For anyone watching this bug, the easy fix here for 12.10 and later (we intend to backport to 12.04) is: echo GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=0 | sudo tee -a /etc/default/grub sudo update-grub
the 'update-grub' is necessary to make the change take affect, and also to avoid a config-file prompt on grub upgrade. ** Description changed: Binary package hint: grub2 My experience is that $recordfail is not always written successfully, which is by default tested in grub.cfg (through grub.d/00_header) This causes grub2 to set timeout=-1 which removes the timeout for bootup in these cases. On computers which have not been configured for "USB Legacy" in the BIOS but use USB keyboards, this looks as if grub has frozen - because the keyboard does not respond. The consequence is that the computer won't boot without either knowledge on how to configure BIOS (and what) or using a PS/2 keyboard (not always available or possible to plugin). My suggestion is that Ubuntu recognizes $recordfail but instead of disabling timeout (-1) it should be set to a relatively high value (such as 10 seconds). This will be enough to alert the user on what option is booting, and that the computer hasn't frozen, as well as enabling false/known failures to be ignored. Maybe a future addition to recognising $recordfail is to have a warning on the boot menu, but that is outside the scope of this report. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10 Package: grub-pc 1.98+20100804-5ubuntu3 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.35-generic-pae 2.6.35.4 Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic-pae i686 Architecture: i386 Date: Mon Nov 1 15:33:30 2010 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007) ProcEnviron: - LANG=en_US.UTF-8 - SHELL=/bin/bash + LANG=en_US.UTF-8 + SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: grub2 + + Related bugs: + * bug 1035279: instance hangs at grub prompt after reboot followed by euca-reboot-instances + * bug 872244: grub2 recordfail logic prevents headless system from rebooting after power outage -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/669481 Title: Timeout should not be -1 if $recordfail To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/669481/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
