0

The computer I have is the Surface Book Gen 1. The computer has Pop!_OS currently installed. The main problem that I have is that the operating system has encryption which has become a slight annoyance. I have a bootable USB with the latest Ubuntu version 20.04, but cannot boot the USB from either the BIOS or the power button + volume down. The computer boots into the GNU GRUB 2.04 command line every time.

The strange thing is the computer will display the Surface boot screen and GNU GRUB 2.04 at the same time. It is hard to read but the command line still works. The problem is using the commands: ls outputs: all the drives and the USB drive is (cd0) with partitions (cd0,apple2) (cd0,apple1) and (cd0,msdos2)

I have tried looking for similar posts regarding a similar issue but none have seemingly occurred in the manner that my device has. Usually people's USB drives are in the format (hd0,gpt1). My main drive has that format, and I was successful in booting into it using insmod and chainloader commands just once. But it will not allow that any more, as it hangs on the command boot.

It seems that my device is bricked. The computer recognizes the USB drive and I can see that the label reads the correct version of Ubuntu, but I need help installing Ubuntu from the command line, since this is the only option I have. Booting the USB device directly from the BIOS causes the GNU GRUB command line to appear. There is no other workaround that I have found. The exit command exits GNU GRUB hangs on boot and then reboots automatically to the BIOS. And a reboot command reboots it into the GNU GRUB command line.

Edit: I managed to get a iso image created using a different method (dd) and it managed to go straight to the installer. Thanks for the help.

Robby Rimal
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3
  • Showing Computer logo with Ubuntu logo during boot is a new feature. Depending on how you made installer, it is not necessarily a stanard partitioned drive. It is a hybrid DVD/CD/flash drive. So partitions may be ok. In grub menu, try removing quiet splash or replace with nomodeset. See grub example showing Linux line: https://askubuntu.com/questions/162075/my-computer-boots-to-a-black-screen-what-options-do-i-have-to-fix-it Without quiet splash you see boot process and may see where it stops. Usually several lines above last posted is issue. – oldfred May 19 '20 at 14:38
  • I'm sorry but I can't access the Grub bootloader. I can only use gnu grub commandline. The computer just boots into it and on my desktop computer I have a dual boot with Grub. My computer has the surface logo and gnu grub commandline is overlayed right over it. Like letters over the surface logo. It isn't the same as my desktop where the logo is positioned correctly on the splash screen. – Robby Rimal May 19 '20 at 17:09
  • May need to check ISO, try different installer to flash drive or different flash drive. Some make change of one or the other and then it works for unknown reasons. Most find this works: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb or https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb & https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/iso2usb – oldfred May 19 '20 at 17:17
  • Ok I will try using a different installer and see if it works. So far I tried Pop OS! 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I will try those methods and report back. – Robby Rimal May 19 '20 at 18:16
  • Please consider writing up how you fixed it and posting it as an answer. Thanks! – KGIII May 19 '20 at 20:35

1 Answers1

0

Using dd, I formatted the USB Flash Drive and installed the ISO image of the latest Ubuntu release. This managed to fix the issue I was having with the Laptop not booting.

Robby Rimal
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3