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Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

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Re: Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

#11

Post by XorNot »

bean-weevil wrote: post #4

> This was caused by installing Debian, then restoring a full backup from the old laptop, which didn't use EFI yet, over the root filesystem. This really isn't guaranteed to work. I'm surprised nothing else broke! This is why my laptop migration process looks something more like this: 1. Restore home directory 2. Restore /etc (taking care not to overwrite anything hardware-specific) 3. Install the same list of packag…

These days any changes going into /etc or really anywhere which is not my home directory are done via an Ansible playbook for me. If it's too complicated to script like that (which is not complicated at all) then it is absolutely too complicated to remember I did it or why.

Re: Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

#13

Post by TacticalCoder »

I hit something similar recently, after installing Debian 12.8 (I think it was 12.8) on my wife's computer, where another Linux version was already installed.

I didn't find the root cause. I know it's a system on which SecureBoot used to be on and was working fine (with an older Debian version). Anyway after installing Debian 12.8, somehow I ended up at that infamous GRUB boot prompt, unable to boot the system.

I "fixed" it by disabling SecureBoot from the UEFI: not my proudest fix but I didn't feel like troubleshooting what had gone wrong (which was certainly simple and dumb). So Kudos to TFA's author for spending the time to troubleshoot and solve a much more complicated issue.

Re: Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

#14

Post by jansommer »

There is rarely a need for GRUB on EFI systems. Create a unified kernel image, create a fat fs gpt partition, mount on /boot/efi and put the image there, then add it to efibootmgr. Sign and use systemd-stub and Shim for Secure Boot. No GRUB, no systemd-boot, just EFI firmware -> initrd -> kernel. Tried and tested on Debian 12 and Trixie. Can also dual boot Windows if the machine has a way to select an OS on boot, something most systems have these days.

I think the work required to do the above vs just using the standard installer is what holds people back, but it's hard to mess up once it's done.

Re: Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

#15

Post by 8bitsrule »

I don't use UEFI often. Last night after installing a new kernel, I noticed that updating-grub failed to add that kernel to (either of 2) GRUB bootlists. After consulting a Boot-Repair report, I found that deleting a partition on another drive flagged as 'boot,esp' resolved that problem. Moral: 1) don't leave skeletons in closets.

Re: Backward-incompatible GRUB2 change causing BIOS setup bootloop

#17

Post by noncoml »

jansommer wrote: post #14

There is rarely a need for GRUB on EFI systems. Create a unified kernel image, create a fat fs gpt partition, mount on /boot/efi and put the image there, then add it to efibootmgr. Sign and use systemd-stub and Shim for Secure Boot. No GRUB, no systemd-boot, just EFI firmware -> initrd -> kernel. Tried and tested on Debian 12 and Trixie. Can also dual boot Windows if the machine has a way to select an OS on boot, som…

Initrd is loaded by the kernel not by efi
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