grub2 error : out of disk

Question

I recently install ArchBang on a machine with Ubuntu and XP. I ran update-grub from Ubuntu and it found the new install and created an entry. However, when I try to boot it, I get:

error: out of disk
error: you need to load kernel first

I've tried several things, including adding a new entry in 40_custom, but nothing changes. Here are the entries I have: default found by update-grub

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "ArchBang Linux (on /dev/sda4)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos4)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 75f96b44-3a8f-4727-9959-d669b9244f2a
    linux /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda4 rootfstype=ext4 ro xorg=vesa quiet nomodeset swapon
    initrd /boot/kernel26.img
}
menuentry "ArchBang Linux Fallback (on /dev/sda4)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos4)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 75f96b44-3a8f-4727-9959-d669b9244f2a
    linux /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda4 rootfstype=ext4 ro xorg=vesa quiet nomodeset swapon
    initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

custom entry in 40_custom based on various ideas found on the internets

menuentry "ArchBang Linux (on /dev/sda4)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos4)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 75f96b44-3a8f-4727-9959-d669b9244f2a
    linux /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/75f96b44-3a8f-4727-9959-d669b9244f2a rootfstype=ext4 ro xorg=vesa quiet nomodeset swapon
    initrd /boot/kernel26.img
}

I think the problem has something to do with the sda4 not being mounted at boot-time...

Thanks in advance for you help,

Sam

Answer 1

I figured out the problem. It was a BIOS / big disk problem. The computer in question is a Dell Inspiron 6000 from 2005. It came with a 40gb disk, which I replaced with a 160gb disk. The Archbang partition started at about 90gb in, and apparently this caused the problem.

After successfully booting with a SuperGrub2 disk using the "Enable PATA" option, I found on their site that you could reinstall grub with the ATA module and it now works fine, though I find that the boot up time is longer :(

So if anyone encounters this problem on an older machine with a large disk, this could help you overcome it :)

First try booting with SuperGrub2 with the Enable PATA option. If that works, then, from a working linux install, reinstall grub like this:

grub-install --disk-module=ata