Ubuntu Version:
22.04 (I also tried 24.04, but went back because 24 wouldn’t let me choose live USB)
Relevant System Information:
Dell XPS 8700
Problem Description:
I was looking to expand my use of Ubuntu by dual booting my main computer and after the install, my computer boots into blank screen. I’ve been able to load live USB, but the lack of display means I can’t modify BIOS or access windows anymore. My problem seems similar to this one: Problem with booting - #5 by rubi1200
I THINK my problem is related to the GRUB not being in the same partition as the MBR, which I do have. However, I’m not sure if I can given that the MBR looks to be on a NTFS partition. Here is the boot repair log:
Screenshots or Error Messages:
boot-repair-4ppa2081 [20251012_0459]
============================== Boot Info Summary ===============================
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos3)/boot/grub. It also embeds following components:
modules
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
fshelp ext2 part_msdos biosdisk
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD
sda2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 10 or 11
Boot files: /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb5: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /etc/default/grub
sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /efi/BOOT/fbx64.efi /efi/BOOT/mmx64.efi
/efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/mmx64.efi
/efi/ubuntu/shimx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg
sdc: ___________________________________________________________________________
File system: iso9660
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99-2.00)
Boot sector info: Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) is installed in the boot sector of
sdc and looks at sector 0 of the same hard drive for
core.img, but core.img can not be found at this
location.
Mounting failed: mount: /mnt/BootInfo/FD/sdc: /dev/sdc already mounted or mount point busy.
================================ 2 OS detected =================================
OS#1 (linux): Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS on sdb5
OS#2 (windows): Windows 10 or 11 on sdb1
================================ Host/Hardware =================================
CPU architecture: 64-bit
Video: GT200 [GeForce GTX 260] from NVIDIA Corporation
Live-session OS is Ubuntu 64-bit (Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, jammy, x86_64)
===================================== UEFI =====================================
BIOS/UEFI firmware: A08(4.6) from Dell Inc.
The firmware is EFI-compatible, and is set in EFI-mode for this live-session.
SecureBoot disabled (confirmed by mokutil).
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0001,0000
Boot0000 P1: HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW GHB0N VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0001 P0: ST1000DM003-1CH162 VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0002* UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler 3.0PMAP PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1a,0x0)/USB(1,0)/USB(5,0)/HD(2,GPT,389fbc94-38b6-4d1a-8966-87488db3d5a5,0x8dc6a4,0x2758)..BO
1d43d986c265d8c455d020e4a1f28c52 sdb4/BOOT/fbx64.efi
1d260ff1255f189ab621209796ee2fed sdb4/BOOT/mmx64.efi
1535d97a530fe1aa6f0d87717547d309 sdb4/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
1d260ff1255f189ab621209796ee2fed sdb4/ubuntu/mmx64.efi
07e25dcaf57c776875f78fa36827c58e sdb4/ubuntu/shimx64.efi
07e25dcaf57c776875f78fa36827c58e sdb4/BOOT/BOOTX64.efi
============================= Drive/Partition Info =============================
Disks info: ____________________________________________________________________
sda : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, not-usb, not-mmc, no-os, no-wind, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sdb : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has---ESP, not-usb, not-mmc, has-os, has-win, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
Partitions info (1/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, not-far
sda2 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdb1 : is-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdb2 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdb4 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdb5 : is-os, 64, apt-get, signed grub-pc grub-efi , grub2, grub-install, grubenv-ok, update-grub, end-after-100GB
Partitions info (2/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, bootmgr, is-winboot, ntfs
sda2 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdb1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, haswinload, no-recov-nor-hid, bootmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdb2 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdb4 : is---ESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, vfat
sdb5 : isnotESP, fstab-has-goodEFI, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ext4
Partitions info (3/3): _________________________________________________________
sda1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sda
sda2 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sda
sdb1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdb
sdb2 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdb
sdb4 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdb
sdb5 : not--sepboot, with-boot, fstab-without-boot, not-sep-usr, with--usr, fstab-without-usr, std-grub.d, sdb
fdisk -l (filtered): ___________________________________________________________
Disk sda: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x0b1bf43b
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sda1 * 2048 1026047 1024000 500M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sda2 1026048 1953519615 1952493568 931G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk identifier: 0xf32d079c
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sdb1 * 2048 1029525503 1029523456 490.9G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sdb2 1952446464 1953523711 1077248 526M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
sdb3 1031729150 1952446463 920717314 439G 5 Extended
sdb4 * 1029525504 1031727103 2201600 1G ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
sdb5 1031729152 1952446463 920717312 439G 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
Disk sdc: 14.44 GiB, 15502147584 bytes, 30277632 sectors
Disk identifier: 389FBC94-38B6-4D1A-8964-87488DB3D5A5
Start End Sectors Size Type
sdc1 64 9291427 9291364 4.4G Microsoft basic data
sdc2 9291428 9301499 10072 4.9M EFI System
sdc3 9301500 9302099 600 300K Microsoft basic data
sdc4 9306112 30277568 20971457 10G Linux filesystem
parted -lm (filtered): _________________________________________________________
