3

My X1 Thinkpad was running some Lenovo-specific updates provided through Gnome-Software. I shut down without realizing they were running. Now I can boot into the Bios or an external thumb drive but I cannot boot into Ubuntu. I was able to boot to a Boot Repair disk that generated this Pastebin:

https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/TqtJ459Vnm/

which concludes with "Suggested repair: The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility would not act on the boot."

I'm not sure where to go from here.

FWIW, the updates weren't from Synaptic. They appear in the suitcase icon "Software" app, under the "Updates" tab and are usually Thinkpad or Lenovo specific.

Screenshot of three tabs that read Explore, Installed, Updates

Updated: I edited the question to clarify what I actually know. I made some assumptions initially (ie. that I don't have a boot loader) and I'm not sure they're correct.

Update 2: this definitely wasn't an OS update.

Amanda
  • 9,333
  • Ouch... Interrupting a BIOS update is one way to brick your motherboard. BIOS is your motherboard's firmware. You should consult the documentation for your motherboard. BIOS updates aren't related to any operating system. – Nmath May 04 '21 at 17:21
  • @Nmath Is my boot repair consistent with that? – Amanda May 04 '21 at 17:24
  • Can you access your BIOS menu to reflash it? If so, then the BIOS is repairable. I'd do that first. Don't ever interrupt a BIOS update. – Nmath May 04 '21 at 17:41
  • Not sure what steps to take there. – Amanda May 04 '21 at 17:46
  • I can boot to a thumb drive. That works, but I’m not sure got to go from there to reflashing my bios. – Amanda May 04 '21 at 17:47
  • You will have to consult your motherboard documentation. It is not consistent between manufacturers and sometimes not even consistent between different models from the same manufacturer. Since making a mistake during a motherboard flash can easily make the motherboard unusable, you should follow their directions, not ours. Make sure that you are reading the correct documentation and using an image that is for your specific make and model motherboard. These steps are independent from Ubuntu any other operating system. – Nmath May 04 '21 at 18:09
  • Got it. Thank you @Nmath – Amanda May 04 '21 at 18:24
  • Does this answer your question? Failed upgrade from Ubuntu 19.10 to 20.04 "Please update the microcode" – Raffa May 05 '21 at 00:16

1 Answers1

2

My steps to solve this were:

  • Panic
  • Boot to a boot repair disk. I had one handy from a previous issue (I resized my /boot partition and broke GRUB)
  • Post to AskUbuntu with a) some faulty assumptions about what the problem was stemming from (not helpful) and b) a copy of the Boot Repair pastebin (would have been more helpful without those faulty assumptions)
  • Realize that if I could boot to boot repair, I could probably get into the BIOS.
  • Rebooted, and interrupted the default boot order to select safe mode of my previous kernel.
  • Booted successfully into the older kernel and ran synaptic's recommended updates
  • Re-booted successfully into the new kernel.

So the lesson for me here is a) describe the symptoms clearly and don't jump to conclusions; b) try booting into an older kernel so you can run updates.

Amanda
  • 9,333