Can't boot into live CD

Xavik

Hi all! Today I decided remove my archlinux and try install solus, but imposible... When Im trying boot into the usb ISO my screen goes black and get green stripes. I try creating a DD iso and nomodeset, but in this case I get a black screen with a prompt. How can solve this?

My PC specs:
Ryzen 3800x
32 GB RAM
Nvidia RTX 2070 super

tomscharbach

Xavik Ubuntu and other Linux users have reported problems with the NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super and Linux kernel 5.4 because 5.4 apparently doesn't properly support the newest 440 drivers. Based on those reports, the graphics driver included in the iso is the most likely culprit.

The current Solus 4.1 iso installs Linux kernel 5.4.12 (if I recall right), but updates to 5.6.19 and newer NVIDIA drivers during the initial post-installation update process. That might resolve the issue, but the question is how to get to that point.

I'd normally suggest disabling the NVIDIA graphics card and using onboard graphics to run the live session, then (assuming that works) installing, then updating the kernel and graphics drivers, and then enabling the graphics card, but the Ryzen 3800x does not have onboard graphics, so that's out, I guess.

brent

i would think the reasons an iso wouldn't boot and run are:
iso made wrong or corrupt (main site above, making iso section)
bios boot order
when nuking arch did you do anything to the disk? reformat it? zero it out?

2 cents/all I got

niclasc

I have the same problem with almost the same hardware:

MSI B550M Wifi
AMD 3900X
ASUS RTX2060

[deleted]

I don't think it's due to a curupted ISO. Than it wouldn't boot at all. To me it looks like a display driver / unsupported hardware problem. I just read here that solus will upgrade the kernel to 5.10 soon. Maybe this will help.

Ephebopus

Hi, I tried running the Solus installer today (formated a USB stick as fat, used dd to write the Budgie ISO. Tried Etcher too, same result) and got much the same thing. Graphic glitches on black. I can summon a tty but the distorted graphics makes it extremely hard to read longer output of commands. My sys is:
B550, Ryzen 5 3600, Nvidia RTX2060. (There's no built in graphics)

Is there something one can do with a tty from the live USB in order to fix the graphics so that installation can proceed?

WannaBeOCer

Follow this useful guide: https://discuss.getsol.us/d/5247-start-gui-on-solus-live-4-1-when-gpu-is-not-supported-tested-on-ryzen-renoir

Ephebopus

WannaBeOCer Thanks, great guide! Unfortunately I can't seem to follow it at this time. I think I'll give Solus a try again at a later date (and quite possibly with a non-Nvidia gpu)

Ephebopus

[deleted] Hey, that's an interesting take, thinking slightly outside of the box : ) I have precisely one other machine, an iMac from 2008 and Solus actually liked it better than my modern PC. Since I don't want to open it up (again) I would need to install Solus onto a second USB drive, then attempt to image it unto an internal hd of my PC, and hope that that would work well (smaller USB unto larger SSD) and that booting would somehow work with my Nvidia card (the iMac has an old Radeon card, I'm not sure I could also have Nvidia drivers installed).

I have replaced a lot of hardware on a Solus installation prior and that worked surprisingly well. This seems a bit more remote but it might be something to spend a weekend on 🙂

jakes0321

So far my fix for this issue is to actually put the computer to sleep then wake it again. For some reason the default nouveau has some issues with my nvidia card. Its a laptop so if I just close the lid then it will go to sleep, then open it again and the live session shows normally. It will do that until I replace nouveau with the nvidia drivers.

tomscharbach

[deleted] I'm really new to Linux and really don't want to say something dumb, but:

If [you have a second computer with hardware supported out of the box / without Nvidia graphics]; then
boot live medium in computer #2
install Solus in computer #2
do initial update in computer #2
evtl. install additional drivers for computer #1 in computer #2
detach drive with installed Solus system from computer #2
attach drive with installed Solus system to computer #1
echo "Yeeehaa"
... fi ?

You can obviously take drive from computer #1 right away, since it's supposed to get there eventually.
As far as I understand the matter, Linux doesn't care much about in what computer you put the drive with the hdd, as opposed to Windows...
There's actually a thread from a guy who put his drive to new computer, wanting to reinstall Solus, yet booted the old system anyway and ... it worked. He wanted to know if there's some tweaking necessary, I think there was none. Sorry, don't know the link...

...dumb?

I think that what you are suggesting (installing Solus on a drive on Computer #1, updating, and then installing that drive into Computer #2) will work. The reason I think that is that I routinely set up desktop computers to run in dual-drive dual boot Windows/Solus configurations, using that technique.

I have an older desktop (circa 2017) that I use to set up Solus drives (Computer #1). Computer #1 is configured with a single SSD (no onboard M.2 or other drives). I put an SSD in Computer #1, install and update Solus on that SSD (using the "destructive" installation technique). At that point, I have an entirely independent bootable Solus SSD. I then put that SSD into the computer on which I am setting up in dual-drive, dual-boot configuration (Computer #2), with Windows installed on one drive (typically an onboard M.2 or offboard drive 0) and Solus on the other (typically drive 1).

