Can't boot into manjaro after component swap

Support
1

I recently swapped my motherboard and CPU, upgrading to an ASRock B550M Steel Legend and an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X. I have three drives: an M.2 SSD with Manjaro and a separate SSD for Windows and another from a failed attempt. The issue I’m facing is that I can’t boot into Manjaro anymore.

I’ve tried several troubleshooting steps, including:

Disabling CSM 
Reinstalling GRUB (went in the chroot from live usb)
Disabling Fast Boot
Testing with just one stick of RAM

When I disconnect the Windows SSD, Manjaro does not boot from the M.2 drive. However, if only the Manjaro drive is connected, the system either power cycles or displays a black screen without even showing the ASRock page.

Any ideas on what could be causing this?

lsblk -f

NAME    FSTYPE   FSVER    LABEL            UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
sda                                                                                            
└─sda1  ntfs                               0A1836E558CB39BF                                    
sdb     iso9660  Joliet E MANJARO_KDE_2412 2024-11-04-04-24-27-00                     0   100% /run/miso/bootmnt
├─sdb1  iso9660  Joliet E MANJARO_KDE_2412 2024-11-04-04-24-27-00                              
└─sdb2  vfat     FAT12    MISO_EFI         8BF0-EDB3                                           
sdc                                                                                            
├─sdc1  vfat     FAT32                     0002-DBC1                                           
├─sdc2                                                                                         
├─sdc3  ntfs                               820A0B7A0A0B6A8D                                    
└─sdc4  ntfs                               7838A51338A4D204                                    
nvme0n1                                                                                        
└─nvme0n1p2
        ext4     1.0                       8e0e212d-3399-41b6-9b0f-83f4032ed28f

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 447.13 GiB, 480103981056 bytes, 937703088 sectors
Disk model: KINGSTON SA400S3
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 4987D8A8-A794-1B43-9111-0BD26A15FD7F

Device     Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1   2048 937701375 937699328 447.1G Microsoft basic data


Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 980 1TB                     
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 16384 bytes / 131072 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3B14A996-5D4E-4734-81AF-A0F0E1595CDA

Device         Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p2  2048 1953523711 1953521664 931.5G Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/sdb: 14.43 GiB, 15493759488 bytes, 30261249 sectors
Disk model: STORE N GO      
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device     Boot   Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *         64 8110891 8110828  3.9G  0 Empty
/dev/sdb2       8110892 8119083    8192    4M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)


Disk /dev/loop0: 156.89 MiB, 164507648 bytes, 321304 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop1: 1.03 GiB, 1103196160 bytes, 2154680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop2: 1.74 GiB, 1868722176 bytes, 3649848 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop3: 834.59 MiB, 875134976 bytes, 1709248 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/sdc: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: CT1000BX500SSD1 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3D8CE3E2-DD50-47C3-A34F-10B85B0421C9

Device          Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdc1        2048     206847     204800   100M EFI System
/dev/sdc2      206848     239615      32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sdc3      239616 1952002047 1951762432 930.7G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sdc4  1952002048 1953521663    1519616   742M Windows recovery environment

