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I have been facing the terrible problem to get to my Ubuntu desktop. I posted several questions and got several suggestions. To keep the track let me write down all the process I have been through: To start with, I have a MSI gaming laptop: Intel(R) Core i7-6820HK CPU 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM, Windows 10, 64x, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M.

About two weeks ago I installed Ubuntu 16.04 as a dual-boot together with Win 10. The obstacles I had during the installation were:

  1. There was a blank-purple screen: to solve it I set nomodeset and went on...

  2. There was no option "install Ubuntu alongside windows 10", I chose something else following the suggestions from this site...

  3. It directed me to partition the disks. There was no windows loader in the box, but only some values such as:

    free space 1 MB;
/dev/sda1/ntfs with the 528345 MB 87947 MB used;
/dev/sda2/ntfs with the 429495 MB 150 MB used;
free space 1 MB;
/dev/sda3 with the 21474 MB unknown;
free space 0 MB;
/dev/sda4 ntfs with the 20885 20100 MB used;
free space 0 MB.

    However, I had already partitioned two disk spaces (30GB and 400GB) in Windows using disk partitioning...

  4. Then I deleted these two:

    /dev/sda4 ntfs with the 20885 20100 MB used
/dev/sda3 with the 21474 MB unknown

    to free some space for SWAP, root and boot and home (Mount point). I assigned appropriate sizes for respective mount points, again followed advice from Ask Ubuntu here. They are as follows:

     /dev/sda3 swap 2047 MB unknown
 /dev/sda4 ext4 /home 10240 MB unknown
 /dev/sda5 ext4 / 20479 MB unknown
 /dev/sda6 biosgrub 5 MB  unknown

    At that stage I confirmed from this forum that I could proceed with the installation.

  5. After some time, I installed Cuda 8.0.44 and cuDNN v5.1 Library for Linux to learn Tensorflow with GPU support. To install Sublimetext I followed Youtube and I installed synaptic package manager and reloaded it as shown. The Reload failed. I thought rebooting might help and restarted the device, since then I couldn't log in to my desktop. I tried several ways to solve the issue such as this and this from Youtube

Side notes:

- there used to be a quick Nvidia window for, say, a millisecond when I switched it on. After installing Cuda 8.0.44 and cuDNN v5.1 that prompt disappeared;
- The laptop functioned strangely, it got shut down with a strange crack noise since I had dual-booted it with Ubuntu.
  1. After trying several solutions given in the forums, I ended up installing Gnome as suggested here as Solution 3. After rebooting, the desktop changed to Ubuntu Gnome, but still didn't solve the loop problem. Then I went to BIOS and changed the boot priority to another option, didn't work, then again came back to previous priority and now I can't even access to that login screen. When I switch the computer on I have purple screen suggesting *Ubuntu, Advanced options for Ubuntu, and System setup. Once I hit Ubuntu it goes through some process: screen Then the screen gets dark for about 4 seconds and quickly shows up this: screen Then it goes immediately back to dark screen and again after about 4 seconds the latter screen is shown again. This repeats infinitely.

When I type something, I can see them written after voodoo-GT80S 6QE login: but I can write ONLY AND ONLY when it is shown. If I use Ctrl + alt + f1, I can type for a short time, then it gets dark again. When I hit the power off, it shows:

     Starting WPA supplicant
     OK
     Started WPA supplicant.

Then it is switched off with strange noise- like a rupture.

To solve the problem I tried this, given as Run These Commands

     1:  $ sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
     2:  $ for i in /sys /proc /run /dev; do sudo mount --bind "$i" "/mnt/$i"; done
     3:  $ sudo mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/boot/efi
     5:  $ sudo chroot /mnt
     6:  # grub-install /dev/sda
     7:  # update-grub
     8:  # exit
     9:  $ for i in /sys /proc /run /dev; do sudo umount "/mnt/$i"; done
     10:  $ sudo umount /mnt/boot/efi
     11:  $ exit

When I typed sudo mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/boot/efi it is showing mount: mount point /mnt/boot/efi doesn't exist Please take into consideration that I am not able to directly write these code blocks to normal terminal because of flickering effect of the terminal. I am writing these things after forcing the terminal to show up every time by pressing ctrl+alt+f1.

I would ask you professionals to look through the problem and give some advice what to do next to restore the Ubuntu!

Thank you for your time and patience!

...this is for the question in the comments

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bit_scientist
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  • Why don't you post a comment/feedback to this Link where you get stuck with the steps. Getting past those steps may be the answer to some your other problems. – L. D. James Jan 20 '17 at 03:47
  • Because I have written that it didn't help in this link as a comment . I thought my question was not clearly stated and I posted a new question not to confuse everyone including myself. – bit_scientist Jan 20 '17 at 06:55
  • is it the error stated in the first screenshot that you need fixed? – Mark Kirby Jan 25 '17 at 15:51
  • @MarkKirby: I don't know if it is an error or not. It may be a must-go process while starting. I need my computer to run on Ubuntu again. If nothing helps I may reinstall it with USB Flash drive, but one concern: how should I reinstall while I have the above problem? PS: I don't care if I lose my files or software installed on Ubuntu, but I do have to keep my files and software on Windows – bit_scientist Jan 27 '17 at 07:09
  • Well it looks like the nouveau open source nvidia driver failed to load, did you ever install the drivers from nvidia? Here is the first thing to try, enter recovery mode https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode and log in, then run sudo apt-get purge nvidia* then add this PPA sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa && sudo apt-get update then install this driver sudo apt-get install nvidia-370 then reboot to your normal account. – Mark Kirby Jan 27 '17 at 09:11
  • @MarkKirby: No, I never installed any drivers from nvidia since I received it, maybe the user before me did, if so he/she could have installed them on Windows... I was following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode.

