Arch Linux

Hamsterkill

Member

Registered: 2009-05-05

Posts: 67

Recent grub update seems broken for me

I noticed that after upgrading to

grub-2:2.06.r297.g0c6c1aff2-1 

, it seems to be pretty janky. Following the update, the starfield theme included with grub no longer works (it just becomes a white background) and my Windows boot entry was unable to successfully boot Windows. Booting Arch still worked, however. I downgraded grub to the previous version, and the theme and my Windows boot entry began working again.

Upgrading grub included both running 

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

and

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

without errors. Not sure why it appears to be just me with this problem.

Last edited by Hamsterkill (2022-08-24 01:43:42)

bitterhalt

Member

Registered: 2022-06-19

Posts: 21

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Same problem here with latest grub. It only works without any theming.

Last edited by bitterhalt (2022-08-24 20:30:43)

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,643

Website

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

I usually keep my efi partition unmounted.  When grub updated to 2:2.06.r322.gd9b4638c5-1 I had the ocasion to install another kernel and update grub.cfg (grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg).  To my surprise, the BIOS lost its grub entry.  I recovered from live media and reinstalled grub (grub-install --target=x86_64-efi  --efi-directory=/boot/efi/ --bootloader-id=grub) from a chroot after mounting the efi to /boot. Once resintalled to the efi partition, regenerating grub.cfg with the efi partition unmounted did not clear the grub entry in the BIOS.

I am wondering if this change was expected; I did not see anything in news.  The behavior has been confirmed on a totally separate box.

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

spsf64

Member

From: FL, US or SP, BR

Registered: 2012-05-18

Posts: 102

Website

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Yeah, happened to me too (EFI system), during my "recovery ops" I messed up everything because I also have a windows partition....
I ended up installing refind which fixed everything promptly!
BTW, I have seen many complains about this on reddit.

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Sergio S.

TechXero

Member

Registered: 2022-05-20

Posts: 29

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Yeah, happened to me too (EFI system), during my "recovery ops" I messed up everything because I also have a windows partition....
I ended up installing refind which fixed everything promptly!
BTW, I have seen many complains about this on reddit.

Can you link me to reddit posts please ?

Hamsterkill

Member

Registered: 2009-05-05

Posts: 67

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

This problem appears to still exist in grub-2:2.06.r322.gd9b4638c5-1

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,643

Website

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Ah, I see there is an older thread predating mine, asked for a merge, sorry about that.

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

spsf64

Member

From: FL, US or SP, BR

Registered: 2012-05-18

Posts: 102

Website

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Yeah, happened to me too (EFI system), during my "recovery ops" I messed up everything because I also have a windows partition....
I ended up installing refind which fixed everything promptly!
BTW, I have seen many complains about this on reddit.

Can you link me to reddit posts please ?

https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comm … ldnt_boot/

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Sergio S.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,203

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Moving this to Newbie corner so that (1) that a newer thread can be merged into it, and (2) although this is not a newbie question, it is also not a system administration question

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Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,203

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Ah, I see there is an older thread predating mine, asked for a merge, sorry about that.

Merged topics

Last edited by ewaller (2022-08-25 21:57:42)

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

mbc

Member

Registered: 2021-01-26

Posts: 17

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

I also ran into this issue, and had to chroot into my system from liveusb and install systemd-boot to boot into my system. Disabling my GRUB theme didn't work for me, as another poster described. This feels like a GRUB issue.

Last edited by mbc (2022-08-26 03:59:53)

maderios

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 20

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

The last grub package 2:2.06.r322.gd9b4638c5-1 is buggy. Unable to boot system after upgrade, only bios is available.
On my two laptops: chroot with livcd -> downgrade to grub 2:2.06.r297.g0c6c1aff2-1 solves issue
A good systemrescue to install on a stick or dvd
https://www.system-rescue.org/

spsf64

Member

From: FL, US or SP, BR

Registered: 2012-05-18

Posts: 102

Website

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

....
A good systemrescue to install on a stick or dvd
https://www.system-rescue.org/

This image is TOO big, better use archlinux.iso (if you already have it oc) or use refind.iso (for efi only).
Refind is only 14Mb and probably will help you to boot into your system.
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html

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Sergio S.

midixinga

Member

Registered: 2014-01-18

Posts: 193

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

I encrypted my grub :-( - as far as I understood grub decrypts a key at the disk, and with this key my disk will be decrypted

so after entering the right password, pc starts to UEFI
after entering wrong password, I get the grub rescue prompt (like always)

do I have any chance to decrypt my disk with a live system?

