[17:43] <nofacetimber_> Help please, Ubuntu Server unresponsive on boot, black screen.
[17:45] <nofacetimber_> Here is some background, it's a dual boot system with windows, I just clean installed ubuntu server this morning.  I was able to get in the first time without trouble.
[17:45] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: no need to cross-post, better off in #ubuntu for this
[17:45] <nofacetimber_> Hey TJ- someone suggested here
[17:45] <nofacetimber_> thanks
[17:46] <TJ-> yeah i know, that was before we knew it was possible kernel corruption - probably assumed you meant a video driver issue
[17:47] <Ussat> #1 tip, dont. dual. boot. use a VM
[17:55] <nofacetimber_> TJ- so I loaded up my usb installation iso and entered rescue mode or something
[18:02] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: is this the LiveISO desktop, or something else?
[18:04] <nofacetimber_> Well I believe its just the installation iso for ubuntu server, i'm actually reinstalling it as we speak because I can get in just fine the first time.
[18:05] <nofacetimber_> Then I was going to try a reboot without messing with the wifi
[18:05] <nofacetimber_> If it works then I know it's something with trying to enable wifi
[18:05] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: OK, that's a good solution :)
[18:06] <TJ-> try a few reboots to be sure then we can help you configure wifi the easy way
[18:07] <nofacetimber_> Thank you TJ-
[18:51] <nofacetimber_> Weird first time I reinstalled it worked again the subsequent times i'm still having trouble getting in, so i'll have to come back once I finally figure out how to get in thanks for the help TJ-
[18:52] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: sounds like there may be a buggy firmware on that PC, if GRUB is using biosdisk services during boot to load kernel/initrd
[19:04] <nofacetimber_> just deleted all non windows partitions in an effort to reset everything to how it was when I first started, giving the install one more go :p
[20:24] <nofacetimber_> You there by chance TJ-?
[20:25] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: I am
[20:31] <nofacetimber_> I don't know, I thought I was ready because I got it to boot into ubuntu server again but then the next time I rebooted I was back to the same issues again.. So I guess its not the wifi thing..
[20:32] <nofacetimber_> Maybe i'll try another ubuntu server installation iso, any recommendations?
[20:34] <nofacetimber_> I just got some error text to show up
[20:34] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: if it's installing but failing on reboot then something is wrong
[20:34] <nofacetimber_> *ERROR* uncleared pch fifo underrun on pch transcoder A
[20:35] <nofacetimber_> *ERROR* PCH transocder A FIFO underrun
[20:35] <TJ-> That's a hardware problem with the intel platform controller hub
[20:52] <nofacetimber_> My goodness
[20:52] <nofacetimber_> https://askubuntu.com/questions/887557/ubuntu-16-10-booting-in-emergency-mode-after-upgrade-from-16-04
[20:52] <nofacetimber_> Finally found a solution
[20:53] <nofacetimber_> whew..  Must be something weird with the dell computer but setting the vt_handoff to 0 and I have sucessfully rebooted a couple times.
[20:54] <nofacetimber_> TJ- I would appreciate your help with that easy wifi setup you mentioned :)
[20:54] <TJ-> oh, so a video issue, the PCH bug causing the DRM video driver to fail, so disabling mode-setting works around it
[20:54] <nofacetimber_> Ahh yeah guess so
[20:54] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: does "nmcli" report status ?