    I came until step 5 : recovery mode, I pressed it. Step 6 says Press Return and your machine will begin the boot process What is Return here??

     – bit_scientist Jan 27 '17 at 15:07
  • It is the enter key, just press that. – Mark Kirby Jan 27 '17 at 15:25
  • Well, I did then, after some process, it is now showing resume, clean, dpkg, failsafeX, fsck,grub, network, root, system-summary. Among them root - "Drop to root shell prompt". I pressed it . I typed mount -o remount,rw / as shown t the step 8 to the place appeared below. It didn't seem to work and I restarted the computer.. From that time, it is just showing blackish screen... I restarted it again and the result is the same. – bit_scientist Jan 27 '17 at 16:31
  • I think all problem is due to my graphics, because when I was doing the recovery process, the display, those options got red, stuck and whatever. Now, I even cannot boot it normally. – bit_scientist Jan 27 '17 at 16:38
  • What happens if you resolve the error mount: mount point /mnt/boot/efi doesn't exist by Completing as step 2.5 sudo mkdir /mnt/boot&&sudo mkdir /mnt/boot/efi ? and then continuing through your enumerated steps 3 through 11. It's not surprising that the process you outlined failed as you got an error on step 3. Step 2.5 as I've mentioned should resolve that error and allow completion of the process. Granted this all assumes EFI boot rather than legacy boot. If that's not the case please enlighten us. Thank you! – Elder Geek Jan 30 '17 at 20:04
  • You can confirm boot mode by reviewing http://askubuntu.com/questions/162564/how-can-i-tell-if-my-system-was-booted-as-efi-uefi-or-bios – Elder Geek Jan 30 '17 at 20:08
  • @ElderGeek: please look through the comments here, after that I actually did many things. Now I cant use my computer on Ubuntu system, but I can use it on Windows by switching its BOOT MODE to UEFI with CSM in BIOS before switching it on. In my boot mode, there are only three options: UEFI with CSM, LEGACY, UEFI. – bit_scientist Feb 01 '17 at 15:22
  • Before, when I wanted to run on Ubuntu I used to change the boot mode to Legacy and Save and Exit and I could work on Ubuntu. But now it shows just purple screen for 5-6 seconds and changes to kinda black screen mode, but the computer is just on. None of the keys or their combinations are changing this status. The only way is pressing the power button to make it get switched off. I think I have already vitiated it. Any suggestions what to do next?! – bit_scientist Feb 01 '17 at 15:25
  • @Sohib Pardon my confusion. There are a number of stements in your comments that are entirely unclear to me. Let me see. " I have already vitiated it" I take this to mean "I have already (destroyed or impaired) it. This is pretty non-specfic and of no usefulness. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have a problem. "I actually did many things" isn't useful either. I think we understand that you are frustrated, but if your question no longer represents current conditions, I'm not sure where to begin making suggestions. – Elder Geek Feb 01 '17 at 21:34
  • Your conclusino that it is all due to your graphics is difficult to lend credence to as "those options got red, stuck and whatever" is impossible to understand. I'm not sure what "whatever" means in this context. I think you are saying that you at One time could boot in Legacy mode but now can't boot at all (Other than Windows via UEFI with CSM) You have yet to indicate whether you tried my suggestion to resolve "When I typed sudo mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/boot/efi it is showing mount: mount point /mnt/boot/efi doesn't exist". I'm sorry but i can't assist further without more precision on your end – Elder Geek Feb 01 '17 at 21:40
  • @ElderGeek Yes, I see. Although I am not a native speaker, I tried to explain the problem as clearly as I could. After the question part was asked I tried suggestions given in the comments. Therefore I can't complete step 2.5 sudo mkdir /mnt/boot&&sudo mkdir /mnt/boot/efi, because I just can't type those to the terminal (or to any supposed place). And that is because, I can't use Ubuntu or Grub menu. Now, when I switch on my computer, it shows purple screen then black screen, no keys are responding. – bit_scientist Feb 01 '17 at 23:56
  • While trying to boot into recovery mode as suggested in the comments by Mark Kirby, I had those resume, clean, dpkg, failsafeX, fsck ,grub, network, root ,system-summary with their respective definitions. I tried to use my down-arrow key no navigate the root section, at first the highlighted part (which highlights the actual section on the screen) didn't work, I waited for some time, then, it moved down (probably because I had pressed only down-arrow key), but some part of the screen changed to the last picture above in the question part. – bit_scientist Feb 02 '17 at 00:16
  • After that I don't clearly remember what I did, I must have pressed several keys with no response. Then I tried restarting it holding the power button. It got restarted and I have that purple screen for some time, then black screen, the computer is still on though – bit_scientist Feb 02 '17 at 00:22

