I have a Dell XPS 16 9640 computer with Fedora 41 Workstation installed. After updating the BIOS to version 1.12.0, I can’t boot into Fedora anymore. Choosing any option from the GRUB menu the computer freezes to a black screen with just an underscore. I don’t get any output or error messages.
I tried booting into a live media using the Fedora 41 ISO but it leads to the same problem. I also tried with the Fedora 42 Beta and the latest nightly build, all resulting in the same problem.
I have also tried the following:
Disabling or enabling Secure Boot.
Removing the quiet option from the boot parameters.
I would normally try to downgrade the BIOS, unfortunately Dell does not allow you to downgrade due to security updates and important fixes, so I can’t return to the previous BIOS version.
Additionally, I tried booting into a live media for other distributions. Ubuntu boots just fine, as well as Arch Linux and OpenSuse. But other distros like CentOS and Rocky Linux fail in the same way as Fedora.
I’m happy to provide more information if someone could help me figure out how to get some output.
Run efibootmgr in a terminal from the newest live media that boots (you may need to install efibootmgr in the live environment). Post the output (as pre-formatted text using the </> button) together with the contents of /etc/fstab from the Fedora root partition.
I’d try CMOS resetting from power button hold (reboot to a BIOS or boot menu, hold power button 25 secs or until chassis lights flash, then reconf BIOS when prompted).
Dell BIOS should auto-find a GRUB EFI from a reset state; that should boot Fedora, and on next reboot after that should be changed to shim/Fedora.
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0003,0000,0001,0004
Boot0000* UEFI PC SN810 NVMe WDC 1024GB 24103J804275 1 HD(1,GPT,06eea835-cdaf-456e-84c8-64720a5bfd9c,0x800,0x219800)/File(\EFI\Boot\BootX64.efi){auto_created_boot_option}
Boot0001* USB NIC (IPV4) PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0xd,0x0)/USB(2,0)/USB(3,0)/USB(3,0)/MAC(109819eab4c0,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0){auto_created_boot_option}
Boot0002* Fedora HD(2,GPT,c16424e0-ff65-4961-a244-5afa171d24f6,0x463120,0xf000)/File(\EFI\fedora\shimx64.efi)
Boot0003* Ubuntu HD(1,GPT,06eea835-cdaf-456e-84c8-64720a5bfd9c,0x800,0x219800)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0004* USB NIC (IPV6) PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0xd,0x0)/USB(2,0)/USB(3,0)/USB(3,0)/MAC(109819eab4c0,0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0){auto_created_boot_option}
I had to erase the Fedora installation and installed Ubuntu in the meantime since i needed to use my computer, so no fstab from Fedora. Not sure what is the lingering Boot0002* Fedora thing in the efibootmgr output.
Not sure what is the lingering