Ubuntu 26.04 LTS mostly boots to Grub (but sometimes regularly)

Support and Help
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Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version:
Example: 26.04 Lts

Problem Description:

Before upgrading to 26.04 LTS my System would sometimes not boot regularly but instead show me the Grub but it would boot regularly after a reboot. Now after upgrading it only rarely, if ever, boots regularly and restarting usually only brings me back to the Grub Menu. If I choose the “Ubuntu” Option in the Grub Menu it doesn’t boot regularly, but shows me several scrolling Command Lines that stop at a certain Point and never progress any further.

Relevant System Information:
Ubuntu is installed on an SSD. There is a second HDD, mainly for Data Storage, but there are Remnants of an old Windows Install that might cause the Boot Confusion.

Screenshots or Error Messages:
Since I can’ boot, I can’t post Error Messages or Screenshots, but I’ve made Photos with the Phono from which I am accessing this Forum with.

This is where it stops when chosing “Ubuntu” in the Grub Menu

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What I’ve Tried:

I’ve watched a few Videos and tried to follow along, but they never worked out or had something that didn’t apply to my Situation.

Last Time it booted properly I’ve checked the SSD’s Drive Health, but it was okay.

I’ve tried various Settings in the Bios Menu. It sometimes shuffles the Boot Priorities around on it’s own. But even if the SSD is on 1st Place it only boots to Grub.

I don’t mind getting rid of the old Windows Remnants on the HDD, but I’m a Linux Newbie and don’t know how to do that, or even if that would fix anything.

Any Insights and Help regarding this Problem would be greatly appreciated.

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In your screenshot it shows the last message that the gdm.service is started, this is your login screen.

That is the last thing that happens? No black screen after this, it just sits there with that message?

What graphics card is installed?

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Thanks for the quick Reply.

No, there is no black Screen after this, it just stays on there forever (well, not sure about forever, but the first Time I didn’t restart until 30 Minutes had passed).

The installed Graphics Card is an Nvidea GTX 1050 Ti.

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GDM3 failing to start could be caused by “Safe Grahics” (nomodeset), since one usually only sees that text boot screen when booting in “Recovery Mode”, which implies that setting.

@leto-ii, you should make sure that no other bootable devices are attached, i.e. the Ubuntu installer USB stick. But I’m having a hard time following what happens when you boot by your description. Can you go into more detail?

Since you mention dual boot, there is also the possibility of Windows “Fast Startup” interfering, perhaps. So you should make sure that it is disabled, because, IIRC, one of its properties is that it tells the UEFI boot manager, which boot menu entry to run. That could explain your UEFI seemingly switching the boot order arbitrarily.

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There is no other bootable Device connected.

When the Computer boots, I now land on the Grub Screen. If I select “Ubuntu” the Computer ends up in the State like the Photo I posted.

This is now happening all the Time, but a few Weeks ago I only rarely got the Grub Screen and instead Ubuntu booted normally (without the visible Code Lines and just presented me with the Login Screen).

Sometimes my Bios seemingly switches the Boot Priority around on it’s own (maybe once a Month or even more seldomly). Then I have to enter the Bios and manually switch it back.

There is no Fast Boot Setting in my Bios, but it’s no Windows 11 Machine. I used to have 7, then 10 but when Microsoft didn’t offer any Security Updates anymore (and for a Host of other Reasons) I switched to Ubuntu.

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Boot into a “Try Ubuntu” live session
Install Boot-repair - Second Option
Create the report and pop the pastebin link in this thread

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And you see the “text mode” boot messages? That’s odd, because they should only show in “recovery mode” or when pressing Home during the splash screen boot.

Can you make a photo of the menu entry “Ubuntu”? When you see the grub menu press e to enter the menu editor and take a photo.

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Thanks, I’ll try that. I need to prepare the Stick first from my Partner’s Computer. I’ll post the Results later.

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Sorry for the bad Quality of the Photos, I can’t reduce the Reflections any better since we don’t have Blinds yet on that Window.

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And this is when I press “e”. I took two separate Photos since the Text was unreadable otherwise.

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I think that’s an outdated document, because I cannot find it in the grub menu of the Ubuntu 26.04 installer.

