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Cant boot into new linux install [solved]

blackangst1

blackangst1

Lifer
I got an older PC to use to learn Linux, and having an issue. Ive tried installing Ubuntu, Mint, and elementaryOS all with the same issue.

Install goes smooth, but when its done and I reboot, it sits at a black screen. No curser, no nothing. Ive tried fixing grub via THIS method and THIS one to no avail. Im not dual booting.

Any ideas?

Hardware:
HERE
 
Well, the first problem is my partition wasnt marked with boot flag. I fixed that, no go. Then, I tried installing the nomodeset command, but apperently grub was missing (I held down the shift key at boot, nothing popped up. Typed grub in terminal, it said grub wasnt installed). I then tried fixing using THIS method. It kept saying "Please close all your package managers (Software Center, Update Manager, Synaptic, ...). Then try again.". I had nothing open though! After several tries it failed.

I did get a bootinfo summary HERE

Im hoping one of you experts can see what the problem is 🙂
 
I'm really interested in what exactly you did LOL, but I say reinstall. Sure we could probably get it working, but then what else would you find configured incorrectly and how long will it take?? Black screen, boot flag, no grub, apt-get locked. Yea.. Just reinstall.

What is your installation source?
Did you check the md5 sum?
Do you remember what installation options you changed?
 
jae said:
I'm really interested in what exactly you did LOL, but I say reinstall. Sure we could probably get it working, but then what else would you find configured incorrectly and how long will it take?? Black screen, boot flag, no grub, apt-get locked. Yea.. Just reinstall.

What is your installation source?
Did you check the md5 sum?
Do you remember what installation options you changed?
Click to expand...

Honestly I wasnt trying to be an install hero here lol. Ive re-installed all 3 distros I listed above multiple times, with the same result. I just did it again.

Ubuntu 15.04, source: ubuntu.com. MD5 hash matches.

I deleted and cleaned up previous partitions until it looked like this before installation:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrm8qc6ic8pvgyg/20150919_124310.jpg?dl=0
Click to expand...
Went through standard options, clicking next on each one (using recommended). Didnt do anything fancy. After installation, it doesnt boot into Linux. Hard drive looked like this AFTER installation:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nany04kj4cu1mk0/2015-09-19%2013.08.01.jpg?dl=0
Click to expand...
I ran a bootinfo before trying any kind of fixing so someone who understands all this can see what wrong. Again, I made NO modifications to anything when I ran this. Its a fresh installation. LINKY

This is getting frustrating lol.
 
jae said:
I'm really interested in what exactly you did LOL, but I say reinstall. Sure we could probably get it working, but then what else would you find configured incorrectly and how long will it take?? Black screen, boot flag, no grub, apt-get locked. Yea.. Just reinstall.
Click to expand...
That's what I'm thinking, especially since there's little invested in this install. I can't imagine how things went south. If you take the defaults, you don't have to do much more than click [Next] until it's finished, with a working install, though nomodeset is a fairly common fix that sometimes has to be made.
 
blackangst1 said:
Honestly I wasnt trying to be an install hero here lol. Ive re-installed all 3 distros I listed above multiple times, with the same result. I just did it again.

Ubuntu 15.04, source: ubuntu.com. MD5 hash matches.

I deleted and cleaned up previous partitions until it looked like this before installation:
Went through standard options, clicking next on each one (using recommended). Didnt do anything fancy. After installation, it doesnt boot into Linux. Hard drive looked like this AFTER installation:
I ran a bootinfo before trying any kind of fixing so someone who understands all this can see what wrong. Again, I made NO modifications to anything when I ran this. Its a fresh installation. LINKY

This is getting frustrating lol.
Click to expand...
Can you list your hardware? Cpu, gfx, HDD, RAM, etc.
 
Still a black screen, right? Since you've reinstalled, have you tried adding nomodeset to your grub config?
 
lxskllr said:
Still a black screen, right? Since you've reinstalled, have you tried adding nomodeset to your grub config?
Click to expand...

Thats the thing...unless my Google-Fu is failing, the instructions I found say to get into the grub file, at BIOS splash screen press and hold the shift key and it should pop up....it doesnt. I couldnt find a way to access it via live CD, although it seems like I should be able to mount the drive and access it? How to do that I have no idea :$
 
Well no luck. Still boots to a black screen.

I did put the live cd in and booted holding the shift key down, to boot into the...what is it...basic non-gui menu. One of the options under F6 (advanced options) is nomodeset. I checked it, and rebooted. No luck. I have a feeling those were options for the gui session.

I'm gonna give this a rest until I have more time next week. It just seems since I'm having the same issue with multiple distros, it's something I'm doing wrong. But for the life of me I don't know what it is.

Appreciate all the help, I'll try again next week.
 
Last edited:
FWIW, I checked out HP's page on that machine, and RedHat was a supported option. There's nothing special about RedHat that wouldn't apply to any other GNU/Linux, so I don't know why you're having issues.
 
lxskllr said:
FWIW, I checked out HP's page on that machine, and RedHat was a supported option. There's nothing special about RedHat that wouldn't apply to any other GNU/Linux, so I don't know why you're having issues.
Click to expand...
Yeah I saw that too. Do those boot logs reveal anything? I don't really know what I'm looking at with those lol
 
Well, I posted in the ubuntu forums, and apparently my partitions arent aliged to the hard drive correctly as evidenced by:

Disk /dev/sda: 232.9 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
/dev/sda1 * 2048 484204543 484202496 230.9G 83 Linux
Click to expand...

and somehow, probably due to sector misalignment, grub didnt install in the correct place as evidenced by the log message:

Unknown BootLoader on sda2
Click to expand...

The recommendation was to run dd on the harddrive, and try installing the LTS release, instead of the newer one.

Ill try that in the next few days.
 
Well, after several dd's and God knows what else after hours of reading and Googling, I determined I had a bad HD as I kept getting HD alignment/sector errors. Ordered a new HD, installed it, and Ubuntu installed and is running flawlessly!

Ugh. Thanks you guys for all your help. and Im sure Ill have more questions as I dig deeper.
 
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