[Boot-Repair] Graphical tool to repair the PC boot in one click

[lucio2]

Grub fails after upgrade from 13.10 to 14.04. I get an endless loop of the bios splash and grub is not starting.
Pressing <escape> stop the loop and shows a bios menu (not grub!) where I see the label "ubuntu" which I can select and boot the system apparently without going through grub.
The disk is GPT, with an EFI partition mounted as /boot/efi. The system is indeed succesfully booting EFI, as confirmed by dmesg |grep "efi\|EFI" and existence of /sys/firmware/efi.

Purging grub and reinstalling did not help. I installed boot-repair from Saucy but it did not fix the problem, here the pastebin output. Apparently the BIOS is supporting EFI booting but there must be something wrong in the grub configuration I got after the update to 14.04. Since my knowledge of grub and efi business is quite limited, it might well be something very basic.

Right now I have only Ubuntu running, but still I would like to keep EFI instead of Legacy mode.
The laptop is a Samsung 900X3A, bios version 08HL (11/17/2012)

[oldfred]

@lucio2
You also have grub installed to the protective MBR for BIOS boot as well as the efi partition for UEFI boot. Make sure system is set for UEFI boot and ubuntu entry is first in boot order.
The BIOS boot may be the old version of grub and is causing issues?

I have seen others where it says an error but it works and your install looks ok and seems to boot.
It does look like you have the signed kernels, so should be able to boot with secure boot on. Have you tried both with secure boot on and with it off?

[lucio2]

@lucio2
You also have grub installed to the protective MBR for BIOS boot as well as the efi partition for UEFI boot. Make sure system is set for UEFI boot and ubuntu entry is first in boot order.
The BIOS boot may be the old version of grub and is causing issues?

I have seen others where it says an error but it works and your install looks ok and seems to boot.
It does look like you have the signed kernels, so should be able to boot with secure boot on. Have you tried both with secure boot on and with it off?

@oldfred thanks for your reply.

In the BIOS boot sequence ubuntu is the first and the BIOS is setup to boot EFI (not legacy) and is indeed booting in EFI mode. Concerning Secure EFI, from the output of efibootmgr it seems I have secure boot setup (\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi). Also from dmesg I read BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic.efi.signed. Although I realize only now that "uname -a" says 3.13.0-24-generic instead of 3.13.0-24-generic.efi.signed. Not sure if this is normal. Is there a way to check if it is booting Secure or not ?

There is nothing obvious about Secure EFI in the BIOS, except an entry for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with could be related to Secure EFI. There are several options I tried (Disabled, Enabled/Disactivated, Enabled/Activated) but I always get the bootloop of the BIOS splash.

Should I remove grub from the protective MBR and leave only the one in the EFI partition ? How ?
BTW, dmesg report an error quite early in the boot sequence:
[ 1.106010] fb: conflicting fb hw usage inteldrmfb vs EFI VGA - removing generic driver
do you believe this has anything to do with the issue here ?

Thanks again.

[oldfred]

@lucio2
You could remove grub from MBR, but it is a bit risky as you have to use dd to write 0's.
Powerful command, but often misused and then nicknamed "dd" Data Destroyer
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ommand-362506/


I have not seen it done on a gpt drive, this is for MBR, but the protective MBR in gpt should be the same.
Backup the MBR to mbr.bin file e.g.
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=446 count=1

Zero out MBR only of sda Use 440 if windows as serial number is between 440 & 446. (I think only BIOS)
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

In the protective MBR, you want to leave the single partition table entry that says drive is gpt partitioned. That is so old partition tools like fdisk see drive has gpt partition and do not attempt to reformat it without at least asking.

It seems like the error is before, grub or at least before grub starts loading kernel. But becuase you only have one system installed you do not normally get grub menu. If you press escape which usually works with UEFI , or perhaps hold shift key do you get grub menu?

Last error seems related to video. What video card/chip?

[lucio2]

@lucio2
You could remove grub from MBR, but it is a bit risky as you have to use dd to write 0's.
Powerful command, but often misused and then nicknamed "dd" Data Destroyer
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ommand-362506/


I have not seen it done on a gpt drive, this is for MBR, but the protective MBR in gpt should be the same.
Backup the MBR to mbr.bin file e.g.
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=446 count=1

Zero out MBR only of sda Use 440 if windows as serial number is between 440 & 446. (I think only BIOS)
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

In the protective MBR, you want to leave the single partition table entry that says drive is gpt partitioned. That is so old partition tools like fdisk see drive has gpt partition and do not attempt to reformat it without at least asking.

It seems like the error is before, grub or at least before grub starts loading kernel. But becuase you only have one system installed you do not normally get grub menu. If you press escape which usually works with UEFI , or perhaps hold shift key do you get grub menu?

Last error seems related to video. What video card/chip?

Thanks for your link. I will follow the recipe to remove grub from the MBR (trying not to Data Destroy my gpt disk !) and I will report back here.
I press <escape> to stop the bios bootloop and get the bios UEFI menu from where I can boot the system. <shift key> is not doing anything. It really looks like the BIOS is not even starting GRUB. I tried unsuccesfully to google for an update of my BIOS (which would be anyway a pity to install since I scratched Win7).

