[SOLVED, most probably] Grub problems after reinstalling Linux Mint 18.2 (from dual boot with Windows to LM only)

[kramarov]

Acer Aspire E5-771G, Intel Core i5-5200, NVidia GeForce 840M, UEFI, GPT

I was dualbooting Windows 8.1 with Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon for a while, then had malware issues ( + generally buggy Windows), and decided to do the following: 1. Remove Mint; 2. Repair Windows; 3. Dualboot with Mint again.
I used this guide: https://itsfoss.com/uninstall-ubuntu-li ... dual-boot/. Part 2 (fixing Windows bootloader) didn't work, so I restored Windows to initial state. After recovery, Windows asked for the activation key I had lost long ago (the OS was preinstalled on the laptop). I got mad at the stubborn Windows and decided to kill it entirely and install Mint only.

I booted from the same USB i had used to install Mint in dualboot (UEFI bootable, made with Rufus) and launched the installer. It detected Windows on the machine. As i thought i had already fixed the bootloader, i simply chose to "erase Windows and install Mint". This was probably my big mistake, i should have done manual partitioning. The installation went ok until restart; but when i rebooted i got this:

Default boot device missing or boot failed.
Insert recovery media and hit any key.
Then select 'Boot Manager' to choose a new boot device or to boot recovery media.
[Ok]

I hit Ok without the USB, and got this:

Boot Manager
Boot Option Menu
1. Linux
2. Unknown Device: <WDC WD10JPVX-22JC3T0>

which was quite a surprise because this 'Linux' is the name i gave Mint in dual boot and i suspect it tried to boot the system that no longer exists. The 'unknown device' is my hard drive with the newly installed Mint.
I rebooted a few times with various UEFI settings (secure boot enabled/disabled, changing boot priority, etc.) and somehow was able to bring up the GRUB menu; i chose 'Advanced options' => recovery mode => Update grub bootloader
I'm not sure what it did (in the log, it mentioned remounting the EFI partition) but i booted into Mint and thought that my problems were over. I installed updates (safe mode, level 1 and 2 only, so no kernel updates) and nvidia driver (as i had the black screen at boot which i had to bypass with 'nomodeset'). I rebooted and...

Boot Manager
Boot Option Menu
1. Unknown Device: <WDC WD10JPVX-22JC3T0>
2. Linux

Now, if i choose the 'Unknown Device', it boots to black screen (obviously something went wrong with the driver), and i can't bypass the black screen because i don't get the GRUB (!). Striking Esc at boot takes me to 'Minimal BASH like line editing...' with grub> prompt.

Here's the output of grub> set :


I can still boot from live USB.
Here's the output of sudo fdisk -l:


Here's what GParted shows:


Now i'm quite at a loss about what to do next. I feel tempted to try boot-repair (https://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-to ... wont-boot/) but first i'd love to understand what's going on here and be sure about what i'm doing.

Many thanks in advance...

[deepakdeshp]

Try boot repair.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
If it doesn't work, go to BIOS and choose legacy mode and not uefi.
Save BIOS settings and install Mint

[deepakdeshp]

Boot from live USB and run following.

Code: Select all

fsck -y /dev/sda2

[Pierre]

Acer Aspire E5-771G, Intel Core i5-5200, NVidia GeForce 840M, UEFI, GPT

I was dual-booting Windows 8.1 with Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon for a while, then had malware issues ( + generally buggy Windows), and decided to do the following: 1. Remove Mint; 2. Repair Windows; 3. Dualboot with Mint again.
I used this guide: https://itsfoss.com/uninstall-ubuntu-li ... dual-boot/. Part 2 (fixing Windows bootloader) didn't work, so I restored Windows to initial state. After recovery, Windows asked for the activation key I had lost long ago (the OS was preinstalled on the laptop). I got mad at the stubborn Windows and decided to kill it entirely and install Mint only.

you didn't need to get Mad at Windows - - just Get Smart with it:
- - that Activation Key is inbuilt into the BIOS, these days
and so there is No Sticker or anything to show what the code actually is.

