Blank screen while trying to install Kubuntu

[Don B. Cilly]

About partitioning:
This is what my sda drive looks like in gparted..



Just to say, it sounds complicated, but it's not, really.

/dev/sda2 and sda3 are presently unused, forget about them.
You'll just need the other three.

And I know I said I'm only using 25 gigs and you can see 130 used on /dev/sda. It's another disk, an old system and it has lots of storage on it (it's a big disk) :·)

[jglen490]

O.K. So ignoring /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3; then/dev/sda5 is your ESP, /dev/sda1 is your / partition, and /dev/sda4 is your SWAP partition. Some mught question the lack of a separate /home partition away from the rest of /, but ultimately that's yours to answer whether the update convenience of a separate /home is worth the added complexity in /etc/fstab. And so that's all that is really necessary for a Linux install. Since the OP suggested this would be a dual boot, then the objective will be to make use of any unused space from shrinking the Windows drive, and "Install Alongside". And jlittle is absolutely correct that when you get a black screen with the little characters at the bottom, installer is asking for human input from the keyboard. And with some systems that means "Enter" and nothing else. Then once the initial installer screen pops up, you can modify the installer's boot parameters.

Another correct observation is, once you select BIOS/UEFI options, any OS that is later successfully installed, will be installed using the selected parameters. Changing those BIOS/UEFI parameters post-install will usually result in the OS not booting correctly, if at all.

My choice is always a separate /home, but that's the way I approach backups and fresh installs (when needed).

[Don B. Cilly]

Well, my BIOS release date is 07/07/2014.
On more modern ones it may be different, but on this one, if I want to boot from a USB stick, I have to tell it plain USB. If I use UEFI: USB, it won't boot.
Of course any system already installed ( I have like 5 on 3 disks) uses UEFI, but I don't use the BIOS to choose them. Just the boot manager.
I also have different boot managers, but I just use rEFInd for all of them.

Thing is, if I want to boot from USB, I have to go through the BIOS. Booting with the stick inserted is not enough.
Otherwise, I never see the BIOS menu at all.

[Knox3k1]

Thank you all for the informative posts..you have enlightened and confused me.

Regarding the "Enter" key option. I do not get to any kind of icon screen and the "Enter" button does nothing on the blank screen sadly.

Now, before I just jump into installing Kubuntu I am thoroughly confused about partitions. I have an un-allocated partition of 337.67GB waiting for the Linux install, so when I start the install process I guess I will be asked to create multiple partitions? Could someone explain which partitions I need to create and what size to allocate to them?

Briefly I had this noted down:

• Boot - 200mb
• Root - 20GB
• Home - as much as I like - Is this for app storage and general file storage?
• SWAP - Ram (6GB) x2 so 12GB?

^ I am unclear on the above..

[claydoh]

Thank you all for the informative posts..you have enlightened and confused me.

Regarding the "Enter" key option. I do not get to any kind of icon screen and the "Enter" button does nothing on the blank screen sadly.

Now, before I just jump into installing Kubuntu I am thoroughly confused about partitions. I have an un-allocated partition of 337.67GB waiting for the Linux install, so when I start the install process I guess I will be asked to create multiple partitions? Could someone explain which partitions I need to create and what size to allocate to them?

Briefly I had this noted down:

• Boot - 200mb
• Root - 20GB
• Home - as much as I like - Is this for app storage and general file storage?
• SWAP - Ram (6GB) x2 so 12GB?

^ I am unclear on the above..

You should be prompted to use the unused space. It should take care of the rest, setting up your partition (just one, unless you use the Something Else option for custom installs)
You don't need separate boot partition, and you already have an EFI partition from WIndows, which OI think will be picked up automatically. *buntu now uses a swap file instead of a partition, unless you do the custom option.

Gimme a few and I will see if I can get some screen grabs.

[Don B. Cilly]

Well, the separate /home partition,
1. You don't actually need it, unless you're planning on re-installing and keeping all your personal options. In which case you could back it up and restore it anyway.
2. I didn't "advise" it, this being your first install, as I thought I'd "complicated" things enough.

Thing is, if you already have an EFI partition, which you probably do as Windows uses it, and the swap one (or file), the installer takes care of, and you are prepared to use all available space for Kubuntu, you can just let the installer do what it thinks best.

The only little glitch could be the esp thing I mentioned (which led me to make things sound complicated).
So, if the Squids ;·) happen to complain about it, you can
- ignore it (I have, and nothing terrible actually happened, I just set the flag afterwards with gparted) or
- sudo apt install gparted on the Live and pre-format.

