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I recently installed updates to Ubuntu 22.04.2 and my system locked as I tried to restartit (blank screen, no messages, I waited 5 minutes to check for activity and nothing happened). I then tried a hard reboot - same result. I tried to reinstall using a usb drive I created using the package supplied in Ubuntu, which I had used before successfully.

This failed with the message 'Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda' follwed by the message to restart the computer. It would not restart.

I then bought a usb stick with UbuntuMate 22.04 pre-loaded and attempted an installation which failed with the same message.

My machine is a Toshiba Satellite C50-B-14D with a 500Gb hard drive and 8Gb RAM, both replaced about 18 months ago.

Can anyone give me advice as to how I can solve this?

Ken Wilson
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  • Please copy & paste the pastebin link to the BootInfo summary report ( do not post report), do not run the auto fix till reviewed. Use often updated ppa version over somewhat older ISO with your USB installer or any working install. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair & https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/ I have in notes that Sharp bought Toshiba's computer systems in 2018 and they now are Dynabook. So are your installs in UEFI or BIOS boot mode? Report should show that. https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2387851 – oldfred Jun 03 '23 at 14:36
  • Thanks for this, I’ll try that. My installs are in BIOS mode – Ken Wilson Jun 04 '23 at 08:43
  • Boot info url is https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/5tWh2cMD4v/. I hope this helps – Ken Wilson Jun 04 '23 at 10:26
  • You have UEFI installs. In fact you reinstalled Ubuntu a second time, so two installs. Does running Boot-Repair's default fix work or give same error? It typically picks first install, if you want second install as default boot, you have to use its advanced mode & choose install & drive. You have a lot of duplicate UEFI entries. It may be part of issue. Delete duplicates with efibootmgr:https://askubuntu.com/questions/1198221/cloning-ssd-also-cloned-boot-options/1198228#1198228 – oldfred Jun 04 '23 at 13:27
  • Boot-Repair carried out, see https:/paste.ubuntu.com/p/nsrHqbCnWB/ for details. The system told me that I could restart the computer but the system will not boot unless usb is attached. The BIOS settings have been changed to prioritise boot from HDD but this makes no difference. Can you think of anything else to resolve this?. I suspect that this may be a hardware issue and am thinking about replacing my laptop as a last resort – Ken Wilson Jun 04 '23 at 15:19
  • You still show a massive number of duplicates. Years ago that literally bricked some system when 50% of UEFI memory was used. They blamed Linux. But later some Windows only systems had same issue & it was the vendor's UEFI. Houseclean those entries. Make sure you have latest UEFI from vendor. Some systems have extra settings in UEFI beyond UEFI Secure boot to prevent write into ESP. Some only want to dual boot from "fallback" or drive entry, so you need to remove all old "ubuntu" entries. Copy & rename files. https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2257259 – oldfred Jun 04 '23 at 16:58
  • The media used says that it is version 22.04.2. I have now changed the HDD and tried to install to a clean disk. The installation failed "Executing grub-install/dev/sda failed". I restarted the machine using the usb, using the try ubuntu option. I installed and ran boot-repair (see https:/paste.ubuntu.com/p/xz66qJNJHR) and also ran the repair option (see https:/paste.ubuntu.com/yHKTDxX96Q). The computer still fails to reboot. – Ken Wilson Jun 06 '23 at 16:12
  • I still see a massive number of UEFI boot entries. Many say "ubuntu" but look like old BIOS boot entries. You need to houseclean those. Did you check if UEFI has another setting for UEFI entries. Some brands have additional security settings beyond secure boot to prevent new UEFI entries. Use efibootmgr to both remove obsolete & duplicate entries, link above, and add a correct UEFI boot entry. https://askubuntu.com/questions/668506/changed-the-uefi-motherboard-on-a-dell-laptop-now-it-says-no-os-detected – oldfred Jun 06 '23 at 18:34
  • @oldfred, problem resolved, thanks for your time and patience – Ken Wilson Jun 07 '23 at 06:24

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