sda:1000GB:scsi:512:4096:msdos:ATA ST1000DM003-1CH1:;
1:1049kB:525MB:524MB:ntfs::boot;
2:525MB:1000GB:1000GB:ntfs::;
sdb:1000GB:scsi:512:4096:msdos:ATA CT1000MX500SSD1:;
1:1049kB:527GB:527GB:ntfs::boot;
4:527GB:528GB:1127MB:fat32::boot, esp;
3:528GB:1000GB:471GB:::;
5:528GB:1000GB:471GB:ext4::;
2:1000GB:1000GB:552MB:ntfs::msftres;
sdc:15.5GB:scsi:512:512:gpt:Kingston DataTraveler 3.0:;
1:32.8kB:4757MB:4757MB::ISO9660:hidden, msftdata;
2:4757MB:4762MB:5157kB::Appended2:boot, esp;
3:4762MB:4763MB:307kB::Gap1:hidden, msftdata;
4:4765MB:15.5GB:10.7GB:ext4::;
blkid (filtered): ______________________________________________________________
NAME FSTYPE UUID PARTUUID LABEL PARTLABEL
sda
├─sda1 ntfs 48EE3818EE3800AC 0b1bf43b-01 System Reserved
└─sda2 ntfs 8236D30B36D2FEDB 0b1bf43b-02 Local HDD
sdb
├─sdb1 ntfs F9C9B2A32BBC4A75 f32d079c-01 Local SSD
├─sdb2 ntfs 4A44CFCA670BD410 f32d079c-02
├─sdb3 f32d079c-03
├─sdb4 vfat 9769-871C f32d079c-04
└─sdb5 ext4 7dc5f4a6-d1bb-43a4-93b0-b42a4fe2703f f32d079c-05
sdc iso9660 2024-09-11-14-37-52-00 Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS amd64
├─sdc1 iso9660 2024-09-11-14-37-52-00 389fbc94-38b6-4d1a-8965-87488db3d5a5 Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS amd64 ISO9660
├─sdc2 vfat 4721-D641 389fbc94-38b6-4d1a-8966-87488db3d5a5 ESP Appended2
├─sdc3 389fbc94-38b6-4d1a-8967-87488db3d5a5 Gap1
└─sdc4 ext4 cbe64765-bad0-4d8b-bdd6-958e6679d86e 7dffc1db-8de8-0242-9c7c-a3b12a2fc2b7 writable
sdd
sde
sdf
sdg
Mount points (filtered): _______________________________________________________
Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 468.7M 6% /mnt/boot-sav/sda1
/dev/sda2 519.2G 44% /mnt/boot-sav/sda2
/dev/sdb1 194.5G 60% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb1
/dev/sdb2 78.1M 85% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb2
/dev/sdb4 1G 1% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb4
/dev/sdb5 397.8G 3% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb5
/dev/sdc1 0 100% /cdrom
efivarfs 51.3K 56% /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
Mount options (filtered): ______________________________________________________
/dev/sda1 fuseblk ro,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sda2 fuseblk ro,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdb1 fuseblk ro,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdb2 fuseblk ro,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdb4 vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro
/dev/sdb5 ext4 rw,relatime
/dev/sdc1 iso9660 ro,noatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,iocharset=utf8
====================== sdb5/boot/grub/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================
Ubuntu 7dc5f4a6-d1bb-43a4-93b0-b42a4fe2703f
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
========================== sdb5/etc/fstab (filtered) ===========================
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# / was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=7dc5f4a6-d1bb-43a4-93b0-b42a4fe2703f / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sdb4 during installation
UUID=9769-871C /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0
======================= sdb5/etc/default/grub (filtered) =======================
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
==================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
682.100730896 = 732.400082944 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
500.605751038 = 537.521332224 boot/vmlinuz 1
502.527572632 = 539.584872448 boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-40-generic 1
500.605751038 = 537.521332224 boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-85-generic 1
502.527572632 = 539.584872448 boot/vmlinuz.old 1
505.294918060 = 542.556286976 boot/initrd.img 2
499.966793060 = 536.835256320 boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-40-generic 2
505.294918060 = 542.556286976 boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-85-generic 2
499.966793060 = 536.835256320 boot/initrd.img.old 2
===================== sdb5: ls -l /etc/grub.d/ (filtered) ======================
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18683 Dec 18 2022 10_linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 43031 Dec 18 2022 10_linux_zfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14387 Dec 18 2022 20_linux_xen
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13369 Dec 18 2022 30_os-prober
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1372 Dec 18 2022 30_uefi-firmware
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 700 May 17 2023 35_fwupd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214 Dec 18 2022 40_custom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 215 Dec 18 2022 41_custom
===================== sdb4/efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================
search.fs_uuid 7dc5f4a6-d1bb-43a4-93b0-b42a4fe2703f root hd1,msdos5
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg
Suggested repair: ______________________________________________________________
The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility would purge (in order to remove grub-efi) and reinstall the grub2 of
sdb5 into the MBR of sdb.
Grub-efi would not be selected by default because legacy Windows detected.
Additional repair would be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s win-legacy-basic-fix
Confirmation request before suggested repair: __________________________________
LegacyWindows detected. The boot of your PC is in EFI mode. You may want to retry after changing it to BIOS-compatibility/CSM/Legacy mode.
Are you sure you want to continue anyway?
Final advice in case of suggested repair: ______________________________________
Please do not forget to make your BIOS boot on sdb (ATA CT1000MX500SSD1) disk!
The boot files of [sdb5 (end>100GB)] are far from the start of the disk. Your BIOS may not detect them. You may want to retry after creating a /boot partition (EXT4, >200MB, start of the disk). This can be performed via tools such as gParted. Then select this partition via the [Separate /boot partition:] option of [Boot Repair]. (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootPartition)Please set your BIOS in Legacy mode in order to start your Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, then type command [sudo update-grub] in order to add the Windows entry to your GRUB menu.
What I’ve Tried:
For a while I thought it was related to my NVIDIA card and other posts I’ve found related to that driver. All my attempts at using a more generic driver or fixing GRUB to be simpler have not made any difference. When I read the MBR log and the other post, this seems like the next logical spot to try but don’t have much experience with the MBR.