inxi -Fazy

System:
  Kernel: 6.10.13-3-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-x86_64 lang=en_US keytable=us tz=UTC
    misobasedir=manjaro misolabel=MANJARO_KDE_2412 quiet systemd.show_status=1
    splash driver=nonfree nouveau.modeset=0 i915.modeset=1 radeon.modeset=1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.6.0
    wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: B550M Steel Legend
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American
    Megatrends LLC. v: L3.46 date: 08/20/2024
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech G304 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming
    Mouse serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA201210
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 8 threads: 16 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB
    desc: 8x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3400 min/max: 2200/4662 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 3400 2: 3400 3: 3400
    4: 3400 5: 3400 6: 3400 7: 3400 8: 3400 9: 3400 10: 3400 11: 3400 12: 3400
    13: 3400 14: 3400 15: 3400 16: 3400 bogomips: 108638
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia
    v: 550.120 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550.xx+ status: current
    (as of 2024-09; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
    built: 2016-2021 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1c03 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.14 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: N/A failed: nvidia gpu: nvidia
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 108 s-size: 602x342mm (23.70x13.46")
    s-diag: 692mm (27.26")
  Monitor-1: Unknown-1 mapped: HDMI-0 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109
    size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") modes: 1024x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
    drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
    inactive: wayland,device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.120
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 5.86 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.295 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
    GeForce GTX 1060 6GB driver: nvidia v: 550.120 device-ID: 10de:1c03
    surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 06:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f1 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: ASRock driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 08:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.10.13-3-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASRock driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210/AX1675 2x2 [Typhoon Peak] driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2725 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-9:6 chip-ID: 8087:0032
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.27 TiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B4QFXO7 temp: 30.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37480G
    size: 447.13 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0102 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000BX500SSD1
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 061 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Verbatim model: STORE N GO
    size: 14.43 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB rev: 3.2
    spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 tech: N/A serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: PMAP scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  Message: No partition data found.
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 34 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 40%
Info:
  Memory: total: 20 GiB available: 19.46 GiB used: 4.3 GiB (22.1%)
  Processes: 342 Power: uptime: 4m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 7.74 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1256 libs: 323 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: N/A Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: konsole
    inxi: 3.3.36

edit: awake

2

Try with the fallback initcpio. If that works, regenerate the initcpio, then try to reboot normally.

3

boot from usb - with all / both drives connected
so you (and we) can see what is where

and please:
lsblk -f
instead of just
lsblk

You know (or should know) how the system worked before you changed it.

4

So i tried booting with all my drives but it is not possible. i can only boot into into the live usb and bios when the windows drive is not plugged. i will try some more, but it is not looking good.

lsblk -f (without windows drive)

NAME    FSTYPE   FSVER    LABEL            UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3   squashfs 4.0                                                                  0   100% /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
sda                                                                                            
└─sda1  ntfs                               0A1836E558CB39BF                                    
sdb     iso9660  Joliet E MANJARO_KDE_2412 2024-11-04-04-24-27-00                     0   100% /run/miso/bootmnt
├─sdb1  iso9660  Joliet E MANJARO_KDE_2412 2024-11-04-04-24-27-00                              
└─sdb2  vfat     FAT12    MISO_EFI         8BF0-EDB3                                           
sdc                                                                                            
├─sdc1  vfat     FAT32                     0002-DBC1                                           
├─sdc2                                                                                         
├─sdc3  ntfs                               820A0B7A0A0B6A8D                                    
└─sdc4  ntfs                               7838A51338A4D204                                    
nvme0n1                                                                                        
└─nvme0n1p2
        ext4     1.0                       8e0e212d-3399-41b6-9b0f-83f4032ed28f

@ben75 i will try that now

5

I would go through all firmware settings, Secure Boot enabled accidently?

6

I’d then unplug the one drive and plug in the other instead and boot from usb again
My idea behind this is simply to find out what is on which drive.

What can be seen so far is one linux partition on /dev/nvme0n1 with GPT partition scheme.
This normally means that the system was installed as using UEFI and not as using BIOS to boot.

But on this partition, there is no EFI partition - it likely is on the other, now disconnected drive.

That’s how I see it and how I would try to assess the situation.

I’d think that your system before the change was using UEFI with secure boot disabled - and that the EFI partition is on the other drive - but that is just a guess so far.

You could also just access the drive when you are booted from USB - and look at it’s contents …

7

I checked it and it is disabled. @anon33601770 plugged drive while booted in environment. I updated the commands output.

8

Well?

mount it - go to the /etc directory on it (if it is there)
look at what is in the fstab file

go to the /boot directory (if it is there) - look at what files and subdirectories there are

This should give you a clue what the assembled file system needs to look like.

