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Thread: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

  1. #1
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    SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    I had a small NUC that I use to take to work, an Intel Skylake i5. On Saturday, it suddenly failed totally (would not power on). Happily, it was within warranty, so I returned it to Amazon and a new one arrived. (Actually, Amazon have not collected the old one from my workplace yet, but that is another matter).

    I had bought it as a barebones system, so I had my own RAM and M.2 SSD, which I took out of the old one before returning it. I collected the replacement to-day, and installed my RAM and SSD. The hardware seems to work, but I cannot get it to boot from the SSD. I have managed to get it to boot with an Ubuntu 16.04 ISO installed on a USB drive, and it appears to work correctly. I can see the SSD and the various partitions on it.

    I had encrypted the SSD using whole device encryption. I remember my passphrase, and was able to unlock when I booted from the USB drive. However, I cannot find any way of making it bootable from the SSD any longer. When I try to boot, the BIOS simply tells me that there are no bootable drives. I have tried:

    (1) updating the BIOS to version 54;
    (2) checking many different settings in the BIOS and boot menu to see whether it will boot under various configurations (it will not; this system uses UEFI);
    (3) manually editing the GRUB configuration file to refer to the correct UUID for the SSD in the new system;
    (4) running boot-repair from the USB booted Ubuntu;
    (5) running boot-repair from its own boot USB drive; and
    (6) running boot-repair from its own boot USB drive in failsafe mode.

    Boot repair running under Ubuntu purports to work but has no effect: looking at the logs, what seems to be happening is that it is performing the repair on the USB drive and not on the SSD, which error messages claim cannot be accessed because it is busy.

    Boot repair from the bootable USB drive fails: on launching it (after the menu selection to choose a language and start the process), it shows scrolling text in the style of an old-fashioned Linux startup and then hangs with a black screen (and sometimes a flashing cursor in the top left). On restarting, the system will still not boot from the SSD.

    All of the important data on the SSD are backed up, so I could in principle just reformat the SSD and start again, but it would be very helpful if I could just allow it to boot and pick up where I left off without having to reconfigure everything from scratch again.

    If anyone could suggest anything that might remedy this, I should be most grateful.

  2. #2
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    Run Boot-Repair again and follow the instructions there to run only the Boot-Info-Script.

    Do not run the default repair just yet but simply copy back here the pastebin link you get which will show us a lot more about your system and may give us more info that can be used to help you.

  3. #3
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    Thank you for your reply. I am now at work, so am not able to re-format my USB drive, which currently has the bootable version of boot-repair, until I get home this evening.

    However, running it to-day, I find that it seems to boot into a Linux GUI, whereas, oddly, it did not yesterday. The only difference of which I can think is that it is now connected via DisplayPort rather than HDMI.

    I was able to run the boot-info-script, but the data that it produces is trapped on the NUC because the version of Linux that it is running will not recognise any of my network hardware and refuses to connect to the internet, either by ethernet or wifi (it connected fine by wifi when I used the Ubuntu 16.04 ISO on the USB drive).

    I could take pictures of the screen with the text file with my mobile telephone, but that might be a bit cumbersome.

    I can summarise one or two parts that seem to me to be significant if that would be of any help. Firstly, it states, under "suggested repair",

    "The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility would not act on the MBR. Additional repair would be performed: repair-filesystems"

    It refers to my SSD as being on /dev/nvme0n1 (correctly identifying it as 256Gb), setting out its partition table as (in summary)

    1: 537Mb, FAT32, EFI System Partition, boot flag
    2: 512MB, ext2 (no name; presumably the swap file)
    3: 255Gb (no filesystem or flags specified; presumably the main encrypted partition)

    Under "PARTITIONS & DISKS" it lists:

    nvme0n1p1: nvme0n1, not-setboot, no-grubenv no grub, no-docgrub, no -update-grub, 32, no-boot, no-os, is-correct-EFI, part-has-nofstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, nobmgr, notwinboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, not-far, /mnt/boot-sav/nvme0n1p1.

    nvme0n1p2: nvme0n1, is-sepboot, grubenv-ok, nogrub, no-docgrub, -update-grub, 32, no-boot, no-os, not--efi--part, part-has-nofstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, nobmgr, notwinboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, not-far, /mnt/boot-sav/nvme0n1p2.

    nvme0n1p3: nvme0n1, maybesepboot, no-grubenv, nogrub, no-docgrub, -update-grub, 32, no-boot, no-os, not--efi--part, part-has-nofstab, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, nobmgr, notwinboot, nopakmgr, nogrubinstall, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, standard, farbios, /mnt/boot-sav/nvme0n1p3.

