Unable to boot. invalid environment block

[Fernando]

Hi all!
After an ordinary update, I'm having trouble when booting on an ASUS f550c laptop. Right after the ASUS logo, the message "error: invalid environment block. Press a key to continue." appears. Now the thing is pressing a key (any key) does absolutely nothing; the message remains on screen forever.
I can't get to the GRUB menu and I can't even get into the BIOS menu (don't know why, but I tried every way I know) to change boot device order to boot from a live CD or an USB so I'm lost.
Any ideas, please?
As usual, thanks in advance!

[GreyGeek]

Nothing done by an update in Linux should stop you from accessing the bios.
We're you dualbooting?


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[Fernando]

Sorry, I didn't mean the the update caused the BIOS problem. That's just a different thing making the matter even more complicated...

We're you dualbooting?

No, the only system on the computer is Kubuntu 16.10.

[GreyGeek]

I only asked because I thought that if you were running Win you might have gotten hammered by a virus.

How long have you been unable to boot into your bios?

[Fernando]

I couldn't say, the computer is not mine but my girlfriend's; all I know is pressing supr or F1 doesn't get me there...

[GreyGeek]

What's the make and model of the laptop?

For PC OEMs:

https://www.lifewire.com/bios-setup-...ystems-2624463

For BIOS makers:
https://www.lifewire.com/bios-setup-...turers-2624461

[Fernando]

Thanks, GreyGeek!
I could enter the BIOS menu and I am now in a liveCD session. I tried to delete boot/grub/grubenv according to something I read before to no avail. Same error. Also, when I rebooted, I found grubenv was there again...
I also read about deleting two lines from something that appears when pressing the e key at the grub menu, but the invalid environment block prevents me to get there.

[GreyGeek]

I don't know what condition your installation is in, but I would recommend REINSTALLING from the LiveCD to start with a clean plate. IF you do that then during the install, when asked, check the box for proprietary apps but DO NOT check the box for updates while installing. Wait until after the install is complete and you've rebooted into the fresh installation. Then, in a Konsole (not with Discover or Muon), run

sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade

That will bring your new installation up to date.
Then do stuff like adding your printer, installing your favorite browser (if it's not FireFox), your email client, etc...
Sometime after that you should consider making a backup of your (your gf's?) home account to a USB stick.

[oshunluvr]

Seems to me you could re-install grub before the nuclear option.

Also here's something to try: http://askubuntu.com/questions/19185...ey-to-continue

[Fernando]

Seems to me you could re-install grub before the nuclear option.

I'l be more than happy to try! Could you tell me how to do so from a liveCD session?

AlsohHere's something to try: http://askubuntu.com/questions/19185...ey-to-continue

Already tried.

[oshunluvr]

Here's the official way: http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-repair...ubuntu-live-cd

All I've ever had to do is mount the partition containing /boot and re-install grub with the --root-directory option.

Here's the steps:

1. Boot to liveCD
2. Mount the install partition
3. Re-install grub
4. Reboot

After you boot the the liveCD and open a terminal - assuming your boot drive is /dev/sda and your /boot folder is on /dev/sda2 - here's the terminal commands:

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

and reboot

[Fernando]

Well, I finally got it solved!
Just as I wrote "Already tried" to oshunluvr suggestion that I followed that website instructions, I thought: "Wait, did I?". The thing is I did, but on the wrong boot folder: the one in the liveCD session. All I had to do was repeat the process in the original user's boot folder and voilà!
After that, I still had to uninstall the newest kernel, the one it was getting installed in the update that caused the problem.
Thanks, GreyGeek and oshunluvr!!