I've done this a dozen times, at least, without problems. Computer #2 can boot to either Windows or Solus. On the initial boot into the Solus SSD on Computer #2, Solus adjusts settings to pick up the necessary drivers from Computer #2 (different processor versions, different graphics drives) and works just fine.

The reason I go through the effort of setting up a separate Solus SSD on a different, OS-free computer is that Windows is terrible about trying to snatch the boot sector from Linux (as it does in a single-drive dual boot configuration, causing no end of problems down the road) and it is just easier to set up the Solus drive without working on a computer with Windows installed.

The only caution I have about using this technique is that I've always moved from similar-to-similar. That is, both Computer #1 and Computer #2 have similar configurations (both Intel i# processors and Intel onboard graphics). I assume, but I don't know, that a major difference in configuration (moving from a computer with Intel graphics to a computer with NVIDIA graphics, or moving from a computer with Intel i# CPU to an AMD CPU, for example) might require additional work (installing drivers not included in the Linux kernel) when the SSD prepared on Computer #1 is put into Computer #2.

So, yeah, I think that what you are suggesting might work just fine. And as of this week, an SSD prepared will be upgraded to Linux 5.10, which means that when the SSD is put into the second computer, the version of Linux installed on that SSD that will have the latest drivers.

Theory aside, though, Solus is now at the 5.10 kernel and Gnome 3.38, so my guess is that the Solus team is not too far away from releasing the Solus 4.2 iso. Given that, Ephebopus might be best served by just hanging out for another month or so until Solus 4.2 is released as an iso, and installing that directly. It would save a lot of work to just wait and do a direct install of Solus 4.2.

WetGeek

tomscharbach I think that what you are suggesting (installing Solus on a drive on Computer #1, updating, and then installing that drive into Computer #2) will work.

Indeed. When I removed the MATE SSD from my i7/Intel laptop after deciding on Budgie as my daily driver, I inserted it into the hot-swap bay of my Ryzen/Nvidia desktop, it booted on the first try, and worked perfectly thereafter.

I love Solus!

tomscharbach

[deleted] Does it do so when installing Win after Linux only? Or even when only booting Win from a drive with Linux on it?
I've only done one single experiment dual booting Win/Linux so far (don't remember Ubunchu or Solus), installing Linux on my laptop with preinstalled Win, and it seemed to work just fine. At the end of the day (literally), I decided to remove Win to be perfectly safe from unknown trouble, so I wouldn't really know.

I avoid dual-boot single-drive installations because of the complexity of setting up the boot/esp partition of the drive to handle both operating systems, and because Windows doesn't play well with dual booting.

If Windows is pre-installed (as is usually the case), the boot partition of the drive is 100mb. Most Linux distros (including Solus) need a boot partition of 512mb or higher. So if a Linux distro is installed on a Windows drive without changing the 100mb boot partition, then, sooner or later (usually when the kernel is upgraded) you run into trouble. The way around that is to repartition the drive, setting up a 512mb (or higher) boot/esp partition (as well as the other partitions needed for Linux installation) and then assigning mount points. It is easy to make a mistake and screw stuff up.

I've read a lot of comments over the last few years to the effect that even if you get the dual-boot set up correctly, Windows doesn't play well in the environment, particularly when Windows needs to be reinstalled for some reason. I used to dual-boot single-drive my travel laptop, and it was enough of a PITA trying to keep both OS's separated during reinstalls that I just stopped doing it that way, and moved to dual-boot dual-drive.

All in all, it seems to me to be easier to set up a dual-boot dual-drive configuration if possible (a desktop that can handle multiple drives or a laptop with an M.2 and an SSD). I'm work-adverse (that's politically correct for "bone lazy") so that's how I prefer to do it. Dual-boot dual drive configuration has another strength, which is that the two systems are entirely independent of one another, so you can change/reinstall one to your heart's content without affecting the other.

The recommendations i've read about dual-boot dual-drive configuration suggest disconnecting/removing the Windows drive from the computer before setting up the Linux drive. The reason for that is that if the Windows drive is connected, then you run the risk of using the boot sector of the Windows drive as the boot/esp point for the Linux installation, and you will end up with the same 100mb/512mb problem that you have in dual-boot single-drive installations. If the Windows drive is disconnected/removed, that can't happen. I do it that way, and it works fine.

My opinion is one of many, and simplistic. A lot of other people have different opinions, and most of them know a lot more than I do.

[deleted] Although Solus being extremely reliable, I'd still not leap at the earliest new iso available, but let others play guinea pig first. You know, old habits...

The Solus team is remarkably careful about making sure that things are nailed down and bullet-proof before release. Much, much better than my experience with other distros. We are, in essence, testing 4.2 as we go, with kernel and gnome updates. When the team is satisfied that they've got it all right, then they'll issue an iso. Nothing is ever perfect, but I don't have any hesitancy at all about installing from the Solus 4.2 iso when it is released.