Ubuntu OS not booting - includes Boot-Repair report

[tea for one]

Boot-repair can see your disk (line 114) but it's invisible to your UEFI settings - quite unusual.

Line 57 - Warning: NVram is locked (Ubuntu not found in efibootmgr).
We've seen this reasonably often and there doesn't seem to be one solid answer.

Can you access your UEFI settings and disable these options (if they are present):-
TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
PTT (Platform Trust Technology)
FTPM (Firmware Trusted Platform Module)
TPT (Trust Platform Technology)
Or similar settings with Trust.

Then, try boot-repair again.

[jdias5]

Unfortunately, my BIOS doesn't have such options. However, I set all the Boot Devices (Storage, Network, ...) to UEFI only.

Is it a possibility to reinstall Ubuntu from a CD (22.04 LTS), preserving the data partition (/dev/sda5), and only reformatting and resetting the boot partition?

Did boot-repair do that?

Thanks?

[oldfred]

What brand/model system? some have specific settings in UEFI settings.

Note sure if anything works as long as you have locked NVRAM.

I also show an error on modprobe,

fred@Z170-jammy:~/ISO$ modprobe efivars 
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivars not found in directory /lib/modules/6.5.0-27-generic

But efivars is really here (really a directory,so this does not list anything):
cat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

I believe there is some change on location of efivars with different versions of some software.

Some work arounds
Locked NVRAM - turning on Secure boot & reset UEFI Dell XPS 9530
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2490359
Locked UEFI/BIOS setting: Lenovo UEFI screen
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=htt...xuo193ui41.jpg
add "--no-nvram" to the "grub-install" command
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-...150a2c7d7b89d0

[jdias5]

My system was assembled by me, with a ASUS Prime motherboard, and a SSD Kingston A400 480 Gb. The system is dated from about 2019.

After booting with the Ubuntu Installation CDROM, I run the SMART Data & Self Test: I made a short test, that said that "Disk is OK", and showed several parameters, e.g., "196 - Rellocation Count" with value "0".

I also run `badblocks`on `/dev/sda` which reported 0/0/0 errors.

Then I run `fsck`:

`sudo fsck -r -s -V /dev/sda`said, e.g:
```
ext2fs_open2 : Bad magic number in super-block
fsck.ext2 : Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2 : Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck ...

Found a dos partition table in /dev/sda
```

Doing the same for `/dev/sda1`gave no errors.

In fact, when I open the BIOS console (UEFI BIOS), the SSD doesn't appear on the menu Advanced\PCH Storage Configuration:

There are 6 items in the menu referring to the 6 SATA 6G ports of the motherboard, but only one, the one with the CDROM is acknowledged, the SSD is not (maybe because is "not bootable???? but it is very strange").

Also in the menu Advanced\HDD/SSD SMART Information, the device is not listed in the dropdown. There are only 6 items saying "N/A".

Thanks

[oldfred]

You cannot run fsck on a drive like sda, only on formatted partitions.
And fsck is for Linux ext2, ext3, or ext4 formats. Different tools for other formats.

Suggest a full chroot into your install & reinstall of grub.
But also mount the efivars partition which is not shown in the examples.
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....6#post14180936
When in chroot
mount -t efivarfs none /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
grub-install

Boot-Repair walks you thru a mimimum chroot, you probably can use it, but mount the efivars before running the grub-install command.
Some example chroots
UEFI chroot, must include ESP - efi system partition
http://askubuntu.com/questions/53578...er/57380#57380
chroot with UEFI, LVM, encryption on NVMe drive
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....8#post13602088
To chroot, you need the same 32bit or 64 bit kernel. Best to use same version.

[jdias5]

I tried to follow
https://askubuntu.com/questions/5357...er/57380#57380

After chroot and mounting, I did:

$ grub-install --recheck --no-floppy --force

Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: EFI variables cannot be set on this system.
grub-install: warning: You will have to complete the GRUB setup manually.
Installation finished. No error reported

$ update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-26-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-26-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.2.0-39-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.2.0-39-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
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.
done

$

And did shutdown and reboot. The result was the same: the SSD doesn't boot.

I wasn't able to do:
```
echo "configfile (hd0,gpt#)/boot/grub.cfg" > /boot/efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg
```

because no /boot/efi/ubuntu was there: no such directory.

[oldfred]

Did you mount the efivars when in chroot?

You cannot use #, but must use partition number where grub is, either the one in the ESP, or the one in your install.

hd0,msdos1
You have old MBR(msdos) not newer gpt.
Better to not specify partitioning label whether gpt or msdos. Just use correct drive & partition.


If at grub terminal use ls to list partitions, then drill down to find grub.
ls
ls (hd0,1)/boot
And then whatever it shows in ESP.
or
ls (hd0,5/boot
And then whatever it shows in your install.

[jdias5]

Did you mount the efivars when in chroot? - Yes, I did.

Meanwhile, I don't manage to execute commands like `ls (hd0,1)/boot`. Gives an error. What do you want to say with this command.

My motherboard is optimized for Windows, I think... Although, I have successfully logged in in my system, now it doesn't boot...

[VMC]

What does just a 'ls' show? It should show the partitions available.

[jdias5]

To solve the problem, I tried to reinstall my Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 system, creating a new set of partitions, mostly automatically, and then erasing the disk.

However, after I completed the task, and rebooted the system, the motherboard didn't acknowledge the SSD with the OS. I had to reconnect the wires inside my desktop (I had already did something similar just after the appearance of the boot problem).

Then, when I switched on the system, it recognized the SSD in the BIOS, and was able to boot. Despite the hardware intervention, I didn't understand why this happened. Maybe it was only the SATA ports where the SSD and the CDROM were connected, or the power cable of the SSD.

Thanks