On Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:55:16 +0700
Max Nikulin <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 11/04/2026 7:23 pm, Joe wrote:
> > efibootmgr -v:
>
> Assuming that firmware really overrides your attempts to change Boot*
> variables, I see nothing suspicious.
>
> > lsblk (sdb is a USB stick):
> >
> > NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
> > sda 8:0 0 223.6G 0 disk
> > ├─sda1 8:1 0 97.7G 0 part
> > └─sda2 8:2 0 125.9G 0 part
>
> Guessing from partition sizes, there is no ESP on SSD ("lsblk --fs"
> would add FS type).
No, it used to be Stretch then Buster, but when I put Bookworm on the
eMMC I cleared the SSD for data usage. But all Debians have used the
eMMC FAT partition for /boot/efi.
>
> > mmcblk0 179:0 0 29.1G 0 disk
> > ├─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 100M 0 part /boot/efi
>
> Is there EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI on this partition? It may get priority.
> Grub package has a configuration parameter to install a copy of shim
> or grub to "removable" path. It might explain why some Debian
> releases could boot.
No, I've never used the removable option when installing grub. Stretch
(SSD) and Bookworm (eMMC) Just Worked.
>
> You may try to copy EFI/debian to EFI/BOOT and to rename shimx64.efi
> to bootx64.efi.
Well, at the time of the Buster upgrade, I unsuccessfully copied and
renamed loads of stuff, and left it all in place until the right answer
was found. In the past, when two fixes have been needed, I've tried
one, removed it, and tried the other, both unsuccessfully of course, so
I don't take out an attempted fix until it seems safe to do so. But
nothing worked then, so it's all still there, including at least one
alleged Microsoft file being really a grub one.
Possibly an approach would be to backup then empty the /boot/efi from
inside Trixie, then grub-install. It may be that grub isn't installing
properly because it's finding things already there.
>
> > On Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:16:30 +0700 Max Nikulin wrote:>> Is there an
> > option in the firmware to select EFI file to boot from?
> >
> > Yes, but it only shows the Windows Boot Manager from a cold start.
>
> At least HP firmware, besides configured Boot* entries, allowed to
> pick an arbitrary .efi file using a kind of file browser. There was
> even an option to create a custom boot entry by typing device and
> file type.
When everything is working, yes, the F12 menu does contain all bootable
EFI entries. If I have an installer USB plugged in, it finds and lists
that. But it never contained any tools, which I think is because
Microsoft strongly discourages messing with the EFI variables, and it's
a pain to try to edit them from inside Windows. You certainly have to
reboot to Safe Mode to begin doing that.
>
> > I won't be buying another Acer
> > computer, but I suppose most brands do that kind of thing.
>
> Maybe firmware has been improved over 8 years. At least comparing HP
> firmware versions, I should say that 2021 variant is more sane that
> one from 2014. Discussions of specific models may be more relevant.
I did try at the time of the Buster upgrade to get an updated UEFI
firmware, but there wasn't one, I already had the only released version
for that model. I'll have another look, but the model was already
discontinued when I looked before.
>
> My experience is that boot configuration in firmware setup menu may
> override variables available to efibootmgr in some nontrivial way.
> Firmware may have an options whether to boot from specific "devices".
> I would not be surprised if it affects whether EFI/Boot removable
> paths are considered.
>
> You may try to inspect variables from grub command line
>
> echo $prefix
> echo $cmdpath
> echo $fw_path
>
> Last one added by a patch for 2.12.
>
> I have seen messages suggesting that installing shim (or grub) as
> EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi is the only workaround for some
> laptops.
>
Thank you for your help.
The bottom line is that an upgrade from a working clean install
of Bookworm to Trixie seemed to go perfectly, but did not boot
afterwards, despite Trixie being able to boot and run on this machine
when kicked hard enough. That's a bug, and I was hoping to work out
what caused it. I'll have another go when I have some time.
--
Joe
