F34 Strange booting/non-booting behavior

Ask Fedora
1

I’ve installed Fedora 34 as the only operating system on an HP Envy x360 15. It works fine if I can get to it!

If I simply power up I land on a frozen boot loader.
If I power up with Esc, the boot process pauses. Pressing Esc leads to the boot loader and a normal boot from there.
If I power up with F1, I land on System Information. Pressing Esc leads to the boot loader and it launches normally from there.
If I power up with F2, I land on Hardware Diagnostics. Selecting Exit leads to a frozen boot loader.
If I power up with F9, I land on Change Boot Order. Esc from there boots normally.
If I power up with F10, I land on the BIOS Setup Utility. Exiting lands me on a frozen boot loader.
And, finally, if I power up with F11, I land on a frozen boot loader.

I’ve been a linux user for several years at a more or less “advanced beginner” level and have used Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora. I’ve never run into a problem like this! I would appreciate any help the community can render.

Thanks!

Here is the information that seems possibly relevant (and a little more):
Computer: HP Envy x360 m Convertible 15m-eu0023dx

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, 1800 MHz w/ Radeon graphics x8
Memory: 7.2 GiB
Graphics card: Advanced Micro Devices, Ltd. (AMD/ATI) Lucienne
Hard Drive: Toshiba KBG40ZNV512G KIOXIA (SSD)
Partitions:
#1 629 MB (611 MB free) FAT /boot/efi - EFI System
#2 1.1 GB (808 MB free) Ext4 /boot - Linux file system
#3 510 GB (458 GB free) Btsfs Filesystem Root - Linux file system

System:
OS: Fedora 34 (x86-64)
Linux kernel: 5.11.12-300.fc34.x86_64
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6

BIOS
Vendor: AMI
Version: F.03

2

Hmmmm,

When you stop working are you using the mouse pointer and selecting “Power Off” (the equivalent to Windows “SHUTDOWN”) This provides orderly closing of all programs.
I use fedora, often a kernel update in progress will cause an immediate restart into the OS again. I patiently keep selecting “power off” until it stays off…

The various suspend states and hibernate functions are not ready for prime time under Linux for AMD processors. I don’t expect stable or uniform functionality, so always use “Power Off” action.

Or it could be something else…

Sincerely,
Showmestate

3

This idea comes from intuition more than knowledge, but if I hear freeze I think it might be a bad RAM issue. If you are able to easily swap in a different RAM module (or leave one out if you have two) I’d try that.

4

This is certainly puzzling. I find the “some paths work” and “some pathway don’t work” confusing.

I do use a proper shut down procedure (with keyboard via the Cinnamon menu) when I can. When the computer freezes, though, I don’t have much choice!

I’m wondering if this isn’t a result of BIOS and EFI not playing well together. Or perhaps a problem with GRUB?

5

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I’ll put off messing about with the hardware until I’ve exhausted other possibilities, but I’ll certainly keep this in mind.

It is frustrating to have a system that is working brilliantly except for the booting process!

6

Regarding BIOS/EFI question:
My mfr does not provide legacy option within BIOS setup screens for AMD processor equipment.
Without Legacy option being activated, presence of mbr is unneeded and IMHO might trigger instablilty.
Are you in Legacy BIOS mode? More and more OS developments expect system firmware to actively provide services during operation. In Legacy BIOS mode firmware becomes inert after just a few milliseconds very early in booting. Try using UEFI mode. the only stable way to convert is to reinstall AFTER setting BIOS firmware the way you want it…