help! stuck in initramfs after installation

[dbaker]

So...I'm a newbie to dual booting, and have just attempted it for the first time. It didn't go so well...

I was trying to dual boot Kubuntu and Windows 10 on the HP laptop described in my signature. When I selected the "start kubuntu" option after booting from the live USB, I got a screenfull of errors and the computer made high-pitched electrical whining noises (not beep codes though, as far as I can tell)
This is a picture of the screenfull of errors (it's just the same error over and over): http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/nouveau.jpg


I waited and eventually the install screen loaded and worked fine (although for some reason it wouldn't let me connect to the wifi - nothing happened if I tried to check the box to connect to wifi). I'd already resized the Windows partition to leave free space for linux so partitioning was simple.

When the install finished and it rebooted, I got the same screenfull of errors as before, but this time it ended with me getting stuck in initramfs unable to do anything. Here's a (blurry, sorry) picture of that moment: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/runtime-suspend.jpg

I don't know how to get out of linux and boot back into windows and I'm scared!

I found this post by someone having the same issue which suggest the "nouveau" error has something to do with the nvidia graphics card.

I also found this which isn't really the same as my situation, but gave me the idea to try a few commands. I really don't know what I'm doing, but the results look discouraging: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/superblock.jpg

At this point my main priority is having a functioning computer again, regardless of what operating system is running, so I'd be happy to just get out of linux and boot back into Windows. But if anyone can help me get Kubuntu running that'd be pretty great too, I guess. I'm just panicking!

p.s. for some reason kubuntu forums wouldn't let me upload photos so I had to host them on my server, sorry

[dbaker]

a little update...
the laptop was going to sleep just like normal when I left it for a bit, so I decided to see what would happen if I closed the lid. it registered a whole lot of errors, see this pic: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/lid-close.jpg

then I decided to see what would happen if I removed the live USB, which was still inserted...i thought it couldn't do any harm because linux was installed..right?! >_>
well, this happened: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/usb-removal.jpg
and then this: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/usb-removal-more.jpg

and to top it all off the keyboard isn't responding anymore, so I can't get escape from the errors and get back into initramfs to type anything. I'm well and truly stuck. I feel like such an idiot! have I completely broken everything? *sobs*

my only comfort at the moment is that this mess is all (hopefully) confined to the linux partition, assuming I did the partitioning right...

EDIT: aaaand now the display has gone to sleep again and I can't wake it because the keyboard is unresponsive! I should add that the power button does nothing, either.

[dbaker]

final update....
I figured something out, although it doesn't help much...
unplugging the usb triggered a recursive fault which has been using all the CPU ever since, which is probably why the keyboard won't work...
the fan is spinning away loudly and although it's doing a good job I'm terrified the CPU is gonna be cooked so I put the laptop on the cold tiles in my bathroom and left it unplugged so the battery will run down, which is the only way I have at the moment of stopping the recursion.
this is the most ridiculous situation.

[oshunluvr]

Your battery isn't removable and holding down the power button won't force a power off?

When (if?) you get it back - edit the bootline and add "nouveau.modeset=0" to it.

To do this, when your in the GRUB menu (booting from the liveUSB), hit the "E" key with the boot line selected. This will open a very basic text editor with the contents of the boot command in it. Then arrow over to where you see quiet splash and put nouveau.modeset=0 in there (either replace quiet splash or add it next to them). Then hit F10 to boot.

[dbaker]

thanks for replying.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to remove the battery! yeah it seems like the power button has no effect, maybe there's some magic key combination I don't know for forcing a reboot.

I did what you suggested and got a different bunch of errors this time (see: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/postgrub-errors.jpg) ending up with an unresponsive keyboard again (is the file system corrupted)?
I took out the battery to kill it, booted back into grub and tried the "check disk for errors" option. This was the result: http://dreadedvariable.xyz/dropbox/drive-check.jpg
Not very helpful as it doesn't say what the errors are - I think I saw them flash past too quick to read while it was scanning the drive.

Just after I hit F10 and before the screen filled up with those errors in my picture, it briefly displayed what looked like a warning about something in the bootline. It didn't stay there long enough for me to work out what it was saying.

If I boot the computer without the live usb in, what will it boot into? Before dual-booting I set the bios boot order to boot from USB first, idk what happens if there is no usb...

[dbaker]

UPDATE: I FIXED IT

it turns out all I had to do was add nomodeset to the boot line - now it boots with no problems, and windows 10 is still intact too! so happy.
thanks oshunluvr for teaching me how to use grub.

[oshunluvr]

Awesome. Good job figuring it out!