I'm trying to get a new install going on a shiny new mobile workstation (HP Zbook G3) with Optimus graphics and having no luck. BIOS is setup with secure boot disabled and legacy BIOS mode enabled. Options for graphics card in BIOS are either hybrid or discrete and I have tried installation with both.

EDIT:
Trying to clarify the original issue and what I've noticed is a second issue. Live USB works fine but following installation I get no grub screen on boot and have to use BIOS boot menu, where i can manually browse to grubx64.efi and boot from it to get to the Plasma logon screen.

The original issue I posted was that I can't log in from that point; after I enter my password the logon button turns gray with the cursor turning to an x, and the system hangs. I can't get to tty or do anything else from that point. I now have isolated this to when the system is configured in "hybrid" graphics mode (there is no Intel-only option). With Nouveau drivers installed I could never login with hybrid enabled; with Nvidia-Prime installed I was able to log in once but there were some stability issues and I haven't been able to log in since then.

So, my main issue is that I have to manually browse to grubx64.efi to boot the system. I have tried grub-update but with inconclusive results (see below). Thanks to anyone that can help.

Hi,

Based on how new this hardware is, It's worth trying a more recent kernel (I described how to do this here). Solved a lot of issues for me. But keep in mind that you have to upgrade your kernel by yourself later on if you do this.

Your EFI-Problem seems to be related to some faulty efi boot entries. Weird that grub doesn't fix it on it's on

If I were you I would try installing efibootmgr and check the configuration in nvram.

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sudo apt install efibootmgr

There is a manpage for this tool

It can change your Firmwares boot mechanisms, you might have to fiddle arround with the options about the active boot entry.

Doesn't your Firmware Configuration ("BIOS Setup Screen") offer some sort of boot manager features?

Best regards,
Martin

Thanks for the quick reply. Here's what I get with efibootmgr (Samsung MZ7... is the drive where Neon is installed, SanDisk SD7... is the drive where Windows is installed).

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neon@neon:~$ sudo efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0012
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0010,000C,000B,000A,000E,000D,000F,0000,0001,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,0009,0011,0012
Boot0000  Startup Menu
Boot0001  System Information
Boot0002  Bios Setup
Boot0003  3rd Party Option ROM Management
Boot0004  System Diagnostics
Boot0005  System Diagnostics
Boot0006  System Diagnostics
Boot0007  System Diagnostics
Boot0008  Boot Menu
Boot0009  HP Recovery
Boot000A  USB: 
Boot000B* SAMSUNG MZ7LN256HMJP-000H1
Boot000C* SanDisk SD7TN3Q-256G-1006
Boot000D* SAMSUNG MZ7LN256HMJP-000H1 :
Boot000E* SanDisk SD7TN3Q-256G-1006 :
Boot000F* Intel Corporation: IBA CL Slot 00FE v0106
Boot0010* SanDisk Ultra Fit 4C530001310124109511
Boot0011  Network Boot
Boot0012  Generic Flash Disk 9CE375DD


I interpret that to mean that it is theoretically flagged to boot. From the manual page you linked to, I tried:

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neon@neon:~$ sudo efibootmgr -c
efibootmgr: Could not set variable Boot0013: No such file or directory
efibootmgr: Could not prepare boot variable: No such file or directory


EDIT:
I got gparted installed in the live session and found the following flags on my EFI partition: boot, legacy_boot, and eps.

EDIT 2: decided to try to update/reinstall grub, just in case:

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neon@neon:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
neon@neon:~$ sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
neon@neon:~$ sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
neon@neon:~$ sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
neon@neon:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
neon@neon:~$ sudo chroot /mnt
root@neon:/# cd boot/grub
root@neon:/# cd boot
root@neon:/boot# ls
EFI
root@neon:/boot/efi# ls
neon  ubuntu
root@neon:/boot/efi# cd neon
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# ls
grub.cfg  grubx64.efi  MokManager.efi  shimx64.efi
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# sudo update-grub
sudo: unable to resolve host neon: Connection refused
Generating grub configuration file ...
Warning: Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdc1.  Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo: unable to resolve host neon: Connection refused
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-31-generic
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo: unable to resolve host neon: Connection refused
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: cannot find EFI directory.
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# sudo grub-install /dev/sda1
sudo: unable to resolve host neon: Connection refused
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: cannot find EFI directory.
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon# sudo apt -f install
sudo: unable to resolve host neon: Connection refused
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Starting pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 116 not upgraded.
root@neon:/boot/efi/neon#


Hello,
Im with the same problem, fresh install (downloaded 28 of july) and it drops to grub.
I tried this:
set root=(hd0,2)
linux /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.img
boot

but then it drops to initramfs with some errors.

How to i boot using grubx64.efi?

Thanks in advance

For me, my BIOS has an option to boot from a file, so I was able to browse to grubx64.efi manually and boot that way.

I forgot to report back with my solution. I ended up using boot-repair https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair (you can run it from a live DVD/USB) and was able to update/reinstall grub. This fixed the issue in my case.

I tried your approach but didn't work for me. Even tried installing with LVM but still no success. Do you use legacy or UEFI boot mode?
I'm using the User Edition on an Acer laptop 1tb HD.

Thanks for the help

I have exactly the same problem. Fresh install (user edition) and after installing all I get is the grub shell.

I've tried boot-repair to no avail.

My BIOS is set up on UEFI, with secure-boot disabled.

I am trying to investigate and I'll report back if I manage to fix it.

glindner wrote:I tried your approach but didn't work for me. Even tried installing with LVM but still no success. Do you use legacy or UEFI boot mode?
I'm using the User Edition on an Acer laptop 1tb HD.

Thanks for the help

Mine was on UEFI. Perhaps if you post the logs from boot-repair someone might be able to help.

I had similar problem - after installation I've got black grub console and no menu.

First solution, try this (I didn't tried this):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/931803210238672/permalink/1005334889552170/?comment_id=1035926279826364

I also faced the problem. The main problem was Ubuntu signed grub2 try to read configuration file from /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg but using external grub fixing methods generate neon's configure in /boot/efi/EFI/neon/grub.cfg . From the grub efi cli shell write "configfile /boot/efi/neon/grub.cfg" and boot menu will appear. After booting in, do this "grub-install --bootloader-id=ubuntu".

Second (I tried this one):
Mount EFI boot partion, usually:

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mkdir efi
sudo mount /dev/sda2 efi/

and copy all files from neon to ubuntu directory:

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sudo cp efi/EFI/neon/* efi/EFI/ubuntu/

I my case problem was that grub installed in two directories - both contained some files:

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.
├── Boot
│   └── bootx64.efi
├── Microsoft
│   └ .... some files ....
├── neon
│   ├── grub.cfg
│   ├── grubx64.efi
│   ├── MokManager.efi
│   └── shimx64.efi
└── ubuntu
    ├── fw
    └── fwupx64.efi

Will it be fixed? In unstable dev version problem still exists.

Sorry for the delay folks, today's images fixes the issue