Stuck at the login screen/messed up GRUB

Support & Help Requests Hardware
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Hi everyone.
I have this Acer PC (A315-41) I run Mate 20.04 in. I should have it updated, i know, my fault. Anyway, today I turned it on, and it got stuck at the login screen. It doesn't even ask me the password (possibly because I set the login to skip the login screen and boot the system without password), it just give me a button to click to access the desktop, but it only relaunch the login screen.

I have read that often this happens because of a full HD. I wasn't downloading anything, but the disk was almost full so this must be the case. Problem is, I have no idea how to try any of the solutions I read online.

Most of those solutions require to launch the system in recovery mode from grub. Here's the problem: I'm using an old screen with an odd resolution, and I was never able to make the grub screen work. It says "frequency not supported", and I'm going blind. I tried at the time to modify the grub resolution to no success, so I just accepted to navigate the grub blindly (I'm in dual boot). I think I can reach the recovery mode (press down arrow and then enter) but the screen still shows "frequency not supported".

What I can do is to enter a tty with ctrl+alt+F*. However the terminal asks me the password for anything, also to just run ls. And it does not accept it, it says "login incorrect".

Any help?

Thanks.

2

reboot, get into grub (ESC during boot), select recovery, it should log you as root , clean files, reboot normal.

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3

Hopefully,

and

might help.

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4

Thanks guys, but these solutions require to navigate through the grub page and as I said I'm blind there. I tried something else, I booted a live usb and checked the partition from there and it was indeed full. I emptied the trash but it seems that simply booting the live usb messed up with the grub. I'm directly sent to Windows at launch.
I tried following this guide AmministrazioneSistema/Grub/Ripristino/Uefi - Wiki di ubuntu-it but it still boots Windows. How can I check if the grub is fine? Running the live usb I can see a grub.cfg file in /boot/grub, but I don't know what to look for. For instance, how can I check the boot order in the grub?

5

Boot from a live usb. According to the Italian page (Procedura): you mount your disk (sda) to another location, /mnt, you change to that location, you install grub to sda, you clean up your disk, you exit and reboot). That assumes your Linux disk is sda

sudo -s
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
for i in dev dev/pts proc sys sys/firmware run; do mount --bind /$i /mnt/$i; done
chroot /mnt
grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub
exit

reboot

When grub runs, it should detect the windows partition and provide a menu entry to either boot ubuntu mate or windows.

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6

I'm sorry, I explained myself poorly. When i said "I tried following this guide" i didn't meant that i tried to follow it and failed. I meant that i followed it and, as far as I'm concerned, I succeeded. I think I did, at least. It just didn't work. Or, more precisely, I am unsure if it worked or not, because I can't see the grub page. But I know that until yesterday I used to be able to boot Ubuntu pressing enter when the screen said "frequency not supported" (or booting windows pressing down arrow twice and then enter) or just waiting for ten seconds. Now it boots widows no matter what.
How can I check if grub is installed and working? How can i check if it lists Ubuntu? I believe a grub page is being shown because i get that "frequency not supported" message, but I can't see it so I can't be sure. There must be a way to check.

7

watch this video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr9oyWjD6IA

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Ok thanks. I run efibootmgr before and after following all the steps, and it looks that it corrects the boot order, but when I reboot the PC I end up in windows again. And when I go back to the live usb and run efibootmgr it's wrong again.
Boot0000 is ubuntu, but the BootOrder starts at 0001 (Linpus lite). It started from 0000 after reinstalling and updating grub.
One thing, the video shows the installer to report adding a menu entry for UEFI firmware settings, but my installation didn't.

Anyway, this is the result of efibootmgr after the procedure

BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0002,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* ubuntu
Boot0001* Linpus lite
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager
Boot2001* EFI USB Device
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM
Boot2003* EFI Network

Here is what it says after rebooting

BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0002,0000,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* ubuntu         HD(1,GPT,375768a9-3826-4cec-a7dd-a3389770331a,0x800,0x3200)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0001* Linpus lite    HD(2,GPT,f2a0d0b6-457d-42ea-9171-26f887a56f91,0x7a8b60,0x27a0)/File(\EFI\Boot\grubx64.efi)RC
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager HD(1,GPT,375768a9-3826-4cec-a7dd-a3389770331a,0x800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)[a very long list of numbers here]
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM    RC
Boot2003* EFI Network      RC

Seems to me that every time I leave the live usb, grub get messed up.

9

the video shows that his linux partition is sda5 so the mount lines should be:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
--------------^

In your case, I dont know where your Linux partition is. Upon successful install of grub, it should print Grub installed successfully and found windows (as shown in the video). Grub is installed after chroot /mnt

I dont have a dual boot pc to compare.

sudo lsblk -fs to see all partitions and their filesystems (ignore loop*).

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10

Mine is in sda4, I did that correctly, that's not the issue here. It seems to me that grub is installed correctly, it just doesn't stay as it should be as soon as I leave the live usb.
By the way, it is possible that some grub page shows at launch, I can't see it but I get that "frequency not supported" message from the screen that usually means I'm in the grub page. It's just that it doesn't boot Ubuntu, only Windows.

