How to make sure that grub does use menu.lst?

Posted by Glen S. Dalton on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Glen S. Dalton
Published on 2010-03-19T15:11:01Z Indexed on 2010/03/19 15:21 UTC
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On my Ubuntu 9.04 ("Karmic") laptop I suspect grub does not use the /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

What happens on boot is that I see a blank screen and nothing happens. When I press ESC I see a boot list which is different from what I would expect from the menu.lst file. The menu lines are different and when I choose the first entry it does not use the kernel options that are in the first entry in menu.lst.

Where do the entries that grub uses come from? How can I find out what happens, is there a log? I could not find anything in /var/log/syslog or /var/log/dmesg about grub using a menu.lst.

How can I set it to work like expected? Some Files:

$ sudo ls -la /boot/grub/*lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1558 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/command.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  121 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/fs.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  272 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/handler.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4576 2010-03-19 11:26 /boot/grub/menu.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1657 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/moddep.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   62 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/partmap.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   22 2009-12-12 15:25 /boot/grub/parttool.lst

$ sudo ls -la /vm*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2009-12-12 16:15 /vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2009-12-12 14:07 /vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic

$ sudo ls -la /init*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2009-12-12 16:15 /initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2009-12-12 14:07 /initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic

The only menu.lst that I found:

$ sudo find / -name "menu.lst"
/boot/grub/menu.lst
$ sudo cat  /boot/grub/menu.lst

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default  0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout  3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret


# examples
#
# title  Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root  (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title  Linux
# root  (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro



# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below
## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=9b454298-18e1-43f7-a5bc-f56e7ed5f9c6 ro noresume

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=70fcd2b0-0ee0-4fe6-9acb-322ef74c1cdf

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
## defoptions=quiet splash
# defoptions=apm=on acpi=off

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
##      indomU=true
##      indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title  Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-14-generic noresume
uuid  70fcd2b0-0ee0-4fe6-9acb-322ef74c1cdf
kernel  /vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=9b454298-18e1-43f7-a5bc-f56e7ed5f9c6 ro quiet
 splash apm=on acpi=off noresume 
initrd  /initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic

title  Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)
uuid  70fcd2b0-0ee0-4fe6-9acb-322ef74c1cdf
kernel  /vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=9b454298-18e1-43f7-a5bc-f56e7ed5f9c6 ro  sing
le
initrd  /initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic

title  Ubuntu 9.10, memtest86+
uuid  70fcd2b0-0ee0-4fe6-9acb-322ef74c1cdf
kernel  /memtest86+.bin

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

These are the choices that grub displays after i press ESC:

Ubuntu, Linux 2-6-31-16-generic
Ubuntu, Linux 2-6-31-16-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu, Linux 2-6-31-14-generic
Ubuntu, Linux 2-6-31-14-generic (recovery mode)
Memory test (memtest86+)
Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)

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