[20:55] <nofacetimber_> installing network manager right now
[20:55] <nofacetimber_> will give it a try
[20:56] <TJ-> OK, once it's installed use the ncurses console connection configuration tool to configure it just as you would from the GUI desktop, using "nmtui"
[20:56] <TJ-> Tab key moves between fields and buttons
[20:57] <nofacetimber_> i'm very new to ubuntu so some of that went over my head but i'll give it a go
[20:58] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: OK, quick background. NetworkManager is a system service so is fine on a server. but many Linux GUI desktop users only interact with it through a taskbar icon called nm-applet and thus assume NM is GUI-only. But in a console the "nmtui" tool can do the same job as nm-applet's connection editor does in a GUI
[20:58] <nofacetimber_> ahh cool
[20:58] <TJ-> nmtui == network-manager TEXT user interface
[20:59] <TJ-> so you can configure the Wifi there and it'll sort out wpa_supplicant, dhclient and everything else
[21:00] <nofacetimber_> Thank you
[21:00] <TJ-> mak sure you configure the connection for "all users" and "start automatically"
[21:00] <nofacetimber_> NetworkManager is not running
[21:00] <TJ-> "sudo systemctl start network-manager"
[21:02] <nofacetimber_> Thanks so I think i'm connected I just entered the password without any errors, i'm still in the user interface
[21:02] <nofacetimber_> now about configuring the connection for all users and start automatically
[21:02] <nofacetimber_> do I exit out of the user interface now?
[21:03] <TJ-> you tab to the Close/Quit 'buttons' and press Enter on them to exit cleanly
[21:03] <nofacetimber_> done
[21:04] <nofacetimber_> So i'm exactly sure about the "start automatically" and "all users" part?
[21:04] <TJ-> have you added "nomodset" permanently to the boot option?s
[21:05] <nofacetimber_> I don't think so, the only thing I changed permanently was the vt_handoff
[21:05] <nofacetimber_> but I can reboot and double check
[21:05] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: in 'nmtui' when you're doing "edit connection" at the bottom of the panel are [x] Automatically Connect and [x] Available to all users - make sure they are both checked
[21:06] <TJ-> ok, so we need to set "nomodeset" permanently... hang on a mo ...
[21:06] <nofacetimber_> Sweet yes they are checked.
[21:08] <TJ-> OK, and finally do "sudo sed -i 's/\(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="\)/\1nomodeset /' /etc/default/grub "
[21:08] <nofacetimber_> Why is that needed?  Just curious
[21:09] <TJ-> then "grep nomodeset /etc/default/grub" to check it was added, if so, do "sudo update-grub" which updates GRUB's /boot/grub/grub.cfg so 'nomodeset' is used at boot time
[21:09] <TJ-> /etc/default/grub uses shel variables that "update-grub" takes to write the actual GRUB config file /boot/grub/grub.cfg
[21:18] <nofacetimber_> Oddly enough nomodeset caused me boot issues again, nomodeset is for graphics right?
[21:18] <TJ-> it's for stopping the kernel doing mode-setting of the GPU.
[21:18] <nofacetimber_> hmm
[21:19] <nofacetimber_> I don't have a dedicated GPU maybe that's why
[21:20] <TJ-> makes no difference, there's a GPU there and KMS is standard but due to that hardwre PCH bug it's causing issues. Can you reboot into the OS ?
[21:20] <TJ-> is it 16.04 Xenial LTS you've installed?
[21:31] <nofacetimber_> Pretty sure it's just ubuntu server 16.04.  So if I remove nomodeset I see the ubuntu splash screen loading
[21:32] <nofacetimber_> it sits there for a long time, if I hit a key then I see some text.
[21:32] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: you can upgrade it to the latest kernel which may solve the PCH bug. "sudo apt install linux-image-generic-hwe-16.04"
[21:32] <nofacetimber_> A start job is running for Raise network interfaces
[21:32] <TJ-> hwe == HardWare Enablement
[21:32] <nofacetimber_> looks like i need to wait about 5 minutes..
[21:33] <nofacetimber_> okay i'll try that
[21:33] <TJ-> hmmm, that shouldn't happen if NM is setting up the wifi as a system connection
[21:33] <nofacetimber_> well once i'm in i'll see if I can do that upgrade without a wired connection..
[21:35] <nofacetimber_> tdowdle
[21:35] <nofacetimber_> *sorry wrong keyboard
[21:37] <nofacetimber_> getting the latest kernal now
[21:37] <nofacetimber_> and doing it on wifi
[21:37] <nofacetimber_> so the wifi seemed to be working once I got in..
