[Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-20 14:50:35

Computer has Windows pre-installed. I dual booted it with Arch.
There was some mess up while installing grub. Upon installing grub, it seems grub has overwritten something in bios, in that when I restart I've lost ability to use F2 to go into bios. F2 only takes you to grub menu.
Can someone help me regain ability to go into bios?

Update:. Thanks folks for helping me out. I am at least able to dual-boot.
Update 2: The issue was caused by 'BIOS and boot menu can't be accessed after windows recovery' - a known issue. Upon flashing bios fw fix, I can get into BIOS now. Thx for all those who responded. _/\_

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-04-02 17:30:26)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2024-03-20 17:28:16

Try

# systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-21 07:08:16

Thanks. I get the error : "Cannot indicate to EFI to boot into setup mode: Firmware does not support boot into firmware." I've seen this error when booting into UEFI Shell from Grub as well.

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-21 07:11:15)

Lone_Wolf · 2024-03-21 18:08:05

What does fdisk -l (run as root) output ?

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-21 20:04:10

fdisk -l /dev/sda output

 Disklabel type: dos
/dev/sda1            2048   1050623   1048576   512M  b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2         1050624 204777956 203727333  97.1G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       205848576 625142447 419293872 199.9G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       205850624 214239231   8388608     4G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       214241280 348459007 134217728    64G 83 Linux
/dev/sda7       348461056 502061055 153600000  73.2G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

There is a slightly interesting story behind this issue. Initially the sda1 was NTFS ( by Windows Installer), but when I tried to install Grub to /boot/efi, I realized I couldn't - so formatted sda1 to FAT32, and repaired the EFI partition using Windows installer. Windows boots fine afterwards.
However, after Installing grub later , I realized I've lost ability to go into BIOS using F2. Boot process directly takes me to grub entry.
That said, I can use F12 at boot to see EFI entries and boot Windows as well. But I am kind of lost as to how to to recover BIOS. I've even removed & re-inserted the CMOS battery to see if it made any differenct. It hasn't.
Besides, grub (or the culprit) has turned off cpu virtualization as well. so I won't be able to use qemu.
Any ideas?

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-21 20:47:05)

Lone_Wolf · 2024-03-22 09:03:33

There's a chance sda1 is NOT an EFI System Partition, but instead a bios boot partition .

Solving this may require wiping & and re-installing, so ensure everything you value on the drives is backed up .

Before we take drastic measures though we need to investigate .

While booted to arch run (and post the output of) cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size .[1]
Then boot to windows and check what mode it boots to. [2] should be helpful for that.

Once it's clear which modes arch & windows boot into the path forward will be clearer.

[1] see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … _boot_mode
[2] https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/851 … -bios.html

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-23 07:33:52

Thanks. Both boot in EFI. kw_platform_size is 64, and BIOS in Windows's System Information is UEFI. The partition sda1 is FAT32. Only anomaly is that the disktype is dos.
I am able to boot into both Arch and Win 10, but using EFI's F12 menu. I am unable to go into BIOS using F2.
I suspect that BIOS is somehow corrupted, and that it may have nothing to do with grub.

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-23 09:19:16)

Lone_Wolf · 2024-03-23 09:26:45

So both boot in efi mode.

It is possible to boot efi from a MBR/DOS formatted disk, but that is supposed to require the ESP to have a special partition type (my main desktop is setup this way to boot with refind) .

The fdisk output you posted misses some details and is only for one specific drive, info about all drives the system sees is needed.

As root run these commands :

# fdisk -l | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st 
# efibootmgr | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

Both will output an url, post that url.

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2024-03-23 09:27:16)

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-23 15:48:02

Output

http://0x0.st/Xrh1.txt
http://0x0.st/Xrhj.txt

( I don' know what these do, but will read up )

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-23 15:48:25)

ewaller · 2024-03-23 16:13:48

Those are urls that we follow wit our browser to see the output of the commands you ran. As such:
http://0x0.st/Xrh1.txt
http://0x0.st/Xrhj.txt

Head_on_a_Stick · 2024-03-23 16:30:46

Alarming_Thing wrote:

Initially the sda1 was NTFS ( by Windows Installer), but when I tried to install Grub to /boot/efi, I realized I couldn't - so formatted sda1 to FAT32

Are you sure Windows was originally installed in UEFI mode? An MS-DOS partition table usually indicates a non-UEFI Windows system.

