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Thanks both, some useful suggestions in there. In the end, I went for an install based on 18.04.01, which got far enough that I could get a tty up and install the nvidia-driver as Mr Meowski advised. I'm happy with that solution, as 18.10 has some other, er, beneficial features like: launching the Slack desktop app will crash Gnome back to the login prompt (**) But for now, I have a working laptop, so onwards and upwards! Parenthetically, every time I set up a new machine I have a manual check-list of things that I install, tweak or symlink to. I keep thinking "this ought to be automatable", but have never got around to doing anything about it. Does anyone have a good solution for this? (I know I could do it with Chef/Puppet/Ansible etc, but that feels like using a JCB to crack a nut) Cheers, Ian (**) I'm aware that some people will view being unable to run Slack as a feature, not a bug :) On Mon, 29 Oct 2018 at 15:38, mr meowski <mr.meowski@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On 29/10/2018 12:12, Ian Dickinson wrote: > > I've just ordered myself a new Cosmos VII laptop from PcSpecialist. > > I've done a number of Ubuntu installs in the past, and generally > > speaking they Just Work. Alas, not this time. > > > > The machine is an I7 CPU with the NVidia GTX 1050 graphics card, and > > no other OS. > > > > * The first problem was that booting from the USB startup disk hangs > > while either trying to "Try Ubuntu" or "Install Ubuntu". Googling > > suggests that this is due to graphics driver issues, and to add > > "nomodeset" to the grub boot command. This does indeed stop it > > hanging, but: > > > > * the second problem is that with nomodeset on grub, the aspect ratio > > of the installer is out-of-whack, and some of the dialog boxes are off > > screen. It's kind-of OK because I can tab to the "ok" button to > > proceed through the installation, even when it's off screen, but then: > > > > * having completed the installer, and booted to the Ubuntu login menu, > > when I log in I get the "black screen of death" - a mouse pointer, but > > then everything freezes up. Again, googling suggests maybe graphics > > driver issues, but the suggested work around is to install the nvidia > > drivers and I can't get a console up with ctl-alt-F2, even from the > > boot screen > > > > * I also can't get the Grub boot menu to appear. The suggested route, > > hitting shift after the BIOS boot, doens't work. Hitting ESC *does* > > get the grub command line interface, but I'm not sure what I need to > > do from there to get a text-mode boot. > > > > I haven't yet tried: disabling BIOS options, like secure boot, or > > installing an older Ubuntu distro. I also feel that there are more > > intelligent grub options I can other than just 'nomodeset' (I don't > > really understand what that does, I just copied it from a forum > > posting I found!), but I've reached the limit of my understanding of > > the lower levels of Ubuntu. > > > > Very happy to receive any suggestions! > > Thanks, > > Ian > > > > Amazing that stuff like this is _still_ happening in 2018, good work > Nvidia :| > > A few things to try: check the EFI settings and see if anything strange > is going on in there. I believe your laptop is an Optimus one with both > Intel graphics built in to the CPU and the discrete 1050. Disabling the > intelligent switching or temporarily completely disabling the Nvidia > graphics entirely should at least let you boot cleanly into the new OS > on Intel graphics alone and then you can install the Nvidia drivers, > enable SSH, reboot and re-enable the 1050. It should then be ok. > > That's a bit dirty so I'd do this first: > > The grub menu only shows by default if you hold the LEFT shift down > during boot in the very early stages. That being said this appears to be > more of a guideline than anything else, some of my Ubuntu systems also > only respond to Esc instead of left Shift like they should. Either way, > once you can see the standard grub menu you'll see a list of options > like so: > > https://cdn.instructables.com/F52/JUNA/HET0RS1T/F52JUNAHET0RS1T.LARGE.jpg > > If you choose the "Advanced options for Ubuntu" you'll get more options > in pairs, 2 per installed kernel (so you might only have two options so > far with just the default installation kernel). Selecting them will > either start the system normally or start the same kernel in "rescue > mode" which probably still isn't what you want. Rescue mode is now a > systemd target rather than the crappy old runlevels so to take advantage > of this properly select the very top non-rescue kernel and hit "e" to > temporarily edit it for the current boot. > > You'll see the grub boot stanza so navigate down to the bottom where you > see the line starting "linux" - edit this as follows. > > Move to the end of the line and delete "quiet splash $vt_handoff" and > add this to the end: > > systemd.unit=multi-user.target > > My finished line in an Ubuntu VM looks like this: > > linux /vmlinuz-4.19.0-pf2-meowski+ root=/dev/mapper/wyrmwood--vg-root ro > systemd.unit=multi-user.target > > Hit F10 or Ctrl+X to boot the system with your modified parameters and > wait for the tty to pop up so you can login. > > "systemd.unit=multi-user.target" is the modern equivalent of the old > boot to runlevel 3 trick and is going to be a lot more use to you than > rescue mode (in modern terms: "systemd.unit=emergency.target") which > doesn't start most of your services including the network.target. > > Once you're in make sure that before you go any further you install some > remote access tools and make a note to yourself to disable them later if > you want to (or better yet, firewall them off correctly). > > sudo apt install openssh* cockpit > > Even if you can't get into the system thanks to a non-responsive > physical tty (I've got loads of Nvidia systems and have seen your exact > problem more times than I care to remember) then you can either SSH to > your laptop or if you'd prefer, point a browser on another system at > https://1.2.3.4:9050 for graphical management. > > Report back with any issues and good luck :] > > I also hugely recommend you enable an Ubuntu repo with the latest > graphics packages available - your 1050 is going to need it. > > sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa > > Should look something like this once you've installed the proper ones: > > ghost@failbot:~$ apt-cache policy nvidia-driver-410 | head -n 3 > nvidia-driver-410: > Installed: 410.73-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 > Candidate: 410.73-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 > > Cheers > -- > The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG > https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list > FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq