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I have always used windows and recently decided to make the switch to linux, electing to test it on my laptop before installing it on my main desktop PC.

I downloaded ubuntu 18.04.02 LTS ISO file and mounted it to a USB thumb drive using rufus, booted to from the USB drive, installed ubuntu and upon restarting I am just left with a black screen displaying

/dev/nvme0n1p2: clean, XXXX/XXXX files, XXXX/XXXX blocks

The numbers on this screen do not move and even after leaving it running for the 8 hours I was at work it did not get any further. I have tried re-installing ubuntu twice even remounting the ISO again but I am met with the same result each time.

I am able to boot the laptop in recovery mode and from here I can access the desktop but I wouldn't know where to begin to look for ways to fix the issue from here.

UPDATE 04/07/19: Just to collate all the information that has come out in the comments below for anyone else looking to help.

The full specs of the laptop are:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3550H
RAM: 8 GB DDR4
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 560X 4 GB,
I am installing Ubuntu on an NVMe SSD.

In BIOS I have disabled Secure boot & Fast boot settings and enabled UEFI sata config. There are no visible options for RAID settings in my BIOS for this laptop, so I am working under the assumption it is disabled.

I have verified the MD5 checksum of the ISO file for installation and it is a match. When writing the ISO to the USB I followed the Official Tutorial and used Rufus and all the settings from the tutorial, I have also tried using Etcher as well and still the same issue. I have not yet been able to verify if the USB device itself is faulty or not as I have no other devices that can hold enough space for the ISO file (I also am unable to write to DVD as this laptop does not have a DVD drive and I do not have an external one).

I am unable to boot to the live USB desktop. When doing so I met with a few errors that flash past too fast to read and then the following appears:

[OK] started session cX of user gdm. Starting user manager for UID 121. 
[OK] Started user manager for UID 121. Stopping user manager for UID 121

which repeats increasing the value of cX until it reaches a point where it just stops

I have tried changing a few boot settings from the grub menu on both the current install and on the live USB.

Tried the following: Remove quiet splash and added nomodest text loglevel=0 and again with loglevel=7 instead of 0

All times this was attempted, the boot started with less error messages and more initializing various features, but eventually went to the same gdm... UID 121 messages, only this time with the final error message at the end:

[FAILED] Failed to start user manager for UID 121. See 'systemctl status user@121.service' for details
Gryu
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serendipity0
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    What steps did you follow during the install? Install along windows... etc – schrodingerscatcuriosity Jul 02 '19 at 19:27
  • I followed the replace windows with ubuntu installation as I have rarely used my laptop and didn't particularly have any files to lose. – serendipity0 Jul 02 '19 at 19:31
  • I would start with posting the hardware specs. Is there an Nvidia GPU? The message you see is a part of normal boot output. – mikewhatever Jul 02 '19 at 20:15
  • @Nmath I just tried to boot to the live USB and this met a bunch of errors too, if I can get into recovery mode do you want me to try the Disks application from there? I also checked my SSD and it does indeed appear to be listed as an NVMe drive – serendipity0 Jul 02 '19 at 20:21
  • @mikewhatever Sorry, the full specs are CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3550H RAM: 8 GB DDR4 GPU: AMD Radeon RX 560X 4 GB – serendipity0 Jul 02 '19 at 20:22
  • @Nmath I didnt verify the checksum when I downloaded the ISO, I am updating my windows so I can use the ubuntu terminal to verify it now. I used Rufus to write USB (FreeROM, MBR Partition, BIOS (or UEFI-CSM) Target, FAT32 File System, 16kb Cluster), followed the recommended settings in the ubuntu tutorial for writing to USB. I am trying it now using Etcher) It is possible the USB may be faulty it is a fairly old one that I have had for quite a while and has seen a bit of use, however it's the only one bigger than 4GB I have on me, hopefully I'll be able to borrow one from work tomorrow to try. – serendipity0 Jul 02 '19 at 21:06
  • @Nmath update: verified the checksum of the ISO and it is a match, also tried re-flashing the USB drive using Etcher. Tried to boot the live USB and still caught the same error messages as before. – serendipity0 Jul 02 '19 at 21:58
  • @Nmath I did briefly try this this morning, I definitely have secure boot disabled, fast boot disabled, ACHI mode is on, I couldnt find any RAID options in the BIOS so I'm assuming they are turned off. I tried to boot to the installed ubuntu but still met with the same issue. I ran out of time before work but when I get home I will try it again using the live USB version instead – serendipity0 Jul 03 '19 at 08:45
  • @starkus I can access the grub menu and also boot into recovery mode if needed. I will try the boot parameters you've recommended when I get home from work. – serendipity0 Jul 03 '19 at 08:46
  • @Nmath I have tried a few times now and unfortunately I have not gotten any further with this on either the current install or the live USB version – serendipity0 Jul 03 '19 at 20:55
  • @starkus I have tried removing quiet splash, and added nomodest text and loglevel=0 on the live USB version and it did definintely seem to get further, there were are lot more messages about initializing certain applications etc however it still eventually reached a point where it went no further. I seem to be having an issue booting my laptop full stop now but as soon as I can I will try it with loglevel=7 – serendipity0 Jul 03 '19 at 20:57
  • @starkus Finally managed to try it with loglevel=7 it goes further than normal but seems to hang on `[OK] started session cX of user gdm. Starting user manager for UID 121. [OK] Started user manager for UID 121. Stopping user manager for UID 121` this repeats with the c value increasing each time before it stops it also at the end says `[FAILED] Failed to start user manager for UID 121. See 'systemctl status user@121.service' for details` – serendipity0 Jul 04 '19 at 05:35
  • Unfortunately running with the lightdm line in the boot options still doesn't seem to bring up the desktop, on searching a few forums for similar issues I ran a few diagnostic commands, most came up fine but this one "journalctl -b" brought up quite a few error messages. https://ibb.co/WfwggQ2 https://ibb.co/Cv1H6nF https://ibb.co/TTqjVsS as shown in the images. I have also logged a tech support message with asus incase they have any insight (unlikely but worth a try) – serendipity0 Jul 09 '19 at 11:45

3 Answers3

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Stealing from the comment chain above:

i ran into this same problem and was able to make this work properly by disabling secure boot and ensuring UEFI boot mode was enabled

Mr. Cat
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  • I have followed these instructions as @Nmath also suggested and unfortunately it still seems to be hanging at the same point – serendipity0 Jul 03 '19 at 20:54
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Disable hibernate in Windows, disable fast boot, then go in to grub, choose kernal, press e, then at the end of the Linux boot instructions type "nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=5500" "idle=nomwait"

SDW_1980
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This question is 8 months old, but I found a documented answer after I had a problem for a while myself, and want to share it with whoever finds this question. Ubuntu 18 and 19 had some problems with rufus versions under 3.7 because of a bug. Reference

This problem may occure when organizations or private users usually do not refresh their toolbox with new rufus versions.

Version 3.7 fixed ubuntu 19.10, yet 18.04 is still bugged in that version.

Overall this is less of a problem now, since latest rufus update fixed both versions and now stands at version 3.9.

Official online tools and downloads can be found here

Pizza
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