What was the exact problem with GRUB? Can you remember the command used and the error returned?

Does reformatting sda1 to NTFS bring back the firmware menu? Remember to back up the ESP contents beforehand so you can restore them afterwards.

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-23 18:18:50

ewaller wrote:

Those are urls that we follow wit our browser to see the output of the commands you ran. As such:
http://0x0.st/Xrh1.txt
http://0x0.st/Xrhj.txt

Thanks about 0x0.st. Didn't know about it until now.

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-23 19:06:09)

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-23 18:26:58

Are you sure Windows was originally installed in UEFI mode? An MS-DOS partition table usually indicates a non-UEFI Windows system.

What was the exact problem with GRUB? Can you remember the command used and the error returned?

First error was that grub wouldn't install on an ntfs partition. After conversion, it said it needed efiboot manager - which I installed. Since I wasn't expecting any error I paid no attention.

Does reformatting sda1 to NTFS bring back the firmware menu? Remember to back up the ESP contents beforehand so you can restore them afterwards.

Not yet. I'll try.

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-23 19:22:07)

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-24 15:37:37

Restarted the process.
1> Wiped off everything. Formatted drive to type gpt. Windows 10 refused to install on gpt.
2> Formatted drive to dos. Windows installed / boots fine. Except that It did not create an extra partition it normally does. Hence, entire windows is in one partition (ntfs) .
3> Attempted to install arch. Grub failed citing that it couldn't find efi partition.
At this time I am really stuck. I am unable to go into bios. I sometimes think if something is really has really gone wrong with bios itself.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2024-03-24 20:28:00

So did you try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation_2?

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-25 06:57:15

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

So did you try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation_2?

Amazing. (Thank !!!) Grub installed and I can boot. I didn't know you could do that (i386) since everything is 64 bit. A couple of questions, though
- How does grub know it's in efi mode? Is specifying 385 target a way of forcing it to use mbr?
- os-prober still can't detect windows. Since it was installed in mbr, it couldn't be launched using uefi menu.

[ Learnt so much in last few days re; grub, 0x0.st etc. Thanks so much to you both. Been using linux since 98, but didn't bother to dig deeper ]

Last edited by Alarming_Thing (2024-03-25 06:58:25)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2024-03-25 17:53:19

Alarming_Thing wrote:

How does grub know it's in efi mode? Is specifying 385 target a way of forcing it to use mbr?

The i386-pc target is for non-UEFI ("MBR") systems, yes.

Alarming_Thing wrote:

os-prober still can't detect windows

Try this in /boot/grub/custom.cfg (replace $uuid with the actual filesystem UUID for the Windows partition):

menuentry 'Windows' {
   search.fs_uuid --set $uuid
   chainloader +1
}

Alarming_Thing · 2024-03-25 18:59:19

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

menuentry 'Windows' {
   search.fs_uuid --set $uuid
   chainloader +1
}

Thanks Sir. I am able to dual-boot _/\_.
I just had to change the line to 'search --fs-uuid --set <uuid>'.

I am still unable to go into bios. At this point, I think a few of my issues are resolved. I'll close the thread. Thanks again.

Alarming_Thing · 2024-04-02 17:31:24

Update 2: The issue was caused by 'BIOS and boot menu can't be accessed after windows recovery' - a known issue. Upon flashing bios fw fix, I can get into BIOS now. Thx for all those who responded. _/\_

Arch Linux

#1 2024-03-20 14:50:35

[Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#2 2024-03-20 17:28:16

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#3 2024-03-21 07:08:16

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#4 2024-03-21 18:08:05

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#5 2024-03-21 20:04:10

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#6 2024-03-22 09:03:33

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#7 2024-03-23 07:33:52

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#8 2024-03-23 09:26:45

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#9 2024-03-23 15:48:02

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#10 2024-03-23 16:13:48

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#11 2024-03-23 16:30:46

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#12 2024-03-23 18:18:50

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#13 2024-03-23 18:26:58

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#14 2024-03-24 15:37:37

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#15 2024-03-24 20:28:00

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#16 2024-03-25 06:57:15

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#17 2024-03-25 17:53:19

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#18 2024-03-25 18:59:19

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

#19 2024-04-02 17:31:24

Re: [Solved] Lost ability to go into Firmware/bios after grub install

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