GNU GRUB Minimal Bash-like Shell at boot not letting me past

IA1@ · 2025-07-19 04:44:12

I’ve recently been trying to get Arch set up on an old Ideapad 130 15-AST. I have been following https://gist.github.com/mjkstra/96ce7a5 … 2cdc169bae and it has been working quite well. On my first attempt I installed the large amount of suggested packages for KDE and was met with a GNU GRUB minimal bash-like shell. I looked up what to do and found advice to run “exit”. I tried that and it brought me back to BIOS where the only option was Grub. That just brought me back to the shell. Another suggestion was to run “reboot”. It rebooted into the shell. I also tried following the GeeksforGeeks guide but to no avail. Just plain “boot” was suggested as well but that gave me the error “error: you need to load the kernel first.” I couldn’t find a “load kernel” command so I just gave up and plugged the bootable USB back in to try again.
On my second attempt, I only got the necessary packages for KDE; the setup worked and KDE Plasma ran. I installed sddm and Hyprland along with the ML4W Hyprland config (which worked fine) but couldn’t find/use waybar so I decided to reboot to go into KDE and set it up for Hyprland. I ran "shutdown" but shortly after that I decided that it might be better to run with sudo so I ran “shutdown -c” followed by “sudo shutdown” and it shut down with no apparent problems.
When I hit the power button to turn it on I was once again met with the GNU GRUB minimal bash-like shell. I tried “exit” but it just took me to BIOS. “boot” wanted the kernel loaded first and reboot brought me right back there. I plugged in the bootable USB again and tried to use “arch-chroot…” and “mount /dev/sda /mnt” without full knowledge of what they did. None of it worked. Help getting back into the system would be much appreciated because I did quite like the setup.
(I am using GNU GRUB version 2:2.12.r292.g73d1c959-1 according to the shell)

SimonJ · 2025-07-19 04:56:36

You should really follow the wiki as it covers the official installation guide, if you follow a third party guide please ask them for help if it fails. Comments are allowed here https://gist.github.com/mjkstra/96ce7a5 … 2cdc169bae

seth · 2025-07-19 07:42:28

"Modern Arch linux installation guide" from last october…
It however actually covers https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#G … ation_file

@IA1@, following some type-a-long install guide basically forever bars you from asking this forum.
I'd reconsider that.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-07-19 04:44:12

GNU GRUB Minimal Bash-like Shell at boot not letting me past

#2 2025-07-19 04:56:36

Re: GNU GRUB Minimal Bash-like Shell at boot not letting me past

#3 2025-07-19 07:42:28

Re: GNU GRUB Minimal Bash-like Shell at boot not letting me past

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