Installing Ubuntu on MSI GT72S G-220

Question

I'm having issues getting Ubuntu 15.10 on my system. These are my specs:

6th Generation Intel Core i7-6820HK (2.7 GHz) 32 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 256 GB M.2 SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 8 GB GDDR5 17.3" IPS Windows 10 Home

I've done some reading and have attempted a few things but nothing works. I've tried running Ubuntu 14.04 which I could at least get into live mode by using Legacy in the BIOS but I can only see my 1TB HDD and not the m.2 SSD which is where I want to put Ubuntu. When trying to install 15.10, I put the boot mode into UEFI with CSM which is what others have said to do, and I get the grub screen. No matter which selection I try (Live or Install) I get an error that says "Ignoring BGRT: Invalid status 0 (expected 1)" and it freezes. I'm not very experience with Ubuntu at all so I don't know what I'm doing other than what I see online. I'm trying to get Ubuntu 15.10 put alongside my Windows 10 on my m.2 SSD. I was told that the 6th generation processor is what's doing it, and then I was told the NVIDIA card is what's doing it.

This is the actual link to my laptop in case the specs I've provided are not enough: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152934

I'm really thinking about downgrading to another laptop because I can't get Ubuntu or Windows 7 on this thing and I hate Windows 10. Anyway, has anyone had any success with the issue that I'm having?

Answer 1

I've tried running Ubuntu 14.04 which I could at least get into live mode by using Legacy in the BIOS

If the computer already boots another OS in EFI/UEFI mode, as do the vast majority of computers that shipped with Windows 8 or later, then this is the wrong thing to do. I know a lot of Web sites say to do it, but THEY'RE WRONG! Setting this boot mode can work around some problems with booting the installation medium when that medium is prepared incorrectly, but the cost is even worse problems down the line. The result is either a repair or going back to square one to re-create the boot medium and re-install. It's better to do it right from the start by getting the installation medium to boot in EFI/UEFI mode. This can usually be done by using a different tool to prepare the boot medium (Rufus, Unetbootin, and dd can all usually do the job) or by adjusting options in the tool you used to create the boot medium. For more on this subject, see my page on the CSM.

The BGRT message you're seeing has been popping up a lot lately. See, for instance, this question and its answers. I have no personal experience with it, but my impression is that it's not a critical problem, and that the subsequent hang is unrelated.

If the computer is new and you can't get Ubuntu to boot on it, my recommendation is to return it for a refund and get something else. That said, there may be a solution; I'm not familiar with your particular computer or its quirks. You can find a list of laptop and desktop computers certified for use with Ubuntu here. Be aware, though, that many of these systems are sold pre-loaded with Ubuntu, and many of these include drivers or other software that's not a standard part of the distribution, so you may need to track those down if you buy a model that doesn't come with Ubuntu pre-installed.

Answer 2

put these options in the GRUB boot menu

nomodeset  
intel_idle.max_cstate=0

I was having the same issue and resolved by that.

Answer 3

Since this is a top result on Google for several keyword combinations, I wanted to share this (I ended up resigning to solve it on my own because none of the answers for the issues I faced were working/helping):

As of Ubuntu 17.04, most everything with this laptop appears to work out of the box. The only thing I have not tested is Bluetooth, the GPU toggle button, and the Thunderbolt/DisplayPort port.

I had to disable Secure Boot in BIOS. IIRC, the installer went through fine, but the system wouldn't boot afterward, with BIOS throwing a big red error message about signatures or something.

Wifi, LAN, HDMI, USB, audio, and both SSDs (withOUT intel raid - could not get that going so I did something clever with mdadm instead, outlined below) -- all tested/working. The GTX 980m works with the non-free Nvidia driver with zero fuss. System seems stable, though I'm only a couple days in. I can't think of any issues at all that I've had to overcome to get any hardware going.

I installed Ubuntu Server 17.04 because Lubuntu hadn't caught up with the new release at the time of my install (hours after release). In doing so, I was able to get Lubuntu via tasksel. I mention this because it means I have not tested the regular Ubuntu desktop installer. The server installer had some weird quirks during partitioning. Kept freezing up and required several hard power-cycles before I finally got it going. It was probably due to the unusually complex layouts I was experimenting with.

For the SSDs, the end result is that I split both SSDs into two md RAID 0 arrays (~128gb each, naturally). The first holds / and swap. The second is a bcache for the 1tb mechanical disk and where /home is mounted. This gives me absurd disk performance, at least for a laptop! Don't forget to leave ~600MB somewhere bootable for the EFI partition (I forgot to do this and had to install the OS twice).

UPDATE: It is well worth noting that having a 2nd monitor attached to the HDMI port will probably lead to tears when installing the OS or installing a new desktop environment. Simply disconnect the HDMI attachment if you run into any issues where you can't see the mouse or can't CTRL+ALT+FN to a terminal after lightdm starts (maybe reboot after disconnecting the HDMI attachment).

Answer 4

Been there. In my case it was all about some extra kernel params.

While in grub, press [e] to edit selected line's boot options. During Ubuntu installation, [Tab] button allows to do the same (not sure about the button though). On edit screen, there is a line lookin' like

linux /../.. quiet splash

Try removing the 'quiet' option for detailed boot log, and adding these in the end:

libata.force=noncq acpi=off nomodeset

These should get your Ubuntu installed and booting okay. You may want to add these options to Grub permanently, instead typing them on each boot. For this, please read this one: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBootParameters.

Answer 5

I have had Manjaro linux 15.12 XFCE (kernel 4.1) running on my gt72s for 2 months now nearly perfectly. I get freezing if I try to boot with linux kernel 4.3 or 4.4 (killer wifi network driver support added from 4.3~) But I don't need wifi currently so I can wait it out. I suggest you try Manjaro, super fast and beautiful distro and this machine is a beast and more with it.