Everything installed -- running perfectly, now plain black screen

[Tom_ZeCat]

Help, I've got big problems, specifically a plain, black screen instead of a starting computer. It's the HP Pavilion 6200 desktop that I just purchased. I've just spent days setting up Kubuntu 14.04 LTS and all my settings and apps. Ironically, it's an attempt to back all that up that has somehow resulted in the machine not loading Kubuntu at all anymore.

My plan was to run Acronis True Image 2010 from a DVD and thus back up the whole drive as an image to an external hard drive. I've done this for years with no problems. Acronis boots from a DVD – in fact, it's a Linux distro in itself. However, when booting from a DVD, the OS/App came up, but it would not allow me to select my internal hard drive. It only listed the Toshiba external hard drive where I had planned to put the image. So I went onto my Windows PC where Acronis is installed and created a bootable Acronis thumb drive. I figured try booting from that in case doing it that way would give me access to the internal hard drive.

I couldn't get the PC to boot from the thumb drive at first, which was weird because I installed Kubuntu from a thumb drive. I googled around and found a link (http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/p...ocLocale=en_US) where it said to go into the BIOS (EUFI? – this thing has an EUFI) and reset it to the defaults. So I did that, and voilà, the PC booted to Acronis from the thumb drive. However, I had no luck backing up the internal hard drive. It was exactly as it was with the DVD. The internal drive was not even shown when I went into the backup module. In the clone module, it was shown, but grayed out. I figured maybe Acronis 2010 doesn't support Kubuntu's default file type (ext4, right? – I installed with the defaults). I figured no big deal. I could upgrade to the 2014 version of Acronis or use Clonezilla.

Not so fast. Now my ****ing computer won't even boot up. I get a plain, black screen with a blinking cursor. I went back into the EUFI to make sure the hard drive was set to first in the boot order. That doesn't help. When the PC boots up, I get the HP splash screen, then it goes to the plain black screen. Here's what I'm seeing in the EUFI when I change the order:

image upload no limit
It only allows me to pull the hard drive to the top under “Legacy boot sources,” but it does not list the internal hard drive under “EFI Boot Sources” and it won't allow me to move legacy above EFI. Extremely frustrating.

I did notice when I went to exit Acronis (booted from the thumb drive) it froze up and I had to hard shut down the computer. Maybe that trashed something?

I booted to my Kubuntu thumb drive with no problems and I was able to access the internal hard drive with no problems. All my files are still there.

Anyone know what's up here? Why I'm I getting a plain blank screen? It doesn't say “No OS present,” and I can access the drive from the Kubuntu thumb drive boot, so I don't believe the drive has crashed. For some reason the computer is refusing to load Kubuntu from the internal drive, turning itself into an expensive paper weight.

Help!

Btw, this is a Kubuntu-only PC. There's no dual boot or VirtualBox. Kubuntu is the only OS on it.

[Tom_ZeCat]

One more thing. Besides hitting F10 to access the EUFI, you can hit F9 upon bootup to choose your boot device directly, as you can see in this menu:

upload gif
I tried that and chose “SATA0,” which is the only place Kubuntu could be installed since it's the only internal hard drive. No dice. I still get the plain black screen.

Is my MBR screwed up?

Btw, there was also a security section in the EUFI. I made sure MBR security was off in case that was blocking access to Kubuntu booting.

[Qqmike]

EUFI? – this thing has an EUFI

So it has UEFI, and that is what you are using.

Blinking cursor: Hard telling what that is for sure, but it sure sounds like it is trying to boot using GRUB, but that the GRUB is broken (can't find the grub.cfg boot menu or something).

Did you configure your UEFI (by re-booting, pressing the magic key to enter UEFI ("BIOS") firmware, and configuring.

Example, what I did on my ASUS machine:

Configure UEFI (BIOS)
Turn on the PC, at the POST press the magic key to enter UEFI(-BIOS).
CSM (compatibility support module): set to Auto (default) -- or turn CSM Off.
Disable Secure Boot: Change to “Other O/S”, which disables Secure Boot for the ASUS UEFI.
Disable Fast Boot.


