Aspire 5 Linux

sharduul · October 2020

Hello guys, sorry to bother, I hope everything is fine.
Today just arrived Aspire 5 (the A515-44G-R9YM Ryzen 7 4700U one) laptop and I've tried to install Ubuntu on it. I've searched for my best USB stick and got to work (put the Ubuntu installer on it through Rufus soft). I've installed it and everything was ok during it. The bad part comes when they asked me to restart the laptop. After it opened again, there appeared on the screen the ACER name, and after that I got a black screen and on the left top corner there was a little underline sign that kept flashing every 0.5 seconds. I've waited, and waited, and waited, and nothing happened. I've reinstalled it 5 times again and again and I got the same issue. To be honest, in the BIOS interface there weren't many options and settings to check. My USB stick got detected by the laptop but not under its name, under "Lipus ....something". And there was no setting such as Legacy USB support to enable and help me out or something.
To be honest, it's my first time installing Linux on my system (I've been a Windows user for over 11 years now), so it's most likely that I've missed something.
Does anyone know what I can do ? Thank you all for your time !

JackE · October 2020

Congrats on your hard-won success!!

Jack E/NJ

JackE · October 2020

BIOS must remain in UEFI mode. The Linux USB installation iso stick probably uses the Linpus installer which is common for many distributions. (1) What was the original factory installed operating system, if any? (2) What is the iso's distribution? Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

JackE said:

BIOS must remain in UEFI mode. The Linux USB installation iso stick probably uses the Linpus installer which is common for many distributions. (1) What was the original factory installed operating system, if any? (2) What is the iso's distribution? Jack E/NJ

(1) Free DOS, not any original factory installed operating system.
(2) Sorry if I sound stupid but I didn't understand the question.

JackE · October 2020

OK, sorry. Which ubuntu flavor or distribution are you trying to install? LinuxMint? Kubuntu? Xbuntu? Generic Ubuntu? In other words, where did you download the installation iso file from which you made a bootable USB installation stick with Rufus? Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

JackE said:

OK, sorry. Which ubuntu flavor or distribution are you trying to install? LinuxMint? Kubuntu? Xbuntu? Generic Ubuntu? In other words, where did you download the installation iso file from which you made a bootable USB installation stick with Rufus? Jack E/NJ

The generic, classic one from ubuntu's official site.

sharduul · October 2020

Short update : I've tried to install an older version - 18.04 and I get the same blackscreen when it opens, but now it gives me the "0/dev/nvme0nip2: clean, ..... files, .... blocks" error in the left top corner.

JackE · October 2020

Try LinuxMint cinnamon 19.3 or 20. It's a much more polished installation than generic ubuntu. BIOS must be in UEFI mode and SATA mode AHCI. F12 boot option enabled. Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

JackE said:

Try LinuxMint cinnamon 19.3 or 20. It's a much more polished installation than generic ubuntu. BIOS must be in UEFI mode and SATA mode AHCI. F12 boot option enabled. Jack E/NJ

I tried but as soon as I open it, with the USB drive plugged in(with LinuxMint cinnamon 20 on it), there only appears the "ACER" image and stays there,and nothing happens, even if I press F2 or F12..
Everytime I tried to install Ubuntu it was on UEFI mode. The SATA mode AHCI didn't appear anywhere. I don't know what to do anymore...

sharduul · October 2020

By the way, if I press F2 while I am stuck in that blackscreen, there appears of the left corners some errors saying : "debugfs: File 'le_min(or max)_key_size_' in directory 'hc10' already present!".

JackE · October 2020

Press and hold power button till machine completely shuts off. About 5-10 seconds. Remove the Mint installation USB. Then turn the machine back on and IMMEDIATELY start tapping the F2 key (or FN+F2) to enter the BIOS menu. Don't wait for ACER logo screen to appear. Please post a phone shot sof the BIOS Information and Main tabs if possible. Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

Ok so, a little update. I need the laptop for tomorrow because I have a meet, so I've just installed windows 10 to do my work. Then I thought about dual booting, so I tried again to install Ubuntu, but there was the same result. I took the photos you said (the USB was unplugged). I hope they can help you in any way. Thank you for your help.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/c3/cqnrrs0q1gya.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/hd/jd6lqp9hv8kr.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/5u/du8zzkxabae3.jpg

JackE · October 2020

OK, I see the problem. You need to change the Linux installer to load on sdb (HDD1), not the default sda(HDD0). Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

Excuse me, I know I sound stupid, but how I can do this in the menu partitions ? I couldn't find anything.

JackE · October 2020

The installer should give you an option of installing 'something different' instead of whatever options are presented upon booting to the Linux USB installation stick. What are ALL the installation options that are presented upon first booting the stick? Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

I hope that's what you've requested. There appears "Windows Boot manager" because I needed the laptop yesterday for a meet and because I couldn't install Ubuntu I've installed Windows. Then I split the disk to create space for the Ubuntu. I tried to install Ubuntu again but with the same result sadly.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/3o/bk9489do9xxy.jpg

JackE · October 2020

Is that the F12 boot option screen? If yes, then this machine likely originally came with only LinpusLite installed. Is this correct? Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

Yes, it is. The laptop was Free DOS and originally if you opened it, there was only the "ubuntu" option.

JackE · October 2020

I suggest that you should boot to a live gparted or linux installation USB pendrive to see the HDD's existing partition structure. I think you have too many conflicting Linux partitions. I think you will have to delete the original Linpus & Ubuntu partitions and create a single EXT4 partition for a new Linux installation while preserving the Win10 C : partition, the EFI partition & the original recovery partitions. Jack E/NJ

sharduul · October 2020

I've started the installation again, and in the partition menu there was a total mess, so I went for a "New partition Table" because I don't really want a dual-boot alongside Windows10, I only want Ubuntu. So what should I do now ?