Unable to boot 20.04 installer on Dell XPS 15 9560

[Thomas Langewouters]

I tried to boot the 20.04 nightly image (focal-desktop-amd64.iso 2020-04-05 11:06 ) as well as an older one (a week ago) on my Dell XPS 15 9560, and I got the same error message each time.

The live system performs a filesystem check while showing a progress bar on a screen with dell and ubuntu logo, then the linux console shows with following error:

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] tag#0 access beyond end of device
blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 30529408 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] tag#0 access beyond end of device
blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 30529408 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
Buffer I/O error on dev sda, logical block 3816176 async page read

This happens with two different 16GB usb sticks on the Dell XPS 15. They both worked fine on an old samsung netbook.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1871917

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Thomas Langewouters (thomas-langewouters-l)]

Unable to collect logs on the hanging live instance.
Note: I made the live USB with the Startup disk creator on Ubuntu 18.04.4.

[Andrea Righi (arighi)]

The error "access beyond end of device" could mean that the USB boot device wasn't created properly or the live system isn't detecting the size of the USB device properly.

Have you tried to put another ISO on the same USB stick? Does this problem happen only with the focal ISO?

Have you tried to re-create the USB boot device using a simple 'dd' (for example) instead of startup disk creator?

Thanks.

[Aaron Heath (aaronheath)]

Can confirm multiple USB sticks (16 and 32GB) exhibit same symptoms whilst booting without issue on other laptops (Acer Swift 5 in my case).

Occurs both when bootable USB is created via startup dis creator and dd.

Have successfully installed 19.10 via startup disk creator using one of the USB sticks exhibiting issue. Appears to only be focal iso.

[Georgi Boiko (pandasauce)]

Same issue on XPS 9560, 8GB USB stick. Created in Rufus from ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso, both ISO and DD mode behave the same. Can't install 20.04 as a result. No way to collect the logs, because the laptop shuts down after disks checks and there is no interaction other than Ctrl+C to cancel disk checks and speed this up.

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

Please try the "safe graphics" option.

[Thomas Langewouters (thomas-langewouters-l)]

Hi Kai-Heng, thank you for suggesting the safe graphics option!

I confirm that the installer boots into the graphical desktop when I choose this option.

The next step is to install onto a temporary medium so I can check easily what
goes wrong with the default X11 or wayland settings.

[Szabolcs Mate (szabolcs-mate)]

Same issue on Chuwi Aerobook Pro, except choosing safe graphics makes no difference.
Also, no legacy options in bios, and the only way I managed bott it into linux was removing the ssd and installing ubuntu on it on a desktop pc.