Blank screen while trying to install Kubuntu

[Knox3k1]

Afternoon all, I'm looking for a little assistant if possible. This is my first experience with installing Linux.

While trying to install Kubuntu I am being presented with a blank/blue screen after selecting Start Kubuntu and never getting to the Install Kubuntu screen.

Here are the details of my setup and what i am trying:

I am using a HP pavilion g6 laptop which I need to dual boot Kubuntu beside win8. I have followed the below guide to setup and prepared my PC for install:

https://itsfoss.com/install-ubuntu-1...ows-8-81-uefi/

PC specs:
64bit windows 8,
6gb ram,
AMD e2 1800 apu with ATI Radeon HD graphics card,
Partition for Linux 340gb split for main C drive
ISO being used: Kubuntu 19.04 desktop amd64

So I have disabled secure boot, quick restart and shrank my volume to produce a partition for Linux. (Unclear if I need to allocate the partition or leave it unallocated)

I have created a USB live copy of Kubuntu which appears to work. But to be sure I grabbed 2 copies of the ISO from different mirrors and setup on 2 different USB sticks.

So what is going wrong here? I have found a link regarding the fact it maybe a gfx driver issue so have tried to correct the issue using the below method for ATI cards, however still being presented with a blue/blank screen.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1620.../162087#162087

Any help would be gratefully accepted. Thank you.

[Don B. Cilly]

You get a blue/blank screen after replacing quiet splash with radeon.modeset=0 at boot (by pressing "e")?
Hmm. Well, try just removing quiet splash and not adding anything then... or just plain nomodeset... see what happens.

[Knox3k1]

Thank you for the reply Don.

Correct, still a blank screen when replacing "quiet splash" with "radeon.modeset=0" and "nomodeset". I'm unable to test blanking out "quiet splash" as windows is installing 108/135 updates.. But will report back tomorrow when I gain control of my computer again.

[Snowhog]

What version of Kubuntu are you trying to boot into?

[Knox3k1]

No luck with taking "quiet splash" out, same result Don.

I'm trying to boot 19.04 amd64 Showhog.

[Don B. Cilly]

Still. By taking that out, you should see a list of messages scrolling down before you get to that blank screen, right?
Do you notice anything "hanging" - taking a long time to move on?

Anyway, you could try the Live recovery mode (Ctrl-Alt-F1, sudo mount /dev/sda1[(whatever partition]/mnt, sudo chroot /mnt)... but you can imagine...
Or, Ctrl-Alt-F2 at the blank screen could give you a terminal one.

Or it could be the rilly silly one.
From that same page you linked:

On certain laptops (like HP Pavilion), you may boot to a black screen due to low screen brightness.
Increase the brightness using key combination (this differs for every model. For example, FN+F7)

You have an HP Pavilion... :·/

[Knox3k1]

Still. By taking that out, you should see a list of messages scrolling down before you get to that blank screen, right?
Do you notice anything "hanging" - taking a long time to move on?

Anyway, you could try the Live recovery mode (Ctrl-Alt-F1, sudo mount /dev/sda1[(whatever partition]/mnt, sudo chroot /mnt)... but you can imagine...
Or, Ctrl-Alt-F2 at the blank screen could give you a terminal one.

Or it could be the rilly silly one.
From that same page you linked:

You have an HP Pavilion... :·/

Fraid not Don. No scrolling messages.. As a test I created a Mint Live USB stick to see if it was something that would bork any install or not. Mint started up within seconds of selecting Start Mint.. odd.

I'll stick another copy of Kubuntu on my USB and try some of what you recommended Don. Haha, yeah I saw that. Dont worry the brightness is fine thanks Don.

[Knox3k1]

I have tried Ctrl-alt F1 on the boot screen and blank screen and it does nothing Don. The Ctl-alt F2 on the blank screen also does nothing..

[Don B. Cilly]

I see. So it's not as if it boots and then crashes on the graphics, or something. It doesn't even start to boot.
Not even a can't load kernel or disk is not bootable message. Not even a blinking cursor?

I don't know. You say Mint actually boots.
But that hasn't got KDE anymore, so... a bit useless. :·)

You could try KDE Neon.
Basically it's Kubuntu 18.04 with more updated Plasma repos.

[claydoh]

As Linux Mint is Ubuntu 18.04, it might be worth trying out Kubuntu 18.04 LTS. They share the same core OS, so it should boot just fine.
Trying different USB sticks is a good idea, but also consider different tools to creating them. Etcher is a good choice if you are not already using it, over whatever your article is suggesting.

You should not be having any graphics issues, as AMD now has the included open source AMDGPU driver being the best choice, even for the old Radeon HD.

A black screen is one thing, but a blue one is odd.
When you boot the disk, you should see the screen like this



Hit any key to get to the options list, and select f6, and choose 'nomodeset' and see if that helps.

[Don B. Cilly]

I am really curious as to how you took those screenshots, actually

[claydoh]

I am really curious as to how you took those screenshots, actually

Virtualbox 6

[Knox3k1]

Correct Don, nothing appears to boot. Not sure what KDE is, but can give it a go.

Gave Etcher and the 19.04 and the LTE version, same blank screen.. thanks for the information claydon.

Just noticed a brief message popping up before the boot menu appears:

Error file: "/boot/" not found. This probably explains it.. now how to fix it?

[Don B. Cilly]

Virtualbox 6

@Knox, KDE is the K part of Kubuntu (the good part, IMHO)

So, /boot/ not found, on the Live USB. Never seen that one.
You do have a /boot directory on the stick, don't you?
Just look at it in Windows, it's FAT formatted.

Hmm. Does your BIOS give you different options for USB booting? Like UEFI: USB, Legacy: USB...

[Knox3k1]

Seems a bit odd. When i look at the file structure all i have is:

efi/boot/boot64.efi along with a grub64.efi file.

I can remember seeing a full file structure when I had Lime on the stick. Something must be going wrong. My boot options are for UEFI USB boot.