gnu GRUB issue - Attempt at first Linux Install

[EyeKon]

I am currently attempting my first Linux install on and old acer predator 15 laptop (as a start-up) gaming station for my son.

I am an intermediate windows user; but have not attempted anything Linux related before; having now just learned about different distros.

 

I likely messed up a simple item along the way, or changed something in the bios incorrectly that I cannot identify on my own.

Looking for any assistance! Greatly appreciated! 

 

The story so far:

 

Windows is installed on the primary hard drive; installing ubuntu 24.04.3 on a secondary drive; which seemed to go smooth.

After install I adjusted the boot order and restarted.

Upon restart the system shows the following message:

Minimal BASH-like line editing supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions. To Enable less(1)-like paging, "set pager=1".

grub>

gnu grub 2.12

 

I have attempted a boot repair twice, browsed help topics related to gnu GRUB 2.12 over the last 3-4 days, and even tried this guys step by step repair video related to grub ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9oyWjD6IA ) without any luck so far.

Bios things I learned to check so far:

• secure boot is off.
• SATA is set to AHCI
• boot mode set to UEFI

 

I have attached my last boot-repair log.

I have screenshots of my bios windows if that also helps: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PuhLLiYcooaY5PED8

 

 

 

boot log dec 29 2205 736pm.txt

Edited December 30, 2025 by EyeKon
clarification

[PDifolco]

I do have sometimes this weird screen instead of GRUB menu in my dual boot setup as well!

Just type EXIT on the screen, hit return, and you'll be back to the correct boot option menu !

No idea why this happens....

[EyeKon]

My apologies, I did not mention that I have tried that:

 

enter 'exit' once -> no change

enter 'exit' a second time -> boots into windows.

 

I fear that I have changed something in the boot order and now it no longer detects the ubuntu install.

It should be installed on disk1, partition 2, (930gb)

[Pesukarhu]

That grub error means it cannot find the configuration file (i think).

The repair log shows errors, seems to falsely say it is fixed in the end... Problems with grub install and adding the boot entry. There are many boot entries, which could cause problems if the uefi itself is very low on free memory (or badly programmed )

The first thing to ensure:

The live linux (ubuntu installer) is booted in UEFI mode, not CSM. You cannot edit UEFI stuff in legacy boot mode. Check by reading the UEFI bitness with command:

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

It should print 64 on a 64-bit system. If the file does not exist, it is not booted in UEFI mode. If it prints 32, you need to install 32-bit grub.

 

For recovery, you need to chroot into the ubuntu install. This means that the live os "pretends" to be the permanently installed one. The following guide seems reasonable. You can use the graphical partition tool gparted to find the partition paths. Disk selection is in upper right corner. https://forum.manjaro.org/t/howto-chroot-from-or-into-any-linux-distribution/34071

Be careful to mount the correct partitions. (Those on Disk 1 according to windows). You can skip step 4.
edit: You also need the efivars. See here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/788257

After you have a terminal open, and chrooted, try to reinstall grub. This should do it for 64 bits: (needs root, but if you followed the guide you already are. sudo if not)

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

That should say install completed, and not show errors.

Then you need to regenerate the config file for grub. Ubuntu should have the command

update-grub

It should say (among other things) Found linux on *** and found windows on ***

If there were no errors, reboot the system. If it did not help, may need to do some poking around in the grub recovery console. (can it even see the disks?)

The arch wiki has more information on GRUB, but the actual commands may vary slightly for ubuntu. The principle is the same anyways. It also has instructions for removing boot entries from the UEFI (if you need/want to clean up old ubuntus etc).

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB

[EyeKon]

Thank you for the reply; I managed to confirm 64 bit, began the linked tutorial, to then encounter new errors.

I will put it away for now before I got office space on this old laptop.