Edit: I was able to encrypt the root-partition with systemrescue-cd / geparted, the password for grub worked here also
mounted devmapper-root and esp
chroot, pacman -U pkg-cache/grub 2:2.06.r297.g0c6c1aff2-1

I'm able to boot and to login - wow

It's time to rethink about grub/root encryption

Last edited by midixinga (2022-08-26 14:33:22)

bob-roderich

Member

Registered: 2021-10-15

Posts: 1

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

These steps worked for me and didn't require a downgrade (courtesy of this Reddit thread and this forum thread):

The below is adapted from the above linked forum post written by adjagu, all credit goes to them:

1: Boot into an Arch Linux Live USB.
2: Open terminal
3: Check disks:

sudo fdisk -l

Device              Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1       2048    2099199    2097152     1G EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2    2099200    2131967      32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/nvme0n1p3    2131968  421529599  419397632   200G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme0n1p4  421529600 1470105599 1048576000   500G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme0n1p5 1470105600 1953525134  483419535 230.5G Linux filesystem

The above is my output:

nvme0n1p1 has type EFI System. This is the boot partition. This will be mounted to /mnt/boot(or wherever you mount your EFI System Partition)
nvme0n1p2, nvme0n1p3, and nvme0n1p4 are my Windows partitions. They are ignored because they still boot.
nvme0n1p5 has type Linux filesystem. This is the root partition. This will be mounted to /mnt

4: Mount disks:

sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt
sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot

5: Arch-chroot:

sudo arch-chroot /mnt

6: Check for my user:

ls home

should return adjagu for me, will be different for everyone.

7: Repair GRUB on EFI/UEFI:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

8: Reinstall GRUB on EFI/UEFI:

sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

The above boodloader-id will be whatever you specify as your bootloader id

9: Exit Arch-Chroot:

exit

10: Unmount mounts:

sudo umount /mnt/boot
sudo umount /mnt 

11: Reboot:

sudo reboot

Any constructive criticism of the above is welcomed!

maderios

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 20

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Bug reported here
```
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/75701#comment210566

```

maderios

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 20

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

....
A good systemrescue to install on a stick or dvd
https://www.system-rescue.org/

This image is TOO big, better use archlinux.iso (if you already have it oc) or use refind.iso (for efi only).
Refind is only 14Mb and probably will help you to boot into your system.
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html

Not big at all when installing on a recent stick. SystemRescue is a full Arch updated system with many useful tools like arch-chroot to chroot in one command
Just do 'arch-chroot  /location-new-root'

Hamsterkill

Member

Registered: 2009-05-05

Posts: 67

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Ah, I see there is an older thread predating mine, asked for a merge, sorry about that.

For what it's worth, I don't think my thread that was merged here was actually the same issue as yours as the symptoms are different. My thread was not not about being unable to boot GRUB, but rather that the GRUB update (or probably the grub-mkconfig of the update) caused GRUB's theming to break and rendered my WIndows entry unable to boot. GRUB itself remained functional outside the broken theming, and would still boot into Linux.

The issues may be related to the same upstream changes, though, since it seems they made some changes to what grub-mkconfig is doing and that has a pretty significant impact on GRUB's ability to function.

Last edited by Hamsterkill (2022-08-27 00:23:59)

guldhammer75

Member

Registered: 2022-08-27

Posts: 1

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Hi All

When i mount my data partition i all shows like @  @cache @log @root @srv @tmp in the mount folder..

What am i doing wrong?

mgaetzner

Member

Registered: 2021-04-08

Posts: 3

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

Yeah, happened to me too (EFI system), during my "recovery ops" I messed up everything because I also have a windows partition....
I ended up installing refind which fixed everything promptly!
BTW, I have seen many complains about this on reddit.

Much love for suggesting using refind!! Fixed everything for me too.
I'm ditching grub for good, had too much trouble with it.

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nenadsky

Member

From: Bor

Registered: 2009-05-20

Posts: 13

Re: Recent grub update seems broken for me

I have to report that after applying this solution for grub problem, it installs itself on multiple locations in efi system partition. I've managed to find the right one, but  while booting it shows "out of memory" message.

I have a dualboot with Win10.