You can try to rescue this by reinstalling GRUB (from a live Kubuntu DVD/USB), or using rEFInd (which you can make from a live Kubuntu DVD/USB), or trying Boot Repair CD/USB (which you can make froma live Kubuntu DVD/USB). My how-to outlines options, tips, and links (to the how-to's on rEFInd etc.):

Using Your Live Kubuntu DVD/USB to Fix Things
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379485

(Tech note: If you can boot into Kubuntu by using rEFInd, then you could also re-install GRUB at Konsole from there (sudo grub-install and then sudo update-grub).)

[Tom_ZeCat]

So it has UEFI, and that is what you are using.

Blinking cursor: Hard telling what that is for sure, but it sure sounds like it is trying to boot using GRUB, but that the GRUB is broken (can't find the grub.cfg boot menu or something).

Did you configure your UEFI (by re-booting, pressing the magic key to enter UEFI ("BIOS") firmware, and configuring.

Example, what I did on my ASUS machine:

Configure UEFI (BIOS)
Turn on the PC, at the POST press the magic key to enter UEFI(-BIOS).
CSM (compatibility support module): set to Auto (default) -- or turn CSM Off.
Disable Secure Boot: Change to “Other O/S”, which disables Secure Boot for the ASUS UEFI.
Disable Fast Boot.


You can try to rescue this by reinstalling GRUB (from a live Kubuntu DVD/USB), or using rEFInd (which you can make from a live Kubuntu DVD/USB), or trying Boot Repair CD/USB (which you can make froma live Kubuntu DVD/USB). My how-to outlines options, tips, and links (to the how-to's on rEFInd etc.):

Using Your Live Kubuntu DVD/USB to Fix Things
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379485

(Tech note: If you can boot into Kubuntu by using rEFInd, then you could also re-install GRUB at Konsole from there (sudo grub-install and then sudo update-grub).)

Thanks for the info. So Grub installs even on Kubuntu-only PCs? This PC has never been a dual boot one. It came with Windows 7, which I wiped and replaced with Kubuntu 14.04 LTS. I have that rEFInd utility, but I've never used it. I abandoned my days of dual booting in favor of KVMing from one PC to another. In fact, I'm typing this on my Windows 7 PC. (KVMing is way more convenient than dual booting, and performance is better than using VirtualBox.)

Since I last wrote, I've found an Ubuntu-based boot repair utility (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair). Gonna read up on that and on rEFInd/Grub as you suggest. I'll get this thing working again. I've spent a lot of time getting this thing set up. It would really suck to have to go back to square one. I'm also thinking I'll ditch Acronis True Image for my Linux PCs in favor of Clonezilla. I strongly suspect the freeze up of Acronis somehow damaged either Grub or the MBR. I found a Youtube tutorial that can walk me through how to use Clonezilla since I get this thing fixed.

[Qqmike]

Boot Repair is mentioned in Post #3.
If you have rEFInd on CD/USB, you can boot the PC with that, get into Kubuntu, and install grub from Konsole.

[Tom_ZeCat]

I've got great news. I'm typing this from the Kubuntu machine that was not booting before. The Boot Repair utility worked great. Turns out Grub was damaged. This thing worked so well it almost felt too easy. The only difference is now when it first starts to boot up, it shows a Grub menu whereas previously it went straight into Kubuntu. I can live with that.

I'm keeping Boot Repair on its own thumb drive in case I ever need it in the future. I have a pouch of utility thumb drives such as Gparted, the Kubuntu install package, Puppy Linux, and now this. What a great tool. Thanks for your help.

[Qqmike]

Good news. Nice job.

Configuring GRUB2:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...iguring_GRUB_2
(In the file /etc/default/grub, see the line: grub_hidden_timeout=0 => no menu is displayed. Edit /etc/default/grub with root privileges, save it, then do sudo update-grub.)

