Upgrade from Mate 17.10 failed due to Xwindows problem now dosn't install from 18.04 pendrive

[Carlos Sevcik]

LENOVO with uefi installation fails due to inability to write boot loader. Ubuntu MATE 17.10 worked OK but update to 18.04 failed due to Xwinows configurtion. It was possible to login using Control-Alt-F1 but xinit or startx gave errors and failed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: ubiquity 18.04.14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-20.21-generic 4.15.17
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.394
Date: Sat Apr 28 00:42:29 2018
InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-mate.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --- maybe-ubiquity
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
SourcePackage: grub-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[dino99 (9d9)]

The error is : 'ubiquity: grub-probe: error: unknown filesystem.'

https://github.com/awesomebytes/alienware15r3_ubuntu14/issues/3

So check that pendrive: encryption, luks ?

[Carlos Sevcik (carlos-sevcik-s-gmail)]

I finally managed to install Ubuntu MATE 18.04 on my Lenovo All In One 520-277KL. But it was very bumpy (I am using Ubuntu since 2006), here is my full story.

1-UM 17.10 installed after disabling UEFI in the bios and asked to wipe out the disk and install letting UM 17.10 do its default instalation. Later I repartitioned the disk to set a root partition (~100GB) and a home partition (~900 GB).

2-Upgrading UM 17.10 to 18.04 resulted in inability to enter into my account except using Ctl-Alt-F1. I tried fixing files in /etc/X11 with no success. This led me to reinstall UM 18.04 from scratch following a wipe disk and install (option 1 in the install menu). Here I probably took the wrong decision, because and identical situation appeared later at some point after installing UM 18.04 and it was solved by removing the Nvidia configuration files from my account and erasing .Xauthority and .xinputrc and rebooting my machine afterwards. I had to reinstall the Nvidia drives afterwards.

3-The UM 18.04 installation from scratch wiping the disk and doing the default installation seem to work, but created a 14 GB /dev/nvme0n1p1 in addition to the /dev/nvme0n1 where it installed the boot loader. It also created to additional partitions of ~100 GB and ~800 GB. The problem was that /dev/nvme0n1p1 was formated ext4 and set as root (/) including a /home partition inside. Of course /dev/nvme0n1p1 was left out of space almost immediately after I started installing software and before I realized the mess. The disk had a 14 GB /dev/nvme0n1, 14 GB /dev/nvme0n1p1 ext4, 512 MB /dev/sda1 with format labeled unknown, 108 GB /dev/sda2 ext4 and 823.1 GB /dev/sda3 ext4.

4- I decided once again to reinstall the system with option "do something else" and ignored /dev/nvme0n1p1, set /dev/sda2 as / (root) and /dev/sda3 as /home (both formated to ext4). Reinstalled the system, since at some point of my previous buggy trials I could not log in into my account using my password, in the final installation I created my account allowing to enter directly (without asking for a password) into my account. Finally I got a working system, although there is constant error message at entering into my account indicating that an icon in the panel closed unexpectedly, icon which I always have to restart. The final bug is that doing all the tricks (User administration menu, editing /etc/group to remove the no password login group) I cannot get the startup login to ask for a password, it always goes straight into my account, if I log out, the subsequent logins ask for a password as they should. In the users and groups administration menu the use password to login appears as active, but has no effect.

Boy, I like Ubuntu but such a buggy release is unacceptable. I hope all this details help to fix the mess.

[dino99 (9d9)]

What a user's case; thanks for all these explanation/steps.

There are so many reports about Efi-Gpt-Mvme with actual hardware configs; what a mess.
see lp:1767703

Maybe its time to redesign that installer, with a more detailed partition option explanations.

[Carlos Sevcik (carlos-sevcik-s-gmail)]

Even my previous tips produced a buggy result I finally got UM 18.04 working as follows.

1-Clean install 17.10 with a wipe everything option (Phony enough this did erase my previous / and /home ext4 partitions). Let it install the / partition in 14 GB /dev/nvme0n1p1 ext4. Let the installation finish undisturbed.

2-Reboot the machine with the UM 17.04 installer. And choose "Do something else". Define a new / and /home partitions if, as it was my case, tour old / exists as the installation to format the partition ext4 (100 GB ext4 in my case) and IGNORE COMPLETELY /dev/nvme0n1p1 DO NOT MODIFY IT IN ANY WAY. If your old /home partition exists (900 Gb in my case) use it as ext4 (or whatever is your partition format) AND DO NOT FORMAT IT IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE YOUR DATA. Let the re-installation finish undisturbed. DO NOT INSTALL THE NVIDIA PROPRIETARY DRIVES at this stage. Fully update UM 17.10 from the repositories.

3- You should get a notice that a new UM exists, this is UM 18.04, follow the automatic procedure to update 17.10 to 18.04 from Ubuntu Internet repositories, when this finishes, reboot to UM 18.04.

My system now runs fine except for an error at login indicating that a notification area in the panel crashed, I restart it as suggested and then things are OK. I cannot lock my account though, it locks and unlocks fine if I leave the system undisturbed for some 10 min and then come back to use the machine.

[Carlos Sevcik (carlos-sevcik-s-gmail)]

Yes, somebody must do something. It is a horrible mess that made my waste 3
or 4 days to find a way.

Carlos Sevcik,
MD PhD Professor
CEO, Scientific & Medical Data Analysis (SciMeDAn).
Barcelona, Spain
Web: www.scimedan.com
<email address hidden>
Phone: [phone]
Mobile: [phone]

On Tue, May 8, 2018 at 10:10 AM, dino99 <email address hidden> wrote:

> What a user's case; thanks for all these explanation/steps.
>
> There are so many reports about Efi-Gpt-Mvme with actual hardware configs;
> what a mess.
> see lp:1767703
>
> Maybe its time to redesign that installer, with a more detailed
> partition option explanations.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1767523
>
> Title:
> Upgrade from Mate 17.10 failed due to Xwindows problem now dosn't
> install from 18.04 pendrive
>
> Status in grub-installer package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> LENOVO with uefi installation fails due to inability to write boot
> loader. Ubuntu MATE 17.10 worked OK but update to 18.04 failed due to
> Xwinows configurtion. It was possible to login using Control-Alt-F1
> but xinit or startx gave errors and failed.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
> Package: ubiquity 18.04.14
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-20.21-generic 4.15.17
> Uname: Linux 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
> Architecture: amd64
> CasperVersion: 1.394
> Date: Sat Apr 28 00:42:29 2018
> InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-mate.seed boot=casper
> initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --- maybe-ubiquity
> LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64
> (20180426)
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
> PATH=(custom, no user)
> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
> SourcePackage: grub-installer
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-installer/
> +bug/1767523/+subscriptions
>

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

You tried to install grub to your NVME drive, but it has no partition table. You will need to either partition the drive or install grub to another drive.