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SOLVED: Boot issues after BIOS update

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foos
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SOLVED: Boot issues after BIOS update

#1 Post by foos »

Today i booted into Windows and got a request to update my BIOS. After updating, the system no longer sees my GRUB partition when booting and goes straight into windows. However, it gives a blue screen error along the lines of "invalid boot drive."

I was doing a bit of digging and found the rEFInd tool that shows me that windows, grub, and debian are still there, but I'm still having issues booting into any. When booting to Debian through Grub or rEFInd, I end up getting the following error:

https://i.snap.as/8m2mIi6.jpg

I'm at a bit of a loss on how to fix things at this point. If anyone has tips on steps i can take, i would greatly appreciate it.
Adding some additional search terms to help those in need find this thread: UUID does not exist. boot args. check root delay. missing modules.
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Mod Note: replaced oversized image with URL — HoaS
Last edited by foos on 2020-08-15 14:09, edited 2 times in total.

Deb-fan
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#2 Post by Deb-fan »

Could try supergrubdisk2, https://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub2-disk/ Awesome lil utility for booting things from hdd, when a bootloader is messed up. Then try using efibootmgr to set the debian bootloader again (if thats your preference/goal) or failing that, if that fails, reinstall grub in a manner appropriate for that system. Bios vs uefi, mbr vs gpt etc. From what you've said appears its a uefi/gpt setup. Other stuff to check, perhaps see if secureboot was-is reenabled also.
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foos
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#3 Post by foos »

Deb-fan wrote:Could try supergrubdisk2, https://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub2-disk/ Awesome lil utility for booting things from hdd, when a bootloader is messed up. Then try using efibootmgr to set the debian bootloader again (if thats your preference/goal) or failing that, if that fails, reinstall grub in a manner appropriate for that system. Bios vs uefi, mbr vs gpt etc. From what you've said appears its a uefi/gpt setup. Other stuff to check, perhaps see if secureboot was-is reenabled also.
It seems like it still is giving the same issue. The only difference here is super grub2 lists a lot more boot options beyond the three shown in rEFInd.

Also for clarity sake, my system is set for UEFI and Secureboot is disabled

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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#4 Post by Deb-fan »

Re-read and as needed google about the pointers in the former post.

1. How to use supergrubdisk to boot an OS from disk.
2. How to use efibootmgr to choose-set your preferred boot manager.
3. If necessary how to reinstall grub.

The whole point i was trying to make there is that a somewhat important element in repairing an OS, is being able to get into it, while its up and running. Did you bother checking status of secureboot?

Ps, bit too late in this case but this is one reason many sensible people who have a stable, well running system setup, do not arbitrarily mess with bios-uefi-firmware updates unless there's compelling reason. While such updates can-may provide some benefits, also clear that that must be balanced against the prospect of poss borkage and disruption involved too.
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foos
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#5 Post by foos »

I should go back a step and say thanks for replying. Sorry for being dismissive there. It's probably a mix of tiredness and also being in over my head, but I'm struggling to follow some of the resources regarding supergrubdisk. I'm assuming I'm following the correct steps to boot an OS from disk: I click on Detect and show boot methods, then select my OS.

https://snap.as/a/jgyQQoX.jpg

Doing so with no other changes brings me back to the same screenshot as in my original post. If there is something I am doing wrong at this point, please let me know.



I also did a little bit of extra trial and error steps in the meantime and have made a little bit of headway. I switched from UEFI to Legacy Boot. Doing so is allowing me to boot into any OS at this point. However, I need to first boot into SGD and then into either OS. I doubt this is the correct way to fix the issue altogether, but I feel comfortable regaining access to the system.
PS. Sadly I'm learning this lesson the hard way. Won't make this mistake again, that's for sure.
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Mod Note: replaced oversized image with URL — HoaS

Deb-fan
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#6 Post by Deb-fan »

Oops, didn't see your reply, would check the status of secureboot. Think sgd2 does fully support uefi/gpt systems, may be wrong in that, been awhile since checked its docs. Getting into the ailing OS is definitely step 1 in the process of repairing it. So yep, you've made headway, now setting Debian as the preferred boot manager on the system w efibootmgr would be a good thing to try next.

Am more than a tad cranky myself and do understand this type of situation can be confusing and frustrating for people. Thus why i posted and apologize for the crankiness. :)
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Deb-fan
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#7 Post by Deb-fan »

Related rant: Also I partly (A BIG PART)blame Microsoft for this kind of bs. That being the way they've designed windows OS's or whatever to seize back control of the boot process from the way the pc owner has configured it. Someone goes to update Win8-10 whichever, ... nope afterwards can't boot their other XYZ-OS's anymore, not without having to repair it's bootloader etc blahblahblah. They of course claim this is for security or whatever other nonsense but fact is they do it to screw with people trying to multiboot with open source alternatives, mostly gnu/Linux users, though also BSD'ers or whoever else too.

There are ways to set your preferred boot manager in a windows admin command prompt. I've done it, think it was Win8 and 8.1 at that time, don't remember the process and would have to google myself. Originally learned how to do it by reading posts from the guy behind rEFInd, (Rod Smith.) Though there are plenty of how-to's and docs on how to do it online. Worked for a long time, Windows left grub2 alone thereafter ...