    Under "UEFI/Legacy Mode", it says,

    "Unusual EFI: Please report this message to boot.repair@gmail.com. BIOSis EFI-compatible and is setup in EFI-mode for this life-session. SecureBoot disabled maybe sec-boot, Please report this message to boot. repair@gmail.com"

    Under the lower part of blkid, it reports,

    "efibootmgr -v
    BootCurrent: 0002
    Timeout: 1 seconds
    BootOrder: 0001, 0002, 0000
    Boot 0000* Windows Boot Manager Vendor (long string omitted)
    Boot 0001* UEFI : Samsung SSD 950 Pro 256GB : Part 0: OS Bootloader ACPI (long string omitted)
    Boot 0002* UEFI : SanDisk Extreme 0001 : Part 0 : OS Bootloader ACPI (long strong omitted)

    Is any of this of assistance?

  4. #4
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    Is any of this of assistance?
    It might be to others but not me, I'm afraid, as I have no real knowledge of SSDs, though I believe there have been problems with NVMe disks.

    Wait for others to come along who may be able to give you much better help than I can, or meantime, search to see if you can find more helpful info about NVMe disks.

  5. #5
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    Try the method on the link below, it works from the live USB, I have been able to repair GRUB that way when boot-repair fails.

    http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-repair...ubuntu-live-cd

  6. #6
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    If you changed any UEFI/BIOS settings in UEFI, you must redo those. I found every time I update UEFI from vendor I have to redo them, so I make a list.

    You have a newer NMVe drive. Not sure but think all references below to sda, need to use your nvme drive & partition.
    /dev/nvme0n1p1 where nvme0n1 is drive and p1 is partition. Not sure then if you use p1 or 1 where in sda1 you just use 1??
    And since default is first drive & first partition whether you can just not add anything & it installs correctly to your drive & partition or if you have to specify.

    And you have the standard 3 physical partitions with UEFI & encryption which are the ESP - efi system partition, Ubuntu boot partition and encrypted partitions. Inside the LVM you probably have the / (root) & swap, but could have a separate /home or other partitions also. But you only see those with LVM tools.

    You are not showing an Entry to boot Ubuntu.
    Not sure if your NUC boots that or is like others that only boot "Windows Boot Manager" entry.
    Since only booting Ubuntu you can change the standard Ubuntu entry to read "Windows Boot Manager".
    I also like to add the fall back boot entry.

    More details in link in my signature.

    You can heck entry is there, without having to run Boot-Repair.
    sudo efibootmgr -v

    Efibootmgr defaults to first drive & first partition or sda1. You can just leave off the red part since your ESP is sda1.

    sudo efibootmgr -c -l "\EFI\UBUNTU\SHIMX64.EFI" -L ubuntu -d /dev/sdX -p Y
    where /dev/sdX is the disk and Y is the partition number.

    If above entry does not directly boot from UEFI. You add a Windows entry that really still boots shimx64.efi.
    D: Use efibootmgr

    d1: If Description has to be Windows then change UEFI description. Assumes ESP is sda1.
    sudo efibootmgr -c -L "Windows Boot Manager" -l "\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi"

    You may want to remove old Windows entry to avoid confusion.

    # from liveDVD or flash booted in UEFI mode and use efibootmgr
    sudo efibootmgr -v
    The "-v" option displays all the entries so you can confirm you're deleting the right one, and then you use the combination of "-b ####" (to specify the entry) and "-B" (to delete it). Examples #5 is delete:, with Ubuntu you need sudo, others must be at root. some need all 4 hex chars, others only need significant digits
    sudo efibootmgr -b XXXX -B
    man efibootmgr


    Optional:
    The fallback or hard drive boot entry is /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi. All external drives boot from that file name. Both Windows & Ubuntu use that to boot in UEFI mode(obviously different actual file).
    Some systems have that folder & file in the ESP, some need it created. I copy shimx64.efi into that folder & rename shimx64.efi to bootx64.efi
    Then add another hard drive or fallback entry into UEFI.
    sudo efibootmgr -c -g -w -L "UEFI hard drive" -l '\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi' -d /dev/sdX -p Y
    sdX is drive, Y is efi partition
    Last edited by oldfred; January 19th, 2017 at 07:10 PM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  7. #7
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    Thank you both for your suggestions. Leunam12 - I am afraid that the process on the web page to which you linked did not work, as the mount --bind commands failed.

    Oldfred - I am afraid that I am having trouble following some of what you write. What do you mean, for example, when you write that I am not showing an entry to boot to Ubuntu? As to the BIOS settings, as the old computer was entirely non-functional, I cannot now be sure what those were. I have, however, tried various BIOS settings without success. Ought I perhaps to try secure boot? Would that do anything?

