Investigate issues with Linux, Grub, and related components causing failure to boot on your desktop computer.
Investigate issues with Linux, Grub, and related components causing failure to boot on your desktop computer.
TL;DR: My Linux and Multiboot USB won’t boot on my desktop lately (last couple of weeks), except a few times. After a Windows update on an SSD, it worked once or twice but now keeps failing. I tried USB, YUMI installer, changed UEFI settings, etc., but nothing sticks. The USB works on old pre-UEFI laptops. Any tips? I’ve been stuck trying to fix this for the past week or two.
Windows seems to have acted unexpectedly. The update likely replaced the boot partition and corrupted or removed Grub settings. To fix it, you can rebuild a proper Grub configuration or install Grub on another drive, offering protection against future Windows updates.
Initially I wondered why GRUB worked after a few reboots, but then I had to figure out what caused it to fail. The issue started about a day ago, with a recent one a couple days back. Regarding your USB flash drive, even after disconnecting the SSD, GRUB and multiboot still loaded properly. Your setup includes Windows on the SSD plus Linux/GRUB on another drive. You plan to reformat the USB, reinstall multiboot, and test installing Ubuntu Studio 20.04 on a larger drive while the SSD is off. Also, you considered separating the OS by putting Windows on an M.2 NVMe and Linux on the existing SATA drive—though it might be simpler to just swap them if needed. I was hoping to keep your Windows pagefile and hibernation files on the NVMe for better performance.
Have you performed any updates on your Linux system? That could have led to Grub reconfiguring itself based on installation settings. It might be trying to locate the SSD but failing to find it.
Well now, recalling this... Last week after the Windows update, the USB flash drive would indeed launch the multiboot menu only when I removed my SSD. I installed 20.04 LTS Ubuntu using the Windows YUMI installer, then unplugged the SSD, booted from the USB, temporarily hot-plugged it (which required a reboot since I hadn't enabled that option), and finally replaced the old drive with a fresh copy, wiping the previous Linux setup. The new installation worked once after that, then again about two days ago. It seems the GRUB menu doesn’t load properly at all. I’m curious if there’s a method to update or fix GRUB from within Windows—perhaps by editing a config file manually—or if there’s a safe way to mount ext partitions during a LostAndFound state. The USB GRUB does function on older laptops, though I haven’t tested it on my current machine because I prefer not to shut down active applications and restart everything. It’s far from straightforward; steps like file → save, Alt+F4, Win+D aren’t reliable, and restoring complex workflows often leaves me stuck a few days after a reboot. Ideally, avoiding shutdowns altogether would be best, except when necessary fixes are made. Now I need to decide which SSD to purchase—maybe two or three for an extra boot drive, another to replace some old drives under 2TB, or perhaps a newer 2TB HDD since it’s cheaper? I’m also considering a few 12 or 14 TB HDDs and would need a plan to retire the older ones that still function. I should probably discuss these options in more detail on the storage sub-forum later.
@Sauron -- I attempted to change the USB setup and install various multiboot images. It required multiple attempts—initially with YUMI-UEFI 0.0.2.2 it kept showing a syslinux 10737 error, claiming it couldn't boot. After switching to YUMI 0.2.7.0 and opting out of the wipe option, the process succeeded. I then installed Ubuntu Studio, Peppermint, Linux Mint (Mate), Xubuntu, and Ultimate Boot CD. Despite this, the system still won’t boot, even when all other drives are removed. I’m considering whether my motherboard’s BIOS needs updating or if a more extreme solution is necessary. My expectations are tied to upcoming DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 standards; if CPU performance doesn’t improve significantly from my current 4790K, or if the next generation isn’t arriving soon, I might have to wait for DDR6. I recall it worked on an older pre-UEFI machine. I’m curious about using a blank 1TB HDD in that laptop, installing Linux there, and then transferring it to the desktop to try booting. Linux seems more adaptable than Windows for this kind of move.
I managed to launch Linux on my desktop recently. However, due to previous issues (it worked once then stopped), I haven’t fully resolved the problem yet. Here’s what I did:
Earlier, I talked about reformatting and reinstalling the multiboot drivers on my USB stick, but the desktop still won’t start from it. On my laptop, I encountered a RAM, CPU, and swap file situation—CPU usage was over 95% (i7-6700K), RAM around 63.5GB with a 500MB buffer, and the task manager showed 164/164 GB used. The review video on GamersNexus froze, then the screen went dark (even with backlight), followed by a stuttering sound before the machine shut down.
After restarting and confirming it was a new session, I powered off the laptop and removed all four SSDs (250GB M.2-2260, 1TB M.2-2280, two 1050GB Crucial MX300s). Then I replaced them with a blank 1TB Toshiba MQ01ABD100 HDD and connected my USB stick. When I pressed F7 to open the boot menu, it loaded from the flash drive. The laptop’s UEFI boot was disabled—this had been set before. Changing the boot order in BIOS helped.
Interestingly, Parted Magic didn’t work on the flash drive (it froze when searching for a specific version), but it worked with a physical CD. Also, during YUMI’s process of copying Ubuntu ISO to the flash drive, it copied directly instead of using the correct tool.
I started Ubuntu Studio from the flash drive and followed the installation steps. I created a small partition at the beginning (though I wasn’t sure about making it a reserved boot), set up 40GB swap, 80GB for home, and left the rest as blank. After installing Ubuntu, I rebooted to the HDD and installed GParted.
I discovered the HDD had an extended partition, which confused me. Using the Disks utility, I saw a Master Boot Record instead of what I expected. I had to redo everything. I rebooted to the flash drive, tried Ubuntu Studio’s “try” mode, and created a new GPT partition table in GParted. I added a 500MB partition after the BIOS grub one, thinking it might help with compatibility.
The installation went through, but I’m still unsure if both boot types (BIOS and UEFI) can work on the same drive. I’m worried about using this HDD with my old Dell D830, which doesn’t support GPT.
Later, I shut down the laptop, removed the 1TB Toshiba drive, went to the desktop (off), unplugged all drives—including a 256GB SSD with both Windows and Linux—and plugged in the new HDD. It booted into Linux successfully this time.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to reorganize files and partitions. I plan to move some folders, consolidate data onto fewer drives, and shuffle partitions. I can’t do this from Windows because I need to work with ext4 filesystems. Right now, Windows blocks me from doing that. Someone else seems to be causing trouble with my setup.