[SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 13:58:20

i upgraded my pc and did not want to reinstall.
at first grub was not there, i fixed it with arch flash usb.
now it keeps booting into grub console because it wont load my config file
manually loading config or booting solves the issue fully but i still need to type everything out and no automatic boot

sdc      8:32   0 238,5G  0 disk 
├─sdc1   8:33   0     1G  0 part /efi
└─sdc2   8:34   0 237,5G  0 part /home
                                 /var/log
                                 /var/cache/pacman/pkg
                                 /.snapshots
                                 /

the kernel is on root subvolume (/@/boot) and grub is on vfat partition (/efi)
upgrade was to a different motherboard and intel to amd cpu

Last edited by lobotomiteqt5 (2026-07-20 15:11:34)

seth · 2026-07-20 14:04:00

i upgraded my pc and did not want to reinstall.

"upgrade" means you altered the hardware? What specifically?
Did you grub-install and grub-mkconfig afterwards?

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 14:16:56

i edited 4 seconds before your answer appeared and i didnt get an email, i upgraded from asrock h110m dvs and intel core i3 6320 to gigabyte b550m and amd ryzen 5 5600

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 14:18:40

and yes i did both grub install and mkconfig, grub boots into console and using

grub> configfile (hd2,gpt1)/grub/grub.cfg

launches normal menu which i can easily boot from

cryptearth · 2026-07-20 14:20:06

what exactly is on /efi (the esp) and where's your grub.cfg?
grub-install has several parameters:
--efi-directory - this should be the esp mountpoint - in your case: /efi - it determines where grub.efi is installed and some parameters of the efi boot entry
--boot-directory - points to /boot - if the esp is not mounted at boot it can be used to tell grub-install to install grub modules and expect grub.cfg at a different place - when not given it defaults to "/boot"

the default of "/boot" could be the issue here as the correct needs to be either /@/boot or /efi - but not /boot (i don't know if grub-install is smart enough to figure this out on its own)
although both are possible i personal prefer to install grub with boot efi and boot directory set to the esp mountpoint (/efi in my case) and have /boot on unencrypted
if for encrypted root i likely would use an unencrypted extbootldr with ext4

// F5

please post exact grub-install command used

Last edited by cryptearth (2026-07-20 14:21:03)

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 14:26:52

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

seth · 2026-07-20 14:50:27

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#D … scue_shell
Why did you issue --boot-directory at all?

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 14:53:02

because kernel and grub on different partitions

cryptearth · 2026-07-20 14:54:20

seth wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#D … scue_shell
Why did you issue --boot-directory at all?

because by its pkgbuild configure --boot-directory defaults to /boot - and i was unsure if when using /@/boot subvolume using boot-directory=/boot is correct or if it has to be boot-directory=/@/boot
turns out: even on btrfs with boot subvol just the default /boot is correct (if one wants grub moduls and grub.cfg in /boot/grub)

lobotomiteqt5 wrote:

because kernel and grub on different partitions

that should be no problem: grub shkuld be able to access /boot and load config and modules from - to, in turn, load kernel from there

Last edited by cryptearth (2026-07-20 14:56:08)

seth · 2026-07-20 15:00:36

lobotomiteqt5 wrote:

because kernel and grub on different partitions

That's irrelevant.
Boot the system, make sure everything's properly mounted, re-install grub.
Maybe look around whether you've some grub directory in unexpected places (wrong partition or the mountpoint itself)

Edit:

grub is on vfat partition (/efi)

??
grub-what? the EFI or the /grub directory w/ the config and modules etc et pp?

Last edited by seth (2026-07-20 15:02:21)

lobotomiteqt5 · 2026-07-20 15:10:53

thank you guys, after reading the replies i tested what happens if i remove grub files from /boot i found out that --boot-directory flag is where grub searches for its own files not the kernel and initramfs, fixed by reinstalling grub with --boot-directory=/efi, the basic grub stuff was on /boot but i was writing the actual config to /efi/grub/grub.cfg thats why it did not load anything

seth · 2026-07-20 15:24:22

It's not really a good idea to keep the grub.cfg in some other path - the ESP only needs to hold the grub efi, everything else can go into /boot (and arguably should if you don't want to constantly remember and adjust for the custom setup)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-07-20 13:58:20

[SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#2 2026-07-20 14:04:00

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#3 2026-07-20 14:16:56

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#4 2026-07-20 14:18:40

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#5 2026-07-20 14:20:06

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#6 2026-07-20 14:26:52

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#7 2026-07-20 14:50:27

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#8 2026-07-20 14:53:02

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#9 2026-07-20 14:54:20

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#10 2026-07-20 15:00:36

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#11 2026-07-20 15:10:53

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

#12 2026-07-20 15:24:22

Re: [SOLVED] grub keeps booting into grub console

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