Ubuntu 20.04 Live USB Freezes

Question

I have used multiple programs including Etcher, Rufus, Raspberry Pi Imager to make a live bootable USB for my laptop. The laptop is able to boot from USB with secure and fast boot turned off.

Specs are: i5-8th Gen, GTX 1050, 16GB RAM (That's over enough to run Ubuntu)

BUT... as I go through the installation and just about to get to choose the keyboard layout and press continue...i am able to move the mouse but everything else is frozen and the continue button greyed out. I have left the laptop on all day and still does not move to the next installation menu.

I have even tried using the "Try Ubuntu" option but that doesn't even get the Desktop booted whatsoever. Nothing but the cursor is able to move.

While I troubleshoot more, I will see if an alternate USB can solve the problem. In the meantime, I would like some tips to fix this annoying problem. Thanks in advance :)

EDIT: I tried a memtestx86 everything showed as pass. I tried another USB and that didn't work either. I may try another distro to see if 20.04 is the problem.

UPDATE: I'm beginning to think that my laptop does not like Ubuntu or theres a bug that no one knows about yet. I tried Manjaro with exactly the same method and everything works perfectly. No freezing whatsoever.

Solution

I fixed this by installing ubuntu by quickly pressing Ctrl at the first sign of the ubuntu coloured blank screen. Then when a menu pops up, I selected the install ubuntu (safe graphics) option. Everything works fine! It seems like it was the Graphics issue that caused the freezing.

Comments

[LtMuffin]

@K7AAY Yes I did. I understand I always need to verify the ISO for integrity. It was ok. No problem there

[Meninx - メネンックス]

Is your persistence partition full? try booting the installer USB in Live mode not persistent mode.

[LtMuffin]

@C.S.Cameron I don't have a persistence storage on USB

[LtMuffin]

@karel No, it does not

[K7AAY]

Which settings did you choose in Rufus, the recommended Windows app for creating Ubuntu LiveUSBs?

[LtMuffin]

@K7AAY I followed instructions and used FreeDOS then select the image file that I downloaded. Like always I then checked the check checksum and all was ok.

[sudodus]

I suspect that your problem is caused by the graphics card, nvidia GTX 1050. Use the boot option nomodeset according to this link. After installation (with help of `nomodeset', you can install a proprietary nvidia driver and use the full capacity of the graphics card.

[LtMuffin]

@sudodus Thanks! This helped too!

[sudodus]

Thanks for sharing your solution :-)

[LtMuffin]

You're welcome! :)