- - seriously, though - - I'd suggest starting again:
re-install win-8x and then re-install LinuxMint
- - there is plenty of room for both, on that 1Tb drive.


use Gparted from that Live Stick to erase everything from that HDD,
- make 1 -2 partitions for win-8x
- make 2 - 3 partitions for LinuxMint

- - install win-8x & reboot to check that it works A.ok
- - install LinuxMint & reboot to check that they Both still work A.ok

[michael louwe]

@ kramarov, .......

...

.
Beginning with Win 8.x, the OEMs stopped providing COA Product Key stickers because the activation code is embedded in the motherboard, stored in M$'s servers and auto-activated online. Similarly for Win 10. The OEMs also stopped providing free Win 8.x/10 Recovery/Install DVDs. So, buyers were expected to create their own OEM Factory Image Recovery Backup USB Flashdrive or System Image USB-drive for system recovery.
...

To clean reinstall Win 8.1, you need to insert the Product Key, which should have been retrieved from a running Win 8.1 system with a 3rd-party program like ProduKey. There is a workaround for the PK requirement ... https://www.pcsteps.com/627-install-win ... oduct-key/
... If a clean reinstalled Win 8.1 is not auto-activated online, the users should call M$.

[michael louwe]

@ kramarov, .......

...

.
Certain high-end OEM Win 8.x/10 computers, eg Acer, Asus and HP, have an obstructive or pro-M$ BIOS setting for "select an UEFI file as trusted for executing",(= Linux cannot boot). For the fix, please refer to ...
https://itsfoss.com/no-bootable-device-found-ubuntu/
viewtopic.php?t=236560

The above latest(= 2017) OEM laptops, eg Acer E and S series, may have even removed this BIOS setting(eg "No bootable device" after installing Linux and cannot be fixed), but may be restored by a new BIOS firmware update from the OEMs = update through Windows only. This was after many complaints from affected users. ...
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=254948

[kramarov]

you didn't need to get Mad at Windows - - just Get Smart with it:
- - that Activation Key is inbuilt into the BIOS, these days
and so there is No Sticker or anything to show what the code actually is.

- - seriously, though - - I'd suggest starting again:
re-install win-8x and then re-install LinuxMint
- - there is plenty of room for both, on that 1Tb drive.

Thank you for the advice, but i really don't want Windows on that laptop (i have Win10 on another machine); i'm going to dualboot Mint with another Linux distro, Manjaro with KDE desktop most probably, then maybe try Ubuntu when Bionic Beaver is released...

use Gparted from that Live Stick to erase everything from that HDD

Thought about that as last resort. I actually don't know how to do it and will have to find a guide first.

[kramarov]

Certain high-end OEM Win 8.x/10 computers, eg Acer, Asus and HP, have an obstructive or pro-M$ BIOS setting for "select an UEFI file as trusted for executing",(= Linux cannot boot). For the fix, please refer to ...
https://itsfoss.com/no-bootable-device-found-ubuntu/
viewtopic.php?t=236560

I'm aware of this setting and already had to use it when i was installing Mint in dualboot.
This time, when i tried to do it, it said something like "File exists", and it changed nothing.

[kramarov]

Boot from live USB and run following.

Code: Select all

fsck -y /dev/sda2

Thank you,
here's the output:

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ fsck -y /dev/sda2
fsck from util-linux 2.27.1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
fsck.ext2: Permission denied while trying to open /dev/sda2
You must have r/w access to the filesystem or be root

With sudo added:

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda2
fsck from util-linux 2.27.1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
/dev/sda2: clean, 220090/60628992 files, 5273913/242508032 blocks

As far as I understood from the manuals, with -y option, fsck tries to automatically repair the detected filesystem problems... But nothing changed so far

[deepakdeshp]

If reinstalling Mint ,here is the guide
https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.tecm ... guide/amp/

[kramarov]

Try boot repair.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
If it doesn't work, go to BIOS and choose legacy mode and not uefi.
Save BIOS settings and install Mint

Boot-repair helped, to a certain extent
I still get the Default boot device missing or boot failed message and the ugly Boot Manager screen:

Boot Option Menu
1. Unknown Device: <WDC WD10JPVX-22JC3T0>
2. Linux

However, if i choose the 'unknown device' now, i get the normal Grub menu.