    I also do not understand the instructions relating to the EFI Boot Manager. Running the command gives me,

    "BootCurrent: 0002
    Timeout: 1 seconds
    BootOrder: 0001,0002,0000
    Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T .=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
    Boot0001* UEFI : Samsung SSD 950 PRO 256GB : PART 0 : OS Bootloader PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1d,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Unit(1)/HD(1,GPT,99a7d681-5134-4c1e-93dd-76d66073a68c,0x800,0x100000)..BO
    Boot0002* UEFI : USB : SanDisk Extreme 0001 : PART 0 : OS Bootloader PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(12,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x36,0x800,0x3ba26b0)..BO"

    Also, when you write that my ESP is on /dev/sda1, what do you mean? I am not sure what an ESP is in this context. My /dev directory is as follows,

    "autofs hidraw2 loop4 port ram8 tty12 tty30 tty49 ttyprintk ttyS26 vcs2
    block hidraw3 loop5 ppp ram9 tty13 tty31 tty5 ttyS0 ttyS27 vcs3
    bsg hpet loop6 psaux random tty14 tty32 tty50 ttyS1 ttyS28 vcs4
    btrfs-control hugepages loop7 ptmx rfkill tty15 tty33 tty51 ttyS10 ttyS29 vcs5
    bus hwrng loop-control ptp0 rtc tty16 tty34 tty52 ttyS11 ttyS3 vcs6
    char i2c-0 mapper pts rtc0 tty17 tty35 tty53 ttyS12 ttyS30 vcs7
    console i2c-1 mcelog ram0 sda tty18 tty36 tty54 ttyS13 ttyS31 vcsa
    core i2c-2 mei0 ram1 sda1 tty19 tty37 tty55 ttyS14 ttyS4 vcsa1
    cpu i2c-3 mem ram10 sg0 tty2 tty38 tty56 ttyS15 ttyS5 vcsa2
    cpu_dma_latency initctl memory_bandwidth ram11 shm tty20 tty39 tty57 ttyS16 ttyS6 vcsa3
    cuse input mqueue ram12 snapshot tty21 tty4 tty58 ttyS17 ttyS7 vcsa4
    disk kmsg net ram13 snd tty22 tty40 tty59 ttyS18 ttyS8 vcsa5
    dri kvm network_latency ram14 stderr tty23 tty41 tty6 ttyS19 ttyS9 vcsa6
    ecryptfs lightnvm network_throughput ram15 stdin tty24 tty42 tty60 ttyS2 uhid vcsa7
    fb0 lirc0 null ram2 stdout tty25 tty43 tty61 ttyS20 uinput vfio
    fd log nvme0 ram3 tty tty26 tty44 tty62 ttyS21 urandom vga_arbiter
    full loop0 nvme0n1 ram4 tty0 tty27 tty45 tty63 ttyS22 usb vhci
    fuse loop1 nvme0n1p1 ram5 tty1 tty28 tty46 tty7 ttyS23 userio vhost-net
    hidraw0 loop2 nvme0n1p2 ram6 tty10 tty29 tty47 tty8 ttyS24 vcs zero
    hidraw1 loop3 nvme0n1p3 ram7 tty11 tty3 tty48 tty9 ttyS25 vcs1"

    Also, how would I remove the old Windows entry to avoid confusion?

    Thank you again both for you help.

    Edit:

    The output of the sudo efibootmgr -c -L "Windows Boot Manager" -l "\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi" command that you suggested was,

    "** Warning ** : Boot0000 has same label Windows Boot Manager
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645
    BootCurrent: 0002
    Timeout: 1 seconds
    BootOrder: 0003,0001,0002,0000
    Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager
    Boot0001* UEFI : Samsung SSD 950 PRO 256GB : PART 0 : OS Bootloader
    Boot0002* UEFI : USB : SanDisk Extreme 0001 : PART 0 : OS Bootloader
    Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager"

  8. #8
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    I do not know if error is just duplicate name or not. And then whether drive is sda1 or nmve.
    Did you try adding the Ubuntu entry?
    sudo efibootmgr -c -l "\EFI\UBUNTU\SHIMX64.EFI" -L ubuntu -d

    And did you try the delete entry of 0000?
    # from liveDVD or flash booted in UEFI mode and use efibootmgr
    sudo efibootmgr -v
    The "-v" option displays all the entries so you can confirm you're deleting the right one, and then you use the combination of "-b ####" (to specify the entry) and "-B" (to delete it). Examples #5 is delete:, with Ubuntu you need sudo, others must be at root. some need all 4 hex chars, others only need significant digits
    sudo efibootmgr -b XXXX -B
    man efibootmgr

    Then see if Windows using shim file entry works.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  9. #9
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    I have to say, I am now getting some very odd problems indeed: having shut down the NUC, on starting it again, it now refuses to boot from the USB drive unless legacy boot mode is enabled; however, if I boot into Linux from the USB drive with legacy boot mode enabled, it refuses to run efibootmgr. I do not understand why this behaviour has now changed or what to do about this.

  10. #10
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    Re: SSD in new device: will not boot, boot repair fails

    The BIOS/Legacy/CSM mode does not have the UEFI tools.
    Did you turn on legacy boot in UEFI. Or some setting on USB ports and how they boot?
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

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