avril 2019 – Stramanari

20 avril 2019

Ubuntu 18.04 on Dell Alienware m15 Nvidia GTX 1070 : stuck after login

Once Ubuntu 18.04 is installed, I got stuck after the graphical login.

It appears this is a known bug (Password accepted but login fails (blank purple screen and mouse pointer only)), and people have already brought a workaround on AskUbuntu: Ubuntu 18.04 and nVidia. Stuck after boot.

So for short:

Edit your Grub linux line to add nouveau.modeset=0 (you’ll be able to correctly log in)
Then install proprietary drivers

TODO: find a way to make this usable with FLOSS drivers (called nouveau)

20 avril 2019

Make NVME disks visible to Ubuntu USB-key installer

By default, NVME disks are not seen by the Ubuntu 18.04 installer (USB key).

To make the disk(s) visible, you should do this:

when Grub presents options, type e
on the line you’ll select, add load_nvme=YES (you can also remove splash quiet --- that hides the logs of boot)

10 avril 201920 avril 2019

BIOS: Change SATA Operations from RAID to AHCI, without loosing Windows boot, even if no RAID is used

As seen in Install Ubuntu 18.04 along Windows 10 on a Dell Alienware m15 with NVME disks, we need to change a BIOS setting in order to make the NVME disks visible to the Ubuntu installer.

Note 1: this is necessary but not sufficient to make the NVME disks visible by Ubuntu installer, see also Make NVME disks visible to Ubuntu USB-key installer

Note 2: changing this setting is necessary, even if you do not use RAID on your hard drives.

Let’s go.

Step 0

From Windows 10, run CMD as administrator (Start Button, type CMD, choose Run as administrator)
Type: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
Reboot.

Step 1

At boot time, get into the BIOS (on a Dell/Alienware, press F2 just when logo is appearing).
Change SATA Operations from RAID on to AHCI.
Save and reboot to Windows 10 (that will be in Safe Mode).

Step 2

Windows is in Safe mode, launch again CMD as administrator
Type: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
Reboot to Windows 10. Everything should be OK.

Conclusion

This procedure ensures that:

Your NVME disks will be visible by the Ubuntu installer
Your Windows 10 will still be correctly booting (before and after Ubuntu installation).

Resources

Switch Windows 10 from RAID/IDE to AHCI,
From Microsoft Hardware Dev Center: BCDEdit /set (by the way, I couldn’t find documentation about the safeboot option of BCDEdit).

10 avril 201910 avril 2019

Ubuntu 18.04 Live-USB boot freezes on Dell Alienware m15 [SOLVED]

Observed behavior

While booting on a live-USB key to install Ubuntu 18.04 on an Alienware m15 (with SSD NVME disks), the installer gets stuck. No graphical welcome screen.

Solution

Modify Grub options:

When Grub shows options, select an entry (say « Install Ubuntu »), type e to edit.
Replace quiet splash --- by acpi=off (old syntax noacpi does not work).

This worked for me, I had the installer working.

10 avril 201920 avril 2019

Install Ubuntu 18.04 along Windows 10 on a Dell Alienware m15 with NVME disks

Objective

Install Ubuntu 18.04
on an Alienware m15,
with two SSD NVME disks,
and Windows 10 already installed (and the will to keep it)

Organization of this article

This article is made of different parts that were put together after various tries before success. I tried to verify the reproducibility of each step, but I may have missed some.

Parts are presented in a logical order, not a chronological order which would looks like disorder.

Step 0: allocate disk space from Windows

Resize partition(s) from Windows 10 before launching Ubuntu installer. Some users report having boot issues with Windows 8 and Windows 10 if not doing this way.

Mois : avril 2019