Inability to Boot to Ubuntu

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Detailed Answer relating to UEFI

I'll update this question as I go, but the short of it is I am unable to boot into a live/install Ubuntu/Elementary/Linux Mint/Manjaro on my PC (I am contemplating attempting to install Arch Linux on the PC as I understand this is a fairly stable distribution).

Today there was a power surge at my house and Windows has thrown a fit (no SDD damage to my knowledge, ran a Hiren boot CD and performed some testing) but I am pretty annoyed by the ease of trouble, so thought I'd migrate to Linux again (I jump boat pretty frequently). I am currently unable to boot into Linux to perform the install, and would like some pointers and help.

Process

I flashed my motherboard with the latest firmware (F8) and set the following options:

Fast Boot = Disabled
Windows 8 Features = Other OS
Boot Mode Selection = UEFI and Legacy
Legacy USB Support = Enabled

I am using RUFUS as my USB tool, selecting MBR and GPT for UEFI and Legacy

I am currently using another PC to type this question, but will start reading other Q's on the forum and try to solve this issue, but would appreciate some feedback. The below information is readily available, and once more comes available I will share.

Unable to Mount USB

I receive an error relating to this on most of the boots, I think it is just in relation to my gaming keyboard, mouse and or headset. Currently using an older USB-connected keyboard and am not receiving this error.

Current Hardware

The PC I am using has the following hardware (I have only included what I believe is the relevant hardware)

Graphics:EVGA 1070 Founders Edition

CPU: Intel i7 4970K

RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury [32GB]

Motherboard: Gigbyte Z97X-Gaming

SSD: Intel 530 SSD - 120/120/480

Distributions Attempted

I have attempted the following distributions via Rufus (using both ISO and DD write methods):

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
• Manjaro Linux 16.06.1 XFCE
• Elementary OS 0.3.2 Stable (Freya I believe)
• Linux Mint 18 XFCE

I will also be attempting:

• Ubuntu 16.10
• Linux Mint 18.1
• Parrot 3.4.1

Booting from a SanDisk Cruzer Edge 4GB USB Flash Drive, attempting both the UEFI and standard boot method available through the boot options, neither options seem to allow me to get through the loading screens with any of these distributions.

Please be aware I am following the process as described here to boot to both Legacy and UEFI Mode.

I will also need to perform this as as I note Ubuntu made 2 entries when I attempted both UEFI and Legacy.

nouveau loading

I have tested trying to boot to Arch (UEFI and Compatibility), and both get to the trigger event attempting to load nouveau, which fails. As far as I am aware, this is the graphics software that runs my nVidia GPU. In the other distributions I have not been able to access anything pass the boot option, but think perhaps it may be the same issue, I will need to test.

Answer 1

If I did understand everything correctly, you are not able to boot any Linux installation media at all. This is due to the fact that you are having very new hardware - especially the latest available graphics processor EVGA GEFORCE GTX 1070 FOUNDERS EDITION - which is a slightly modified branded version of the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 processor unit.

Those new graphics chips are known to have extreme compatibility issues with the open source nouveau drivers what prevents a Linux installation media or system from booting successfully. Also 3rd party installation media creation tools like Rufus, Unetbootin or WinUSB for example, are not creating the USB installation media properly in many cases.

As this is a Q&A site for Ubuntu, I provide you with the solution how to solve it for Ubuntu.
A tool to create a correctly working installation media is GNOME Disks and available in the repositories of nearly all Linux distributions ... in Ubuntu it is called gnome-disk-utility.

Open Disks - select Restore Disk Image from the menu on the top right.
Choose the ISO file and the USB drive to write it to, then start restoring.

Now boot from the created Ubuntu installation media, select Try Ubuntu without installing.
Press the E key and add the parameter nouveau.modeset=0 at the end of the linux line.
Press the F10 key and boot into the Ubuntu Live desktop - start the installation of Ubuntu.
Note : Set a Space between the last character in the linux line and nouveau.modeset=0.

Additional information : The way to create the USB media as described above is recommended ! When there's no chance for you to do it on a machine running a Linux system and you have to do it from within Windows ... you can create the installation media with the built-in diskpart tool.
On running Windows operating system open Command prompt as administrator and execute :

diskpart
list disk  
select disk *  
clean  
create partition primary  
active  
format fs=fat32 quick  
assign letter=**  

Note : * = number of USB drive | ** = select a free drive letter
Now mount the ISO file and copy the content to the USB disk.