IBM Support

LPAR fails to boot after inoperative logical partition migration

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Abstract

During an inactive logical partition migration (LPM), the logical partition (LPAR) might successfully migrate to the target system but fail to boot afterward. The boot failure happens due to GRUB2-related errors. This issue occurs only on systems that are configured with a logical memory block (LMB) size of 256 MB or smaller. Systems that use larger LMB sizes, such as 1 GB or more, are not affected.

Content

Linux Releases Affected

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, Service Pack 7

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16

IBM Systems Affected

IBM POWER9, Power10, and Power11 systems.

Symptoms

error: ../../grub-core/script/lexer.c:352:out of memory.
error: ../../grub-core/script/lexer.c:352:syntax error.
error: ../../grub-core/script/lexer.c:352:Incorrect command.
error: ../../grub-core/script/lexer.c:352:syntax error.
 
Press any key to continue...
 
  Failed to boot both default and fallback entries.
 
Press any key to continue...

Workaround

To resolve the boot failure, you can take the following actions:

After you observe the boot errors:

1. Press any key to continue.

2. Select Advanced options.

3. Select the default kernel and proceed with a normal boot.

If the earlier process does not resolve the issue, reboot the LPAR and use one of the following methods during boot to enter the OF (open firmware) prompt (use whichever is applicable):

1. OF prompt by pressing 8 during the boot operation.

   Command: set-defaults

Or

2. Restricted OF prompt by pressing 9 during the boot operation. 

   Command : SET_NVRAM_DEFAULTS

Reboot the LPAR after running the above command.

Fix Outlook and SUSE bug number

Fix will be provided in the next Maintweb builds.

SUSE Bug: 1254299

I/O device impacted (if any)

N/A

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Document Information

Modified date:
18 February 2026

UID

ibm17260165