 3530

PASS

PASS

ext3, ext4

Jaunty, Karmic + Windows 7

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Xi 2428

PASS

PASS

reiserfs (ext2 for /boot)

Windows XP

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V3505

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, Debian Lenny

No

Fujitsu Lifebook E8210

PASS

PASS

ext4

Windows XP

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook P7010

PASS

PASS

ext3

Windows XP + Karmic

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook S7010

PASS

PASS

ext3

Windows XP

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook T4215

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

No

Fujitsu-Siemens Scenic D1214

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Gateway ML6720

PASS

PASS

EXT4 (EXT2 for /boot)

Windows XP + Karmic

No

Gigabyte Nforce4 SLI GA-K8N Pro-SLI

PASS

PASS

ext4

Windows XP

Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty and Windows 7 RC

No

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty and WindowsXP

No

Gigabyte AMD 790GX MA790GP-DS4H

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

HP 530

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes. Jaunty and Windows 7 RC

No

HP Compaq Evo N800v

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

HP Compaq 6710b

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty + Windows 7 RC

No

HP Compaq 6730b

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

No

HP Compaq 6820s

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes. Jaunty and Windows 7 RC1

No

HP Compaq 8510p

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes. Jaunty and Windows XP

HP Compaq 8710p

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

HP Compaq tc4200

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty + XP

No

HP Compaq nc6320

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

HP Compaq nc6120

PASS

UNTESTED

ext3

Jaunty and Windows XP

No

HP Compaq nw8440

UNTESTED

PASS11

ext2,ext3,ext4,reiser

Jaunty, Xp and a custom Finnix

Yes, cryptsetup LUKS

HP Compaq nx6325

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes. Jaunty and Windows XP

No

HP Compaq nx7300

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

HP Laptop 6910p

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes. Jaunty and Jaunty

HP Laptop 8730w

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes. Jaunty and Windows XP

HP DV4T

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

HP DV5 1153EO

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

HP DV6000t CTO

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Windows 7 Beta, 8.04 Hardy on other partition

No

HP DV6809wm

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes: Jaunty & Vista

HP DX2200 Microtower

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

HP Pavilion a6040.nl (GC523AA)

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Vista

No

HP Mini (1035NR)

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

HP Mini (2133)

PASS

PASS

ext3, ext4

Yes: Karmic, Jaunty, Vista, XP

No

HP Pavilion D4595.se

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes : 64-bit Jaunty, 32-bit Windows Server 2008 and Vista Business

12

No

HP Pavilion dv6607nr

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

HP Pavilion dv6635el

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty and Windows Vista

No

HP Pavilion dv6653eo

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic and Windows Vista

No

HP Pavlion dv9398

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes : 64-bit Jaunty, 32-bit Vista Business

12

No

HP Pavilion 9700

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Vista

No

HP Pavilion a6040.nl (GC523AA)

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Vista

No

HP Pavilion tx2690eo, lshw, dmesg

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

HP Proliant DL380 Servers with cciss controller

FAIL

FAIL

ext3

No

No

Due to the following debian bugs in grub-mkdevicemap #479056 #479735 in Hardy (1.96+20080203-1ubuntu2)

HP SlimLine s3315.fr

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

HP SlimLine s3315.fr

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes : Jaunty / Vista

No

HP TX1000 GA647UA

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty, Vista

No

HP TX1350et

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic Alpha2, Windows 7 RC

IBM Netfinity 5600

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Root on LVM

IBM NetVista A40

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

IBM Thinkcentre A50

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

iDeq N1 SFF system (nForce4 C51 Ge6100/410), lshw

LILO13

PASS14

ext3

Yes, karmic + hardy

LVM

Intel Core 2 DP35DP self-build (Intel BIOS)

PASS

FAIL

ext4

Yes - 9.04 & Windows XP

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 D945GNT

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Intel D915PCY

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, with Jaunty and Win7 RC

Intel DG965WH (DIY)

