Arch Linux

dusty410

Member

From: Cincinnati, OH

Registered: 2023-08-21

Posts: 5

[SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

Arch beginner, decided to ditch Ubuntu, love it so far. In the manual Arch install process I stupidly formatted my EFI partition while enlarging the default EFI partition from 100MB to ~500MB. I was able to restore my Windows EFI entry, and can boot into Windows 10 and Arch through GRUB and solely into Windows by spamming F12 at startup, but the boot order in the UEFI menu is acting strangely:

https://youtu.be/t85FiM1HyHY
In the video I am manipulating the values by pressing F5 and F6. Sorry about the noise, i sit next to a window AC unit

Here is my efibootmgr output:

BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0003,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000  Windows Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,f26ce2f6-f245-4e91-b55e-11c7a854e3a1,0x800,0xf9000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000000000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0003* GRUB	HD(1,GPT,f26ce2f6-f245-4e91-b55e-11c7a854e3a1,0x800,0xf9000)/File(\EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi)
Boot2001* EFI USB Device	RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM	RC
Boot2003* EFI Network	RC

The long list of numbers after the windows boot entry is additional data generated by the OEM motherboard firmware. Currently I have the windows boot manager entry disabled, so my system skips it and boots directly to GRUB.

Things I've tried:

1. Changing any value in the boot order list in the UEFI firmware menu and saving just crashes and freezes the UEFI firmware menu.
2. Trying to restore defaults in the UEFI firmware menu also crashes and freezes.
3. Acer (I'm using a Nitro AN515-55-54Q0) infuriatingly only released firmware updates as .exe files, and I'm on the latest version, so I can't re-flash
4. Deleting the windows boot entry with efibootmgr and rebooting just means the motherboard firmware regenerates the same windows boot manager entry

I'm afraid that removing the CMOS will brick my system since trying to reset to default values just crashes and freezes the UEFI firmware menu. I suspect this has something to do with the UEFI menu reading from NVRAM, and I think I can manipulate those values through efivar but I'm unsure which value or how to go about doing that. The weird part is that, as mentioned above, the boot entries show up just fine on the boot device menu when spamming F12.

I know that technically with GRUB my system is working just fine, but this is a technical problem that will tickle the back of my brain until I solve it.

Any help appreciated!

Last edited by dusty410 (2023-08-22 16:26:54)

rg_arc

Member

Registered: 2011-03-20

Posts: 508

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

Have you tried re-installing grub again?

dusty410

Member

From: Cincinnati, OH

Registered: 2023-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

I have not, I can try that after I get off work. What would that do? Grub is working fine right now, it's my UEFI firmware menu that's misbehaving.

rg_arc

Member

Registered: 2011-03-20

Posts: 508

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

I have not, I can try that after I get off work. What would that do? Grub is working fine right now, it's my UEFI firmware menu that's misbehaving.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Unifie … mware_menu

I'm sure you've checked this wiki page right? I've had (it is extremely rare) a CMOS battery die in an old computer before and putting a brand new battery in was the solution. However, I think in this case it is best to double check this wiki page and perhaps resizing the partition and doing the recommended install again.

dusty410

Member

From: Cincinnati, OH

Registered: 2023-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

Tried re-installing grub, still had the same issue in the UEFI firmware menu. I did find out that removing the UEFI boot entry for GRUB from Windows returned my boot menu to normal, so at the very least that works. I'll probably chalk it up to crappy mobo firmware and move on, and just keep the windows boot manage entry disabled and boot solely from grub.

rg_arc

Member

Registered: 2011-03-20

Posts: 508

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

Tried re-installing grub, still had the same issue in the UEFI firmware menu. I did find out that removing the UEFI boot entry for GRUB from Windows returned my boot menu to normal, so at the very least that works. I'll probably chalk it up to crappy mobo firmware and move on, and just keep the windows boot manage entry disabled and boot solely from grub.

In the menu dialogue when you first startup the computer it should have all the boot options available. Can't you just prioritize which bootup you want? Also, I have it where only UEFI capable devices/drives bootup. Perhaps you could temporarily switch it back to legacy mode just to see whats what. Either way like I said the last time something like that happened I had to switch out my CMOS battery.

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,986

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

I'm pretty sure by the UEFI standard that if a device isn't present on boot then it removes the firmware entry.  You could try physically unplugging the storage, powering on when it isn't present to clear the entry, and then powering off and reconnecting it.  Then do your grub-install or whatnot to create a new entry in your firmware listing.  It really sounds like a firmware bug though, your firmware should never freeze - if it does there are problems.

dusty410

Member

From: Cincinnati, OH

Registered: 2023-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

Tried re-installing grub, still had the same issue in the UEFI firmware menu. I did find out that removing the UEFI boot entry for GRUB from Windows returned my boot menu to normal, so at the very least that works. I'll probably chalk it up to crappy mobo firmware and move on, and just keep the windows boot manage entry disabled and boot solely from grub.

In the menu dialogue when you first startup the computer it should have all the boot options available. Can't you just prioritize which bootup you want? Also, I have it where only UEFI capable devices/drives bootup. Perhaps you could temporarily switch it back to legacy mode just to see whats what. Either way like I said the last time something like that happened I had to switch out my CMOS battery.

Not being able to change the boot order is the problem. Just tried re-installing grub as removable, making sure to mv EFI/boot/bootx64.efi out of the way, and that didn't change anything. I'll just stick with my workaround of disabling the UEFI boot entry for windows boot manager, that way I can go directly into GRUB.

The strangest part is that I remember my UEFI firmware working just fine with Ubuntu and grub, for some reason it just doesn't like this arch entry. Maybe when i have more time i'll completely reinstall windows, then reinstall ubuntu as dual boot to see how that distro handles the efi files.

dusty410

Member

From: Cincinnati, OH

Registered: 2023-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED]UEFI Firmware Menu boot entry list corrupted

I'm pretty sure by the UEFI standard that if a device isn't present on boot then it removes the firmware entry.  You could try physically unplugging the storage, powering on when it isn't present to clear the entry, and then powering off and reconnecting it.  Then do your grub-install or whatnot to create a new entry in your firmware listing.  It really sounds like a firmware bug though, your firmware should never freeze - if it does there are problems.

Removing the GRUB UEFI boot entry returned my UEFI firmware menu to normal, so I do have that fallback option. I'll just assume crappy firmware and mark this thread solved.