Arch Linux

snowx_01

Member

Registered: 2025-09-28

Posts: 2

MSI Laptop refuse to boot on bootloader

Hi everyone,

I got an issue that i don't achieve to solve, and i think that is not arch related specifically but if anyone know a workaround ...
I've got a MSI Katana GF66UE Laptop, installed with windows 11 from retailer.
As i like Video Games, but also do many things on linux, i quickly started thinking for a dual boot.
Because I don't want too mix both OS together, i wanted to run linux on a separate external SSD, to keep both world separated, and so i can unplug my SSD whenever I want and get back a stock windows PC.

I did all the Arch Install and it goes well, here's the trick, Arch doesn't appear in my boot list but in my Hard Disk BBS Priorities option. I was pretty fine with and setted it first when i want to boot in for 1 year.
But since 1 week, Arch sometimes just don't get into Grub, or my laptop don't see the drive even if he's perfectly plugged into my PC. The fact is that phenomenom is completely random, sometimes I see Arch entry and i can boot in, sometimes i see the entry, but he visibly failed to get in so he boot windows, and sometimes the entry doesn't appear at all.
Appart that the system runs fine and i have no issue. On this problem i have no error code to show or whatever because i can't log anything as im' not in as OS.
If someone ever experienced this or have a workaround to make my drive appear like a LiveOS when i write with Rufus (a complete separate boot entry), because for this type of devices, i don't get any problems.

Note : Installing Arch again didn't solve the issue, i already tried thinking it was a grub issue.

Thanks a lot in advance if someone can help me .

Last edited by snowx_01 (2025-09-28 14:33:32)

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,730

Re: MSI Laptop refuse to boot on bootloader

well - the issue here is the external drive and how it's connected: usb (likely)
the fact it shows up from time to time hints to a race condition (if you're not familiar with that term: multiple things happen simultaneously at once in a non given order with an unoredictable outcome)
and given the doubt to msi that's perfectly fine because noone can expect them to consider such a niche use case and hence its unlikely they have written code for it let alone tested it thoroughly
from what I infere: you installed your bootloader in a non-removable way (grub provides the --removable flag specifically fir removable media) and it depends solely one some timing quirks if your system picks up the drive at the right time
usb and all that conversion across several chips and interfaces does the rest

what i recommend: install a linux-capable bootloader along with its config(!) onto the 100mb microsoft esp - it should have plenty of space - the microsoft stuff takes about 30mb - grub the same - others maybe even less - and write its config in a way so it detects if it can see the drive and boot from it
reason: at the point when the uefi transfers to the bootloader hardware initialization is complete and every external device present - avoiding the race condition

also: https://deepl.com
in english a computer is a thing and hence refered to as it - not he (as in german: der computer)

Last edited by cryptearth (2025-09-28 14:53:36)

snowx_01

Member

Registered: 2025-09-28

Posts: 2

Re: MSI Laptop refuse to boot on bootloader

Sorry I wrote my post pretty fast and didn't pay attention on according correctly

To give a bit more informations, GRUB has been installed using the mentionned --removable parameter, also adding entry manually by efibootmgr didn't work at all.

I also tried to see if the boot was an issue from my EFI, and if the SSD is unreadable, Refind on an USB Key doesn't see it on bootable devide, and the EFI Shell refuse to mount the SSD if i try to.

Provided that, installing Grub directly on my Windows EFI could solve this issue ?

Thanks in advance

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,730

Re: MSI Laptop refuse to boot on bootloader

Provided that, installing Grub directly on my Windows EFI could solve this issue ?

it's at least an option as when installing grub fully on the esp (with both --efi-directory= and --boot-directory= set to the esp mountpoint (like /efi)) you can load several modules on the fly - which includes additional interfaces like usb and rescan - so with this even if the uefi doesn't find the external drive reliable grub should as you then already at a point when the uefi has fully initialized all hardware and given the control to whatever it loaded (in this case grub)
also you can chain the windows loader from grub so you can use grub only instead of rely on the uefi boot selector (although that's exactly how the uefi spec was designed)

overall it comes again to: the laptop was designed to pass the microsoft windows certification and hence was likely designed for and tested with windows only and just breaks not because its an external drive but rather because its not a windows bootloader but something else
for fun you could try to setup a windows bootloader on the external drives ESP and see if that gets picked up reliable by the uefi - if it is then its clearly an issue with the uefi picking up grub - if this also is unreliable then its an issue with the drive being external itself

I have a couple of ideas - but its hard to communicate them via a bbs