Ubuntu – Malformed file warning on boot

bootgrub2

About 1/3 of the time that I boot my laptop, I get an error message that says

Error: Malformed file.
Press any key to continue...

I press a key, and then my computer boots up and I can't discern any negative effects.

It's kind of disconcerting, and does delay the boot process.

How do I resolve this error and ensure my system is stable?

Best Answer

It is a bug in Grub, see Launchpad bug #1311247 - error: malformed file, press any key to continue. The upstream bug report is at bug #42134: loadenv.c – check_blocklists – algorithm for block overlap check is wrong. There does not seem to be a reliable workaround - you will just have to wait for it to be fixed.

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Ubuntu – Can not boot anymore after a boot repair

After digging around and experimenting, I am glad to share the solution that worked for me (i.e. a complete beginner in the field). As far as I understood, my Toshiba Satellite Z930 will ONLY boot windows from UEFI.

Here is exactly what I did, (and so can any newbie, trust me):

I downloaded boot-repair-disk (sorry I can't post the link, this is because of the restriction to 2 posted links per post for unexperienced users, but just ask Dr. Google)
I made a bootable USB with the help of UNetBootIn (again, no link)
I booted from the USB
Once the lubuntu interface was loaded, I pressed Ctrl-Alt-F1 to open a shell, and typed the following:
```
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
```
After checking the content of my directory with the ls command, I found out that /EFI/Boot was already there. So I made a backup of bootx64.efi by typing
```
sudo mv /mnt/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi /mnt/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi.backup
```
Then I copied all the content of the /mnt/EFI/ubuntu into /mnt/EFI/Boot with the following command line:
```
sudo cp /mnt/EFI/ubuntu/* /mnt/EFI/Boot
```
Finally, I renamed the file grubx64.efi to bootx64.efi by typing
```
sudo mv /mnt/EFI/Boot/grubx64.efi /mnt/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
```

The last step was to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. But I guess you don't have to. Instead, you can just thank warmly oldfred for all the time he took to post his solutions.

The solution is based on the following threads external to Ask Ubuntu:

Although the full answer was here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295 in the subsection "Systems that only boot Windows from UEFI", I found easier to follow the explanations from this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2247186 .

Ubuntu – Reboot and select proper boot device problem after installing ubuntu

I think you have the same problem as mine, go to BIOS and go to security.
Navigate to Select Trusted file for booting.
HDD0(If you have one harddrive)
ubuntu(I don't remember the exact order, but look for these files)
EFI(I'm positive that it is EFI>>>Shimx)
Shimx(I don't know what it is called but it looks like Shimx or Shimax something like that)
Press enter
Call it ubuntu enter enter again
F10
This should help!

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Can not boot anymore after a boot repair

Ubuntu – Reboot and select proper boot device problem after installing ubuntu

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