Wanted to try Kubuntu for the first time but USB install will not load

[richie231186]

PROBLEM: Linux Live USBs don't boot 95% of the time and installs do not boot on EUFI dual boot windows 10
ON: F553MA Asus Laptop

I have had nothing but trouble with USB installation of Kubuntu, no problem using the same USB to install ubuntu a long time ago and windows 10.
I have been trying to install all day from kubuntu-15.10-desktop-amd64.iso (SHA265SUM verified) with it just locking up on splash screen Firstly
I was not getting proper GRUB menu despite following the Kubuntu documentation guide using unetbootin-windows-613. I tried many times using unetbootin
and could never get GRUB menu, I then tried Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.6.3 and finally got GUI and installer, every thing was great! except that the installer
could not see my empty space on HDD so I booted back to windows and deleted the empty primary partition after doing this I have no idea why I
could never again boot back into the GRUB menu. I tried two USB drives and both apps for installing USB with the exact same problem every time It locks
up on Kubuntu splash screen. When I boot from the USB installer I see some text that goes off screen to fast to read (possible errors or not who knows)
then i get the option to Start Kubuntu, OEM install or check for errors. When I select Start Kubuntu you see the splash screen for about 30
seconds then the splash animation freezes and probably whole thing locks up. Nothing changed since it working one time and never working again,
except I wiped an empty partition in windows that I would think would have nothing to do with installer. I am running ASUS laptop windows 10 64 bit
with two partitions in the hard drive. I'm about ready to just go install ubuntu or maybe try version 14.x though I really wanted to try 15.x

SOLVED BOOT: Turned off all recommended BIOS settings (CMS, Fastboot in bios and in windows, Secure boot) and turned off in BIOS "Power off Energy Saving" and selected windows 7 OS instead of windows 8 One of those two options was causing the boot problems for Live USB and Kubuntu install.

[richie231186]

I wish i could do a cold boot but the asus laptop has an battery that cant be removed

[Qqmike]

By "cold boot," I think he means: Shut the computer down, plug in the USB, turn the computer on.

[Qqmike]

Strange when these things occur, and frustrating, I'm sure. I have an ASUS motherboard (with Intel processor, in a desktop PC), and I have none of these problems after conducting extensive experiments booting the computer from USBs (with both live and permanent images of Kubuntu, Mint, Debian, and others).

I also would have tried 14.04, as you did. But still, a no-go for you.

For me, another thing I am suspicious of after reading forum posts around the Internet, is "how to make the live USB" issue. I never use any canned package like Unetbootin or Whatever-Promising-Program. Instead, I do it directly using a Linux command dd; but you must be comfortable using dd at a terminal (like Kubuntu's Konsole).

Building a Kubuntu live USB flash drive installer using dd
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...712#post378712

You have Windows 10 on your machine, so I assume you are booting by UEFI (not the older BIOS). So you want to install Kubuntu 64-bit (not 32-bit). And you MAY have to boot that USB in UEFI mode. You do that by entering your firmware setup (by pressing some key, mine is F2), and finding the UEFI entry in the boot menus for your UEFI USB, and selecting it to boot. I clipped this from one of my how-to's:

To install [or boot] the [USB] Kubuntu OS in UEFI mode
--> Must be 64-bit Kubuntu OS for UEFI.
--> You must boot your Kubuntu installer DVD/USB in UEFI mode!


With the DVD/USB installer inserted in the computer, reboot the PC, enter the computer's UEFI setup by pressing the correct key for your computer (F2, F1, F12, etc.).
Find the boot menu or boot override menu where the bootable devices will be listed.
Choose the one that corresponds to the Kubuntu UEFI DVD or USB choice.
Look for UEFI/EFI (FAT) or some reference to UEFI.
Example: My Live Kubuntu DVD installer showed up twice in UEFI BIOS (under Boot Override) as a "normal" DVD writer, and also as:
UEFI (FAT) TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB (1028 MB) (= my Samsung DVD player).
Select the UEFI/EFI option from the boot [override] menu.

[Snowhog]

Cold boot just means powering off the laptop, waiting a few seconds, and then powering it back on.

