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The aforementioned laptop bears a NVIDIA card which has made things very difficult when it comes to installing almost any linux distro (except Mint).

I managed to install Ubuntu 18.04 but in Legacy mode which makes the initial booting to take more time than the UEFI booting.

When I switch to from Legacy to UEFI, the Ubuntu do not even boot. Does anyone know how to solve this issue?

I have already downloaded the drivers for the NVDIA, and I have done all the steps up to "installing NVDIA drivers" from this site: https://connorkuehl.github.io/dell-inspiron-7559-linux-guide/

but with the difference that in the beginning (prior to installation) I didn't do the: "nomodeset i915_bpo.nomodeset=1 quiet splash".

I have no idea how to proceed and I am somewhat annoyed by the fact that it takes 1.5 mins to boot the OS.

Any help?

Thanks in advance

inxi output

Graphics: Card-1: Intel HD Graphics 530 
          Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] 
          Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) 
          Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz 
          OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake GT2)
          version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.5
Terrance
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hal
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    When you install Ubuntu, before you add any NVIDIA drivers, does it boot all the way to the desktop without an issue? If so, try installing the NVIDIA drivers this way: https://askubuntu.com/a/1070682/231142 Also, have you tried to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS so that unsigned drivers will work? – Terrance Sep 05 '18 at 13:49
  • Hey, thanks for the response. Yeah it boots and yes, this is the way that I installed the drivers. I redid now, and this is the output – hal Sep 05 '18 at 14:21
  • sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396:Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done nvidia-driver-396 is already the newest version (396.54-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1). The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: libnvidia-common-390 libwayland-client0:i386 libwayland-server0:i386 Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.     – hal Sep 05 '18 at 14:22
  • Sorry, please edit your question and add the output of your installation to your question. – Terrance Sep 05 '18 at 14:23
  • Yeah I am sorry I am new to the stackxchange.. The output of nvdia-smi : NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running. – hal Sep 05 '18 at 14:24
  • That is OK. Can you run sudo apt install inxi then run inxi -G and add the output to your question? Looking to see what video card is loading here. I have recently seen where multiple video cards like Intel having the discreet one and a NVIDIA card not playing well with each other in Ubuntu 18.04. I don't have a system like that so I cannot write an answer since mine would only be guessing. – Terrance Sep 05 '18 at 14:41
  • Ok that's the output: Graphics: Card-1: Intel HD Graphics 530 Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake GT2) version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.5 – hal Sep 05 '18 at 14:48
  • It looks like the driver is loaded. See if you can switch between the two using prime-select. prime-select query will show you which one is being used. sudo prime-select intel should switch to the onboard intel card. sudo prime-select nvidia should switch to the NVIDIA card. After you run that, try running nvidia-smi and see if that shows that it is loaded now. – Terrance Sep 05 '18 at 14:55
  • ok I did sudo prime-select nvidia and the output of prime-select query is nvidia but in the smi the output is the same nvidia-smi NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running. – hal Sep 05 '18 at 15:05
  • Well, I am out of ideas as far as the video goes. Unfortunately, I can't duplicate your issue as I don't have the same or like hardware. As far as UEFI mode after Legacy install you might want to see this: https://askubuntu.com/a/871112/231142 Sorry I am not much more help – Terrance Sep 05 '18 at 15:57
  • No problem. Thank you very much anyway. Although just to mention that I did a mistake. I installed Ubuntu in UEFI, then at reboot it didn't load and only when I switched to Legacy it finaly booted... Thank you! – hal Sep 05 '18 at 16:03

3 Answers3

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I have had the same issues on the same computer, and trust me I can understand what you are going through. I am actually quite new to Linux, so will try to explain my installation procedure that worked for me in detail, however be careful while following these instructions because i am still new to the system, and tried this procedure using trial and error.
I think the actual problem for these errors are, because we are using the instruction from blogs that were created for the older versions, and haven't been updated properly since then. OK, so I will help you through the update process for the current versions (date: 27/Nov/2018). I will be explaining in detail about installing the Linux 18.04 LTS on the Dell 7559 PC with NVIDIA 960M and Intel i7 - inlet HD graphics 530.

Step 1: First make sure how you want to go along installing the system.

1.As a stand alone operating system
2.Dual boot with windows (in case dual boot-use windows to make a partition for Ubuntu - around 30gb). 3.Make a boot-able USB drive containing the Ubuntu OS.

Step 2: Start your PC and press F2 during Boot, and disable secure boot* (very important - as the secure boot wont let Ubuntu install it's drivers), it advised to use UEFI over Legacy since it is more smooth and easy to access. Should I install Ubuntu as UEFI or Legacy? Is it safe to disable Secure Boot?

Step 3: Boot using the boot able USB ( press F12 during boot to access the USB drive).

