I'm sorry Stephen, I'm not following you here.
Oh, thanks for the heads up. I will give it a try.
That's an interesting device, I didn't know they existed. I think I will try with the TV as soon as i can, but it's nice to know these things exist.
I found out the BIOS is already updated, so unfortunately that's another dead end.
I think eventually you need to replace the display. There are YT videos, you just need to find the exact model of the display (a sticker behind the display), order a replacement and replace it.
Aliexpress has good prices for displays but you wait 20 days to arrive in the US. Long time ago I bought a control board (~ $25) for an LG monitor and it works well. I have replaced laptop displays, it is a pain but it can be done.
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Yeah, the PC is basically split in two, the whole monitor lid broke and there's no way it can be easily fixed, I should somehow build a fixed monitor out of the replacement display. It's not worth the hassle honestly.
it might be easier to pull the SSD out of this laptop and put it in another laptop.
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That's another option. I think that the only laptop I could use is my newer one which is the only functioning PC I have and I'm a bit hesitant doing it. The other ones are too old (32 bit) and/or also broken. I'll try connecting it to the TV when I can and see if I can restore it to how it used to be a few days ago, otherwise it will probably remain a windows-only machine.
Back to your boot order problem
You could try setting the next-boot property via efibootmgr -n 0 - this doesn't change the boot order, but should cause the next boot to be ubuntu. If it works, at least you're back in Ubuntu for a moment and you can confirm GRUB's settings.
BIOS update and monitor issues
If you restart your laptop (or power cycle, e.g. turn off and on again), then typically an Acer (or similar) logo appears on the screen. If you press F2 immediately then this will take you to the UEFI/BIOS screen. Acer has a video of this screen (17sec in): https://youtu.be/hdIUopMltE8?feature=shared&t=17.
In any case - you probably won't be able to see it.
Even if it has been updated, it's possible something has gone wrong there so:
- See if the update facility will allow you to re-flash the BIOS; if not then:
- Downgrade to the factory version (or any earlier version) of the BIOS and test for the same result (i.e. "frequency not supported").
You can always upgrade the BIOS to the latest version again if there's no effect.
As I said, this probably won't solve the problem, but this does help rule out an issue with the BIOS/BIOS version.
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That would require to be able to boot at least the live USB, which I'm not able to do anymore somehow. Maybe it's because the 20.04 version (vs the 24.04 I was using before), but it doesn't make sense to me.
I downgraded to the earliest BIOS I could find, it changed nothing it seems. However, I should also add that immediately after rebooting (for the BIOS downgrade) I manually rebooted again (just a normal reboot) and it behaved just like when downgrading (the fan rotating at max, more or less the same sequence of black screens and "frequency not supported" messages) and it looks that it has re-upgraded to the newest BIOS by itself.
I still need to try to connect it to the TV, seems like the better option right now.
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Then use bcdedit in Windows.
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Ok, so, I'm reading the bcedit manual on microsoft learn, it should be something like
bcdedit bootsequence 0
that's correct? However, how do I know what number is ubuntu according to bcdedit? I just run the command and it's nothing like efibootmgr, it doesn't list the boot options
C:\WINDOWS\system32>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identificatore {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale it-IT
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {3896a113-eb90-11eb-b1a6-8402845393bd}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Caricatore di avvio di Windows
-------------------
identificatore {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale it-IT
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {3896a115-eb90-11eb-b1a6-8402845393bd}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {3896a113-eb90-11eb-b1a6-8402845393bd}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Or can I take from granted that if efibootmgr list it as 0000, it's the same for bcdedit?
I haven't touched Windows in many years, so I can't provide any specific advice beyond what you might find from a search engine.
As far as I can tell, bcdedit doesn't see anything other than Windows. At the line displayorder it should list all the OSs, but it only says current. No luck here.
What is the output of bcdedit /enum FIRMWARE?
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C:\WINDOWS\system32>bcdedit /enum FIRMWARE
Boot Manager per firmware
---------------------
identificatore {fwbootmgr}
displayorder {bootmgr}
{d3dc9975-ea36-11ef-acc6-806e6f6e6963}
{a15e4e52-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
{a15e4e53-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
{a15e4e54-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
timeout 0
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identificatore {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale it-IT
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {3896a113-eb90-11eb-b1a6-8402845393bd}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Applicazione firmware (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identificatore {a15e4e52-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
description EFI USB Device
Applicazione firmware (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identificatore {a15e4e53-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
description EFI DVD/CDROM
Applicazione firmware (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identificatore {a15e4e54-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
description EFI Network
Applicazione firmware (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identificatore {d3dc9975-ea36-11ef-acc6-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
description ubuntu
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Ok so it does look that it sees Ubuntu somehow. However, I'm afraid I'm still at loss what to do with it.
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I just found this. How do I change the UEFI Boot Order from within Windows 10? - Super User
bcdedit /set {fwbootmgr} displayorder {d3dc9975-ea36-11ef-acc6-806e6f6e6963} {bootmgr} {a15e4e52-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963} {a15e4e53-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963} {a15e4e54-e756-11e8-aaca-806e6f6e6963}
Maybe.
Or maybe
bcdedit /default {d3dc9975-ea36-11ef-acc6-806e6f6e6963}
Edit: no I think this is wrong? The way I'm understanding now this should change the order inside the Windows Boot Loader, which only deals with Windows OSs. That's the reason why bcdedit doesn't list Ubuntu at displayorder, because it's listing the order of the Windows Boot Loader entries. So I guess that the code from the previous comment that should work?
Edit2: but I'm also thinking that I should place the EFI USB device before Ubuntu if i want an live USB to work.