Bug 2480598

Summary: Installation of the system failed: Installing boot loader org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.BootloaderInstallationError: Failed to remove old efi boot entry. This is most likely a kernel or firmware bug.
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: harryfrecker
Component: anacondaAssignee: Martin Kolman <mkolman>
Status: CLOSED DUPLICATE QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: unspecified Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 44CC: alpha, anaconda-maint, awilliam, harryfrecker, kkoukiou, mkolman, w
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OS: Unspecified   
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Last Closed: 2026-05-26 12:41:55 UTC Type: ---
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Description Flags
Log file: /tmp/journal.log
none
Log file: /tmp/storage.log
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Log file: /tmp/packaging.log
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Log file: /tmp/anaconda-webui.log none

Description harryfrecker 2026-05-21 19:31:59 UTC 
Installation of the system failed: Installing boot loader org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.BootloaderInstallationError: Failed to remove old efi boot entry. This is most likely a kernel or firmware bug.

I previously raised Bug 2480169, where the failure was the efibootmgr responding: Cannot allocate memory. Following the suggestion raised, I passed split_lock_detect=off to the installer, which resulted in the above failure when attempting to install the bootloader. The machine did not crash, just the install failed.

---[ System & Environment Information ]---
OS: Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)
Anaconda version: 44.30
Anaconda UI version: 68
Comment 1 harryfrecker 2026-05-21 19:32:02 UTC 
Created attachment 2142258 [details]
Log file: /tmp/journal.log
Comment 2 harryfrecker 2026-05-21 19:32:05 UTC 
Created attachment 2142259 [details]
Log file: /tmp/storage.log
Comment 3 harryfrecker 2026-05-21 19:32:07 UTC 
Created attachment 2142260 [details]
Log file: /tmp/packaging.log
Comment 4 harryfrecker 2026-05-21 19:32:09 UTC 
Created attachment 2142261 [details]
Log file: /tmp/anaconda-webui.log
Comment 5 Katerina Koukiou 2026-05-26 12:41:55 UTC 

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 2480169 ***
Comment 6 Adam Williamson 2026-05-27 17:14:14 UTC 
The purported fix for your previous bug was an AI hallucination. Sorry about that. I've cleaned up the mess, re-opened the bug and assigned it to the correct component.
Comment 7 harryfrecker 2026-05-27 19:32:02 UTC 
Thanks for investigating this further. I was able to resolve the issue and I am assuming it is an issue with the asus laptop uefi.

The issue was resolved by deleting the secure boot keys on the motherboard which put the platform mode into setup mode. Secure boot was always turned off but the uefi was in deployed mode. It appears that being in setup mode, allowed efibootmgr write access. The fedora installer then completed successfully.

It does seem that split_lock_detect had some influence as it consistently changed the error from 'Cannot allocated memory' when default to 'Failed to remove old efi boot entry' when set to off. The installation succeeded with split_lock_detect=off but I did not test it with it set to on
Comment 8 Adam Williamson 2026-05-27 19:40:45 UTC 
That's more likely to do with whether there was an existing EFI boot manager entry called "Fedora" or not.

If there is one, anaconda attempts to remove it. If that fails we get the "Failed to remove old efi boot entry" error and we never reach the attempt to create the *new* boot manager entry.

If there is no existing entry called "Fedora", we go straight to trying to create a new entry.