Ubuntu 19.10 Stuck at Loading OS

[Windows7ge]

I have now reinstalled 19.10 onto an SSD 3 times with the same results:

1. OS installs without error
2. Restart and load the OS
3. OS loads without error
4. Install an application/driver or two. Run apt update && apt upgrade
5. Restart
6. OS gets stuck at loading screen (pic)

 

I'm dumbfounded. Each time, same result. Loads correctly the first boot stops working the 2nd. This isn't the first time I've experienced this type of issue on earlier versions of Ubuntu but the issue was always fixed by just restarting the machine. This time the issue is persistent. Have you @MEC-777 had this issue before and had any success getting around it? Perhaps I should try a different distribution like Mint or Pop and see if the results are different?

 

Right now this is not my primary SSD. It's a scratch SSD for general testing.

 

All troubleshooting suggestions from everyone are appreciated.

 

Hardware (no OC's):

AMD Threadripper 1950X

G.Skill Ripjaws 4x8GB 2400MHz

ASUS X399-A PRIME

2xSapphire Tri-X R9 290X's

ADATA SP900 64GB (For testing Ubuntu 19.10)

Samsung 960 Pro 1TB (running Ubuntu 19.04)

Broadcom BCM85710S Dual SFP+ NIC

Corsair AX1200i

 

To create the bootable thumb drive for installing 19.10 I used dd (may or may not have something to do with the issue):

umount /dev/sdb1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
dd if=ubuntu-19.10-desktop-amd64.iso  of=/dev/sdb

[NinJake]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Hardware (no OC's):

AMD Threadripper 1950X

G.Skill Ripjaws 4x8GB 2400MHz

ASUS X399-A PRIME

2xSapphire Tri-X R9 290X's

ADATA SP900 64GB (For testing Ubuntu 19.10)

Samsung 960 Pro 1TB (running Ubuntu 19.04)

Broadcom BCM85710S Dual SFP+ NIC

Corsair AX1200i

Have you tried disconnecting this Samsung 960 drive?

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, NinJake said:

Have you tried disconnecting this Samsung 960 drive?

Yes. I wanted to be absolutely sure that I didn't accidentally overwrite my working 19.04 install. All 3 attempts were done without the M.2 SSD installed.

[MEC-777]

Can try Mint 19.2. It's based on Ubuntu 18.4.2 IIRC.

Can also try the latest version of Pop!OS, which is based on Ubuntu 19.10. If that works, then there must be some issue with Ubuntu specifically.

 

Is it only after you update and upgrade that this happens? or on the 2nd boot, regardless?

[Windows7ge]

4 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Can also try the latest version of Pop!OS, which is based on Ubuntu 19.10. If that works, then there must be some issue with Ubuntu specifically.

If that's the case I'll test Pop to see if this is in any way a more deeply rooted issue. If I get similar results I might switch to Mint 19.2

 

4 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Is it only after you update and upgrade that this happens? or on the 2nd boot, regardless?

I have not tested that. All 3 times I updated/upgraded but I can try it later tonight/tomorrow. I'll do a bare minimal install w/out updates and see if simply getting to the desktop and restarting makes a difference.

[Windows7ge]

8 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Is it only after you update and upgrade that this happens? or on the 2nd boot, regardless?

4th try.

1. Minimal install
2. Disabled update during install
3. Changed no settings at all once I reached the desktop
4. Restarted
5. Same result. Hung on the blinking dots.

This time though the installer produced an error saying it had a hard time reading a certain file from the CD/DVD (my thumb drive). I'm going to try using a different thumb drive as the installer but seeing as how it boots properly once, I have doubts this will change anything.

 

Update: Different thumb drive changed nothing.

[MEC-777]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

4th try.

1. Minimal install
2. Disabled update during install
3. Changed no settings at all once I reached the desktop
4. Restarted
5. Same result. Hung on the blinking dots.

This time though the installer produced an error saying it had a hard time reading a certain file from the CD/DVD (my thumb drive). I'm going to try using a different thumb drive as the installer but seeing as how it boots properly once, I have doubts this will change anything.

 

Update: Different thumb drive changed nothing.

Try re-downloading the ISO and verify it with the checksum. I usually don't bother, but if problems arise with multiple fresh installs from the same ISO, it's possible that ISO is somehow corrupt.

[Windows7ge]

13 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Try re-downloading the ISO and verify it with the checksum. I usually don't bother, but if problems arise with multiple fresh installs from the same ISO, it's possible that ISO is somehow corrupt.

I will try that and report back. I'm very curious if Pop will give me the same issue. That'll be next.

[Windows7ge]

18 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

Try re-downloading the ISO and verify it with the checksum. I usually don't bother, but if problems arise with multiple fresh installs from the same ISO, it's possible that ISO is somehow corrupt.

Redownloaded the ISO and verified both the old and new copies. Both were OK. Same result though. Boots successfully once then never again.

 

I decided to try PopOS 19.10. It has been restarted several times and is perfectly fine. No problems at all. Ran updates. Installed some things. Fine & dandy.

 

So:

1. Ubuntu 19.04 works fine.
2. PopOS 19.10 which is based on Ubuntu 19.10 works fine.
3. Ubuntu 19.10 commits seppuku after 1 successful boot every time.
4. What is my computers problem with specifically Ubuntu 19.10?

Well, if I'm going to switch distros the first thing I want to do is get BOINC to recognize my GPUs. Currently trying to test the AMDGPU driver but so far I can't get PopOS to switch over to it.

 

Update:

I might just go backwards. I couldn't figure out drivers & OpenCL on PopOS and resources online for this are scarce. Honestly resources for using BOINC on Linux is kind of scarce period. What does exist are for very out of date versions (10.*,12.*,14.*). I might make a short tutorial on how to set this up on 18.04.3 since the compute performance is considerably better than BOINC on Windows.

 

I installed the current latest LTS version 18.04.3 LTS on the scratch SSD. AMD carries a AMDGPU-PRO driver for it (one exists for 19.04 but it has massive screen tearing issues). Installing this via the installer without adding arguments apparently doesn't install the OpenCL component. But running:

./amdgpu-pro-install --opencl=legacy,pal,rocm

Will install:

• Legacy - Pre Vega10
• Pal - Vega10 and newer cards
• Rocm - Vega10 and newer cards (when using the 18.Q1.1 Enterprise driver)

Those are all AMD workstation series GPUs but with them installed:

It works. So I might switch to LTS. I have found 19.04 has a number of bug issues that I've never found solutions for.