Error During Boot: error: no symbol table

ADDITIONAL Information:

I tried executing sudo update-grub

Does not fix the problem.

Even More Additional Info. I videoed the boot sequence so that I could then get some screen shots from which I could provide more detailed information. Unfortunately, I had a bad case of "shakey Cam" so have not posted the actual video clip - only text copies of the errors observed.

1. The error message "error: no symbol table" (note: without the "press any key to continue" message) actually flashes very briefly (only for 2 frames on a 25 fps video) BEFORE the GRUB2 menu appears, or before GRUB executes, if the menu doesn't appear.

2. If I hold the shift key so that the GRUB menu is forced to appear, and then select [Advanced Options for Ubuntu], and then select the normal Kernel Option (not the Recovery Mode Option), I get a bit more information about this error:

error: no symbol table.
Loading Linux 4.13.0-16-generic ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...

Press any key to continue...

Hopefully, the above to bits of info may enlighten one of the experts as regards exactly where in the boot sequence this error message is occurring.

Are there any bugs reported?

There is a fix here that was done by reinstalling grub to the disk
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1633839

What is the output of:

sudo fdisk -l

Thanks

Thank you for reminding me about this previous bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1633839. I'd forgotten about this particular bug. As you'll note, this old bug report was initially opened by myself when this same problem occurred on another computer when I upgraded from 16.04 to 16.10. As no working solution was arrived at after a week or few, I eventually installed another Distro on that computer to fix the problem, as the computer was needed for an urgent business requirement.

Now the same problem is occurring on a new computer, with a fresh install of 17.10, on a pair of previously unused SDDs.

As requested, the output of fdisk -l is as follows :

sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for royg:
Disk /dev/sda: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x091e565f

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 500117503 500115456 238.5G 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 223.6 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0005ef66

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 78125094 78123047 37.3G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 78129150 468860927 390731778 186.3G 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 457144320 468860927 11716608 5.6G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 78129152 457144319 379015168 180.7G 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order.
royg@System76:~$

/dev/sda is a sata connected ssd, whilst /dev/sdb is msata ssd that is a bit faster.

I chose to install the OS on the faster msata ssd, which is why the OS is installed on /dev/sdb.

But for some unknown reason (probably because that's what the Ubuntu installer defaults to) /dev/sda is the boot disk.

After reviewing Bug #1633839, I tried the fix mentioned in post #21 of that bug. With the OS on /dev/sdb and /dev/sda as the boot disk, the fix at post #21 did not cure the problem.

HOWEVER, I then repeated that fix, this time making /dev/sdb both the OS Disk and the Boot Disk. That FIXED the problem.

Please mark as solved if the issue is resolved