Enable nomodeset in UEFI mode on Ubuntu Live USB?

[TheStyne]

I've been trying to install Linux for the first time. I've tried several Linux distros over the last couple weeks, and have issues with every single one.

I finally got Ubuntu to install the other day, by booting the Live USB in BIOS mode and then enabling the "nomodeset" parameter. This means it was installed in BIOS mode, not UEFI. 

My problem now is that I'm experiencing many issues with my installation. When booting, I get black and white stripes as described here, unless I boot in recovery mode. This is all fine, except I'm trying to use this PC for video consumption and the Intel Graphics drivers don't seem to be working properly in recovery mode. This makes for choppy video which is CPU bound, although in windows the CPU has no problem with video. This leads me to believe it's a video driver issue, and may be related to recovery mode boot.

So, the next thing I'm going to try is booting from a UEFI installation. My question is, how do I enable "nomodeset" when booting the Live USB in UEFI mode, as I can only seem to do it in BIOS mode. Any help is really appreciated. 

Thanks, Alex.

[Sauron]

Edit /etc/default/grub and add the "nomodeset" option to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="... nomodeset"

then regenerate the grub configuration with

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

 

[TheStyne]

Just now, Sauron said:

Edit /etc/default/grub and add the "nomodeset" option to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="... nomodeset"

then regenerate the grub configuration with

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

 

Will this work from the Live USB?

[Sauron]

9 hours ago, Fixinit1 said:

Will this work from the Live USB?

Oh sorry, I thought you meant once it was already installed. From the live USB you should be able to press e when you get to grub and add nomodeset to the "linux" line as detailed here.

[TheStyne]

12 hours ago, Sauron said:

Oh sorry, I thought you meant once it was already installed. From the live USB you should be able to press e when you get to grub and add nomodeset to the "linux" line as detailed here.

Thanks for the advice. I think I've found my issue. When opening GRUB, I only get the command line while in UEFI mode. After further investigation, there is something wrong with the GRUB when using the drive in USB mode. I'm going to try recreating the bootable USB now to see if I can fix the issue.

[Chunchunmaru_]

On 5/30/2019 at 3:05 AM, Fixinit1 said:

I've been trying to install Linux for the first time. I've tried several Linux distros over the last couple weeks, and have issues with every single one.

I finally got Ubuntu to install the other day, by booting the Live USB in BIOS mode and then enabling the "nomodeset" parameter. This means it was installed in BIOS mode, not UEFI. 

My problem now is that I'm experiencing many issues with my installation. When booting, I get black and white stripes as described here, unless I boot in recovery mode. This is all fine, except I'm trying to use this PC for video consumption and the Intel Graphics drivers don't seem to be working properly in recovery mode. This makes for choppy video which is CPU bound, although in windows the CPU has no problem with video. This leads me to believe it's a video driver issue, and may be related to recovery mode boot.

So, the next thing I'm going to try is booting from a UEFI installation. My question is, how do I enable "nomodeset" when booting the Live USB in UEFI mode, as I can only seem to do it in BIOS mode. Any help is really appreciated. 

Thanks, Alex.

Why do you need to enable nomodeset, what GPU you got?

[TheStyne]

8 hours ago, Chunchunmaru_ said:

Why do you need to enable nomodeset, what GPU you got?

Intel integrated for Pentium N3540. It's causing me a ton of problems. I got it to boot up in UEFI mode FINALLY, and installed Ubuntu in UEFI mode instead of BIOS. Now, my network adapter isn't working, even though it was on the Live USB. I also have no graphics drivers, but I need internet to get them, so fixing the network adapter is my first priority. Solving one problem just leads to another in this installation process.

[moriel5]

On 6/1/2019 at 4:07 AM, Fixinit1 said:

Intel integrated for Pentium N3540. It's causing me a ton of problems. I got it to boot up in UEFI mode FINALLY, and installed Ubuntu in UEFI mode instead of BIOS. Now, my network adapter isn't working, even though it was on the Live USB. I also have no graphics drivers, but I need internet to get them, so fixing the network adapter is my first priority. Solving one problem just leads to another in this installation process.

I'm not saying that you don't make sense, since you do, but the situation makes no sense to me since Intel has top-notch support on Linux.

Perhaps your computer's UEFI implementation (this is not that rare).

 

About the network adapter, what maker is it?

Intel and Qualcomm (Atheros) have absolutely great out-of-the-box support on Linux, while Broadcom has good support, just not out-of-the-box (closed source firmware that they require you to compile on your own, from their website), and Realtek is absolutely horrid (worse on Windows), if working, it is usually out-of-the-box (with reduced performance (and reduced battery life) in any case), and if not, you need to compile beta drivers from GitHub (working directly with Realtek's sources is a nightmare from what I had heard).

[TheStyne]

On 6/3/2019 at 1:24 PM, moriel5 said:

I'm not saying that you don't make sense, since you do, but the situation makes no sense to me since Intel has top-notch support on Linux.

Perhaps your computer's UEFI implementation (this is not that rare).

 

About the network adapter, what maker is it?

Intel and Qualcomm (Atheros) have absolutely great out-of-the-box support on Linux, while Broadcom has good support, just not out-of-the-box (closed source firmware that they require you to compile on your own, from their website), and Realtek is absolutely horrid (worse on Windows), if working, it is usually out-of-the-box (with reduced performance (and reduced battery life) in any case), and if not, you need to compile beta drivers from GitHub (working directly with Realtek's sources is a nightmare from what I had heard).

Sorry about that, got checked out for exams, Anyway, I'm back now.

 

Broadcom wireless, Realtek ethernet. Both work when installed in BIOS mode or when running from Live USB, but nothing UEFI. I have no idea why this thing won't just work. It's really frustrating. I'm coming back to it now, and I'm going to try another fresh install in UEFI mode to see if I can get the network cards to work. I've tried everything the internet recommended.

[moriel5]

On 6/13/2019 at 5:12 AM, Fixinit1 said:

Sorry about that, got checked out for exams, Anyway, I'm back now.

 

Broadcom wireless, Realtek ethernet. Both work when installed in BIOS mode or when running from Live USB, but nothing UEFI. I have no idea why this thing won't just work. It's really frustrating. I'm coming back to it now, and I'm going to try another fresh install in UEFI mode to see if I can get the network cards to work. I've tried everything the internet recommended.

I'm sorry I took so long, however this is indeed extremely odd.

What laptop do you have? This may be caused by a bug in the firmware.

 

As for the Linux side, the ethernet connection should work (albeit nowhere near the promised speeds, due to Realtek's driver relying too much upon CPU power, and you have a relatively weak CPU), while the Broadcom card may require closed source firmware to function, which should get installed by opening "Software and Repositories" (or something of the sort, but it needs to be the settings, not the software center) and under "Additional Software" (or something of the sort, I'm a bit rusty with Ubuntu at the moment) you should find an option to switch to the closed source components for the Broadcom card (Broadcom does not allow for their firmwares to be in linux-firmware). This will require access to the internet though.