Score:2

Cannot boot fresh install Kubuntu 22.10 on Acer TravelMate P648-G2-M

cx flag

I am trying to install Kubuntu 22.10 onto an Acer TravelMate P648-G2-M laptop. It previously had a 64-bit Windows 10 installation.

Problem

I have tried to do several fresh installs of Kubuntu 22.10, overwriting the hard drive every time.

The installation always completes without any visible error messages. When I click the dialogue box at the end of the installation to restart, I get the Acer logo for a few seconds followed by a flash of the following text in the top left-hand corner:

error: file '/boot/' not found.

It then loads up the GNU GRUB version 2.06 screen with listed options 'Try or Install Kubuntu', etc.

What I have tried

  • Reinstalling Kubuntu from USB
  • Redownloading and flashing Kubuntu to USB using both Rufus and balenaEtcher
  • Installing and running Boot Repair (running Kubuntu off USB)
  • Disabling Secure Boot in BIOS
  • Allowing the shimx64.efi file as a Secure Boot file in BIOS
  • Clearing Secure Boot settings in BIOS
  • Installing Kubuntu in Legacy instead of UEFI

Context

  • Acer TravelMate P648-G2-M (specs as listed here)
  • During installation I selected the option that formats the entire HDD and allows the necessary partitions to be created
  • I am not trying to dual boot. Linux is the only OS I want on the laptop.
  • No data on the laptop that I want to keep
  • No detected hardware issues with laptop
  • I have successfully installed Ubuntu on a similar laptop from the same USB which installs and runs fine
  • Kubuntu runs fine from the USB on the laptop with no visible issues.
  • I'm a newbie to Linux

Pastebin Information

Pastebin from Boot Repair here: https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/RYqMBfknpK/

    boot-repair-4ppa200                                              [20221129_2307]

============================= Boot Repair Summary ==============================






Recommended repair: ____________________________________________________________

The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility will reinstall the grub-efi-amd64-signed of
sda2,
using the following options:  sda1/boot/efi
Additional repair will be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s use-standard-efi-file restore-efi-backups


rm /mnt/boot-sav/sda1/efi/Boot/bootx64.efi
mv /mnt/boot-sav/sda1/efi/Boot/bkpbootx64.efi /mnt/boot-sav/sda1/efi/Boot/bootx64.efi
Mount sda1 on /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi

Unhide GRUB boot menu in sda2/etc/default/grub

================= Reinstall the grub-efi-amd64-signed of sda2 ==================

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --version
grub-install (GRUB) 2.06-2ubuntu12
chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 modprobe efivars

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 efibootmgr -v before grub install
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)RC
Boot0001* USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer Switch    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(1,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x1b1d6,0x800,0xee8400)RC
Boot0002* ubuntu    HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)
Boot0005* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,b816fffc-878c-47ae-ac76-6d1cbdedebaf,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)RC
Boot2001* EFI USB Device    RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 uname -r
5.19.0-21-generic

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --target=x86_64-efi --uefi-secure-boot
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: EFI variables cannot be set on this system.
grub-install: warning: You will have to complete the GRUB setup manually.
Installation finished. No error reported.
df /dev/sda1
mv /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bkpbootx64.efi
cp /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/efi/ubuntu/shimx64.efi /mnt/boot-sav/sda2/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --target=x86_64-efi --uefi-secure-boot
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: EFI variables cannot be set on this system.
grub-install: warning: You will have to complete the GRUB setup manually.
Installation finished. No error reported.

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 efibootmgr -v after grub install
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)RC
Boot0001* USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer Switch    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(1,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x1b1d6,0x800,0xee8400)RC
Boot0002* ubuntu    HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)
Boot0005* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,b816fffc-878c-47ae-ac76-6d1cbdedebaf,0x800,0x100000)/File(EFIubuntushimx64.efi)RC
Boot2001* EFI USB Device    RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC
Warning: NVram was not modified.

chroot /mnt/boot-sav/sda2 update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.19.0-23-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-23-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.19.0-21-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-21-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
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.

Unhide GRUB boot menu in sda2/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Boot successfully repaired.

You can now reboot your computer.
Please do not forget to make your UEFI firmware boot on the Ubuntu 22.10 entry (sda1/efi/ubuntu/shimx64.efi file) !