[richie231186]

Yeah I tried many cold boots no difference.

I have no idea how to see if the usb is booting in UEFI mode as there seems to be no option for this in my BIOS. The only mode you have for USB is XHCI option (currently on)
UPDATE: although when I choose boot options at startup the option for USB is "UEFI: Sandisk Cruzer Blade 1.27"





This is where it locks up

[richie231186]

Ok it finally booted after resetting BIOS defaults, turnings off fastboot (which was off before) turning off XHCI mode on USB. I don't know if that did it or just luck of the draw.
Now the only problem is making sure i install it on the correct partition.

[richie231186]

Successfully installed but now when I select to boot I just get a black screen, the fun continues

On recovery boot this is where it locks up.



Windows 10 still boots fine.

[Qqmike]

If you are booting by UEFI (seems you are since you booted the USB in UEFI mode, according to your comment above), you should have a special partition called an ESP (EFI System Partition), small, like 50 MB-500 MB, FAT32. Windows should have put it there on your disk, you should see it if you run Windows Disk management (or whatever), or if you run some other disk partitioning program like GParted Live CD/USB.

In any case, about all I can say now is what I do, and that is here, which might give you some other ideas:

Installing Kubuntu -- Using the "Manual" Installation Type, with your own partitioning

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...688#post377688

(But not everyone likes to do things this way ... I like it because I have full control of the entire process and it breaks it down into steps that you can see.)

[Qqmike]

I fixed the bad link in my post above to Installing Kubuntu -- Using the "Manual" Installation Type, with your own partitioning.
(It appears no one read the post or caught the bad link!)

[richie231186]

If you are booting by UEFI (seems you are since you booted the USB in UEFI mode, according to your comment above), you should have a special partition called an ESP (EFI System Partition), small, like 50 MB-500 MB, FAT32. Windows should have put it there on your disk, you should see it if you run Windows Disk management (or whatever), or if you run some other disk partitioning program like GParted Live CD/USB.

In any case, about all I can say now is what I do, and that is here, which might give you some other ideas:

Installing Kubuntu -- Using the "Manual" Installation Type, with your own partitioning

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...688#post377688

(But not everyone likes to do things this way ... I like it because I have full control of the entire process and it breaks it down into steps that you can see.)

This is probably what i need to do but its a guide for creating the partition in linux. Maybe i can do this from manual install?

[richie231186]

Yeah. Sadly i can't get the live usb to boot again tried everything. Im tempted to just wipe the whole HDD and loose the Asus recover partitions that are now not linked anymore anyway. If i wipe the whole drive and start from scratch do you think ot would help?

[Qqmike]

Teunis: Once you have the Live version of Linux running you can use it's partitioning tool to pre-partion the hard disk before you start the actual install.
That's what we call a manual install.

Yes, that option is included in the how-to I linked to.

If i wipe the whole drive and start from scratch do you think ot would help?

I'm not sure what my opinion is on that. Perhaps you can tell us more about things:
Laptop has Windows 10, right? Do you want to wipe it off forever?
What is the laptop, model, etc? Is it fairly new? When did you get it?
Anything else?

For example, if you wipe that drive to start over, you should know about whether the firmware (that comes on the motherboard) is not the older BIOS but the newer UEFI. And with UEFI you'd create your own ESP (EFI System Partition), probably using GParted Live CD/USB. You'd format the drive as a GPT (not the older MBR). And so on. Not a big deal, but you must be comfortable doing this kind of stuff. Wait for others to give their opinions.

[richie231186]

Ill get the model number wheb i get home today. It came with windows 8.1 and a recovery partition. I upgraded it to windows 10. It also came with two partitions one with the OS on it and one empty partition.

[Qqmike]

I wouldn't think you'd want to totally get rid of Win X, do you?

Two partitions -- are you sure the second "empty" partition is not Windows' System Partition? GParted live CD/USB should show that. Or use Windows Disk Mgt utility from within Windows.

The usual thing people do is to use GParted live CD/USB to shrink the Windows partition, then create the partitions you need for Linux, then install your Linux (Kubuntu) in those newly created partitions.