GRUB timer at 30 s

[vanadiumboy]

I have Kubuntu 24.04 install on a new HDD for about a month.
When I boot up, it shows the GRUB menu for 30 s. I can't remember if it did that since day 1 but it has been a while like that.

You know, the usual GRUB menu that looks like this
https://itsfoss.com/access-grub-virtual-machine/

I had this line in the file /etc/default/grub
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

I tried
GRUB_TIMEOUT=3
and then I run
sudo update-grub

It succeeds and I boot up but
it still shows the menu with a 30 s counter.

GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
so I guess the above makes the menu show up but I tried
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden

This is the entire file.
I have only added
mitigations=off

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=3
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR='Kubuntu'
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=50961ac8-9164-434d-8196-1556bb3d1cc0 mitigations=off"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# If your computer has multiple operating systems installed, then you
# probably want to run os-prober. However, if your computer is a host
# for guest OSes installed via LVM or raw disk devices, running
# os-prober can cause damage to those guest OSes as it mounts
# filesystems to look for things.
#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
​

In a VM, I experimented a bit with Kubuntu 24.04
I tried
GRUB_TIMEOUT=15
and that works.

I tried
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu

and that works.

Why does it work in the VM but not my real PC?

I always run
sudo update-grub
after making a change to the grub file.

[Snowhog]

AI Overview

The 30-second GRUB countdown often persists despite changing
GRUB_TIMEOUT because of GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT. When the system detects a boot failure, it defaults to a 30-second menu wait. To fix this, add GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=5 (or desired seconds) to /etc/default/grub and run sudo update-grub.

Here is how to resolve the issue:

Edit the Configuration File: Open a terminal and edit the file:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Add/Modify Variables: Add the following lines to ensure the timeout is respected, even if a previous boot was considered a "failure": bash

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=5

Setting GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT to 0 makes it skip the menu immediately, while a low number like 5 gives you time to react.

Update GRUB: Apply the changes by running:

sudo update-grub (on Ubuntu/Mint) or sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg (on Fedora/RHEL).

Reboot: Restart your computer to verify the change.

Why this happens:
If your computer experiences a crash, hard power-off, or fails to boot properly, GRUB triggers a "record fail" state, ignoring the standard GRUB_TIMEOUT and defaulting to 30 seconds to allow for recovery. This is common on EFI systems.

[claydoh]

The AI is getting better, but not quite there

Why this happens:
If your computer experiences a crash, hard power-off, or fails to boot properly, GRUB triggers a "record fail" state, ignoring the standard GRUB_TIMEOUT and defaulting to 30 seconds to allow for recovery. This is common on EFI systems.

True, but not the reason for this happening in *buntu, though the common fix is the same. It is a long standing bug/feature that mostly seems to involve lvm, btrfs, etc. It may have been done on purpose.

The grub scripting used to fix problems on lvm causes a 30 second timeout on other filesystems that use volumes, apparently.

One can edit the scripting, but the proposed fix is gobs easier.

Using GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=$GRUB_TIMEOUT instead of a specific time is also a common method, as this sets it to whatever you set your custom timeout to be so you only need to edit one value.