Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

qualphey · 2024-11-02 13:08:51

My installation sometimes freezes completely so that I can't even get to TTY terminal. After that BIOS don't boot the grub drive anymore. To fix this I need to boot into live USB and reinstall grub each time. This happened more than once and I'm wandering what could be causing this issue?

By the way I've got a really problematic motherboard: Asus PRIME B450M-A II. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone as you've got boot issues with it anyway and Asus does not provide any assistance since they do not officially support Linux.

seth · 2024-11-02 16:51:34

Hard reboots can lead to data corruption, the question is why grub would be affected.
Does this usually happen after/during updates?
Is only grub affected?

sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk | grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup

Also: HDD, SSD or NVME?

qualphey · 2024-11-02 17:32:04

It's NVME. I don't think updates have anything to do with it as these freezes happen at random times. Didn't notice anything else but grub getting affected.

LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk | grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup
warning: amd-ucode: /boot/amd-ucode.img (Permissions mismatch)
warning: java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default (Symlink path mismatch)
warning: java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default (Modification time mismatch)
warning: java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default-runtime (Symlink path mismatch)
warning: java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default-runtime (Modification time mismatch)
warning: libutempter: /usr/lib/utempter/utempter (GID mismatch)
warning: libutempter: /usr/lib/utempter/utempter (Permissions mismatch)
warning: openvpn-update-systemd-resolved: /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d (Permissions mismatch)
warning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (GID mismatch)
warning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (Permissions mismatch)
warning: systemd: /var/log/journal (GID mismatch)
warning: vlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (Modification time mismatch)
warning: vlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (Size mismatch)
warning: vlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
amd-ucode: 16 total files, 1 altered file
java-runtime-common: 21 total files, 2 altered files
libutempter: 20 total files, 1 altered file
openvpn-update-systemd-resolved: 11 total files, 1 altered file
shadow: 588 total files, 1 altered file
systemd: 1547 total files, 1 altered file
vlc: 977 total files, 1 altered file

seth · 2024-11-02 20:51:51

The deviances there look ok.
Only the bootloader being affected sound spooky.

1. Is there a parallel windows installation?
2. Do you have more than one nvme (or drives in general)?
3. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Solid_ … leshooting - but it's neither clear whether the nvme is also the cause of the freezes nor why that would only affect the bootloader.

My money is on (1) and in that case please see the 3rd link below. Mandatory.
Disable it (it's NOT the BIOS setting!) and reboot windows and linux twice for voodo reasons.

gromit · 2024-11-03 12:25:33

Also maybe it could be the udevadm trigger thing that causes issues on some installations.

qualphey · 2024-11-04 11:29:57

Turns out that not only bootloader was affected. The system started freezing every time I'd launch some game. I play only two: CS2 and Valheim. Both of them would make the system completely freeze in a couple of seconds after launching. The hard drive activity LED would light up and stay like that without blinking. If I'd turn the device off holding the power button instead of pressing reset then grub wouldn't get affected anymore.

There were two HDDs connected and one of them indeed had windows installed. I didn't know about it, 'cause I lent the device to my sister and she got someone to install it. I've disconnected both HDDs and done a BIOS reset (shorting CMOS pins). Now the games run without any problems and so far I didn't see a single freeze.

@seth You probably put your money on the right place.

Still gonna check with NVMe troubleshooting section as it might help with that old annoying boot freeze issue. These freezes are inconsistent as well: sometimes it would freeze on a black screen before grub menu and sometimes right after the

Loading initial ramdisk ...

message. After random number of reboots it would "unglitch", though occasionally I'd do a CMOS reset when the issue would persist after ridiculous amount of reboots. Also noticed that changing some random (literally) settings in BIOS would fix it for the time being as well. This issue is really weird and is a pain in the ass.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-11-02 13:08:51

Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

#2 2024-11-02 16:51:34

Re: Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

#3 2024-11-02 17:32:04

Re: Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

#4 2024-11-02 20:51:51

Re: Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

#5 2024-11-03 12:25:33

Re: Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

#6 2024-11-04 11:29:57

Re: Need to reinstall grub each time system crashes.

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