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, Windows XP

No

Intel DP45SG

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, Vista, Windows 7 RC

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 DQ35JO

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

root on LVM on md RAID1

Intel BOXDQ45CB

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, Win7

No

Intel D975XBX2

PASS

PASS

ext3

Koala

No

Kohjinsha SC3WB06GH

FAIL15

PASS

ext3

Vista + Recovery + Jaunty + Hardy

No

Kohjinsha SH6WP10A

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo 3000 N100 (0768)

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo 3000 N100 (0768)

PASS

PASS

ext4

Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)16

Lenovo 3000 N200

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Lenovo 3000 V100

Untested

PASS

ext3

No

Lenovo G530

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo Ideapad S10

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Lenovo Ideapad Y530

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo R61

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty + Win Vista

No

Lenovo R61i

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty + Win Vista

No

Lenovo T43p

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic + Win Vista

No

Lenovo T60

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty + WinXP Pro

Lenovo T61

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Lenovo T61

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo T61

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

No

encrypted LVM

Lenovo T61

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

Yes, Jaunty, Windows Xp

Lenovo T61, BIOS 7LETB0WW/2.10 (mdz)

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Lenovo T61p

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo T400

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Lenovo T400

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic, Windows XP

No

Lenovo R500

PASS

PASS

ext3

Triple, Karmic + Vista +OSX86

No

Lenovo T500

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty, Windows XP

No

Lenovo T500

PASS

PASS

ext4

No, Karmik

No

Lenovo W500

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Lenovo X200

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Lenovo X200s

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

Karmic, Jaunty, Squeeze

root (and /boot) on LVM

Lenovo X200s

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty

No

Lenovo X301

PASS

PASS

ext4

Jaunty

No

LG S1 Express Dual

PASS

PASS

ReiserFS 3

Yes, Karmic, Windows XP

Medion MD96640

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic, Vista

No

Micron TREK2 (PIII on Intel440 chipset)

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Root on LVM

MSI EX600 laptop Intel core2duo on PM965 chipset

PASS

PASS

ext4

no, karmic

no

MSI K8MM-V (Sempron 64-bit, VIA K8M800-CE, socket 754)

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Windows XP

no

MSI K9NGM2-FID AM2 3800+

PASS

PASS

ext4

NO

NO

MSI P35 Platinum

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic.a1 + Jaunty

MSI Wind U100

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Intrepid, Jaunty

root on LVM

MSI Wind U100

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Karmic, XP

no

MSI Wind U100

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic, XP

no

MSI Wind U100

PASS

PASS 17

ext4

Yes, Jaunty, XP, Windows 7 (RC), OS X 10.5.5

no

MSI Wind U90x

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty, SLES 10

no

MSI Wind nettop PC 100 (hwdb)

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, jaunty + 2nd jaunty

root on LVM

Nexoc Osiris S615 II

PASS

PASS

ext3

-

NO

Novatech Nomad (rebranded Uniwill M30EI0)

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

root on LVM

PackardBell EasyNote MX52b

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty, Vista SE

?

PackardBell EasyNote MX36

PASS

PASS

ext3

Karmic Koala, Vista SE

no

PackardBell iStart 2380

PASS

PASS

ext3

Windows XP

PackardBell iDesign 7155

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes (Jaunty, XP)

No

Parallels Desktop 4.0.3844 for Mac

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

?

Point of View mobii NB9010

UNTESTED

PASS

xfs (/boot = ext3)

Karmic UNR & WinXP

No

Samsung N110

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty UNR, Windows XP, Windows Recovery

No

Samsung NC10

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty UNR, Windows XP Home,

No

Samsung X65

PASS

PASS

reiserfs

No

No

Sapphire PE-AM2RS690HD motherboard c/w AMD 3800+

PASS

PASS9

ext4

No

No

Self-built, lshw, dmesg

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Self-built [Hew], lshw, dmesg

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Self-built, I7 920-Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P

