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I'm having trouble loading a live USB of Ubuntu 16.04.1 desktop.

I have an existing windows 10 install and when I run msinfo32 it reports BIOS mode as legacy.

When my bios splash screen I select the boot menu and I have two options for loading from the USB - one for UEFI and one without - I select the one without.

Initially I see a person and keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen briefly, followed by a blinking cursor and shortly afterwards a black screen. After a few seconds I heard a drum sound. The screen stays black after that.

My graphics card is an nvidia 1060.

Is this a known issue? Are there any different steps I can take?

Thanks for any advice.

edit - I have also tried the acpi = off, nolapic and nomodset flags. Now I get a "kernel panic" error.

Peter Daily
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1 Answers1

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To properly load your Live USB you should always have to have UEFI enabled (that is the default for the newest computers). If you have it disabled when trying to use the Ubuntu Live media, while it'd still most likely work, you will lose functionality.

The SecureBoot option may or may not work, depending on your computer. If SecureBoot enabled failed, just change that to disabled.

With those two settings, you will be able to use your Ubuntu Live Media.

When you boot to the Live media you will be presented with a Black screen with choices which includes a Try Ubuntu without installing option. The first choice is the one you should choose. From that choice, you'll have a running session of Ubuntu where you can either explore Ubuntu or install it by clicking on the Install Ubuntu icon. You'll also have access to tools to configure your hard drive, or for diagnosing problems.

If the Try Ubuntu without installing option fails to boot

Some computer's hardware may have problems with some of the Desktop drivers. You can fix this by typing e at the Try Ubuntu without installing option from the initial black screen menu. Then replace the words quiet splash with nomodeset. Then hit F10 to boot.

L. D. James
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  • I'm sure I have read that I should not boot ubuntu in uefi mode if my windows install uses legacy bios, is that not the case anymore? – Peter Daily Oct 02 '16 at 10:10
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    eg. this link here states that boot modes must match https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI – Peter Daily Oct 02 '16 at 10:15
  • @PeterDaily The steps in the answer will allow you to boot and install Ubuntu. I'm in the process of installing a new Legacy install of Windows to check more details. But you will be able to boot Ubuntu with the steps in the answer as they are. You can skip the parts referring to UEFI, the key is the e and replacing quiet splash with nomodeset. – L. D. James Oct 02 '16 at 10:16
  • thanks for your assistance. By carrying out those steps, I now have some logged output to my screen for a while, before the screen goes blank and my monitor reports that the display resolution and timings cannot be displayed. As an aside, selecting f10 asks whether I want to halt the system, but clicking on either of the options does nothing. – Peter Daily Oct 02 '16 at 10:27
  • @PeterDaily You're welcome... When you replaced the quiet splash were were you extremely careful with the spelling of the nomodeset? That should have resolved the display problem. If you are positive I can give you other commandline options to address the display problem, but I believe that's the simplest. – L. D. James Oct 02 '16 at 10:32
  • yes I just doublechecked and I get the same behaviour – Peter Daily Oct 02 '16 at 10:38
  • @PeterDaily Give me a second to complete the installation of the hard drive into the test computer for testing the grub _cmdline parameter to fix this. – L. D. James Oct 02 '16 at 10:41
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Peter Daily Oct 02 '16 at 10:42
  • "you should always have to have UEFI enabled" not at all. As @PeterDaily said, the LiveDisk boot has to match whatever you're using for Windows. It cannot be different. Prebuilt computers that come stock with Windows start with UEFI, but for the rest of us, you have to check the settings. – jfa Aug 30 '17 at 01:53
  • @JFA I don't think the user should check the settings. Just use whatever is there. If he sees an option, I find the UEFI to be a better option. It would take a little more space than we have in a comment message to describe the benefit. If he doesn't see an option and is using the default, that will work also. In the user's case in the question, he's a little confused with the setting. I understand that you are saying you see computers shipped in Legacy as the default mode. However, I have never seen any yet. To avoid confusion, leave it the way it is by default... (continued). – L. D. James Aug 30 '17 at 02:02
  • ... (continued), change it if you have a specific reason to. If I build the computer myself, I choose and recommend UEFI even though very few computers that I build ever have Windows installed. Under normal circumstances, most people (like you and me) won't be confused when selecting the mode and trying to have whatever compatibility we prefer. But most of the users having problems and questions are trying to mix Windows and Linux. They inhert a lot of problems and time consumming aggravation trying to switch back and forth. Using what is shipped by default is more seamless. – L. D. James Aug 30 '17 at 02:08
  • I would like to add, this result on my system only being able to 640x480 resolution. And I'm unable to move the window up to view the next/back buttons. – gimmegimme Nov 18 '22 at 16:02
  • After the installation completed I revert it to quite splash to load the installed Ubuntu – Nasser Ali Karimi Sep 17 '23 at 04:05