1 Answers1

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Based on your lack of concern if you " lose my files or software installed on Ubuntu" and the fact that you can boot Windows via " UEFI with CSM in BIOS" I would reccommend booting from a verified good live media without changing the BIOS from where it successfully boots Windows Once you have successfully booted to the verifed good live media, it would be wise to check the SMART status of your drive to rule out any hardware problem with it that could be impacting your ability to complete installation tasks. Once we have confirmed the following:

1) BIOS mode is set properly to successfully boot Windows

2) Boot into Windows and Turn Off Fast Startup The easiest way to do this is to open a Command prompt as Administrator and issue the command powercfg.exe /h off which will turn off hibernation and fast startup along with it.

2) our live media is uncorrupted

3) our hard drive is in good shape and

4) Verify that the live media is booted via EFI mode matching the mode Windows successfully boots in.

5) We have backed up everything to protect ourselves from unexpected hardware failure and operator error.

Then we can install normally as outlined here.

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  • Mr. @ElderGeek I don't think I could understand verified good live media. I have no such experience what to do there. It would be great if I could accomplish the whole process step by step – bit_scientist Feb 03 '17 at 01:55
  • It's pretty self explanatory. The idea is to insure that the hash (checksum) of the ISO matches in order to verify that the file has not been corrupted in any way. If there's something you don't understand about that answer Commenting on that answer regarding exactly what is confusing to you there may help others as well as you. – Elder Geek Feb 05 '17 at 14:02
  • Mr. @ElderGeek I insured that the hash of the ISO matches exactly. Should I now boot it with this live media and select try Ubuntu without installation ? – bit_scientist Feb 05 '17 at 16:36
  • Yes, and continue on with the steps outlined in my answer. – Elder Geek Feb 05 '17 at 19:52
  • Mr @ElderGeek, I did so ad opened Disks, selected my drive, but in the hamburger menu the SMART Data & Self-Tests is not clickable. – bit_scientist Feb 06 '17 at 02:44
  • What is the model # of your MSI laptop? – Elder Geek Feb 07 '17 at 14:13
  • It is MS-181-1 – bit_scientist Feb 07 '17 at 16:51
  • IS SMART reporting turned on in your BIOS? What happens if you try the CLI approach outlined here – Elder Geek Feb 07 '17 at 17:00
  • I didn't understand the 1st question about SMART reporting. If 2nd question is about installing smartmontools I typed to the terminal sudo apt-get install smartmontools, it asks if I want to continue, after pressing y it shows: Err:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 liblockfile-bin amd64 1.09-6ubuntu1 Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com' There are 5 of them. Also, some other things. I couldn't insert them all here – bit_scientist Feb 07 '17 at 17:56
  • Perhaps this will help you understand the first question. As to your unrelated failure to install smartmontools you may find this useful. – Elder Geek Feb 07 '17 at 18:08

  • I read and watched some videos about SMART but couldn't find S.M.A.R.T or any path that goes to it. I think I don't have that type of capability.

  • As for smartmontools, it was probably network related failure, I fixed it. But now, when I type sudo apt-get install smartmontools it displays Postfix Configuration as highlighted here

    • – bit_scientist Feb 08 '17 at 02:15
  • Just now I fixed the smartmontools and run the sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda command to the terminal, it generated a lot of output. As it shows, SMART support is enabled. However, there are some error messages counted down from 13 to 9. Should I copy and post the whole output somewhere if it is helpful? – bit_scientist Feb 08 '17 at 02:51
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – bit_scientist Feb 08 '17 at 03:06
  • The whole output is given here – bit_scientist Feb 09 '17 at 10:50
  • It looks OK, but as a self-test has never been run on your drive I would still run a self-test for peace of mind with sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda and check the results with sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda Then continue if all is still error free. – Elder Geek Feb 09 '17 at 14:42
  • I think it worked. the output is here. Is this really error free? If yes, where should I exactly continue from? is it from step 5? – bit_scientist Feb 10 '17 at 04:45
  • Yes. the clue is "Completed without error " Now you are ready to begin with step 1 – Elder Geek Feb 10 '17 at 13:56
  • I have done until the step 5. I didn't really understand what the step 5 is and why I need it. Because I am using try Ubuntu without installation version of Ubuntu with live media and I don't have any important data in this version of Ubuntu yet. I only have important files and software on Windows. – bit_scientist Feb 11 '17 at 00:38
  • The reason for that step is the important files and software you have under Windows. If you skip it you risk losing that if something unexpected occurs.I'm not taking the blame for that. Ultimately the choice is yours but it's never a bad idea to backup that which is important to you so I recommend that you do it anyway even if you don't see the point. – Elder Geek Feb 11 '17 at 15:55
  • As I am newbie here in Ubuntu I don't understand many things here. For my situation, is the step 5 outlined above referring to the 5. I want the fastest possible restore! given here – bit_scientist Feb 11 '17 at 17:35