I removed Windows 11 and installed Nobara using the normal installer steps. The installation itself works, but when I power on the laptop with my mouse dongle and cooling pad connected, it does not get past the Lenovo logo or reach the GRUB menu. If I disconnect both USB devices, the laptop boots normally. Strangely, leaving only the installer USB connected also allows it to start. What BIOS or bootloader setting could cause this?
2 Answers
The firmware may still be checking USB devices before handing control to the internal drive. A USB device can sometimes be treated as a possible boot target, and the system may fail instead of falling back correctly. Enter the BIOS/UEFI settings, reset or review the boot order, and make sure the Nobara internal drive or its UEFI boot entry is first. You can also disable USB boot temporarily to test it.
This sounds like the firmware is still trying to boot from removable media after the Linux installation. The installer stick may be acting as a valid fallback, which explains why leaving it plugged in changes the behavior. Remove any obsolete USB boot entries, restore the default UEFI boot order, and confirm that the internal disk’s Linux bootloader is selected rather than a generic USB option.
I already see the internal drive as the primary boot option, so I’m not sure why the connected mouse dongle and cooler would still affect startup. I’ll check the UEFI entries and USB boot setting again.