The computer has resumed functioning after its most unusual behavior. Let me try to determine what might have caused it.
The computer has resumed functioning after its most unusual behavior. Let me try to determine what might have caused it.
After encountering a GUI issue, I activated the hardware restart on my triple-boot system. The Pop_OS installation on the SSD didn<|pad|>, failed to start. Even with the OS image USB, Pop itself couldn't boot the live environment. I still managed to access my Windows partition. Thinking about BIOS settings, I disabled Secure Boot by turning off CSM Support. This allowed me to boot all OSes again, including non-Windows ones. However, Windows now won’t start properly. I re-enabled CSM Support in BIOS. All systems booted normally once more. I’m puzzled by the sequence of events and the unexpected recovery.
Details: I was installing EA’s Origin launcher in Pop_OS on a Lutris drive. The GUI bug made window tiling unresponsive, though input stayed normal. I pressed the physical restart button. Pop_OS failed to boot after a prompt, then froze on a black screen before auto-shutting down. I suspected Secure Boot interference. Restoring it resolved the issue.
Later, I faced a LUKS decryption prompt on Pop_OS after unlocking it. It displayed a long log, then restarted automatically—likely because I hadn’t properly shut down during installation. I booted into another Windows partition, which worked fine. I considered reinstalling Pop_OS due to the damage.
I tried booting from a Windows 10 USB, but it crashed after a lengthy log and auto-restart. I suspected the boot failure stemmed from improper shutdown during the Pop installation.
In retrospect, it seems the BIOS settings and Secure Boot configuration were key factors. I’m still trying to understand what caused this chain of failures.
Based on my observations, the Windows behavior seemed typical. With Secure Boot enabled, it reacted negatively when the system was powered off. Since issues only arose during boot failures, it likely operated normally otherwise. The repeated crashes might have triggered recovery mechanisms, but once the system was restarted without issues, Secure Boot no longer interfered. I’d appreciate hearing other perspectives—many of us are adopting purpose-built systems now for better reliability.
That's a valid observation! It seems the USB boot issue persisted even after adjusting Secure Boot settings. I'm still trying to understand what Secure Boot does and why it might be interfering with the Pop OS on the SSD. It would help to review the details later. I'll definitely add this to my study plan. Also, it's wise to disable Secure Boot before future Windows installations.
It just occurred again, apparently my Pop system is acting up once more. This time when it crashed, it didn’t reboot properly in the exact manner I described earlier. I didn’t attempt to boot another operating system before fixing it, so I’m not entirely certain the other symptoms matched. However, I’m leaning toward it being similar because I confirmed my alternative explanation. Initially, I tried disabling CSM (and by extension Secure Boot). After that, I booted into Pop and still faced the same issue. My unspoken assumption was that the low-level bootstrapping code—below the OS but above the hardware—might be corrupted in memory. This wasn’t being cleared by my hardware’s restarts. I’m not sure what exactly it is, but I suspect the problem lies in the firmware or motherboard drivers. I recall from past troubleshooting that fixes worked after a shutdown and manual power-up, not just a restart. This time, after CSM/Secure Boot failed, I powered down the system, disconnected the power supply for ten seconds, and then reconnected it. That resolved the issue. So apparently, my hardware doesn’t fully erase RAM between restarts, and the OS crashes can corrupt memory that loads during reboot. It’s possible it could also happen at the OS level if cached data is involved, but I doubt that would be intentional. I’d appreciate advice from experts on how hardware manages these situations.