ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS fails to install on Optimus

G

guifra

Member
Hi all,

I just received my new laptop today, and unfortunately Ubuntu does not seem to install. The installation of ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS reaches the stage of displaying the popup asking to reboot the computer to complete. But during reboot the following errors are displayed:

pcspecialist_ubuntu_install_fails.jpg

Here is the config I purchased:

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte 4K IPS LED Widescreen (3840x2160)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery
Optimus VIII Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System
Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
 
G

guifra

Member
to add on what I tried to get this to work:
- I've tried with 2 different USB keys with ubuntu, both with same version 16.04.3 LTS.
- I've ran a check on each, with no error found
- I've tried using ubuntu from the USB key first, and I could run media, browse internet, use libreoffice. What I could not do, though, is open the system settings. When trying to do so, the cursor would stay in loading mode and the window never opens.

Two things I'd like to check, but don't know how to:
- is the hard drive (SSD) correctly plugged in
- is the BIOS in good state, and not corrupted
I'm not sure how to do those tests, though, so I would love to hear any advice if anyone has any.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Even though you ordered it without an OS, PCS will still have installed Windows on it to test the system before shipping it to you. Did that work?

If you didn't check that before formatting the drive to start your Linux installation you could always download and install Windows 10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

If the system works with that, at least you know the hardware is functional.
 
G

guifra

Member
Thank you for your reply.

I ordered it without windows, but when I booted it first, there was a configuration that asked me a few things. It quickly asked me my skype account, I wasn't quite sure why, so I interrupted it there. I realise from your message it probably was windows setup, but that's surprising since it wasnt part of my order.

Testing with windows is a good idea, though, I'll try it now and get back here with my findings. Thank you for suggesting this.
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I have the older Optimus but with the same CPU and had a lot of trouble with running Ubuntu on it, although I thought most of it was down to the GPU which was known for Linux issues. From memory I think booting with "nomodeset" may have worked, although I was only ever happy running Ubuntu on it after 17.10 came out, have you tried running that?
 
G

guifra

Member
Thank you, good to know.

I m avoiding ubuntu 17, since they are known to cause issues with Lenovo. So I've only tried with 16 at the moment. But I've also just tried with Fedora, and the installation stopped at the following message:

[ OK ] Started User Manager for UID 42.

Not sure what that means, as it was the first time trying with Fedora. I will probably try other linux distribution if Ubuntu doesnt end up working.

But I could also install windows, and that seems to work. Although I am not familiar with Windows at all, so I cant totally be sure that everything is in order.

I'll now try again with ubuntu and "nomodeset". Not quite sure what the latter is yet, but I'll come back to you if I can't find anything.
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I have had Mint working fine on my Optimus VII and 17.10 is OK as is Ubuntu Studio. From what I have read the issues with 17.10 are only with Lenovo and there is now a work around, although I do not like 17.10.
 
G

guifra

Member
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I do not have all my notes with me at the moment but one way out of a log in loop is to purge the nvidia drivers via aputty terminal, ctr+alt+f3 (I think) should open one, then put in your username and password as in a normal termnal, then this command.

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*

then

sudo reboot


I will check later for other stuff as i may not have that quite right. I spent some time getting the right drivers, it was trial and error, so beating the log in loop is needed. You can get up to date drivers here: https://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
You can also try ctrl+alt+T to open a terminal and to remove the wrong drivers

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
 
G

guifra

Member
yes, I could do that, but that just removes the drivers. That does fix the login loop, but I d still like to find the right drivers. I haven't tried from nvidia's website, though, so will try that shortly, thanks a lot.
 
G

guifra

Member
ok, I could get ubuntu studio running just fine, again with nomodeset.

Still trying to get nvidia drivers, though. I downloaded 'Latest Long Lived Branch version: 384.98' (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/126577/en-us), and got the following log after running the script:
--------
> cat /var/log/nvidia-installer.log
nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Thu Dec 28 11:22:21 2017
installer version: 384.98

PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin

nvidia-installer command line:
./nvidia-installer

Unable to load: nvidia-installer ncurses v6 user interface

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> Detected 8 CPUs online; setting concurrency level to 8.
-> License accepted.
-> Installing NVIDIA driver version 384.98.
-> Running distribution scripts
executing: '/usr/lib/nvidia/pre-install'...
-> done.
-> The distribution-provided pre-install script failed! Are you sure you want to continue? (Answer: Abort installation)
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.
--------

I keep looking for alternatives
 
G

guifra

Member
Well, I still haven't managed to get the nvidia drivers working. I could install them on ubuntu studio (see screenshot), and could reboot without a login loop, but when I go to a webpage with a webgl demo (like this example: http://www.playmapscube.com), I see a message saying that browser does not support webgl.

Screenshot_2017-12-28_15-08-36.png

I d love know if someone knows if:
- there is something else I should do to complete the driver installation?
- there is another way to test that my drives are working or not?
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Will ubuntu run straight off the install media? Many Linux distros will run off the installation media, albeit fairly slowly. If you can run ubuntu off the installation media you could use that system to check whether you can access your drives.....
 
G

guifra

Member
Hi ubuysa,

not sure what you mean. You mention "drives", so just to be sure, I can write fine on the hard drive. I am only having issues with NVidia drivers (not drives).

Or is that what you meant? Either way, I've installed ubuntu studio, and not running off the install media anymore.
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
You can try this for getting more drivers, although you may have to change the final number and run it a couple of times. I eventually found the correct driver by trial and error, that is where the nvidia purge came in handy.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-364

Ubuysa meant instead of going for a direct install click on "Try Ubuntu", that will give you a live version running from the USB, from there you can choose to install to your SSD. I do not know why but that sometimes works better.
 
G

guifra

Member
Okay. I m back on ubuntu now, since most of the advice I find are from this distro. I've first ran it live from the USB, then installed it from there. Not sure that is changing anything in this case.

I tried with nvidia-387, 384, 381 and 375. All led to a login loop unfortunately.

At the last attempt, with 375, I looked at my .xsession-errors, in case that could be useful. Here is the content:
-----------------
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
openConnection: connect: No such file or directory
cannot connect to brltty at :0
upstart: gnome-session (Unity) main process (1664) terminated with status 1
upstart: unity-settings-daemon main process (1655) killed by TERM signal
upstart: logrotate main process (1496) killed by TERM signal
upstart: bamfdaemon main process (1578) killed by TERM signal
upstart: hud main process (1653) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-bluetooth main process (1708) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-power main process (1709) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-datetime main process (1712) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-keyboard main process (1714) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-printers main process (1718) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-session main process (1719) killed by TERM signal
upstart: Disconnected from notified D-Bus bus
upstart: unity-panel-service main process (1670) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-sound main process (1716) killed by TERM signal
upstart: unity7 main process (1687) killed by SEGV signal
-----------------
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Not sure where to go from here. I do not have my Optimus with me so cannot check which drivers are in use - there is a chance I can get it dropped round later. Have you tried a different/later version of Ubuntu.
 
G

guifra

Member
Yes, I tried Ubuntu 17 in the end. But I could not even login, as the nomodeset did not seem to do the trick.
 
G

guifra

Member
Also, I should mention that I do not see nvidia-364 available when autocompleting in the shell. I see 361, 367, 375, 381, 384 and 387 (and some below 361, but I havent tried those yet)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top