Bug#554790: grub-pc: Upgrade fails with "missing symbol grub_zalloc", cannot boot

[Bruce LaZerte]

Package: grub-pc
Version: 1.97~beta3-1
Severity: normal

Installed grub2 and converted to ext4 some time ago (6-9 months?) and then left the PC alone. Just today, 5-Nov-09, did a full upgrade to the current testing
Re-boot failed and I got the above grub error.
Similar to Ubuntu bug  #408699 and Debian #541286 (closed).
Following the Ubuntu instructions to fix it, it was necessary to (re)grub-install to the mbr from a recent System Rescue cd.
I also did an update-grub before, just in case.

Cannot the upgrade process re-run grub-install/setup for the user? Or did I miss something?

Of the five computers that I've installed grub v2 onto, three have had severe, unable-to-boot, problems (#536727, #538381, and now this), and one a minor problem (#553999). And there's #538743, also somewhat minor.
Maybe I'm just running a lot of weird old hardware/software.


-- Package-specific info:

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mounts
/dev/root / ext4 rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
*********************** END /proc/mounts

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/device.map
(hd0)	/dev/sda
(hd1)	/dev/sdb
*********************** END /boot/grub/device.map

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
set default=0
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
    # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
    # understand terminal_output
    terminal gfxterm
  fi
fi
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/moreblue-orbit-grub.png ; then
  set color_normal=black/black
  set color_highlight=magenta/black
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, Linux 2.6.30.2" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30.2 root=/dev/sda1 ro  quiet
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, Linux 2.6.30.2 (recovery mode)" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30.2 root=/dev/sda1 ro single 
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, Linux 2.6.30-1-686" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro  quiet
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-1-686
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, Linux 2.6.30-1-686 (recovery mode)" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5a58e59c-95ba-4792-bbb2-deb9e9613508
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-1-686
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
*********************** END /boot/grub/grub.cfg

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30.2 (PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages grub-pc depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.28       Debian configuration management sy
ii  grub-common                 1.97~beta3-1 GRand Unified Bootloader, version 
ii  libc6                       2.9-25       GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  ucf                         3.0024       Update Configuration File: preserv

grub-pc recommends no packages.

Versions of packages grub-pc suggests:
ii  desktop-base                  5.0.5      common files for the Debian Deskto
ii  genisoimage                   9:1.1.9-1  Creates ISO-9660 CD-ROM filesystem

-- debconf information:
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline:
* grub-pc/linux_cmdline:
* grub2/linux_cmdline:
* grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true
  grub-pc/kopt_extracted: false
* grub-pc/install_devices: /dev/hda
  grub-pc/postrm_purge_boot_grub: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline_default: quiet
* grub2/linux_cmdline_default: quiet