Kubuntu Dualboot destroyed after Lenovo F/W-Update

emuede · November 23, 2025, 8:42am

Hello,
my System:

Ubuntu Version:
24.04
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Release: 24.04
Codename: noble
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ uname -r
6.8.0-41-generic
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
Example: KDE Plasma

Problem Description:
After a Lenovo Firmware-Update, followed by a Win-11 Update (-> 25H2?) my GRUB-Bootloader was destroyed, every reboot only starts Win-11, no GRUB-Entries are displayed.

Relevant System Information:
No i’ve booted with a Live-Stick (24.04.1 LTS), here some infos of my system:
Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i
Dualboot Win-11 / Kubuntu 24.04.3 (working for years now)

I have uploaded the BootInfo-Results to Ubuntu Pastebin

> kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1
> Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 476,94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
> Disk model: Micron MTFDHBA512QFD                    
> Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disklabel type: gpt
> Disk identifier: 851886C8-554A-4F1F-ACC4-486CE0D30A73
> 
> Device              Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
> /dev/nvme0n1p1       2048    534527    532480   260M EFI System
> /dev/nvme0n1p2     534528    567295     32768    16M Microsoft reserved
> /dev/nvme0n1p3     567296 132560895 131993600  62,9G Microsoft basic data
> /dev/nvme0n1p4  132560896 134785023   2224128   1,1G Windows recovery environment
> /dev/nvme0n1p5  134785024 201893887  67108864    32G Microsoft basic data
> /dev/nvme0n1p6  201893888 302557183 100663296    48G Linux filesystem
> /dev/nvme0n1p7  302557184 780058623 477501440 227,7G Linux filesystem
> /dev/nvme0n1p8  780058624 830390271  50331648    24G Linux filesystem
> /dev/nvme0n1p9  830390272 931053567 100663296    48G Linux filesystem
> /dev/nvme0n1p10 931053568 998166527  67112960    32G Linux filesystem
> kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

Screenshots or Error Messages:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo efibootmgr 
BootCurrent: 0016
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0016,0014,0000,0015,0017,0018
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,3771c7c4-d400-4c33-b959-8ec4ebb99a9f,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000037000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0010  Setup FvFile(721c8b66-426c-4e86-8e99-3457c46ab0b9)
Boot0011  Boot Menu     FvFile(86488440-41bb-42c7-93ac-450fbf7766bf)
Boot0012  Diagnostic Splash     FvFile(a7d8d9a6-6ab0-4aeb-ad9d-163e59a7a380)
Boot0013  UEFI Diagnostics      FvFile(f8397897-e203-4a62-b977-9e7e5d94d91b)
Boot0014* NVMe: Micron MTFDHBA512QFD                    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x6,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,00-A0-75-01-30-5D-B3-BD){99191c00-d932-4e4c-ae9a-a0b6e98eb8a4}
Boot0015* USB FDD:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49)
Boot0016* USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer       PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(1,0){aa21e833-33af-47bc-89bd-419f88c50803}
Boot0017* USB CD:       VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55)
Boot0018* USB LAN:      VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,e854bca4cae7704ca322b00da0376322)
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

What I’ve Tried:
I’ve tried to repair the GRUB-Bootloader with SGD-2-Bootstick,
did a chroot (after mount --bind the original Kubuntu-Environment), grub-update and grub-install which were overwritten at the next reboot.

The UEFI-Settings (now):
Secure Boot disabled
Setup-Mode activated
TPM disabled

Thanks for any advice

Ewald

tea-for-one · November 23, 2025, 10:05am

You tried a repair with Super Grub Disk yet you were reluctant to try the recommended repair offered by the boot-repair utility?

The Ubuntu boot files are present (lines 14 - 17)
The Ubuntu entry in the ESP is missing (lines 139 -154)

Might be worth a shot with boot-repair?

If that fails, have a look at this alternative and try booting the Kubuntu kernel directly.

