25.04 Booting from USB Hangs with EFI Stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD _MEDIA_GUID device path

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Ubuntu Version: 25.04

Desktop Environment (if applicable):

Problem Description:

25.04 Booting from USB Hangs with EFI Stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD _MEDIA_GUID device path

Relevant System Information:

2010 MacPro 5.1 Desktop with AMD Radion RX 580 8GB Graphics Card running Open Core Legacy Patcher with an EFI partition

Screenshots or Error Messages:

error: file '/boot/' not found
_

Then Gub Menu appears…
Selecting ‘Try or install Ubuntu’ or ‘Ubuntu (safe graphics)’ causes the machine to hang with
_

What I’ve Tried:

If I remove — quiet splash from /casper/vmlinuz nomodeset
and press F10 to reboot from either ‘Try or install Ubuntu’ or ‘Ubuntu (safe graphics)’
I get

EFI Stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD _MEDIA_GUID device path

and the machine hangs.
If I try booting from Ubuntu 24.10 i get the same errors for 5 seconds

error: file '/boot/' not found
EFI Stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD _MEDIA_GUID device path

But it boots as expected, without me changing anything.

I’ve tried different USB sticks and USB3 amd USB1 ports.

Any suggestions to get Ubuntu 25.4 working would be gratefully received.
Thank you,

Phil

2

Hi there.
Although I have yet to try 25.0x … I have decent experience with Ubuntu.
i) do you have access to another system to validate that the: “/boot” directory actually exists (and is populated with the proper files)
ii) try to {re}create the usbkey with another tool. I use Balena-Etcher.
iii) does it have to be 25.0x … can you not get by with 24.xy or eve 22.xy - considering your hardware is a bit on the “older/ish” side ?
Regards,
Marc

3

Hi Marc,

Thank you for replying so quickly.
That’s a good idea. I’ll try another system to validate the /boot/ directory.
I used Balena-Etcher but I’ll try something else.
If it doesn’t work I’ll stick with 24.04.2 LTS.
Regards,

Phil

4

Do not know Mac.
This page has not been updated, and I expect newer version of Ubuntu would be much better.
http://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro

If “only” 4GB of RAM you may want a lighter weight flavor. Full Ubuntu if now for newer systems.

Light weight flavors:
Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Budgie
Flavors of Ubuntu only come with three years of supported life (five years applies to Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server but not flavors)

I use Kubuntu with both my new & old systems. I was surprised it was light enough for my old PC system with ony 1.5GB of RAM, but using external SSD so still functional.

Have seen many with Mac use rEFInd.
http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/
Alternative efi boot manager for UEFI limited systems:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/