@leto-ii, I’ve just had another idea; let’s see if you just need to update/install an nvidia driver. When you are in the grub menu, select “Advanced” and then the first entry that has “(recovery mode)” at the end; the exact names might differ but you should be able to find them. When you are in the recovery menu, select to open a “root shell” and in that run this command:

systemctl isolate multi-user.target

(no sudo required, because you already have all the privileges in this mode)

That will get you an almost fully functional system, only without a graphical login. It will be a textual login instead; enter your username and password as per usual and you’ll get a command prompt. From there you should run these commands:

sudo apt upgrade --update

Perhaps that’ll be all that’s required. I reckon there’ll be some kernel upgrades. Afterwards run:

sudo ubuntu-drivers install

(some more help and info on ubuntu-drivers)
and then reboot by either pressing CtrlAltDel or running this command:

sudo reboot

Just now saw your photos; nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. But I think I now understand why you are seeing the GRUB menu and the text boot. I seem to remember that there is some state variable that marks a boot as “good”, which never happens for you because you can’t login. And if the last boot was “bad” that’s what the boot “magic” does; drops you to the grub menu and boots in text mode, regardless if recovery mode or not.

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boot-repair is not part of the Ubuntu installation iso, it’s a superb, exceptionally useful, separate utility downloaded (preferably) to a live session or an installed session.

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I agree that the best option to get useful information to resolve this issue is by going to the boot repair site posted above and selecting the 2nd option explained on that page to download boot repair and run it as instructed on the page. It would be a good idea to read through the entire page before running boot repair so you have a basic understanding of what it will do.

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I also would like to see the report from Boot-Repair. It cannot run from grub, but has to be in any working install, usually we have it in a live installer flash drive. You can download its ISO as first option, but ISO not updated as much as ppa. ISO boot has option to update to latest which you would need to do.

But since you get grub menu, Boot-Repair will not find anything to fix. Report is more to see your configuration and if something else is out of place.

You mentioned both upgrade & nVidia. Did you remove nVidia drivers before upgrade & reinstall after upgrade. Proprietary drivers like nVidia may need updated versions to work with newer install and if older version still installed, may create conflicts, causing issues like you have.

Can you boot to recovery mode, or second line in grub menu? That gives a text menu of things you can do like turn on Internet and use terminal to purge & reinstall nVidia drivers without having to use live installler & full chroot to make repairs.

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Hey all, thanks for your many Replys. I didn’t have Time over the Weekend, but now I’ve booted Ubuntu from a USB Stick and run Boot-Repair. This is the Link to the Pastebin:

I hope it will help clear up Matters.

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No, I didn’t. I didn’t know that I had to do that. How do I determine if that is causing the Problems? I’ll try to run the Recovery Mode next.

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You have installed Ubuntu 26.04 in old-fashioned Legacy mode, yet your PC is EFI compatible as indicated by line 77

The firmware is EFI-compatible, and is set in EFI-mode for this live-session.

My advice would be to join the modern world:-

  • Back up your data
  • Temporarily remove your data disk sda
  • Boot the installation medium in UEFI mode
  • Install in UEFI mode with GPT
  • Test (as much as you feel is necessary)
  • Restore your personal data
  • Re-attach your data disk
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UEFI systems with gpt partitioning started with Windows 8 in 2012. Windows 7 usually was BIOS boot which required MBR partitioning. BIOS mode on newer UEFI systems was only kept so large users of Windows 7, could install Windows 8 for compatibility. Some users hated Windows 8 and installed Windows 7. They should have used UEFI/gpt mode as later windows 7 versions supported it.

If still Windows 7, I would uninstall it, but if you have data in NTFS partitions you need a Windows install or recovery drive to make repairs to NTFS. Linux tools will not repair NTFS.
Or convert NTFS to ext4, by backing up all data. Conversion from MBR to gpt will erase ALL partitions on a drive, so if converting drive be sure to have good backups.

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Okay, guys, I think I have just found the Root to all the Problems I’m having - a dead Motherboard Battery.

The System was getting worse with every Boot, it wouldn’t even boot from USB Drive anymore and then when I tried to enter BIOS it instead showed my a Text Page that said CMOS had been cleared. Then I knew something was up. I’ve changed the Battery and now it boots from USB Drive again and now I’m posting this. I’ll do some further Testing and report back.

Edit: Swapping the Battery didn’t fix the Problems, but at least I could boot from USB and did a Backup of my Files to a mobile HD and as my next Step I am going to nuke everything from Orbit.

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After formatting both the SSD and the HD I’ve installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and now it works like a Charm.

@mods: should I mark the above Post as the “Solution” even though it was just the Realization that the CMOS Battery had died and swapping it didn’t fix anything and I had to re-install Everything?

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Did you install in UEFI mode with GPT?