6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

Digidoc · 2025-09-12 22:21

I made a multi-boot USB with Ventoy. I was able to boot and run live from both Trinity and Plasma. Is there a way to upgrade my installed Aquarius instead of a complete re-install? Also, will an upgrade destroy my grub entries and keep me from dual booting? I had troubles before as the timeout was 0 (or some such) and I could not see to edit and change it. Perhaps an article to help others do this would prove helpful?

Nobody answered in two days about upgrading my Q4OS, so I took the plunge. I booted the live 6.1 image and did a fresh install. Guess what? Now grub is broken and my system will not boot to Win11 -or- Q4OS! I am a little sad that no one warned me. I was told that I needed to edit the file /etc/default/grub and check the GRUB-TIMEOUT was not 0 (it was 4). When I try and update grub I am told it is not installed. I used the command: sudo apt update and then sudo apt dist-upgrade in hopes this would allow me to access grub. I thought this would be simple, but I have made things worse. The talking heads on you tube speak about virtual machines and using arch to repair debian but I want to use only Q4OS tools if possible.

Is there a way to fix this?

Last edited by Digidoc (2025-09-13 09:22)

q4osteam · 2025-09-13 10:12

Digidoc wrote:

...I used the command: sudo apt update and then sudo apt dist-upgrade

So you are able to boot into Q4OS, right ? If you need to boot into Windows, you likely need to select Windows EFI boot entry in Bios.

What is your current disks partitioning schema ?

Digidoc · 2025-09-13 11:15

q4osteam wrote:

Digidoc wrote:
...I used the command: sudo apt update and then sudo apt dist-upgrade
So you are able to boot into Q4OS, right ? If you need to boot into Windows, you likely need to select Windows EFI boot entry in Bios.
What is your current disks partitioning schema ?

Sorry, my post was misleading. I cannot boot from the hard drive at all, Linux or Windows. I can boot fine from the live USB. I think grub is the part which is broken. I used the following commands and made a little progress:

ls
ls -lh (hd0,4)/boot;
set root=(hd0,4)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.43+deb13-amd64 root=/dev/sda4
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.12.43+deb13-amd64
boot

ERROR in Busybox. No root device specified. Boot arguments must include a root= parameter.
Stopped at prompt: (initramfs)

Is my error in the boot command I used above? If so, can you tell me what I should use? I followed instructions from this link to get to this point: https://www.howtogeek.com/887757/how-to … fix-linux/

(⧫I apologize for my cloudy thinking but am 73 years old and have mild dementia)

q4osteam · 2025-09-13 11:37

Well, you can boot from Q4OS live media only, we got it.

1. Please post your computer manufacturer and type.

2. Try to enter computer BIOS and check if you can find Windows boot entry somewhere. If so, make it the first boot option.

3. Boot Q4OS live media and run the commands in terminal:
$ lsblk
$ sudo blkid
and post back the output.

Digidoc · 2025-09-13 17:16

q4osteam wrote:

Well, you can boot from Q4OS live media only, we got it.
1. Please post your computer manufacturer and type.
2. Try to enter computer BIOS and check if you can find Windows boot entry somewhere. If so, make it the first boot option.
3. Boot Q4OS live media and run the commands in terminal:
$ lsblk
$ sudo blkid
and post back the output.

Computer is HP, model Pavilion x360 2-in-1. This is an i5/8gb memory/512gb m.2 storage. I tried rebooting today with the same error and same results. Both file systems are present and seem intact. I can access files and folders on both. The problem seems to be

GRUB

which is broke. Likely I broke it when I tried to install Q4OS on the partition it was using before. Later today, I plan to try again. I will use Gparted to erase the linux partition before trying the install. Wish me luck.

q4osteam · 2025-09-13 20:17

It seems your computer has UEFI bios, so you should be able to select Windows boot entry from the boot menu. To access the boot menu on an HP Pavilion x360, turn on or restart the laptop and immediately press the Esc key to bring up the Startup Menu, then press F9 for Boot Device Options to choose a bootable device.

Digidoc wrote:

Later today, I plan to try again. I will use Gparted to erase the linux partition before trying the install. Wish me luck.

Yes, it should be a proper way. Don't forget backup your important data before disk partitioning. Post back the result.

Digidoc · 2025-09-14 03:33

I wasted many hours chasing this problem. It is called "the law of diminishing returns". A fresh install now leaves me with no Windows just Q4OS. 30 minutes and I am reloaded. I am happy to report Andromeda includes Flatpak, ver 5.8 did not. The "erase disk" install left my swap partition intact. I am not sure it helps, but I feel better having it. RustDesk allows me to control my Windows from my hospital bed. Pinta is my picture editor in both OS's. I found how to make a desktop shortcut for the programs I install. This HP has fixed non-expandable memory so Q4OS is faster than Win11Tiny. Open Office runs the same. I hope my trials give warning (or encouragement) to others making the change to Linux.

Last edited by Digidoc (2025-09-14 03:37)

Q4OS Forum

#1 2025-09-12 22:21

6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#2 2025-09-13 10:12

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#3 2025-09-13 11:15

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#4 2025-09-13 11:37

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#5 2025-09-13 17:16

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#6 2025-09-13 20:17

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

#7 2025-09-14 03:33

Re: 6.1 Andromeda Install Troubles with Grub

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