Can't dual-boot Ubuntu with Dell Inspiron 3650

[Seahorse]

I have a Dell Inspiron 3650 I owned since November 2015 and I put Ubuntu on a 16GB USB drive. I have secure boot disabled. I can't finish installing it. The process freezes up midway and I have a low disk space warning during install. The Ctrl+F1 terminal continuously spits out something like "PCIe Bus Error" and even though I'm no expert, research has me suspect that it might be because I'm using a NVidia card.

Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Intel Core i5-6400
8GB Memory
NVidia GeForce GT 730

[dchapiesky]

can you boot up ubuntu off the usb drive? Meaning not install it - just run it... they should have an option for that...

[Seahorse]

I said that I never completed the install process. The bus error message was the reason it wouldn't complete.

[dchapiesky]

Have you attempted to run Ubuntu without installing it? There is an option to do that...

[Seahorse]

Yes, but in the background, the terminal will still be continuously spewing that error. It has happened before, when my live Ubuntu USB totally froze up.

[Brendan]

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 3650 I owned since November 2015 and I put Ubuntu on a 16GB USB drive. I have secure boot disabled. I can't finish installing it. The process freezes up midway and I have a low disk space warning during install. The Ctrl+F1 terminal continuously spits out something like "PCIe Bus Error" and even though I'm no expert, research has me suspect that it might be because I'm using a NVidia card.

From this Ubuntu web page (highlighting is mine):

• The system is available in some regions with a special image of Ubuntu pre-installed by the manufacturer. It takes advantage of the hardware features for this system and may include additional software. You should check when buying the system whether this is an option.
• Standard images of Ubuntu may not work at all on the system or may not work well, though Canonical and computer manufacturers will try to certify the system with future standard releases of Ubuntu.

Mostly; I suspect that you're going to want a "special Ubuntu image" (for Dell Inspiron 3650 only) and can't use a normal version of Ubuntu.


Cheers,

Brendan

[dchapiesky]

You might try:

In order to supress the error and boot at all you must add pci=noaer to your kernel boot parameters. You can do it in the install launcher's GRUB menu or during boot, then regen your grub.cfg with it included for future boots.

from: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1521173

good luck

[onlyonemac]

My experience is that Dell and Linux generally don't mix well.

[iansjack]

And yet Dell are one of the few manufacturers who will sell you a computer with Linux installed on it. One such model is the Inspiron 3650....

[onlyonemac]

And yet Dell are one of the few manufacturers who will sell you a computer with Linux installed on it. One such model is the Inspiron 3650....

But there's a reason why it requires a "special image", right? Most other computers I've dealt with will run a standard Ubuntu image with no problem.

[iansjack]

It takes advantage of the hardware features for this system and may include additional software.

The fact that Dell produce a special version of Ubuntu to work best on this computer demonstrate their commitment to supporting Linux on their computers.

[matt11235]

And yet Dell are one of the few manufacturers who will sell you a computer with Linux installed on it. One such model is the Inspiron 3650....

But there's a reason why it requires a "special image", right? Most other computers I've dealt with will run a standard Ubuntu image with no problem.

I think it comes with a fancy touchpad driver which allows them to have a load of fancy guestures.

[iansjack]

There's a thread here about installing Mint on an Inspiron 3650: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=226357 . After the usual problems that people have (badly burned DVD) the user managed to get it working fine. I suspect as you say that the Dell version of Ubuntu is a question of enabling special features; this is a common problem with almost all modern laptops and Linux, nothing unique about Dell.

As I said, Dell are one of the few manufacturers who actively support Linux and they should be applauded for this rather than slagged off.

[Seahorse]

Well, I fixed my first problem, but now I get a GRUB error during the install process and it closes down.

[iansjack]

You'd probably be better advised to raise this question on the Ubuntu forums.