That sounds like you had difficulty determining the correct instructions. Given the wrong instructions, computers will do the wrong thing, and that's OK. They're not supposed to think, but do what they're told.
I'll admit that Linux still occasionally suffers from UI/UX issues, in that its not always obvious what the correct choice is on a given circumstances. A bit like Micro$lop trained their users for decades to completely ignore any and all error messages and just try what they were doing again, by making their error messages needlessly cryptic and borderline useless.

So which one is the trouble? Windows or Hardware? If its windows, well maybe get rid of the problem first. Microsoft is actively hostile to your plans.

If its hardware, that can be tricky, but it sure seems infrequent these days.

Refined is probably the best method of dealing with windows. Give windows and linux their own drives, let refined manage the booting and you choose which environment to launch. Windows will never know the other os or bootloader exists. Also turn off fastboot in windows, the cause of a lot of problems.