Eventually I went with a universal solution for every/all Window$ related computer problems, stopped using anything Windows and went exclusively gnu/Linux several years ago. I haven't had a single M$/Windows related computer problem since. Also just 4 record, I've actually liked pretty much every M$ OS I've ever used, even friggin Vista. Though AFTER having to do a chit-ton of changes, tweaks and optimizations, perform surgery to remove spyware etc etc to the damn OS's. :D

More stuff ... at one time used and liked a freeware application called EasyBCD, let's someone use the Windows boot manager but boot other OS's. Not sure as to its status, been a longgggg time. So not sure if they support secureboot + UEFI + GPT now or not. Though during the time I was using it, it worked well and liked it. Let me set grub as the default OS to boot with a 0sec timeout. So basically, as soon as the system was booted I'd wind up at the grub boot-menu screen and then if wanted had it set so I had a couple secs to choose to boot Win7-8 or whichever from there.

Finally, there's the BIG DADDY of gnu/Linux repair, chroot from a live session, a person can do a dizzying amount of things from a live chroot. Repair, replace, reinstall-reconfig pkgs etc etc etc. That would of course work for this, that being allow you to chroot the borked install and use efibootmgr to set the boot manager you want or reinstall grub onto the system if necessary.

One live chroot how-to: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1192
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#8 Post by pcalvert »

Deb-fan wrote: There are ways to set your preferred boot manager in a windows admin command prompt. I've done it, think it was Win8 and 8.1 at that time, don't remember the process and would have to google myself.
From my notes:
After booting into Windows:

From a Windows Command Prompt window launched with Administrator privileges:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\debian\grubx64.efi
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foos
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#9 Post by foos »

Okay, got some good rest and a ready to tackle this again.

A quick thing to note: I can only boot into my OSes if I have Legacy Boot enabled. I'm not sure if that causes issues when trying to fix EFI settings.

From my terminal, I ran "efibootmgr -v" and got the following output:

Code: Select all

BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 2001,0002,0000,0001,2002,2003
Boot0000* SAMSUNG MZVLW256HEHP-000L2      	BBS(HD,SAMSUNG MZVLW256HEHP-000L2      ,0x500)..;.............+..P....#..P?..P...................................1...
Boot0001*         USB Flash Memory	BBS(HD,        USB Flash Memory,0x500).................................................................X.....
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,e15bcec2-8be2-4b8c-8566-cb989bab77f1,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)RC
Boot0003* EFI USB Device (USB Flash Memory)	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(1,0)/HD(2,GPT,663d6ede-3cef-4c0c-a007-ceba919e5cca,0x164,0x1680)RC
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,e15bcec2-8be2-4b8c-8566-cb989bab77f1,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)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.}....`...............
Boot2001* EFI USB Device	RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM	RC
Boot2003* EFI Network	RC
Notes on this: 0 and 1 are legacy boot options. 2, 3, 4 are EFI options. The 2000s are likely irrelevant here.
It does not look like GRUB nor Debian launchers are available here. Research is showing me that I can add an entry, but I'm struggling figuring out how to put it into practice. There are currently no /dev/sda directories, but I do have /dev/nvme****** directories that correspond to my disk partitions. I'm not sure if I would mount my Debian partition or something else entirely.
efibootmgr guide I am referring to: https://www.linuxbabe.com/command-line/ ... r-examples

foos
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#10 Post by foos »

Okay, so I tried something simple now. I switched back to UEFI boot and it's now booting directly into windows without the blue screen. I can also use the SGD to get into Debian or GRUB as well now.

Running

Code: Select all

After booting into Windows:

From a Windows Command Prompt window launched with Administrator privileges:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\debian\grubx64.efi
succeeds, but there isn't a change in behavior when rebooting the computer. It still goes directly to Windows. Going back into Debian with efibootmgr, it looks like boot 0002 from my previous post has been duplicated.

Doing a bit more digging, but it seems the problem is now just repairing the system to boot into GRUB instead of directly to Windows.

foos
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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#11 Post by foos »

Okay, final update! I managed to get everything back to functioning. Here's a quick list of the steps I believe brought me back to normal:

1. Created a new boot disk. It can be a live disk, rEFInd, or SuperGrub2Disk.
2. In BIOS, switch from UEFI to legacy boot.
3. Boot from disk and enter any Operating System, then reboot.
4. Switch back to UEFI. Could now access Windows alone without the help of a flash drive.
5. Installed boot-repair-disk onto a flash drive. Booted to it and let it run.

After rebooting, the system functions as normal. It's possible steps 1-3 are irrelevant and the boot-repair-disk is the only thing that needed to be done. But I'd rather not go back and find out :P

Thanks deb-fan and pcalvert. I would probably still be stuck at step one if y'all hadn't responded.

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Re: Boot issues after BIOS update

#12 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

pcalvert wrote:After booting into Windows:

From a Windows Command Prompt window launched with Administrator privileges:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\debian\grubx64.efi
Replace grubx64.efi with shimx64.efi to allow for Secure Boot support.
deadbang

Deb-fan
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Re: SOLVED: Boot issues after BIOS update

#13 Post by Deb-fan »

You're welcome foos, glad ya got it fixed up. :)

Also thanks for the adds pcalvert and hoasinator.
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