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I was exploring the BIOS of a second-hand computer I purchased a few years back for the first time.
(a Dell OptiPlex 7050 Micro)

After looking at all the options, I decided to reset my BIOS to defaults.

Then I went back through and changed a few things to my liking.

When I rebooted, it started booting into Windows (dual-boot).

It turns out, the reset deleted all of the Linux boot entries.

I went back into the BIOS and tried Add Boot Option.

  • for Boot Option Name I typed Ubuntu
  • from File System List the only option was preselected:
    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x17,0x0)/Sata(0x1,0x0)/HD(1,GPT.xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-8xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
    (since this didn't appear to be editable, I its just a list of EFI partitions, not an actual configuration detail)
  • for File Name I was able to select from the following options: 
    shimx64.efi
grubx64.efi
mmx64.efi
fbx64.efi
bootx64.csv
grub.cfg
    and I chose \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi because that seemed the most obvious. (later I learned the others are for secure boot, which is disabled in my BIOS)

When it boots now it just sits at Welcome to Grub.

I had figured that grub64.efi would find its buddy grub.cfg nearby and it would be business as usual.

  • Did I do something wrong?
  • Is the BIOS boot loader tool Windows-only in some way?
  • Could I do something differently to make it work?
root-aj
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1 Answers1

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But... you can use the BIOS boot selector!

In my specific case, something else must have gone wrong or become misconfigured.

I was able to select a different grubx64.efi from the BIOS UEFI management tool and it was able to successfully load the grub boot menu.

I edited the menu item manually to test it and get booted. Once I was in the OS I copied over the correct grub.cfg into that boot folder, and now it boots and restarts.

root-aj
  • 345