[Qqmike]

btw, this question got past me:

So Grub installs even on Kubuntu-only PCs? This PC has never been a dual boot one. It came with Windows 7, which I wiped and replaced with Kubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Yes, GRUB is installed when you install Kubuntu. It acts as the boot manager and the actual boot-loader; it boots up your Kubuntu OS.

You can install Kubuntu without installing GRUB; see the sub-section on that in this how-to:

Remove GRUB from UEFI -- Instead, use rEFInd and/or UEFI firmware boot menus

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...317#post378317

Some people use (on UEFI machines) rEFInd to boot their OSs. It will do so using the "stem" method, and will boot the kernel directly. You don't need GRUB.

I have both GRUB installed and rEFInd installed, just for fun, and to support my various booting experiments. They will work together: rEFInd can boot Kubuntu by passing control to GRUB; then you see the GRUB menu and choose from that to boot Kubuntu (a 2-step dance routine, but it goes quickly). Or, simply let rEFInd do all the work, booting Kubuntu directly using the stem-loader method. Or, switch back and forth, as you wish.

[Tom_ZeCat]

btw, this question got past me:


Yes, GRUB is installed when you install Kubuntu. It acts as the boot manager and the actual boot-loader; it boots up your Kubuntu OS.

You can install Kubuntu without installing GRUB; see the sub-section on that in this how-to:

Remove GRUB from UEFI -- Instead, use rEFInd and/or UEFI firmware boot menus

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...317#post378317

Some people use (on UEFI machines) rEFInd to boot their OSs. It will do so using the "stem" method, and will boot the kernel directly. You don't need GRUB.

I have both GRUB installed and rEFInd installed, just for fun, and to support my various booting experiments. They will work together: rEFInd can boot Kubuntu by passing control to GRUB; then you see the GRUB menu and choose from that to boot Kubuntu (a 2-step dance routine, but it goes quickly). Or, simply let rEFInd do all the work, booting Kubuntu directly using the stem-loader method. Or, switch back and forth, as you wish.

Yup, while I was at it, I went ahead and put rEFInd on my laptop. I've heard nothing but great things about it. Now it's there in case I want to ever turn it into a dual boot.

I'm just going to leave the Grub menu in there. I don't have a compelling reason to edit it out.

As I type, Clonezilla is making an image of my Kubuntu desktop's hard drive, putting it over to a 64-gig thumb drive. Its interface isn't anywhere near as slick as Acronis's, but it looks like it will get the job done. I think Acronis 2010 may not have been able to see my internal drive because it's an ext4 one that isn't supported. I probably could have gotten around this by upgrading to a later version, but why shell out the bucks when Clonezilla can get the job done? I found a Youtube tutorial to walk me through, so it wasn't so hard.

Back in my Windows days, I used to always make an Acronis ghost image of my drives in case Windows got trashed via corrupt files, malware, whatever. We all know how vulnerable Windows is. While Kubuntu isn't so vulnerable, I want to always keep a ghost image in case I need it. If my hard drive crashes, I can just install a new one, restore the image and not have to spend days setting up my PC.

[Qqmike]

I'm just going to leave the Grub menu in there. I don't have a compelling reason to edit it out.

I like to see it when I boot up, just to see what I'm booting. E.g., at the GRUB menu, the OS being booted is highlighted, you can press the "e" key and see the GRUB configuration entry (in /boot/grub/grub.cfg), like this:

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=[COLOR=#0000ff][B]hd0,gpt2[/B][/COLOR] --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2  [COLOR=#0000ff][B]127fc14b-aa8a-4c00-b781-0a70a88cf07c[/B][/COLOR]
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 127fc14b-aa8a-4c00-b781-0a70a88cf07c
    fi
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-[COLOR=#0000ff][B]3.13.0-76[/B][/COLOR]-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=[B]127fc14b-aa8a-4c00-b781-0a70a88cf07c[/B] ro  quiet splash $vt_handoff
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-76-generic

I can see the first hard drive, second partition, and kernel version "-76" (to confirm the latest kernel upgrade is being used). To get out of the "e" (edit) mode at the boot menu, you press ESC, then hit Enter to boot it up. And so on.