Hey all, thank you for accepting me on the forums.
I’ve been a happy Manjaro user for 3 years now and acquainted with basic bash.
However, I ran into an issue that I would love some advice with.
System set-up
Machine: Lenovo Thinkpad T420
Dual-boot: Windows 7 (original install) and Manjaro
BIOS: BIOS/MBR with GPT linux disc
Discs:
- /dev/sda Windows in NTFS
- /dev/sda1/Supposed bootloader partition - contains a boot file - 1gb in size
- /dev/sda2/ Main Windows Disk
- /dev/sda3/ Back-up Windows Files
- /dev/sdb Manjaro
- /dev/sdb1/ Linux system files
- /dev/sdb2/ Linux Swap
- /dev/sdb3/ Linux Home
Context
System update stopped halfway which caused kernel error upon reboot.
I booted from USB, mounted my disk and successfully ran the system update with no kernel error, following this guide.
The guide includes running update-grub
, which I did.
Upon reboot, the grub splashscreen did non show. Instead I was greeted by memtest86+. It completes and then goes black.
I tried manually booting any of the disks through the BIOS - nothing except memtest86+.
I rebooted from USB and confirmed two boot locations using fdisk -l
- Windows Disk SDA1 contains a boot file (memtest86+ ?)
- USB with my live boot
On my Linux disc:
/dev/sdb1/etc/ has a grub.d template file
/dev/sdb1/etc/default/ has the grub config files
the /boot/ dir shows:
|-- grub
| |-- fonts
| |-- grub.cfg
| |-- grubenv
| |-- i386-pc
| |-- locale
| `-- themes
|-- intel-ucode.img
`-- memtest86+
`-- memtest.bin
but the disc does not show a bootloader in fdisk -l
also, when in manjaro-chroot -a
the update-grub
command only yields:
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
the fdisk -l
printout for reference:
Disk model: Samsung SSD 840
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: 0x258f2021
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 2459647 2457600 1.2G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 2459648 177094655 174635008 83.3G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 177094656 234439599 57344944 27.3G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 870
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: F0D95C18-58AC-694A-B906-50C02CFA6BDC
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 131074047 131072000 62.5G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdb2 1887983616 1953519615 65536000 31.3G Linux swap
/dev/sdb3 131074048 1887983615 1756909568 837.8G Linux filesystem
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
Solution
As I try to figure it out, my assumption is that update-grub
messed up the config files.
My assumption also is that the original bootloader is located in /dev/sda1 as it’s a 1gb partition most likely created during my initial dual-boot install, and it contains the only recognized boot memtest86+
by fdisk -l
From what I understand, I have some options:
- Re-install Manjaro using the USB installer without touching my /home partition on /dev/sdb3/
- Re-Install grub manually on my windows disk
What would be the best course of action here to restore my dual-boot?
I’m hesitant to Re-install, since I do not wish to mess up anything I shouldn’t touch.
To re-iterate, grub does not load upon boot and my only available boot option is memtest86+ which I gather from fdisk -l
is loaded from /dev/sda (the windows disc)
Many thanks in advance!