11

Can you disconnect the second drive (Linpus) and run the procedure again?
It should be:

BootCurrent: 0000
BootOrder should be 0000 Ubuntu, 0002 Windows

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12

Well, Linpus Lite is a UEFI Boot Manager for Acer computers. The computer's firmware is hardcoded to detect a specific uefi entry and boot from it. This explains that although you modified the efibootmgr, it reverts back to Linpus Lite 0001.

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13

Yes, I understand that Linpus lite is my live usb, that's why it says BootCurrent 0001. What doesn't make sense to me is that it deletes 0000 (ubuntu) from the list. It would make sense to me that the boot order would be 0001,0000,0002 (usb if there, then ubuntu, then windows).

Anyway, if at the end of the procedure I have 0000 on top, I would expect to get in ubuntu at reboot. The fact that I get windows implies to me that the boot order is rewritten either when shutting down the live usb or when booting the pc again. The fact that this whole issue started when I booted a live usb suggests me the fist option, but I might be wrong.

14

Can not be sure, but if your live CD version is at least 22.4, then it may be that 'osprober' grub option is off.

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15

Thank you but no. That gave me some hope, as i am indeed using a 24.04 image since I don't have the 20.04 live usb anymore. But no, enabling osproper didn't work.
I also add that I de-commented that final line in the grub file that makes the PC emit a sound when it enters the grub page. It used to work before this whole ordeal, but it didn't this time. No tone, and straight to windows after the "frequency not supported" message.
Now I guess my best bet is to redownload a 20.04 iso and build a live usb with it and see if that helps somehow.

16

Of what I read, boot your laptop to BIOS and there should be an entry for UEFI shell. In the shell, you might look for the boot order and other details.

if someone has an Acer laptop, dual boot, maybe they can help.

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The problem is, I can't see anything until I boot a OS. Grub, UEFI, they all send a signal that my monitor cannot recognize. I haven't explained the whole background because irrelevant, but the screen of the Acer netbook is broken and that's why I am using an old screen with an odd resolution as pointed out in the first post. I cannot make the grub to be displayed at the resolution the screen need even modifying the grub file, and I doubt there is a way for me to use the UEFI shell going in blind.

18

Thoughts: there is laptop with a broken screen and you connect an external display via an HDMI cable. The laptop should have a key, Fn+F5 which allows you to select which display is active (just laptop, both laptop&external, only external, ...) To get into BIOS, F2 when the logo screen appears.

See if you can make the external display as default. Maybe you can set the external monitor's resolution to 1024x768 which all computers have.

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The monitor is 1024x768, are you suggesting that grub and UEFI should be visible on such resolution? Unfortunately they are not.
About Fn+F5, I believe that my PC sees the external monitor as the main one. i don't remember exactly what i did at the time, but i have the vague recollection that I couldn't make the display work (maybe exactly because of those resolution issues), and to make it happen I struggled to force the PC to see the external monitor as the main one. I think I ended disconnecting the cable going to the broken screen from the motherboard, and that did the trick. Anyway, right now I'm on windows, I hit FN+F5, the four option seem to make no difference. Both with "PC screen only" and "Secondary screen only" the desktop is always there on my external monitor. That kinda reinforce my hunch that the PC sees the monitor as the one and only.
Yet hitting F2 at boot and entering the UEFI still gives me the "frequency not supported" message.

20

Hi, @lorenzoDACG :slight_smile:

You wrote:

(...) I have the vague recollection that I couldn't make the display work (maybe exactly because of those resolution issues), and to make it happen I struggled to force the PC to see the external monitor as the main one. I think I ended disconnecting the cable going to the broken screen from the motherboard, and that did the trick. (...)

I've found now the following discussion in the "Acer Community" - https://community.acer.com - that makes me believe that you probably had to do just that (and maybe you have to do that again now with your "Acer Aspire A315-41"?)

In that discussion, the most relevant answer to me seems to be https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1069064/#Comment_1069064, written by the user xapim, which has written the following:

xapim ACE Posts: 7,253 Pathfinder

[November 2021] edited November 2021

MrBanaBeer Kenpachi getting into the bios via an exteral display its a bit complicated the easiest way its to disconnect the internal display cable from the moo as the bios will only recognize the internal display first and will deny access to the external please check the video below for a better explanation bare in mind the second option in the video might not work on predator laptops as theres no csm support as far as im aware and good luck :slight_smile:

StevenGen bios setup will not work on any external displays when the internal its still physically connected (unless there are options in the bios do do so) its a bit more complicated than that i have tried it myself and just got to the conclusion its not worth it unless you have a broken display that youre not planning to replace then yeah use the external only :slight_smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6-3c4oKUUM

Here's the "YouTube" video - "Get BIOS to display on an external monitor from a laptop (ASUS GL753VE)" - from that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6-3c4oKUUM link (I'm guessing that, although the video is about an ASUS laptop computer and not an Acer, the same principles apply):

I hope this helps. Please, keep us posted :slight_smile:

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