Booted into the installed Mint (after bypassing the black screen again).
Got this message:

Cinnamon just crashed
You are currently running in Fallback mode
Do you want to restart Cinnamon?

Well, whatever i want, it won't restart LOL
Don't know what to do about it.
Trying to fix the drivers now...

[kramarov]

Reinstalled the nvidia driver. No Cinnamon crash since then.

Here's the Boot-repair report before the recommended repair:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/26320377/

and after the recommended repair:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/26320490/

After the repair, it said "do not forget to make your BIOS boot on sda1/EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi file". How do i do that? Via the "select an UEFI file as trusted for executing", or is there a way to do that in the terminal?

[kramarov]

So, the current state of things is:

Now, after using Boot-repair, i have the perfectly running system, but i have to boot via a weird sequence of screens.
First, i see this:

Default boot device missing or boot failed.
Insert recovery media and hit any key.
Then select 'Boot Manager' to choose a new boot device or to boot recovery media.
[Ok]

Hitting Ok (with no recovery media inserted) takes me to the Boot Manager screen:

Boot Option Menu
1. Unknown Device: <WDC WD10JPVX-22JC3T0>
2. Linux

If i choose (1), i get the proper Grub menu, and then Mint starts normally.
(2) is a nonfunctioning option that remained from the previous dual boot setup.The question now is, how can i get rid of it and make the machine understand that there's now only one OS on it?

I'm sorry for moving up the topic again (i understand that this is probably an uncommon situation and not really interesting for many people on the forum), but please give it this last chance

[mrmajik45]

Can you give us a screenshot of the partitions? Gparted or Partition manager

[kramarov]

Can you give us a screenshot of the partitions? Gparted or Partition manager

Here's the screenshot:


I'm sorry i'm so slow in answering, it's holiday time with a lot of family and friend responsibilities...

Here's also the Boot-repair report with boot info summary and repair info: https://paste.ubuntu.com/26320490/

[mrmajik45]

That's weird you have a efi partition but i don't. maybe the unknown device is the efi partition?

[mrmajik45]

That's weird you have a efi partition but i don't. maybe the unknown device is the efi partition?

Just back up the partition before doing that.

[mrmajik45]

Why are there 2 boot partitions and some files overlapping? SDA1

Code: Select all

File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  FAT32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi 
                       /EFI/ubuntu/fbx64.efi /EFI/ubuntu/fwupx64.efi 
                       /EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /EFI/ubuntu/mmx64.efi 
                       /EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi

SDB1

Code: Select all

File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/2012: FAT32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /syslinux.cfg /EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi

[kramarov]

That's weird you have a efi partition but i don't. maybe the unknown device is the efi partition?

What stands in brackets after the 'unknown device' looks like my HDD... which must be sda2 ?

Why are there 2 boot partitions and some files overlapping?

My knowledge is not enough to comment on the boot info you quoted... isn't SDB1 here on the live USB? I ran Boot-repair from Mint live USB.
Anyway, it's no wonder if something is overlapping considering that I (1) installed Mint in dualboot with Windows, (2) removed Mint, (3) probably failed to remove its bootloader, (4) reinstalled Mint (and trusted its installer to remove Windows and partition the disk automatically).

[kramarov]

Here's a screenshot of the boot priority list in my bios:



As far as i understand, Mint actually boots from (1).
And, there's also this (9) EFI File Boot 0: Linux. Moving it up to the top of the boot priority doesn't change anything. I assume that it's probably nonfunctional because it refers to the removed OS. This must be the file i selected as 'trusted for executing' when installing Mint in dualboot with Windows. Might be just my guesses as i'm totally new to all this. But if i'm right, what's the correct way to locate and remove it?