[MULTI BOOT] help recovering boot menu on triple boot witn neon, Win10, old Mate?

[pwrcul]

In the last days I've learned my issue is more complicated than I thought.
All I want is a good menu of choices at bootup with preference for the last OS booted if possible as I have had.
Although grub2 is what I am used to, I no longer care what boot system it is. Just so it works.

My laptop's main OS is KDE neon on it's sda6 partition.
The box is an Asus Transformer 3 Pro, T303UA I bought new with Windows at Costco, and I've used as mainly a linux box for about 2+ years.
During a Discover update of neon the system crashed.

I restored neon from a March Clonezilla image and updated it, but my only way of booting it so far is to use grub> commands, e.g.,
linux (hd0,gpt6)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6
initrd (hd0,gpt6)/initrd.img
boot
which gets me to the Plasma desktop logon screen
I can boot Win10 from the machine BIOS.

I have run boot-repair several times. I've looked at the output and can find no hint at what needs to be done. (If you want, go to https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/DmyzJ8zTCc/ and see for yourself.)
I've used Grub Customizer in the past; now it has no effect in terms of booting.

This is a complicated area because UEFI and Secure Boot (currently disabled) are involved.
Issuing efibootmgr commands is possible but so far have not helped.

I will attempt inserting the partition table and properties of the EFI partition pngs
But I expect that I don't know how, so I can supply them by email if I fail.
file:///home/jim/Documents/T3P efi UUID 64F2-C9F9.png
file:///home/jim/Documents/T3P partition table Screenshot_20190428_085516.png

[oshunluvr]

If you can boot to neon, have you tried just re-installing grub? The crash could have just corrupted the boot record or GRUB.

sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub

As far as the images you'd like to share, as long as they're of suitable size and type, there's an "Insert Image" button in the editor menu or you can "Go Advanced" and create attachments.

[pwrcul]

Thanks, oshunluvr,

I ran the install and update. No change. I am still in the world of grub>
Should I try purging what's there first and, if so, how?

[pwrcul]

I am thinking about going through the steps outlined in this "Easy tips for Linux Mint and Ubuntu" article to restore boot ability with grub in an EFI environment.
What do you think?
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspo...fi-repair.html
I will do it after a break if I see nothing in the meantime.

[oshunluvr]

I'm not an EFI expert so I hesitate to advise on that part. There's an awesome tutorial on here by QQMike about efi booting you might want to read.

As far as the article, generally anything that applies to Ubuntu or Mint applies to Kubuntu so go for it. Unlikely you'd be worse off.

It sounds like maybe the grub packages in whatever distro installed grub got trashed by the crash. That would explain why re-install and grub repair won't work. After booting into Linux, try force re-installing the grub packages and then re-installing grub to the hard drive. I assume grub-install didn't kick any errors?

I see you have a second ext4 partition. Any chance that's another Linux install? Also you've got almost 12Gb unallocated. You could do a new Kubuntu install there and it would re-install grub. Then you could boot to the the old install from there.

[pwrcul]

Thanks.
I will try the article's method if your other suggestions fail to recover a boot menu.
I will stick with grub and switch to EFI if all fails...
The previous
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
generated no errors.
The linux partition on sda7 is mate
I started bit torrent download of kubuntu-19.04-desktop-amd64.iso for the 12 unallocated.

For force reinstalling grub packages, what exactly do you have in mind?
Everything that shows up in muon?
Do it with apt? E.g.?

[Qqmike]

That link just shows how to chroot, which is OK, but I thought Boot-Repair faied to re-install GRUB?

I will stick with grub and switch to EFI if all fails...

That's confusing. The two are not mutually exclusive. Your EFI setup can use GRUB in its ESP to boot your OS(s). Seems like you aren't sure if you have UEFI or not. (If you do, all your bootloaders--notably your main controlling GRUB--are in the ESP.)

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...-fixing-things
Quicker:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379977

[jlittle]

Some kind of grub is booting from somewhere, to get the grub rescue prompt. I'm impressed that you've successfully booted from the grub rescue prompt; I don't think I've ever managed that, despite several attempts.

I suggest using grub-install specifying the --efi_directory and --boot_directory options. (That's from perhaps unreliable memory, I'm away from my Kubuntu system till later in the week.) Ensure that the EFI partition is mounted, normally it's on /boot/efi, when you run grub-install.

You might confirm that you've got the right kind of grub package. I recall a poster here trying to to set up an EFI boot when he or she had grub-pc installed, which is BIOS only. Bear in mind that if a computer boots in BIOS mode (aka legacy) it can't run an EFI executable, and vice versa.

In the longer term having a multi-boot USB stick handy would be useful. There are several projects, and I keep meaning to investigate one thoroughly so that I can recommend it here. In theory such a stick can easily boot anything from anywhere.

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

[pwrcul]

To Qqmike and jlittle,
Thanks.
I am trying to catch shuteye and not burn out, but, that said, I have not yet tried another move yet.
The Kubuntu ISO has the right sha256sum so I will put it on a USB drive.
I am confident I have EUFI (by running efibootmgr), and I am confused by my unfamiliarity with it and the simultaneous occurrence with grub. I could report back from efibootmgr if that would help.
Looking at muon, I see I have grub-pc installed and not one of the -efi versions.
How about if I uninstall the grub files I have and install grub-efi-amd64 (and everything that comes with it) before a new grub-install attempt?
Any thoughts/code examples on force reinstalling grub packages?
I'll be back shortly and again later after crashing.

[jlittle]

Looking at muon, I see I have grub-pc installed and not one of the -efi versions.

Progress.

