Error copying Grub during Ubuntu install on SolidRun HoneyComb LX2 Arm64 workstation

[Samer EL-Haj-Mahmoud]

During Ubuntu installation on SolidRun HoneyComb LX2 workstation, an error occurs at the end of installation while setting up Grub. The error is caused by EFI SetVariable call fail. However, this results in a potentially non-bootable Ubuntu installation on the disk. The installer should instead place the default /efi/boot/bootaa64.efi boot loader, and the correct grub.cfg configuration to find and load the kernel and the initrd.

This issue happens with all versions of Ubuntu aarch64 (desktop and server), including 20.04.2, 20.10, and 21.04

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
Package: ubiquity 21.04.8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-36.40+21.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-36-generic aarch64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu58
Architecture: arm64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CasperVersion: 1.456
Date: Sat Feb 20 12:00:37 2021
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz quiet --- modprobe.blacklist=amdgpu
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Alpha arm64 (20210217)
RebootRequiredPkgs:
 linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic
 linux-base
SourcePackage: grub-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Samer EL-Haj-Mahmoud (samerelhaj)]

Note that this is also seen on other Arm64 SBBR systems that support UEFI, but do not support SetVariable to NV store at runtime. This includes NVidia Xavier AGX (with UEFI firmware) for instance.