The laptop has an Intel i5 dual core SandyBridge CPU with integrated graphics chip, the i915 in the linux driver world.

[oldfred]

Is your UEFI/BIOS the most current version?
Not sure how to update if just Linux. Some systems are easier to update than others.

[lucio2]

Is your UEFI/BIOS the most current version?
Not sure how to update if just Linux. Some systems are easier to update than others.

From dmesg:
[ 0.000000] efi: EFI v2.00 by Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

No idea whether this is the current version.

[oldfred]

You have to go the the vendor's site and see if this is the most current version. It should also have instructions on how to update, but a few only update via Windows.
Samsung 900X3A, bios version 08HL (11/17/2012)

My old Desktop has 3 ways to update BIOS, from inside Windows with an exe, a DOS bootable flash drive, or just a file on a FAT32 formatted flash drive.

[eddie12]

Hi Guys,

I got a small (kinda big actually) problem, that i cannot boot into Ubuntu at all. I'm not entirely sure if this is the right place to get help, but its a start.

I built a new computer and have the following specs:

i7-4770
ASUS Z87-A Motherboard
32GB RAM G.Skill Trident 1600
2x 3TB Seagate Barracuda HDD

I initially installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS ok. Booted it up fine. Bought a second HDD (same brand and size - 3TB Seagate Barracuda) to set up RAID. I was in the middle of downloading MDADM and i think it was in the middle of setting it up, but complained about my external hdd (at the time i forgot it was still attached). I didn't take much notice of the error, so i just click on "OK", and in a different window explorer i ejected the HDD, it ejected ok and then i go and unplug the external drive and the computer goes to a black screen and errors out... quite a lot..

So at this point, i freaked out a bit a rebooted the machine because there wasn't anything i could do (i didn't take any photos of the error, which may have been uber useful now..), then it goes into the UEFI BIOS.. uh ohs! And since then it has not booted into Ubuntu.

I've reinstalled Ubuntu about 8 times with various options, i.e. formatting the disc, removing the existing partitions and creating new ones, no success.
I tried installing it separately in the second HDD i bought, no success.
I've disabled the "Secure Boot" feature, no success.
i've set all options in the CSM section to LEGACY OPROM ONLY, no success.
I've taken out the battery to reset the CMOS, no success.
I've set all the settings to default, no success.
I've updated to the latest BIOS, no success.

If you guys could help, that would be mighty mighty helpful. Thanks heaps in advance!!

http://paste.ubuntu.com/7322395/

[oldfred]

@eddie12
I do not know about RAID. You may want to do a separate post in the server sub-forum where those who know something about RAID may be able to help.

In the link you posted you show a CSM/Legacy/BIOS install only, no UEFI nor secure boot.

How you boot installer is how it installs. And there really are three options all set in UEFI/BIOS.
You can install in UEFI secure boot mode if you boot installer with secure boot on. With secure boot on that is only option.
You can then install in UEFI or BIOS mode if you have secure boot off. Some systems auto switch and will show two boot options UEFI and not UEFI but may not say BIOS or CSM, Others have settings for UEFI and/or CSM and you may have to turn on/off those settings.

With very large drives like yours I do suggest both the efi partition for UEFI boot or even if booting with CSM to have an efi partition in case you want to change later as adding an efi partition to beginning of drive would be difficult. It is not large at about 300MB so not much space wasted.

Shows install with screen shots for both BIOS & UEFI, so you know which you are using.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
Also shows Windows 8 screens
http://askubuntu.com/questions/22183...ndows-8-system


For the Total space you want for Ubuntu:
Ubuntu's standard install is just / (root) & swap, but it is better to add another partition for /home if allocating over 30GB.:
Only if gpt - all partitions in gpt are primary:
gpt: 300 MB efi FAT32 w/boot flag (for UEFI boot or future use for UEFI, you only can have one per drive, so if already existing do not attempt another)
gpt: 1 MB No Format w/bios_grub flag (for BIOS boot not required for UEFI)
for gpt(GUID) or MBR(msdos) partitioning
Ubuntu partitions - smaller root only where hard drive space is limited.
If total space less than about 30GB just use / not separate /home or standard install.
1. 10-25 GB Mountpoint / primary or logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
2. all but 2 GB Mountpoint /home logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
3. 2 GB Mountpoint swap logical

Depending on how much memory you have you may not absolutely need swap but having some is still recommended. I do not hibernate (boots fast enough for me) but if hibernating then you need swap equal to RAM in GiB not GB. And if dual booting with windows a shared NTFS partition is also recommended. But you usually cannot create that as part of the install, just leave some space. Or partition in advance (recommended).
One advantage of partitioning in advance is that the installer will use the swap space to speed up the install. Thanks Herman for the tip.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DiskSpace
suggested partitions for just Ubuntu on 3TB drive.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/33643...rtition-scheme
Another advanced suggestion from TheFu with Multiple / (root) - Post #5 similar to what I actually do
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2170308
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2021534