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I'm trying to install Ubuntu 18.04 from flash disk on my laptop (Asus x550j) but each time it freezes at the "updates and other software" page.

I tried different ways: normal install, minimal install, installation without networking, installation with networking, but still the same problem.

Regards

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4 Answers 4

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5

I had the same problem, and I spent several days trying different .ISO files, USB sticks, UEFI and secure-boot settings, all to no avail.

I finally did find a workaround, but you're not going to like it because it is time-consuming. First install Ubuntu 16.04, and then upgrade to 18.04 with this: 

sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get upgrade  
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

The upgrade takes a few hours, but at least it works.

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  • Thank you. I tried the same solution and it worked, but since it took a very long time, I thought there will be a better solution. I don't know if this problem is related to the laptop type (Asus x550j), or not?
    – shambakey1
    Jun 24, 2018 at 14:14
  • @shambakey1 Given that you know it works I think the answer deserves at least an up-vote from you.... Rene only has one point and I have given him 10 more by an up-vote based on your acknowledgement it works. I think it's the nice thing to do :)
    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Aug 30, 2018 at 0:57
  • @shambakey1 I have an Asus x556u and got the same problem (including 18.10 beta), so most probably it has something to do with it. This model has a problem that fills up logs with a pcie error, maybe it's related. askubuntu.com/questions/863150/…
    – Cmorales
    Oct 9, 2018 at 18:35
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I had the same issue. For me it was the graphics driver (Nouveau) that made the system freeze.

Then I found a solution that worked for me.

  1. Disable Secure boot (BIOS setting)
  2. Boot from USB
  3. In the grub menu, go to the Install Ubuntu option (BUT DONT PRESS ENTER)
  4. Press 'e'
  5. Find the line that starts with 'linux' and after 'quiet splash' add: modprobe.blacklist=nouveau

  6. Install Ubuntu Once the installation is done, remove the pendrive and reboot system
    Installing Nvidia Drivers

  7. Select Ubuntu in the GRUB menu (you may need to repeat the modprobe.blacklist=nouveau step if the screen freezes again).

  8. Run the following commands in a terminal window

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update
//You can change this driver to whatever version suits you best
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-418
sudo reboot

  9. Profit!

This solution was found here:
https://gist.github.com/mari-linhares/cef4cb3440408e44963d1447a7db5ae0

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4

As I suspected in my comment above (Ubuntu 18.04 installation problem) this is related to a bug that fills up the log (GBs in minutes): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/671979

The solution for that bug is to edit grub and restart, which is useless in this case, being a liveUSB session.

What I did instead, was to disable logging alltogether, following this other answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/32553762/1203176 :

service rsyslog stop

I chose "Try without installing", got to the graphic environment and entered that command in the terminal, before choosing the installation. Doing that, I was able to get past the normal/minimal install page, and complete the installation. Once the system was installed, I could follow the grub solution for the log bug.

Hope that helps, it's still a problem for 18.10

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  • 1
    hello, sounds like a good solution. Install is a serie of install screen. At which point / how do you enter the command ? Thanks.
    – Bob Yoplait
    Oct 28, 2018 at 15:47
  • Woops! Good point, I forgot to mention that I used the "try without installing" method, so I got access to a terminal as if I were in a "real" environment. Editing my answer.
    – Cmorales
    Oct 30, 2018 at 21:56
  • I tried stopping rsyslog but still couldn't get through. I ran top and saw that some process with the word mount was pegging a single cpu to 100%. I force killed it and the installation continued fine.
    – senorsmile
    Jun 23, 2019 at 22:33
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Possibly the installation media is corrupt/damaged.

I recommend downloading the .iso again, and then after the download is complete, verify the file using a hash function. You can see the hash files listed alongside the .iso's:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/

Here's a more complete tutorial on that, if needed:

https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-how-to-verify-ubuntu#0

Once you have a known good .iso, install it onto a freshly formatted usb flash drive. On your first boot of the flash drive, instead of trying Ubuntu, select to "Verify boot media". This will run an additional check to ensure the .iso was written to the USB drive without error.

If that also completes without error, try installing Ubuntu onto your laptop again with this verified image and known good installer.

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  • Thank you. I tried what you said, but unfortunately, it still hangs. The only new thing is that it may hang at 'disk layout' page instead of 'software download' page. I also tried to install from DVD, and tried different installation options (e.g., minimal installation, installation without downloading software, ... etc), but still no progress.
    – shambakey1
    May 2, 2018 at 17:38

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