Step 4:Once on the Grub menu page go to the "install Ubuntu" option and press e. Now you have accessed the boot parameters,here find the command/line where "quiet splash"

(linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic root=UUID=6500f497e670-460c-977b-8fad43155f12 r0 quiet splash $vt_handoff) ,

add nomodeset before quiet splashit

(linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic root=UUID=6500f497e670-460c-977b-8fad43155f12 r0 nomodeset quiet splash $vt_handoff).

Now press Ctrl X or F10 to boot grub from the updated boot parameters.

Step 5: Now you have entered the installation GUI for Ubuntu, here follow the prompts, but is is advised not to connect to the WiFi to update, that can be done later. In the installation menu opt for Something else- to partition the hard drive by yourself. (Dual Boot: If you are going to dual boot with windows then, use the partition made from Step 1: )

Now, here you would have to divide the partition into four parts.

  1. Let the first partition be around 10gb-20gb (this amount of memory is required if you are going to use the system as machine learning environment to install the CUDA file, or else file allocation can be performed manually) for the Ubuntu files drivers and programs.
    Choose system type as ext4 and mount point /.

  2. Now allocate around 250MB for EFI Partition (system type)

  3. Finally allocate the remaining memory for /home
    (note-make sure the windows partition is not tampered with!)*

  4. Continue Installation and reboot once the installation is over.

Step 6: After the Reboot make sure you boot into the UEFI boot option ubuntu, press Esc or Shiftduring boot to enter grub, once in the grub menu follow Step 4.
(note-failing to do as mentioned in this step, will cause the system to hang, or get into a login loop, after the login into the Linux system is attempted)

Step 7: Once you have entered the system, open terminal and run commands sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade. Once these two steps have been performed go to software-update application to perform auto-update by the Ubuntu system.

  1. Now to update the grub boot parameters permanently to solve brightness and other issues, we have to enter the grub file located at /etc/default/grub and edit it using: sudo nano /etc/default/grub

    here edit the parameters to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_osi=" once done -Ctrl o Ctrl x (if you want to disable nvidia drivers loading permanently in the initial steps then follow - How do I set 'nomodeset' after I've already installed Ubuntu?)

    <blockquote>
  <p><code>sudo update-grub</code></p>
</blockquote>

Step 8: Type sudo reboot in the terminal. During reboot repeat Step 6.
Now the system is setup, but is not yet ready to use Nvidia. To start using Nvidia we would have to first install the propriety driver using:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa 
sudo apt update
  1. Now, do not update graphic drivers via the terminal, instead search for Software & Updates in the Ubuntu GUI. here go to the additional drivers tab. Here you will find the set of NVIDIA drivers for your system. select the nvidia-drivers-415 i think that one is the latest. (Make sure that you do not select or keep selection in Using X.Org X server - selection) The Additional drivers Tab in software & updates (image for reference)
  2. The installation will take a while once the installation is complete, reboot the system.
  3. Now it isn't necessary to perform Step 6, the Ubuntu Os should boot properly and without any error.
  4. If you have added nomodeset parameters to Grub, remove it in this step and keep the quiet splash parameter alone.(or else nvidia driver wont load)
  5. Once you have completed the login, enter the Ubuntu desktop, search for the NVIDIA Xserver application, to monitior the nvidia GPU.

For further assistance on the NVIDIA GPU (960M) - Xserver and installation verification watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CezzY3DGi4U

(Note:
1. Many installation guides require you to change the parameters in /etc/default/grub to - GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"or GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset i915_bpo.nomodeset=1 quiet splash", this is to stop the GPU drivers from loading, hence this should be disabled.
2.Further if you don't want to keep repeating Step 6, you can update grub to the above parameters GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"- but only till the Nvidia drivers are installed, after which you will have to update grub to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to boot via the NVIDIA graphic driver )

AMN
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  • I will try it today and will update you, thanks for the details. – Ahmed Hamdy Apr 01 '19 at 14:36
  • Another thing, did you try to just neglect the NVidia driver and live with Intel GPU only on Linux? – Ahmed Hamdy Apr 01 '19 at 14:39
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    yes most of the time when i travel or need to save power i run it only on Intel using the prime-select, it works fine the battery life expands since the fans aren't running always. – AMN Apr 02 '19 at 17:56
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    you can change between the intel and nvidia drivers using the sudo prime-select nvidia or sudo prime-select intel command, when on the intel driver, if the prime-select nvidia command is executed, then the nvidia driver is activated but the display and graphics process are still conducted by the intel chip. To shift to nvidia graphics a reboot or logout and login may be required. – AMN Apr 02 '19 at 18:03
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I have used Ubuntu 18.04 with the same machine without installing the NVidia Drivers because with them it crashes! I had to add some settings to be able to change resolution with Intel® HD Graphics 530 (Skylake GT2)... I know this is not the best solution but at least it works and it's stable.

Hernán Amaya
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In step 6, you have to go to Advance Ubuntu Options, in the next screen choose the higher Ubuntu version and press e, and then perform step 4

Luis
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