[21:38] <TJ-> we may need to check why the start-up delayed once you've got the new kernel installed and rebooted into it
[21:38] <nofacetimber_> okay it finished
[21:38] <nofacetimber_> Appreciate all the help by the way
[21:39] <nofacetimber_> want me to do a debug reboot?
[21:40] <TJ-> try regular for now, no point debugging unless there's an issue!
[21:41] <nofacetimber_> hmm
[21:41] <nofacetimber_> okay so I just tried a regular reboot
[21:41] <nofacetimber_> I didn't see the splash screen it was just sitting there all black with a white underscore in the top _
[21:42] <nofacetimber_> I waited for about 30 seconds then decided to hook up a direct connection
[21:42] <nofacetimber_> eventually I got to the login prompt
[21:42] <nofacetimber_> about 20 seconds later
[21:42] <nofacetimber_> or less
[21:42] <TJ-> sounds like you need to disable graphical boot
[21:42] <nofacetimber_> so I'm thinking it might of been that same Raise network interfaces thing I just couldn't see it
[21:43] <TJ-> lets' get rid of the splash screen. Are you comfortable using a terminal text editor?
[21:43] <nofacetimber_> yeah somewhat confortable
[21:44] <TJ-> Do you know/prefer nano or vim ?
[21:44] <nofacetimber_> nano works
[21:44] <TJ-> OK, "sudo nano /etc/default/grub"
[21:44] <nofacetimber_> done
[21:45] <TJ-> goto the line "#GRUB_TERMINAL=console" and delete the # (comment) then save the file and do "sudo update-grub"
[21:45] <TJ-> that'll tell GRUB to stay in VGA text mode
[21:46] <nofacetimber_> okay
[21:47] <nofacetimber_> try a reboot?
[21:47] <TJ-> yes
[21:49] <nofacetimber_> okay i'm in and everything seemed to load fast.  That said i'm still on wired connection whoops
[21:49] <TJ-> hehehe
[21:52] <nofacetimber_> Yeah If I don't connect wired then I get that 5 minute delay
[21:54] <TJ-> OK, that suggests the system is trying to connect on wired too, which could be down to systemd-networkd - it generally is!
[21:55] <TJ-> so, once it's got to login do "sudo apt install pastebinit" then "pastebinit <( systemd-analyze blame )" and give me the URL
[21:56] <TJ-> because it's already 'seen' and used the wired it expects to find it and sits around waiting
[21:57] <nofacetimber_> makes sense
[21:58] <TJ-> you should be able to check and disable it with "systemctl status systemd-networkd" should show "Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)" --- notice the "disabled;" ... if that says "enabled" do "sudo systemctl disable systemd-networkd"
[21:59] <TJ-> then at next boot it /should/ be OK
[22:03] <nofacetimber_> Okay sorry i'm having trouble with the pastebinit command, failed to contact the server Temporary failure in name solution.  But i'll try the other
[22:03] <nofacetimber_> i'm pining just fine on wifi
[22:03] <nofacetimber_> pinging
[22:04] <TJ-> hmmm, that suggests DNS may not be working, is the wifi configured for using DHCP?
[22:11] <nofacetimber_> In those settings everything looks as you said, so maybe there is something wrong with the wifi, I seem to be able to download things with sudo apt-get just fine.
[22:12] <TJ-> nofacetimber_: hmmm, and that needs DNS so not likely to be that
[22:12] <TJ-> Try " dig +short paste.ubuntu.com"
[22:12] <nofacetimber_> Well I guess I can live with that if I have to lol
[22:12] <nofacetimber_> okay
[22:15] <nofacetimber_> timed out no servers could be reached so must be something on my end..  I'll troubleshoot it a bit
[22:41] <nofacetimber_> Appreciate the help TJ- I'm a lot further along then I was before, will take a break and work on it some more later.  Have a good evening!