How about if I uninstall the grub files I have and install grub-efi-amd64 (and everything that comes with it) before a new grub-install attempt?

I've no experience with that. My first inclination would be to install grub-efi-amd64 and let APT decide what is needed.

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

[pwrcul]

I can get (install) grub-efi-amd64 using muon. I could leave grub-pc in place. I would see what I end up with: both or just the efi one.
What if I then try
sudo grub-efi-amd64-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
? I am not sure of the "sudo grub-efi-amd64-install /dev/sda"

Meanwhile, I have Kubuntu 19.04 ready for an install to the ~20 GB unformatted space, but I would like to try the grub commands first.
I will check back later

[pwrcul]

As I guessed sudo grub-efi-amd64-install returned "command not found"

I double checked muon and found I had been mistaken (on my desktop I have grub-pc).
On the laptop with the issues I did not have grub-pc; instead I have grub-efi, grub-efi-amd64. and grub-efi-amd64-signed

I ran again
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
with no errors.
I rebooted and am back with grub>

I will grab a little to eat and then plan to go through the step by step article I mentioned above,
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspo...fi-repair.html

If that fails I will install Kubuntu 19.04 and see if that fixes grub.

[pwrcul]

The step by step proceeded without problems, but in the output from apt-get install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64 I see problems.
Also, I am not confident I chose the right partition as the boot partition; maybe it should have been sda2? I chose sda1 because it was the only Fat32.
Maybe it's a giveaway when it says near the bottom "grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1"

***Can anyone advise me about that message? ***

Below is a copy of the terminal session in the live USB for Kubuntu 19.04 (I could go back and try the exact same thing with a live USB for neon)
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /mnt
root@kubuntu:/# apt-get install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Starting pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
enblend enfuse gtk3-engines-breeze hugin hugin-data hugin-tools kipi-plugins kipi-plugins-common
libflann1.9 libglew2.0 libimage-exiftool-perl libkdecorations2private5v5 libkf5mediawiki5
libkf5texteditor5-libjs-underscore libllvm6.0 libmime-charset-perl libpano13-3 libpano13-bin
libposix-strptime-perl libsombok3 libunicode-linebreak-perl libvigraimpex6 libwxbase3.0-0v5 libwxgtk3.0-0v5
libxcb-xinerama0 linux-headers-4.15.0-38 linux-headers-4.15.0-38-generic linux-headers-4.15.0-39
linux-headers-4.15.0-39-generic linux-headers-4.15.0-42 linux-headers-4.15.0-42-generic
linux-headers-4.15.0-43 linux-headers-4.15.0-43-generic linux-headers-4.15.0-44
linux-headers-4.15.0-44-generic linux-headers-4.15.0-45 linux-headers-4.15.0-45-generic
linux-headers-4.4.0-137 linux-headers-4.4.0-137-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-97
linux-headers-4.4.0-97-generic linux-image-4.15.0-38-generic linux-image-4.15.0-39-generic
linux-image-4.15.0-42-generic linux-image-4.15.0-43-generic linux-image-4.15.0-44-generic
linux-image-4.15.0-45-generic linux-image-4.4.0-137-generic linux-image-4.4.0-97-generic
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-137-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-97-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-38-generic
linux-modules-4.15.0-39-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-42-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-43-generic
linux-modules-4.15.0-44-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-45-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-38-generic
linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-39-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-42-generic
linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-43-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-44-generic
linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-45-generic linux-signed-image-4.4.0-137-generic
linux-signed-image-4.4.0-97-generic minidlna
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 36 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/47.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 522825 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../grub-efi-amd64_2.02-2ubuntu8.13_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-efi-amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13) over (2.02-2ubuntu8.13) ...
Setting up grub-efi-amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13) ...
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/99_breeze-grub.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/breeze/theme.txt
using custom appearance settings
Found background image: /home/jim/Pictures/cropped lake snapshot.jpg
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-48-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-48-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-46-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-46-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-45-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-45-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-44-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-44-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-43-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-43-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-42-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-42-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-39-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-39-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-38-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-38-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-137-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-137-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-97-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-97-generic
WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad. Falling back to device scanning.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
Found Ubuntu 17.10 (17.10) on /dev/sda7
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done
Processing triggers for shim-signed (1.37~18.04.3+15+1533136590.3beb971-0ubuntu1) ...
Secure Boot not enabled on this system.
root@kubuntu:/#

I will take a brief break, then plan to install Kubuntu 19.04 in the 20 GB space to see if that solves my problem.

[pwrcul]

Pragmatically, installint Kubuntu 19.04 in the 12 GB space solved the menu problem!
That's great news. I am back in business.

Oshunluvr deserves the credit for that suggestion.

On the other hand, I wish we could have "fixed" it on our own.
Anyone able to do a postmortem and hazard an opinion on why our attempts failed?
Even better, what would have worked?
Thanks again.

[oshunluvr]

Great, glad you're back up.

The problem with finding out what was needed to fix it is we had no way of knowing exactly what went wrong.

Here's the crux of the issue for multi-booters: One of your distros installed and contains the grub files. When that distro gets removed or damaged, grub dies too leaving you unbootable. This is what happened to you. Why none of the solutions you tried worked again I can only guess. Because of this a long time ago I started using a dedicated stand-alone GRUB partition. My stand alone grub has a manually created grub.cfg that simply loads any other distro's grub menu in a nested fashion. When I install a new distro, I have it install grub to a secondary drive leaving my actual boot drive alone. Then when I remove a distro (or it gets damaged ), my GRUB is unaffected. I basically did a minimal install of Ubuntu server, deleted everything but grub and it's needed files, and shrunk the partition. It's worked for years.