Ubuntu – Upgrading from 13.10 to 14.04 broke Grub

bootdual-bootgrub2

I have a dual boot Ubuntu + Windows 8 on an UEFI system. Everything was ok until I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 from 13.10.

Now what I get when I boot the pc is a grub rescue screen like this with the following:

Failed to open \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\grubx64.efi - 800000000000000E
Failed to load image
Failed to open \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\MokManager.efi.efi - 800000000000000E
Failed to load image
Welcome to GRUB!

error: symbol 'grub_term_highlight_color' not found.
grub rescue>

Using boot-repair from a live cd (either 13.10 or 14.10) reports that an error occurred and creates this report: http://paste2.org/Y8mDwa0M

(Boot repair says it will install packages from Ubuntu 13.10)

but nothing changes.

If I press f12 at the boot I get to a bios screen (Boot Menu) where I can choose from hdd, usb, dvd reader and if I click on the HDD I get three choices:

Select a device to boot:

Windows Boot Manager 
ubuntu
Ubuntu

The Windows option take me back to the grub rescue.

With the other two options I get to a grub menu where I am able to start Ubuntu but the window option doesn't work

I don't know anymore what to do

Update:

Thanks for the answers, I actually tried all of them (reinstalled grub more than 5 times from different versions of Ubuntu on USB sticks and used a lot of times boot repair but nothing worked)

At the end I'm using rEFInd (http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html) which is allowing me to get to grub from which I can start Ubuntu (but not windows) and starting windows on its own using rEFInd menu.

But of course it's not the ideal solution

Update 2:

I have only one disk:

enter image description here

Update 3:

this is the error that appears when I try to install grub or run grub-install:

Installing for i386-pc platform. 
grub-install: Warning: This GPT partition label has no BIOS Boot Partition, the embed is not possible. 
grub-install: Warning: This embed is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this configuration using blocklist. The blocklist however, are not reliable and it is not recommended to use ..
Installation completed, no errors reported.
Generating grub configuration file ... 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-19-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-19-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-7-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-7-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-5-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-5-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-4-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-4-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-3-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-3-generic 
Found linux image: / boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-2-generic 
Found initrd image: / boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-2-generic 
Found Windows Boot Manager on / dev/sda2 @ / EFI / Microsoft / Boot / Bootmgfw.efi 
Adding boot menu entry for the EFI firmware configuration 
done

(translated from italian)

Best Answer

I did not test this with a broken grub in 14.04 but I never got in trouble by using these instructions:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2#Recover

First of all, you must start your system from a live cd or usb. Then

"METHOD 3 - CHROOT

This method of installation uses the chroot command to gain access to the broken system's files. Once the chroot command is issued, the LiveCD treats the broken system's / as its own. Commands run in a chroot environment will affect the broken systems filesystems and not those of the LiveCD.

1) Boot to the LiveCD Desktop (Ubuntu 9.10 or later). Please note that the Live CD must be the same as the system you are fixing - either 32-bit or 64-bit (if not then the chroot will fail).

2) Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).

3) Determine your normal system partition - (the switch is a lowercase "L")

sudo fdisk -l

If you aren't sure, run

df -Th

Look for the correct disk size and ext3 or ext4 format.

4) Mount your normal system partition:

Substitute the correct partition: sda1, sdb5, etc.

sudo mount /dev/sdXX /mnt

Example: sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

5) Only if you have a separate boot partition: sdYY is the /boot partition designation (for example sdb3)

sudo mount /dev/sdYY /mnt/boot

6) Mount the critical virtual filesystems:

sudo mount --bind /dev  /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /dev/pts  /mnt/dev/pts
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys  /mnt/sys

7) Chroot into your normal system device:

sudo chroot /mnt

8) If there is no /boot/grub/grub.cfg or it's not correct, create one using

update-grub

9) Reinstall GRUB 2:

Substitute the correct device - sda, sdb, etc. Do not specify a partition number.

grub-install /dev/sdX

10) Verify the install (use the correct device, for example sda. Do not specify a partition):

sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sdX

11) Exit chroot: CTRL-D on keyboard

12) Unmount virtual filesystems:

sudo umount /mnt/dev/pts
sudo umount /mnt/dev
sudo umount /mnt/proc
sudo umount /mnt/sys

13) If you mounted a separate /boot partition:

sudo umount /mnt/boot

14) Unmount the LiveCD's /usr directory:

sudo umount /mnt/usr

15) Unmount last device:

sudo umount /mnt

16) Reboot.

sudo reboot

Also these are other ways to repair grub: How can I repair grub? (How to get Ubuntu back after installing Windows?)

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Ubuntu – How to remove unnecessary EFI entries from GRUB

Finally i am able to resolve this issue...went thru each and every file under /etc/grub.d/ directory and got rid of the entries not needed and then ran 'sudo update-grub'. I went into 25_custom and wiped all the entries into which were not needed(to boot into at the time of startup - like all the unnecessary EFI entries).

sudo gedit  /etc/grub.d/25_custom
sudo update-grub

Please make sure to make a backup of the files you are editing. Make sure that you are not storing any of the backup files starting with 25_custom...if you store it with 25_custom_today'sdate etc....EFI boot loader will still read the entries from that....For folks who have HP Laptop - this will definitely work for you.Thanks for all your help.

Update Faced this issue again with my Dell XPS Desktop. This time I need to do the same for custom_40 and custom_41. Please refer to anything under /etc/grub.d to find out the issues specific to your machine.

Another alternative to do this: Use grub-customizer - graphical user interface

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer
grub-customizer

Now highlight the entry and remove it Save the changes once done.

With next reboot - you can check those unwanted entries are gone. and good part about grub-customizer is that in the right side - it has the removed items - one can revert back some or all of them if you have deleted something by mistake. Also don't forget to purge the old kernels so that you can save on disk space also.

Ubuntu – `install-grub` claims that I have multiple partiton labels and that embedding is impossible

Nuke the gap between the boot sector and the first partition.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX seek=1 count=2047

That's for if the first partition starts at sector 2048. Some start earlier, especially on drives that were partitioned by Windows. To be sure, run

# fdisk -l /dev/sdX

before starting and check to see where the first partition starts. Use count=S-1, where S is the start of the first partition.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – `install-grub` claims that I have multiple partiton labels and that embedding is impossible

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