[Installation] Kubuntu USB failing restart loop at 'Network dispatcher service'

[gurtfrobe]

I'm having issues installing both Kubuntu 19.04 and 18.10 64-bit via a USB ISO.

I have a PC with Windows 10 installed on one SSD, and another SSD reserved for Linux.

PC Specs:

• Intel Core i3 6100
• EVGA GeForce GTX 970
• Kingston 8GB RAM DDR3
• ASUS H110M-A D3 Motherboard
• 2 x 240GB SSD

Up until this point I've had Mint and KDE Neon working fine, but would now like to try Kubuntu.

I've formatted the Linux SSD so there's no longer anything on it.

When booting into UEFI (BIOS) I can both Windows Boot Loader and GRUB2 Boot Loader. I'm not fully read up on GRUB yet so not sure if they should/can coexist or not?

Steps to recreate my issue as follows:

1. Burn an ISO to a USB drive
2. Power on the PC, hold F2 to get to UEFI settings. Select the USB to boot from.
3. Screen goes black, Kubuntu logo appears for a few seconds
4. Screen then goes black again, and my monitor begins to continuously lose and then gain an input source (hinting that something is restarting?)
5. The Kubuntu logo never comes back
6. I hold the power button and start the process again hoping it works next time

I stumbled upon pressing a certain key (ESC?) when the Kubuntu logo appears to get a verbose log of whats happening behind the scenes.

I could see briefly that the last item on the list before it restarts is "Network dispatcher service". Not sure if this is important?

When burning the ISO I've tried Rufus, balenaEtcher and Unetbootin on KDENeon, Windows 10 and macOS.

I've also tried different USB drives. And tried different USB ports, both USB2 and USB3.

I've tried disabling Secure Boot in UEFI settings.

It would be great if someone can help me solve this one!

[jlittle]

... I can (select) both Windows Boot Loader and GRUB2 Boot Loader... not sure if they should/can coexist? ...

No trouble with UEFI, in principle. "Secure boot" can mess things up, I imagine, if Windows insists on it.

1. ...
2. Power on the PC, hold F2 to get to UEFI settings. Select the USB to boot from.
3. Screen goes black, Kubuntu logo appears for a few seconds

With my 18.10 USB I get a short grub menu appearing for 5 seconds between step 2 and 3. If you don't see this, you might try pressing shift, or pressing the up or down arrow key to interrupt the timeout.

If you do get to see the grub screen with "Start Kubuntu", you could try using "nomodeset" to get Kubuntu going. With the cursor on the "Start Kubuntu" line, press "c" and use the arrow keys to move where it says "quiet splash" and change those words to "nomodeset". That will start Kubuntu in some ancient lo-res video mode, something like 800x600 or 640x480, till you get to the point where you can install the Nvidia driver and set the correct resolution.

...When burning the ISO I've tried...

Thinking out of the box, "Burning the ISO" IMO is the old way. With a trusty multiboot USB one just copies the iso to it, no special writing needed. Alas, I haven't yet tested one to the point I trust it. Or, for speed, put the iso on the SSD; slightly tricky if you're installing onto that same SSD, but I do it with btrfs; 7 min from reboot to install complete.

[Qqmike]

I can think of two things:

(1) Make sure you are, in fact, booting the USB-iso in UEFI mode, as per this guidance:

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379977

See this section:

Installing the OS in UEFI mode

(2) It's a little technical--but very easy--but a very good way to burn iso's to USBs is by using the Linux command dd, as per this:

Building a Kubuntu live USB flash drive installer using dd

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...712#post378712