9

fstab looks normal, not sure what you meant by This should give you a clue what the assembled file system needs to look like.?
I am not sure if this is normal but there is no /EFI directory

ls /mnt/manjaro/boot

amd-ucode.img  grub                               initramfs-6.6-x86_64.img  memtest86+
efi            initramfs-6.6-x86_64-fallback.img  linux66-x86_64.kver       vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64

fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system>             <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
UUID=8e0e212d-3399-41b6-9b0f-83f4032ed28f /              ext4    defaults,noatime 0 1
tmpfs                                     /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
# /dev/disk/by-label/manjaro /mnt/manjaro auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
10

but there is (should be) an EFI directory inside the /boot/efi …

you could chroot and reinstall grub again - but you said you already did this

I’m at my wits end here. :man_shrugging:

11

i will maybe make a new EFI partition to install grub on it, not sure if this is a bad idea.
I will add that even in the bios it seems I can’t add my m.2 ssd to boot from it, but it is recognized and shows up in storage configuration

12

You should use precise terms - perhaps this is part of the issue?
It’s not the Bios that you want, it is the UEFI.
You don’t even need CSM.

I’m pretty sure it is not a good one - because what is needed is already there.
Adding another might only add to the confusion.

Good luck!

13

I have big news
I rebooted went to search bootloaders and i picked the first one (forgot what it is) and it works the grub works the manjaro os works, but now we have to fins why.

I meant in the bios you can choose your boot order but in my case it does not let me use the m.2 and CSM is disabled. Hope this explain it better

so what i did was
grub live USB → detect EFI bootloaders → (hd2, gpt1) /efi/Boot/bootx64.efi
i did it twice to be sure and it works.

edit:unfortunately i will have to go wil come back later thanks for your help and time!

edit2: maybe a BIOS thing because it still does not let me select m.2 ssd as boot entry

14

This looks like you screwed up your system by installing Manjaro in BIOS mode on a gpt parted disk, otherwise you would have an ESP entry in fstab.

BIOS boot on a gpt parted disk is possible but requires a bios boot partition, otherwise the install is completely out of spec, does not means impossible to boot from it but prone to break.

You probably can solve it by preparing an ESP on that disk, boot from live ISO in UEFI mode, try to chroot into your Manjaro install and then to restore the boot loader (for UEFI system).

15

i am reading the document but right now i am not logged in the live usb. To make the changes should i log in the live usb or it doesn’t make a difference?

16

oke for some reason it works now but i don’t even know why everything i tried didn’t work so i am confused. it works in the sense that i loaded back in without using the live usb grub like before it just booted to my manjaro drive without going through the grub.

these are the commands i wrote

sudo manjaro-chroot -a
output:
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1.  Check your device.map.
==> Mounting (ManjaroLinux) [/dev/nvme0n1p2]
 --> mount: [/mnt]

*it still let me in the chroot

ls /
output:
bin   desktopfs-pkgs.txt  etc   lib    lost+found  opt   root             run   snap  sys  usr
boot  dev                 home  lib64  mnt         proc  rootfs-pkgs.txt  sbin  srv   tmp  var

lastly i did installed grub in the chroot in vain

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=manjaro --recheck
output:
sudo: unable to find terminal name for device 136, 0

at this point i thought it was done because everytime I write this command the [manjaro /]# disappears and just moves to the next line. but i decided to wait a minute and then write this command

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

there was no output for this command, then and tried to exit but nothing happend for like 10 seconds. Afterwrds it wrote exit to infinity and i just decided to reboot the pc.

so if someone has any ideas i will gladly listen

17

The first step is getting a ~300MB FAT32 partition. You mount that partition in /boot/efi. (Which you can put in /etc/fstab, if you want, as it’s needed every time you update grub/kernel/etc. And it is the Manjaro default.) Then you build the grub image.

Personally, I would shrink your Manjaro ext4 partition to make room for it, it’s tiny and it puts all the partitions you need on one device. But you can really have the EFI partition on any drive you want.

18

It is rather strange that this was not already visible in the /etc/fstab of the system which presumably did work before.
There had to have been one - and it had to have been present in /etc/fstab - no?

19

When you CSM boot and install it, there is no /boot/efi directory (or mount anyway).

I’m guessing the error is because it’s not EFI compatible. (Which makes residing on a FAT32 partition a requirement…)

20

oke i am not sure i follow what you are saying, right now it kinda works. I still can’t access the bios (don’t know why) also I can’t switch OS because grub doesn’t load.

So I am not sure what to do next.

follow up
even when trying to enter the bios by selecting after restart enter UEFI setup screen it does not enter the bios.