boot problem on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 with preinstalled Ubuntu

[robbi60]

I just bought a ThinkPad X1 with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS preinstalled (no Windows). I wanted to install a fresh version, with a personal partition. I tried the Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04 LTS. Everything was fine, except the boot. If I take Ubuntu at start it doesn't work. It starts only by using the recovery mode and re-running the grub configuration. I run also boot-repair and here the result :
https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/jTt2wbz2QJ/

I am doing something wrong and I looked for many similar situations in the forum, nothing working. Any idea? Thanks a lot.

[tea for one]

Advanced Options > Recovery > Update Grub Bootloader
You select this every time?
And, you always arrive at your desktop?

[robbi60]

yes, so in some sense it is conforting that it is not a major problem

[tea for one]

Therefore, next time you arrive at your desktop, it may be worth re-installing Grub from a working session.
Open a terminal and enter:-

sudo grub-install /dev/nvme0n1

sudo update-grub

Any terminal messages?

Power off then boot from cold
Any good?

[robbi60]

From the first command I obtained

Installazione per la piattaforma x86_64-efi.
Installazione completata, nessun errore segnalato.

with the second one.

Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-39-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-39-generic
Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

But unfortunately the situation remains the same. I am locked from the main entry and I can access only from the "recovery" way.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion, anyway! r

[robbi60]

Anyway I run again the boot-repair and I obtained this report https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/qCwB4KjtYh/

[tea for one]

But unfortunately the situation remains the same. I am locked from the main entry and I can access only from the "recovery" way.

That's disappointing, but, let's bash on
Something, somewhere has got grub in an armlock

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`( . /etc/os-release; echo ${NAME:-Ubuntu} ) 2>/dev/null || echo Ubuntu`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false delete this line

sudo update-grub

Fingers, arms, legs and toes crossed............

[robbi60]

Bad luck! it doesn't work! But thanks again for keep trying!

[tea for one]

Still here, still trying...............

How about a radical option?
Bypass grub completely and boot the kernel directly?
I keep a USB with rEFInd for emergency use, it often helps to find and boot an OS (if Grub is damaged/not responding)

Install rEFInd on a USB stick temporarily to see if it offers any improvement.
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html > A USB Flash Drive Image File

Options include:-
(a) Boot the kernel directly
e.g. Boot boot\vmlinuz-6.2.0-35-generic from 35 GiB ext4 volume

(b) Find and boot the grub efi file
e.g. Boot EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi from 510 MiB FAT volume

(c) Start an EFI shell
The boot instructions are similar to this:-
Identify your Efi System Partition e.g. FSO
Type FSO: i.e. FSO and colon symbol (press enter)
Then type \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi (and hit enter)

Try option (a) first.

If successful, rEFInd is in the universe repo for permanent installation.

[robbi60]

Ok, this solution works very well, just some works to understand the usage of this powerful piece of software. So, even if I don't understand why grub is not working I can consider this problem as SOLVED.
Many thanks again. r