PASS

PASS

ext4 and ext3

YES/NO - 5 linux installs-wrong ID attached to some installs

Self-built, lshw, dmesg

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty and Windows Vista

No

Self-built, lshw

PASS

PASS

ext3

NO

NO

Self-built, lshw

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Jaunty & Windows 2000 18

NO

Self-built, Abit IC7 mobo

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Self-built, ASUS A7V8X-X mobo

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty and Windows XP

No

Self-built, ASUS A8N-SLI mobo

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Self-built, ASUS M2N-E

PASS

PASS

ext4

vista

Self built, ASUS P5K mobo

PASS

PASS

ext4

Yes, Karmic, Windows 7RC

No

Self-built, Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3 mobo

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4 (/boot: ext3)

YES: Jaunty / Windows XP

No

Self-built, Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H mobo

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4 (/boot: ext4)

No

Yes (root: on LVM over RAID10 MD; boot: on RAID1 MD)

Self-built, MSI K9A2 CF mobo

PASS

PASS

ext3

Yes, Jaunty and Windows XP

No

Self-built, MSI K8Neo4 lshw

PASS

PASS

ext4

Windows XP , Ubuntu Jaunty

No

Self-built, MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R, lshw

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Shuttle SG33 (hwdb entry)

PASS

PASS

ext3

yes, hardy and intrepid

No

Sony Vaio PCG-6N1M

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Sony Vaio VGN-FE31H

PASS

PASS

ext3 and ext4

Yes : jaunty(ext3) + karmic(ext4)

--

Sony Vaio VGN-FW21J

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

Yes : karmic(amd64)(ext3) + windows7(64bit) + notebook recovery partition(32bit)

--

Sony Vaio VGN-NS11M

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Sony Vaio VGN-T140P

PASS

PASS

ext4

No: Karmic only

--

Sony Vaio VGN-TZ27GN

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty and XP

--

Thinkpad I1400

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad T23, lshw, dmesg

PASS

PASS

ext3, later ext4

No

No

Thinkpad T30

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad T42P

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad X301

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad R50e

PASS

PASS

ext4 and ext3

Jaunty, Jaunty and Windows XP

No

Thinkpad R51

PASS

PASS

ext3 (Karmic)

No

Thinkpad R51

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

lvm

Thinkpad R61

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4 (Karmic)

No

Thinkpad R61

PASS

PASS

ext4 (Karmic)

No

Thinkpad T60

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad T60

UNTESTED

PASS

ext4

Root on LVM

Thinkpad T60

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Thinkpad X31

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad X40

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Thinkpad X60

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Thinkpad X61

PASS

PASS

ext3

Factory Vista repair/rescue, WinXP

Thinkpad X61T

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Thinkpad X61s

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04

No

Thinkpad X300

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Thinkpad Z61m

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

LVM

Toshiba A215-S4697

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Toshiba L40-14G

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty and Vista

Toshiba nb100-12a

PASS

PASS

ext4

karmic+xp

No

Toshiba NB205-N210

PASS

PASS

ext3

Jaunty, Karmic, & XP

No

Toshiba p10-832

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Toshiba Portege M400

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

Toshiba Portege R600

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

Jaunty and Windows XP

No

Toshiba Satellite 2455-S305

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

No

Toshiba Satellite M60-126

PASS

PASS

ext3

Windows XP, Karmic

No

Toshiba U200

PASS

PASS

ext3

Windows XP

No

Toshiba U400

PASS

PASS

ext3 (ext2 for /boot)

Windows Vista

No

Toshiba Tecra A9 Tecra A9

PASS

PASS

reiserfs

Yes (Jaunty+Vista))

No

Toshiba Tecra M7

PASS

PASS

ext4

Windows 7 and Jaunty

No

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

ext2

No

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

ext3

Vista

VirtualBox

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

Yes

VirtualBox

UNTESTED

PASS for Karmic (both), but FAIL for WinXP (booting starts but crashes after 1 second)

ext4

Windows XP 32 bit (disk1), Karmic 64 bit (disk2), Karmic 32 bit (disk3)

