diff --git a/lib/bootloader_setup.pm b/lib/bootloader_setup.pm
index f78f49715018..7598f68e8596 100644
--- a/lib/bootloader_setup.pm
+++ b/lib/bootloader_setup.pm
@@ -109,7 +109,11 @@ And of course the new entries have C<ima_policy=tcb> added to kernel parameters.
 =cut
 
 sub add_custom_grub_entries {
-    my @grub_params = split(/\s*;\s*/, trim(get_var('GRUB_PARAM', '')));
+    # grep: ignore empty items (helps to avoid trailing semicolon)
+    my @grub_params = grep { /\S/ } split(/\s*;\s*/, trim(get_var('GRUB_PARAM', '')));
+
+    bmwqemu::fctinfo("Number of GRUB_PARAM params (empty skipped): " . $#grub_params);
+
     return unless $#grub_params >= 0;
 
     my $script_old = "/etc/grub.d/10_linux";
@@ -149,6 +153,7 @@ sub add_custom_grub_entries {
     foreach my $grub_param (@grub_params) {
         $i++;
         my $script_new = "/etc/grub.d/${i}_linux_openqa";
+        bmwqemu::fctinfo("Processing script '$script_new'");
         my $script_new_esc = $script_new =~ s~/~\\/~rg;
         assert_script_run("cp -v $script_old $script_new");
 
diff --git a/lib/main_ltp.pm b/lib/main_ltp.pm
index 6b406d08ffba..3fc4ddab6920 100644
--- a/lib/main_ltp.pm
+++ b/lib/main_ltp.pm
@@ -62,15 +62,22 @@ sub load_kernel_tests {
         if (get_var('FLAVOR', '') =~ /Incidents-Kernel/) {
             loadtest_kernel 'update_kernel';
         }
-        if (is_transactional && (get_var('FLAVOR', '') =~ /-Staging|-Updates/)) {
-            if (get_var('KGRAFT')) {
-                loadtest_kernel 'update_kernel';
-            } else {
-                loadtest 'transactional/install_updates';
-            }
+
+        # transactional needs to first run install_ltp due broken grub menu
+        # counting detection in add_custom_grub_entries():
+        # Test died: Unexpected number of grub entries: 5, expected: 3 at lib/bootloader_setup.pm line 166.
+        my $needs_update = is_transactional && (get_var('FLAVOR', '') =~ /-Staging|-Updates/);
+
+        if ($needs_update && get_var('KGRAFT')) {
+            loadtest_kernel 'update_kernel';
         }
+
         loadtest_kernel 'install_ltp';
 
+        if ($needs_update && !get_var('KGRAFT')) {
+            loadtest 'transactional/install_updates';
+        }
+
         if (get_var('LIBC_LIVEPATCH')) {
             die 'LTP_COMMAND_FILE and LIBC_LIVEPATCH are mutually exclusive'
               if get_var('LTP_COMMAND_FILE');