Computer hangs on boot logo when using "power" button

Question

So after a long day fighting with UEFI and later on trying to get GRUB to play nice with UEFI, I have managed to dual-boot Ubuntu 13.10 on my Sony VAIO "Tap 20" (the big, touchscreen, all-in-one desktop thing)... And I know both operating systems (Microsoft Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 13.10) are working, because I have used them both post-install.

The problem is, since I last shutdown the computer from within Ubuntu (via the power menu, nothing special), the computer now hangs on the "VAIO" logo... It just sits there doing nothing, and refusing to load GRUB or boot to an operating system.

The computer currently has Secure Boot disabled, but has UEFI enabled (changing the latter to "Legacy" simply gives a "No Operating System Found" error immediately after the "VAIO" logo). Furthermore, my computer is currently set to boot from the hard disk first, then removable storage (it was the other way around previously, with the same results).

At this stage, the only way I can get past the "VAIO" logo is if I boot into the VAIOCare recovery menu via the "Assist" button and select the option to boot from removable storage...

Any help would be appreciated.

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Edit: It works if I use the VAIOCare recovery menu via the "Assist" button and select the "Boot to Windows" (not the exact wording) option... The computer goes straight to GRUB, where I can select the appropriate option. The power button itself however, produces the results above...

Answer 1

I have two suggestions, but neither is a sure-fire fix:

• Download the USB flash drive or CD-R version of my rEFInd boot manager, prepare a medium with it, boot it using the method you note late in your post, use rEFInd to boot to Linux, and then install the Debian-package version of rEFInd in Linux. With any luck this will fix your problem. If not, you could try using bcdedit in Windows to register rEFInd as the default boot manager, as described in the Windows installation instructions.
• Use the workaround you note to boot to a Linux emergency disk and use that to run the Boot Repair tool. In theory, this will restore GRUB as the default boot manager. If this procedure does not work, and if rEFInd also does not work, post the URL that Boot Repair provides; that will give us details about your setup that may help us find a fix.

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EDIT:

Your parenthetical statement in your comment to this answer suggests that rEFInd is working. If so, just use it; that's your solution.

I suspect, though, that you mean that you can boot via rEFInd on the USB flash drive, but that the computer is still not booting from the hard disk. If so, try this:

1. Use rEFInd on the USB drive (or any other means) to boot to Windows.
2. In Windows, launch an Administrator Command Prompt window.
3. Type bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi in the Administrator Command Prompt window.

With any luck, when you reboot rEFInd should start up and enable you to boot whatever OS you like.

Alternatively, you could pass \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi instead of \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi to bcdedit to get GRUB to show up as your default boot manager.

If this doesn't work, I recommend you check with the manufacturer to see if there's a firmware update available, since a failure at this point indicates a serious firmware bug.

If a firmware update is not available or doesn't work, then I recommend you return the computer to the manufacturer and buy something else. People are distressingly unwilling to return non-functional computers to the store, but that's the only action that will actually get manufacturers' attention to fix serious problems like this.