NO

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

jfs

No

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

reiserfs

No

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

xfs

No

VirtualBox

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

VirtualBox

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

No

VirtualBox 64 bit

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

VMWare ESX 3.5

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

root on LVM

VMWare ESXi 3.5

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

no

VMWare ESXi 4.0

PASS

PASS

ext3

No

no

VMWare Fusion 2.0.4

PASS

PASS

ext4

No 19

No

VMWare Workstation 6.5

UNTESTED

PASS

ext3

No

XBook Eruptio DL70 (Compal)

PASS

PASS

ext4

No

No

Xps1710

PASS

UNTESTED

ext4

No

Zepto Znote 6214W

PASS

PASS

ext4

XP, Win 7 RC

No

Comments

(AlexeyBalmashnov) Shall there be note on how to put into table Do-It-Yourself system? Like, name it "DIY, MB Producer, MB Model" (Example: DIY Intel DG965WH); Since MB seems to be the most relevant piece of information here?

(Tim Miller Dyck) As of the grub2 package in Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4 (1.96+20090725-1ubuntu2), Grub2 does not support booting from software RAID devices with metadata 1.0 or later superblocks. Only the default metadata 0.9 works (see http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-raid@vger.kernel.org/msg09618.html).


CategoryBootAndPartition CategoryHardware CategoryBootAndPartition

  1. Screen drawing UNUSABLY slow (NV8600M GT). 2secs for scrolling cmdline. GRUB_TERMINAL=console fixes it (1)

  2. not really a problem because of refit we only need to boot linux (2)

  3. Also tested native efi using refit to load grub.efi. followed the instructions in the grub2 wiki under testingOnEfi and testingOnMacbook. Works great, although you need to put grub on the osx partition for it to work. (3)

  4. In both cases (chainloaded or native, GRUB 2 menu loads, but it's impossible to select which menu entry to boot. Cursor is stuck, can't be moved across the entries (4)

  5. Needed to use "sudo grub-install /dev/sdb" to preventLP #385021 (5)

  6. after booting an Ubuntu CD, selecting "Boot from first hard drive", then going to rescue mode and running "grub-install /dev/sdb" this works again (6)

  7. Using Karmic + Vista (7)

  8. Grub2 couldn't figure out how to boot OSX86, and os-prober failed to detect opensolaris (8 9)

  9. Inadvertantly, the original groot was a chainloaded partition, but the upgrade script didn't honor that (10 11)

  10. but console scrolling is very slow - GPU is a Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (12)

  11. heavily modified Grub2, recently synced with 1.96+20090725-1ubuntu1, works flawlessly; console scrolling is very slow on 1280*800 and higher (13)

  12. Upgraded from Jaunty without having to change «root» to «uuid» as per the instructions above. Edited GRUB2 menu (removed superfluous entries) after upgrading by following instructions in the GRUB2 Wiki. (14 15)

  13. installed on partition boot sector, chainloaded from LILO (boot files not on LVM for this test.) One entry has kernel command line extracted incorrectly from lilo.conf: LP: #392315, otherwise PASS. (16)

  14. LP: #392315, again, otherwise OK, boot files on LVM this time (17)

  15. Booting with standalone Grub Legacy fails, hence chainloading also fails (18)

  16. After fresh install the entry for Windows XP wasn't displayed (also the one for the vista installation that comes with the laptop). However, after running sudo update-grub2 the entries showed on the next reboot. See LP: #402795 for more details. (19)

  17. apart from these: 376879, 386789, 216178 and 388135 (20)

  18. Only worked with Karmic's grub2 (becuase of lack of devicemap in jaunty), and I had to put in the 'devicemap' command, it wasn't done by os-prober (21)

  19. Using a normal intrepid install and thus grub-legacy i used to be able to boot into the same filesytem natively and in vmware fusion on my macbook. However with grub2 installed it cannot find its config or modules either in vmware or native depending in wich environment dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc was runned last. So I can now boot only one of the two. (22)