Unable to Access GRUB Menu on DGX Spark

[ioannis.panitsas]

Hello,

I’m experiencing an issue with my DGX Spark system. Recently, I switched the Linux kernel to the -64k page size variant (6.14.0-1015-nvidia-64k). After this change, my GPUs are not recognized by the kernel, and I need to revert to the original kernel.

The main problems I’m encountering are:

1. I cannot access the GRUB menu at boot. Pressing Shift or Esc has no effect.

2. I have tried modifying /etc/default/grub (changing GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE to menu, adjusting GRUB_TIMEOUT, adding nvidia-drm.modeset=1, etc.) and running sudo update-grub, but the system still boots the -64k kernel.

3. Using efibootmgr shows that the boot entry points to the 64K kernel EFI, so the GRUB settings appear to be ignored.

4. I need a way to boot temporarily or permanently into the original 6.14.0-1015-nvidia kernel that properly recognizes the GPUs.

I would greatly appreciate guidance on:

• How to restore the original kernel without losing data or performing a full system restore.

• How to force the system to display the GRUB menu on boot.

• Any safe workaround to use the normal kernel while avoiding the 64K kernel.

Thank you for your help!

[raphael.amorim]

Has ANYONE managed to boot into BIOS/UEFI on Nvidia SPARK

@bengt.berg if you can’t reach the boot menu using the keyboard change the timeout and timeout_style in grub.cfg so boot menu will be visible. When done fixing your issue change it back to the default values of timeout_style=hidden and timeout=0

[mathijs.brands]

On my Asus GX10, I can get into the GRUB menu by pressing left shift + insert. When I power on my unit, I wait for the logo to appear and then press (and hold) both shift + insert. About 3 seconds later, the GRUB menu pops up.

In the GRUB menu, you could select the 2nd option (Advanced something), then select to boot a kernel in recovery mode (I picked the 2nd from the top). The system then boots and you get a short menu with some options.

(My normal goto, adding init=/bin/bash to the linux line in the default GRUB entry, doesn’t seem to work; it boots and then a black screen.)

There is an option to start networking (just start, not configure) and an option to get a root shell. I started networking on mine, then opened the root shell. If kernel output screws up the menu, press CTRL+L to repaint it.

Log in with the password you gave to the user you created, even though it says root. Now you are logged in, you could try configuring the network with the nmtui command. You could also use the ethtool (haven’t checked, but I assume it is there) tool to check if network interfaces have a link.

I haven’t really used Wifi on Ubuntu, but these might be helpful:

• nmcli dev wifi list (listen for networks and show a list, including signal strength)
• Configure Wi-Fi connections - Ubuntu Core documentation

You could also disable graphical login for now. Tell systemd to change the target from graphical.target to multi-user.target:

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Now type reboot to restart your unit and you should get a textual console. You can start the graphical environment once by running init 5 or re-enable it permanently by switching to the graphical.target again.