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EDIT: I've now gotten to the point where I can type in a boot line. I just need to know what to enter. Does anybody know what the default boot line for the Ubuntu Live CD is? After that I think I just need to add nomodeset and it should boot.

I'm attempting to install 12.04 on my computer but booting from my USB drive results in a blank screen. This has happened since 10.04 and has always been fixed by putting nomodeset in the boot command, but now I can't access the boot options with F6 for some reason. How can I access the boot options?

I booted into the live image on a different computer and it worked fine. I'm sure it's because of my Nvidia graphics.

When I boot into the live image it shows a small gray box in the lower left corner of the screen and that's it. I can't edit the boot options or do anything else.

Thanks in advance.

Ryan Kampmeier
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4 Answers4

2

As soon as you start to boot from the USB, hit any key and the Ubuntu Menu will come up...

enter image description here

If you press F6 you will get the other boot options (in the gray box in the corner) selecting one or more will append it to the boot command automatically. If nomodeset doesn't work the next one to try would be apci=off. After selecting the extra boot commands select "Try Ubuntu" and see if it will boot.

You are likely right about the problem being your Nvidia card but solving that problem is beyond me. I think I was able to answer you initial question at least.

TrailRider
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0

Since you never see the initial splash screen, it's not behaving normally.

So it would be a good idea to MD5 test the .iso image you downloaded, to make sure it's not corrupted. (Normally I'd say to do "Check disc for defects" from the boot menu too ...but you can't get to the boot menu to select that.)

Eliah Kagan
  • 119,640
0

To add bootoptions, you could try editing syslinux/txt.cfg on the live USB. The file should look something like this, after adding the nomodeset option:

default live
label live
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz nomodeset quiet splash --
label live-install
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
label check
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt boot=casper integrity-check initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
label memtest
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
label hd
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
localboot 0x80

The relevant part is near the end of the fifth line, ...initrd.lz nomodeset quiet splash --.

You might also try removing the quiet splash -- part.

mikewhatever
  • 33,013
-1

Personally, I use this Live USB software, works great. Worth givin it a try.

URL: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Coolbreeze
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