P.S. Try googling "bocata calamares" and switching to images

P.P.S. Yes, I would have done quite well at the Circumlocution Office

[jglen490]

WRT 1., If you restore your /home after a clean install, you will overwrite what the installer and any subsequent software install placed there. If you just select your existing /home partition, but don't format it, the installer and any subsequent software install will simply overwrite most of what was already there. There will be some exceptions, but leaving your existing /home is usually simpler. Like I said, it's your choice, but I've been down both roads quite a few times and having a separate /home partition is better 99% of the time.

WRT 2., the ESP should exist already if you are dual booting with Windows and are retaining your Windows. Then you simply need to know where the ESP is and tell the installer to put your Linux boot info there. You can have more than one ESP, but I think that's inviting an issue.

claydoh is correct, with the current Kubuntu you don't have to set a SWAP partition, if you choose not to. However, there have been instances where for some reason or other users have found that their swap file was improperly sized. I like to know what is happening, and so I will set up a SWAP partition and not a file that is approximately equal to my RAM. That way I know it's right.

[claydoh]

Ok
The easiest way to install alongside of Windows is to simply run the installer and let it resize Windows and set up the :Linux partition.
As there is unallocated space to be used, you will have to use the manual option. It won't be hard, but the interface may not be 100% clear.

The screen will look like this.


The unallocated space is selected, and you then click "add"
(ignore most of my setup, I somehow, ah, umm,, err *lost* my old Windows VM )
make the options look like this



Then the main screen will look like so :
You can ignore the size, it should be automatically filled in correctly.


Then Install......
The installer picks up the existing efi folder, you go from there.

Just make sure that you change your firmware settings to have Kubuntu as the first OS in the boot order. It may show as 'Ubuntu' there.
In the Grub OS selection screen you will then get, you *will* see it labeled as 'Ubuntu'.

[claydoh]

Once you get a feel for things, then you can consider having a more complex partition setup, if you wish. The process is somewhat similar if you use the installer, but is less friendly than booting to the live desktop from the USB stick and using Partition Manager to create your setup, then start the installer and assign partitions like you do in my images above.

[Knox3k1]

Fantastic, thank you for the information @claydoh, @jglen490 and @Don B, Cilly.

Although Kubuntu quickly fell over after starting it, see pic..



After this screen Kubuntu continues to try and boot, followed by a garbled image at the top of the screen and then a blank screen and nothing..

I assume this is the ATI issue as discussed on page 1. So I went in to edit the start line "e" and add the "radeon.modeset=0" but it seems a bit weird, as you can only use the cursor keys to move which also works like a delete key..ish.. as i move the cursor to remove "quiet splash" it disappears on the left of the cursor but flashes up on the right side of the cursor. It didn't work..

[Don B. Cilly]

Impressive
Yes, it does look like the ATI thing. And it could probably be dealt with the "e" at boot.
After which, you could install the drivers and/or pass the parameters to the kernel by editing etc/default/grub... or find some other way to fix it permanently.

Problem is, now the "e" doesn't work. When booting from HD, because if you boot the live USB, they do, right?
There is a way to pass the parameters to the bootloader on your HD and update it, from the Live.

If you haven't given up on it... still, that arrow-key thing... can you try again? If you "go back"... does it let you type?
Maybe it isn't actually erasing things, it just "looks like it".

[vinnywright]

Fantastic, thank you for the information @claydoh, @jglen490 and @Don B, Cilly.

I assume this is the ATI issue as discussed on page 1. So I went in to edit the start line "e" and add the "radeon.modeset=0" but it seems a bit weird, as you can only use the cursor keys to move which also works like a delete key..ish.. as i move the cursor to remove "quiet splash" it disappears on the left of the cursor but flashes up on the right side of the cursor. It didn't work..

so do not try to remove/delete anything and just add right after "quiet splash" add "nomodset" (without the quotes) if that dose not work then add that one you have their and try , at any rate after you type in the nomodset ( or the other one) do not hit anything else except "ctrl+x" to boot.

VINNY

[Knox3k1]

Well I have to say I am very impressed with the support that a new user gets within the Kubuntu community. Sadly I have decided to install a different distru this time round.

We are currently prepping our house for sale which is taking a huge amount of time, and time away from this endeavour makes the jobs list longer each day. Lol

I shall return to Kubuntu after some further experience and when time allows. Special thanks to @Don B Cilly and @claydoh you are both a valuable asset to these forums and have educated me over the last week; enough to feel confident to install Linux and what to look out for.

Other thanks go to @jglen490 @jlittle and @vinnywright

[Don B. Cilly]

Sadly I have decided to install a different distru this time round.

Well, I hope - for you sake - that whatever it is, it has KDE/Plasma as a desktop environment.