Boot problems on new laptop with 16.04

Support & Help Requests
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#1

Hi

I just got my self a new ASUS Zenbook UX360UAK laptop with an i5 7200U cpu and planned to dualboot windows 10 and Ubuntu mate as I wish to move away from windows. Ubuntu worked good until I turned the laptop on the next day. Since then I've reinstalled Ubuntu 6-7 times... Having problems with black screen, stuck at splash screen etc.

I've:

  • Tried using nomodeset to avoid the black screen and that worked most of the time, not always.
  • Turned off quiet splash and tried to figure out what makes the boot hang/wait without any clear results (at least to me).
  • I also tried 17.04 beta with same result.

I've included a few pictures of the output from several boot attempts. The weird thing is sometimes it worked, sometimes I was forced to boot into safe mode and sometimes not even safe mode worked... On my last attempt of reinstalling Ubuntu I didn't tick the "additional drivers" so the "firmware for Intel CPUs from intel-microcode" thingie wasnt used and instead choose "dont use the device". I finished the install and rebooted and actually got no freeze or error. Turned the computer off and tried a boot again and got the black screen...
What happends if I don't use the intel driver?

I would really appriceate some help as I really want to use Ubuntu and specially Ubuntu Mate as it looks so NICE! It's just so many problems to overcome compared to windows :frowning:. I've tried moving to Linux a few years ago but backed of due to all the problems. This time I really want to make it work.

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#2

Hallo klingan

This is not going to help you solve your current (smaller) problem, but I hope it will help you solve your (larger) conceptual problem. So this is going to be frustrating, but you need to hear the message.

Computers sold with windoze pre-installed are built to run windoze. Everything that gets poured into the box is centred around making the OEM version of windoze work. That’s how it should be.

If you really want to leave windoze behind and run Linux you need to seriously consider buying a computer made to run Linux. Everything that gets poured into the box is centred around making Linux work.

The fact that it is at all possible to install Linux on “built for windoze” or "built for “OS X” hardware is an advantage that cannot be taken for granted. Some hardware just will not run Linux.

Here’s a short list as an example of companies that sell “built-to-run-Linux” computers (there’s no ranking intended).

Entroware
https://www.entroware.com/store/

Tuxedo-Computers
https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/index.php

System 76

Dell
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-laptop?c=us&l=en&s=biz

I regret that that is all I can do at this time to help your desire to move to Linux. It won’t necessarily help you today, but it might help you in the future. :slight_smile:

#3

Another suggestion would be to try linux mint MATE.
https://linuxmint.com/rel_serena_mate_whatsnew.php

#4

Thanks for the response. No that doesn’t solve my problem but it’s good advice. The problem with that unfortunately is I’m Swedish and need the nordic keyboard layout which is hard to come by online from foreign sites.

I did some googling before I bought the laptop and found multiple people running linux on similar zenbooks (there are so many models) and really thought it would work. In this thread the discuss the UX360CA which has a M3 cpu and people had it working without a problem. Mine is a i5 and should be even less problematic.

I will try Mint mate :slight_smile: although I really hoped to use Ubuntu Mate.

#5

Another way to go would be to use graphic driver(s) from this ppa:

https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ubuntu/graphics-drivers

I saw the thread you referenced as well as a few others. The ubuntu community help page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AsusZenbook#Overview was not particlarly helpful as it referred to older editions of Ubuntu. Good luck klingan.

Edit: And definitely tick the “firmware for Intel CPUs from intel-microcode”. Only mess with that after a successful install.

#6

Thanks mdooley. Do I just add that ppa and upgrade or do I have to choose a specifik driver package to install?
I tried mint mate 18 just now and it installed without problems just like Ubuntu but when I did update and upgrade I got some “possible missing firmware… … i915_bpo”. As I understand that is for intel and perhaps also the built in graphics.

I will try to download drivers from this site before I reinstall Ubuntu again and try your additional ppa.

Thanks :frowning:

#7

I didn’t specify any particular driver set when I last used this ppa.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

This should do it. I got the possibly missing firmware notice also during a few of my installs. Its always something…

#8

I tried the intel update tool from this site https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/intel-graphics-update-tool-linux-os-v2.0.2 and let it update packages/drivers and rebooted… then the resolution was 800x600 and I wasn’t able to change it, so I guess the driver didn’t work?

Used safe mode and got in and installed the ppa mdooley recommended and did an upgrade where it updated some of the packages the intel tool had install/updated. Rebooted and got stuck again…

Isn’t it kinda werid that I’ve problems with the cpu/gpu drivers (probably where the problem lies right?) when lots of people are running linux distros on similar laptops like XPS 13 etc and same CPU i5 7200U?? It’s a god damn normal laptop cpu and last years model too, its been out since early-mid 2016.

  • What can I do to know more about what stops the boot? Is there any way to save all the text that flashes by on boot before it hangs? Is it a intel problem or something else in the laptop/drivers?
  • Now I can’t even get in to the os neither normal way or safe mode. Is there anything I can do except reinstalling again? Would a recovery usb work? And is there any instructions on how to make one?
  • Is there any other forum that is better suited for this problem and troubleshooting?
  • Would updating the bios change anything? Or is it only a linux driver/kernel issue?
  • Are there any grub boot flags that would resolve this? Like acpi_osi=Linux or acpi_osi=Windows 10 ??

Thanks.

#9

I’ve installed Ubuntu Mate 17.04 beta again and it seems to be working for now. I will try it for a few days and report back.
It might be that 17.04 runs the 4.10 kernel :slight_smile:

1 Like
#10

I’ve had fairly good luck with the latest 17.04 beta 2 myself. Good luck klingan.

1 Like
#11

Hallo klingan

The Tuxedo Computers website is in German - however they offer a wide range of keyboard layouts for many of their laptop models.
Example:
TUXEDO Book DX1507 - 15,6" matt Full-HD IPS + NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Grafik + bis Intel Core i7-7700HQ + zwei HDD o. SSD + bis 32GB RAM + LTE

Just so you know for the future. I'm glad your problem seems to have been solved.