Xubuntu 18.04 i386 beta 2: After splash screen, installation hangs on black screen

[Ken T]

Downloaded Xubuntu 18.04 i386 beta 2, checked sha256sum, created bootable USB via a known-working ubuntu machine.

The first thing that appeared was an error message "gfxboot.c32: not a COM32R image", but I pressed tab, typed "live" and hit enter, and the installation proceeded. Xubuntu splash screen appeared with loading animation. Once this disappeared, I saw a line of text flash up at the top of the screen (too quick for me to read), then the installation hangs on a black screen, with a grey bar faintly visible across the top of the screen. I tried the install process again, but got the same result.

Now, a few footnotes:
1) the error message "gfxboot.c32: not a COM32R image" is the same one I reported on a daily build of Lubuntu 18.04 back in February under Bug #1747329, with two important differences: a) in that case but not this one, the installation proceeded fine after pressing tab then typing "live", and b) as noted on that bug report, that error message is no longer apparent as of Lubuntu 18.04 beta 2.

2) The machine I tried this install on is a 2005-era Dell Latitude D610 laptop, 1GB RAM, and I've successfully installed several *buntus on this machine before, including 18.04 daily builds & betas for Lubuntu and Ubuntu Budgie. I haven't been able to run apport on under Xubuntu (obviously), but have attached apport logs to this ticket taken from that machine during earlier bug reports.

Thanks,
Ken.
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[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1764932/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

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[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1764932

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

According to http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/, problems encountered while booting the ISO image should be reported against "syslinux".

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

@Ken T - if you download an up-to-date image from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/daily-live/current/ do you still see the same issue?

[Ken T (professorsnapper)]

Hi Paul,

I'm downloading it now, and will report back.

Going by recent comments made on my other bug report (Bug #1747329), and the pointer there to Bug #1325801, it would seem that this issue may not be to do with Xubuntu (or Ubuntu) per se, but with my use of the "USB startup disk creator" which comes with Ubuntu...

Thanks,
Ken.
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[Ken T (professorsnapper)]

I can confirm that the latest daily build installed AOK for me (I'm writing from it now). I won't be able to test it extensively between now & launch, but it looks fine. I'm having some problems with Gnome Software 3.28.1, but will investigate these and report separately.

It seems likely that the root cause of this ticket was the USB startup disk creator after all...

Thanks,
Ken.
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