Getting a black screen when installing or Live booting Ubuntu (any version) in my laptop

Question

I have an ACER Aspire laptop. Model number is E5-573G-56RG. I bought it only 15 days back. There is no DVD drive in it. I have tried various versions of Ubuntu- 14.04.2, 14.04.3, 15.10, 12.04.5. Tried disabling secure boot, fast startup. I current have Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 PRO (not-activated) installed with GPT partition in UEFI bios. I actually want only the Home edition and Ubuntu 14.04.3 (preferably because of LTS) or 15.10. In case more information is required, kindly ask me..

I tried installing through Wubi, when booting if I choose Ubuntu it automatically restarts and goes into Windows 10 Home! (I didn't have Windows 10 PRO at that time)

NONE OF THE SOLUTIONS I REFERRED HELPED ME.

I have spent 5 days (literally at least 20 hours reading all of them and trying out all kinds of editing in the grub command line, like removing quiet splash, adding and replacing with nomodeset, no splash, acpi_osi=off, acpi_osi=Linux, acpi_backlight=vendor, acpi_backlight=legacy, noveau.modeset=0, i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 and such things! But I was not able to succeed installing which is why I doubt if there is some more thing to be done or know exactly what has to be done.

Solution 1

This is the final solution.

For Acer laptops, specifically model number E5-573G series, the BIOS version 1.25 is bugged and doesn't support installing Linux distribution! Hence you need to downgrade your BIOS to install Linux.

The downgrading process (from v1.25 to v1.13)

I figured out how to downgrade the BIOS.

Go to: http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

Search by Product Model: Aspire E5-573G

Select the right OS and download a BIOS. In my case I downloaded 1.15.

Run the ZRT_115.exe.

It will fail.

But before you close the installer, go to C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Temp\ Search for a folder (random letters).tmp There should be a H2OFFT-W.exe and zrt.rd file in there. Just copy this folder and close the failing install.

In that copied folder, edit the platform.ini file.

Before:

' [BIOSVersionFormat]
;[nb4-version] +
BIOSVFEnable=1
VersionFormat=XN.NN '

After:

' [BIOSVersionFormat]
;[nb4-version] +
BIOSVFEnable=1
VersionFormat=XN.DD '

The VersionFormat value now has 'XN.DD' instead of 'XN.NN'.

This will ignore the fact that 1.25 -> 1.15 is a downgrade.

Prepare for a reboot. Close unnecessary applications. Because it'll happen automatically after running the installer.

Run H2OFFT-W.exe.

Upon reboot, you'll see a BIOS installing progress bar.

After that is done, press F2 during startup to get to BIOS. The version should now be 1.15.

CREDITS TO SLOWFOOBAR.

---

I didn't add any parameter and still the installation took place successfully. Wish everyone else for success. And in the end, don't forget to rearrange your boot priority to enable booting into Ubuntu!

All the best! Any queries are welcomed! :D

Solution 2

Installing Ubuntu via Wubi app is not recommended.
First you have to create an Ubuntu installation media.
Burn the ISO image to a DVD or create an USB media.

When you have to create the USB media from Windows
open command prompt as administrator and execute:

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

Note : * = number of USB drive | ** = select a free drive letter

Mount the ISO file and copy everything in it to the USB drive.

It is important to disable Windows hibernation - so execute:

powercfg /h off  

Shutdown the computer completely (do NOT restart).
Turn on the PC and select the installation media to boot.

The Acer Aspire E5-573G-56RG has a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card,
so ... Highlight Try Ubuntu without installing and press the E key.
Add nouveau.modeset=0 parameter to the end of the linux line.
Then press the F10 key to boot into the Ubuntu Live desktop.

After having installed the main system, first install the NVIDIA drivers and Optimus support.
Add the same parameter to end of the linux line when editing the Ubuntu boot menu entry.
When the NVIDIA drivers are installed, editing boot menu entries is not necessary anymore.

Solution 3

UPDATE BIOS TO v1.37 and ubuntu will boot. get it from here http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers and install it in windows. ubuntu will boot after off of a USB for sure. You have to also add the shimx64.efi in the secure boot section of the bios after you install ubuntu off the usb in order to get it to boot. i couldnt get it to work with secure boot turned off, but its real easy to add it.

Edit: to install bios update, just download the 1.37 windows exe from acers website, then double click it. it will install the update and restart the laptop and finish, real easy.

Comments

[Star OS]

You want a bounty (In 2 days, beacuse that's the restriction)?

[oldfred]

I do not think this includes the nVidia issue, but shows many Acer settings & the issue of supervisor password & setting "trust" on Ubuntu/grub's efi boot files. askubuntu.com/questions/627416/… And some have Acer UEFI version issues: ubuntuforums.org/…

[Ajith Kumar]

Thank you so much, @oldfred :D Your redirection helped me to find the solution finally! :D Lots of love :)

[Ajith Kumar]

Done ! :) @muru

[Rod Smith]

This is a good answer. I want to emphasize that using WUBI on a computer that boots in EFI mode is a dead-end procedure; it will not work. I can't comment on cl-netbox's advice concerning the Nvidia graphics support, since I have no personal experience with that. For more advice on EFI-mode installations generally, see my page on installing Linux on EFI systems and the Ubuntu community wiki entry on UEFI.

[Ajith Kumar]

@cl-netbox, I am new to Ask Ubuntu, but I am kinda used to Stack Exchange sites. I will try it out in now and verify it for sure. Thanks a lot! Still, what does the end of the Linux line mean? Any where in the Grub? Or there are three lines totally,, where should I add it exactly? I need not replace quiet splash right?

[Ajith Kumar]

@RodSmith If I need any clarification, I will surely refer your site :D Thank you.

[cl-netbox]

@AjithKumar : When you press the E key after booting from the installation media and highlighting the entry, you will see a few lines - one starts with linux - at the end of this line (after adding a space) write : nouveau.modeset=0 ... then press the F10 key ... to boot into the Ubuntu Live desktop environment. :)

[Ajith Kumar]

@cl-netbox I followed the exact same procedure as you told, but again i ended up with black screen as soon as I pressed F10 :'( Can you please help me out? :( :(

[cl-netbox]

@AjithKumar : Maybe the installation media is still not configured properly. In case you have a working Ubuntu system, create the installation media with the Disks tool. Open Disks and select Restore Disk Image from the menu on the top right. Choose the ISO file and the USB drive to write it to and start restoring. Then try to boot from the installation media with and without adding the parameter. :)

[Rod Smith]

You may want to check this question and its answers. These "black screen" problems are much rarer than they used to be, but they still crop up occasionally. Unfortunately, solutions are often highly idiosyncratic, so you may need to try a number of possible solutions before finding one that works for you. I'll add that the most recent Ubuntu (currently 15.10) is the one that's most likely to work, so I'd concentrate my efforts on that version.

[Ajith Kumar]

Finally! I ended up successfully installing Ubuntu after such a struggle ! :D Many thanks to @oldfred. His referral site redirected me to find the solution! Thanks for everyone else who helped me. Especially cl-netbox and Rod Smith. I have added the solution in the question description. :D