Finally, I would advise that you free up some space in your home directory
/dev/nvme0n1p7 5.7G available and 92% used (line 304)

emuede · November 23, 2025, 8:38pm

Thanks for your answer.
I tried the suggested repair by SGD-2 but it doesn’t work at all. It looks as if the UEFI ist write-locked through the last Update.
The former entry for my (K)Ubuntu-System disapeared since that (or the Win-11) Update.
Last year i noted this situation:

muelux@kubuntu:/$ sudo efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0016
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0000,0014,0015,0016,0017,0018
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager HD(1,GPT,3771c7c4-d400-4c33-b959-8ec4ebb99a9f,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS…x…B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}…7…
Boot0001* ubuntu HD(1,GPT,3771c7c4-d400-4c33-b959-8ec4ebb99a9f,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0010 Setup FvFile(721c8b66-426c-4e86-8e99-3457c46ab0b9)
Boot0011 Boot Menu FvFile(86488440-41bb-42c7-93ac-450fbf7766bf)
Boot0012 Diagnostic Splash FvFile(a7d8d9a6-6ab0-4aeb-ad9d-163e59a7a380)
Boot0013 UEFI Diagnostics FvFile(f8397897-e203-4a62-b977-9e7e5d94d91b)
Boot0014* NVMe: Micron MTFDHBA512QFD PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x6,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,00-A0-75-01-30-5D-B3-BD)…2.LN…
Boot0015* USB FDD: VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49)
Boot0016* USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(0,0)3.!..3.G…A…
Boot0017* USB CD: VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55)
Boot0018* USB LAN: VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,e854bca4cae7704ca322b00da0376322)
muelux@kubuntu:/$

Now i don’t find there any Ubuntu entry, even the action taken by boot-repair doesn’t change anything.
But i can start my former Kubuntu by the SGD-Bootstick, if i select the found entry at /dev/nvme0n1p6, which was my root-Partition.
B.t.w. …nvme0n1p7 is my ‘/home’ Partition of my working Kubuntu,
…p8 the ‘/’ and p9 the ‘/home’ of my Test/Rescue-Ubuntu.

tea-for-one · November 23, 2025, 10:59pm

After you have booted via the method above, you can install Grub during a running session.
This is the terminal command:-

sudo grub-install /dev/nvme0n1

Or this one:-

sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi /dev/nvme0n1

Don’t forget

sudo update-grub

Any joy?

tea-for-one · November 23, 2025, 11:27pm

You should be able to add an entry for Ubuntu via efibootmgr
Have a look at Section 3 - efibootmgr

emuede · November 24, 2025, 9:58am

Following your advice, I tried this (out of the running Kubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, just updated, started by SGD-2):

muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ date
Mo 24. Nov 10:23:56 CET 2025
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ uname -r
6.8.0-88-generic
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ grub-install --version
grub-install (GRUB) 2.12-1ubuntu7.3
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ 
###
### Tipp von 'tea-for-one' (https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/kubuntu-dualboot-destroyed-after-lenovo-f-w-update/72589/4?u=emuede) nachvollzogen:
### 
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ sudo grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi /dev/nvme0n1
x86_64-efi wird für Ihre Plattform installiert.
Installation beendet. Keine Fehler aufgetreten.
###
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$ sudo update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-88-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-88-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-87-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-87-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-86-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-86-generic
Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/nvme0n1p1@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Found Mac OS X on /dev/sda3
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done
muelux@NB7AA-Flex5i:~$

What should I say? Everthing runs fine, even after some reboots, after a Win-11 Start between the reboots!
Thank you so much, I think, i couldn’t see the forest because of to much trees in front of me?

One thing remaining: There are only some MAC-OS-Entries, which are new, possible because of a Stick, I was using for intermediate results of the tests?

I will try editing them by efibootmgr, as you posted.

And: Yes, I’ll have to clean up my ‘/home’-Partition, which is running out of space (my IdeaPad has only 512GB SSD on board, to less (after years now) for a Triple-Boot-System).

Thanks a lot!

tea-for-one · November 24, 2025, 11:21am

Pleased to have helped

If a post answers a question, please check the “solved” box. It means that the poster is recognised for their help and it makes it easier for others to find the solution.

The above quote is found Here - First section Item 8

system · November 24, 2025, 7:45pm

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