#383 Fixing Ubuntu Boot Issues
When Windows, Dell, and Intel updates break your dual-boot Ubuntu … Boot-Repair to the rescue!
Notes
I just had an “Eek!” moment after letting Windows update do its thing on a dual-boot Windows-Ubuntu machine (Dell Inspiron 15). After Windows had finished its thing (including applying BIOS and Dell firmware updates) … Windows is OK, but Ubuntu won’t boot:
Platform does not support this image
Failed to read header: unsupported
Failed to load image: unsupported
start_image() returned unsupported
I briefly considered just blowing the whole install away and maybe trying Linux Mint on the machine, but I hate leaving problems undiagnosed.
Googling the symptoms didn’t reveal any specific known issue. Just a few “similar” issues from 2022 and earlier.
I first checked BIOS (1.35.0) settings, but no issues there.
As far as I can tell, it appears that a BIOS/UEFI update has somehow invalidated the Ubuntu/grub bootloader. It’s not a secure boot issue - it was/is disabled for dual boot.
This is perhaps because I haven’t booted this machine for a few weeks, and I ran the Windows update before the Ubuntu update.
Boot Repair to the Rescue
I crossed my fingers and hoped that Ubuntu’s Boot Repair would be able to figure out and fix the issue.
I booted from an Ubuntu 22.04 image I had on a USB drive, and ran Boot Repair from the terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
I chose the “Recommended Repair” from the options:
It seemed to detect a grub update requirement. After completing it’s activity and rebooting, all is good again.
The machine boots to the grub dual-boot menu and I can chose to run my Ubuntu or Windows installations as before.
In Future
Phew! Perhaps run the Ubuntu updates first?
But at least now I have some confidence that Boot Repair can help deal with similar issues in the future.