============================ Boot Info After Repair ============================

 => No boot loader 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 (hd0,msdos1)/boot/grub. It also embeds following components:
    
    modules
    ---------------------------------------------
    biosdisk fshelp fat exfat ext2 ntfs ntfscomp part_msdos
    ---------------------------------------------

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  FAT32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /efi/BOOT/bkpbootx64.efi /efi/BOOT/bootx64.efi 
                       /efi/BOOT/fbx64.efi /efi/BOOT/grubx64.efi 
                       /efi/BOOT/mmx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi 
                       /efi/ubuntu/mmx64.efi /efi/ubuntu/shimx64.efi 
                       /efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 22.10
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /etc/default/grub

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  MSWIN4.1: FAT32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /efi/boot/bootx64.efi 
                       /efi/boot/grubx64.efi /efi/boot/mmx64.efi


================================ 1 OS detected =================================

OS#1:   Ubuntu 22.10 on sda2

================================ Host/Hardware =================================

CPU architecture: 64-bit
Video: HD Graphics 620 from Intel Corporation
Live-session OS is Ubuntu 64-bit (Ubuntu 22.10, kinetic, x86_64)

===================================== UEFI =====================================

BIOS/UEFI firmware: V1.06(1.6) from Insyde Corp.
The firmware is EFI-compatible, and is set in EFI-mode for this live-session.
SecureBoot enabled but mokutil says: SecureBoot enabled - Please report this message to boot.repair@gmail.com.
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)RC
Boot0001* USB HDD: SanDisk Cruzer Switch    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(1,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x1b1d6,0x800,0xee8400)RC
Boot0002* ubuntu    HD(1,GPT,12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0005* Unknown Device:   HD(1,GPT,b816fffc-878c-47ae-ac76-6d1cbdedebaf,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)RC
Boot2001* EFI USB Device    RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

728124f6ec8e22fbdbe7034812c81b95   sda1/BOOT/bkpbootx64.efi
728124f6ec8e22fbdbe7034812c81b95   sda1/BOOT/bootx64.efi
c152ec201c37b6e97bbc2207e49d1271   sda1/BOOT/fbx64.efi
553e913655a8cc0640c35c100e83fa9d   sda1/BOOT/grubx64.efi
fdafb5eece6caeccb788c946a28e6872   sda1/BOOT/mmx64.efi
553e913655a8cc0640c35c100e83fa9d   sda1/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
fdafb5eece6caeccb788c946a28e6872   sda1/ubuntu/mmx64.efi
728124f6ec8e22fbdbe7034812c81b95   sda1/ubuntu/shimx64.efi

============================= Drive/Partition Info =============================

Disks info: ____________________________________________________________________

sda : is-GPT,   no-BIOSboot,    has---ESP,  not-usb,    not-mmc, has-os,    no-wind,    2048 sectors * 512 bytes

Partitions info (1/3): _________________________________________________________

sda1    : no-os,    32, nopakmgr,   no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall,  no-grubenv, noupdategrub,   not-far
sda2    : is-os,    64, apt-get,    signed grub-pc grub-efi ,   grub2,  grub-install,   grubenv-ok, update-grub,    farbios

Partitions info (2/3): _________________________________________________________

sda1    : is---ESP, part-has-no-fstab,  no-nt,  no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid,   no-bmgr,    notwinboot
sda2    : isnotESP, fstab-has-goodEFI,  no-nt,  no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid,   no-bmgr,    notwinboot

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, with-boot,  fstab-without-boot, not-sep-usr,    with--usr,  fstab-without-usr,  std-grub.d, sda

fdisk -l (filtered): ___________________________________________________________

Disk sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk identifier: 71AD7445-761D-4E3C-A424-EE04EAE9FF1E
        Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
sda1     2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
sda2  1050624 976771071 975720448 465.3G Linux filesystem
Disk sdb: 7.45 GiB, 8004304896 bytes, 15633408 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x0001b1d6
      Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
sdb1  *     2048 15633407 15631360  7.5G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

parted -lm (filtered): _________________________________________________________

sda:500GB:scsi:512:4096:gpt:ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ACF0:;
1:1049kB:538MB:537MB:fat32:EFI System Partition:boot, esp;
2:538MB:500GB:500GB:ext4::;
sdb:8004MB:scsi:512:512:msdos:SanDisk Cruzer Switch:;
1:1049kB:8004MB:8003MB:fat32::boot, lba;

blkid (filtered): ______________________________________________________________

NAME   FSTYPE   UUID                                 PARTUUID                             LABEL       PARTLABEL
sda                                                                                                   
├─sda1 vfat     7F85-733C                            12f8e10a-f7cd-46e0-9b78-af88a8aa08a9             EFI System Partition
└─sda2 ext4     074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a 99a1f4b2-c010-4375-b56a-66932de577a3             
sdb                                                                                                   
└─sdb1 vfat     7099-140F                            0001b1d6-01                          KUBUNTU 22_ 

