Ubuntu Server 17.04 - NUC6CAYS - Random freeze after Grub

Question

I have an Intel NUC NUC6CAYS updated to latest bios. The eMMC containing Windows is disabled and I've installed an SSD inside for Linux.

• BIOS is at latest version and "UEFI OS Selection" setting is "Linux".
• UEFI Mode
• Fresh install of Ubuntu Server 17.04 updated

It's working but sometimes the system hang after reboot. I did a tons of reboot to diagnose and when it happen it's always right after GRUB menu.

I tried to:

• Hold SHIFT
• Hole ESC
• Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE

Nothing work when it's freezed, I have to long press the power button to shut it down and restart.

So far, I tried many GRUB settings without success (nomodeset, max_cstate):

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=2
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=2

The problem was also in Ubuntu Server 16.04.02 LTS with Kernel 4.8, I updated to 17.04 to see if Kernel 4.10 was fixing it.

I can't find logs when this happen and journalctl doesn't log the boot tentative.

Update I tried to install Ubuntu Server on a brand new SSD and I got the same Black screen freeze after selecting Install Ubuntu Server from the GRUB menu! I restarted and tried it but this time it worked. So it's really random and always after GRUB.

I've edited my \boot\grub\grub.cfg file on the USB to add debug loglevel=7 earlyprintk=efi :

menuentry "Install Ubuntu Server" --id ubuntu-server {
    set gfxpayload=keep
    echo "Installing...."
    linux   /install/vmlinuz  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-server.seed debug loglevel=7 earlyprintk=efi ---
    initrd  /install/initrd.gz
}

Now I can see my early printk, after many reboots I finally reproduced the issue but the system hang right after:

[    0.00000] Console: colour dummy device 80x25
[    0.00000] console [tty0] enabled
[    0.00000] bootconsole [earlyefi0] disabled

So it's not really helping me, freezing after earlyefi logs.

Thanks a lot for help

Answer 1

Change the bios options according to this procedure and checks :

1. Press F2 when prompted during boot to enter BIOS Setup.
2. Press F9 to set all BIOS options to default values.

3. Select Advanced.

   a. On the Devices and Peripherals > SATA menu, Chipset SATA Mode to AHCI.

   b. On the Boot > Boot Priority menu, in the Legacy Boot Priority pane, Legacy Boot is disabled (unchecked).

   c. On the Boot > Boot Configuration menu, in the UEFI Boot pane, OS Selection is set to Windows 8.x/Windows 10.

4. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS Setup.

5. Proceed with the installation of the operating system.