Mount points (filtered): _______________________________________________________

                           Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1                 503.2M   2% /mnt/boot-sav/sda1
/dev/sda2                 422.8G   2% /mnt/boot-sav/sda2
/dev/sdb1                   3.5G  53% /cdrom

Mount options (filtered): ______________________________________________________

/dev/sda1                 vfat        rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro
/dev/sda2                 ext4        rw,relatime
/dev/sdb1                 vfat        ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro

===================== sda1/efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================

search.fs_uuid 074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a root hd0,gpt2 
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg

====================== sda2/boot/grub/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================

Ubuntu   074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a
Ubuntu, with Linux 5.19.0-23-generic   074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a
Ubuntu, with Linux 5.19.0-21-generic   074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

========================== sda2/etc/fstab (filtered) ===========================

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=074ffa25-b26a-42de-8597-a6cb531bda6a /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=7F85-733C  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0

======================= sda2/etc/default/grub (filtered) =======================

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

==================== sda2: Location of files loaded by Grub ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)
            ?? = ??             boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
 445.871643066 = 478.751031296  boot/vmlinuz                                   1
   6.457580566 = 6.933774336    boot/vmlinuz-5.19.0-21-generic                 1
 445.871643066 = 478.751031296  boot/vmlinuz-5.19.0-23-generic                 1
   6.457580566 = 6.933774336    boot/vmlinuz.old                               1
 447.281078339 = 480.264400896  boot/initrd.img                                1
 446.913860321 = 479.870103552  boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-21-generic              7
 447.281078339 = 480.264400896  boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-23-generic              1
 446.913860321 = 479.870103552  boot/initrd.img.old                            7

===================== sda2: ls -l /etc/grub.d/ (filtered) ======================

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18683 Sep 19 14:00 10_linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 43263 Sep 19 14:00 10_linux_zfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14387 Sep 19 14:00 20_linux_xen
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13369 Sep 19 14:00 30_os-prober
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  1372 Sep 19 14:00 30_uefi-firmware
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   700 Aug 30 18:33 35_fwupd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   214 Sep 19 14:00 40_custom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   215 Sep 19 14:00 41_custom

=========================== sda2/etc/grub.d/35_fwupd ===========================

#! /bin/sh
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+
set -e
[ -d ${pkgdatadir:?} ]
# shellcheck source=/dev/null
. "$pkgdatadir/grub-mkconfig_lib"
if [ -f /var/lib/fwupd/uefi_capsule.conf ] &&
   ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/fwupd-*-0abba7dc-e516-4167-bbf5-4d9d1c739416 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
      . /var/lib/fwupd/uefi_capsule.conf
      if [ "${EFI_PATH}" != "" ] && [ "${ESP}" != "" ]; then
      echo "Adding Linux Firmware Updater entry" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry 'Linux Firmware Updater' \$menuentry_id_option 'fwupd' {
EOF
      ${grub_probe:?}
      prepare_grub_to_access_device '`${grub_probe} --target=device \${ESP}` | sed -e "s/^/\t/"'
cat << EOF
    chainloader ${EFI_PATH}
}
EOF
      fi
fi

====================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg (filtered) ======================

Try or Install Kubuntu
Kubuntu (safe graphics)
OEM install (for manufacturers)
Boot from next volume
UEFI Firmware Settings
Test memory

==================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)
            ?? = ??             boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
Score:1
cx flag

Ok so after several more hours of trying to fix it, turns out that there was one more step that I needed to do when adding the shimx64.efi file as a Secure Boot file in BIOS.

You also need to change the boot order so that this file is at the top of the list

This wasn't mentioned anywhere that I'd looked previously and I missed this.

Hopefully this helps anyone else having the same issue.

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
It is mentioned in a few Q&As about Acer, also forums and many blog posts.
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

mangohost

Post an answer

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