2
Motherboard: Asus Z170i Pro Gaming (UEFI BIOS ver. 3016)
Graphics card: nVidia GTX 1060
OS: Xubuntu 16.04.1 LTS 64bit
I installed the OS using the basic boot option (legacy MBR), the installation finishes okay, however the OS only enters an empty screen and never starts.
I reinstalled the OS with the UEFI boot option. I choose the disable secure boot option to allow third party drivers can install. The installation completes and the OS starts successfully.
However, it appears the OS does not actually have the ability to disable secure boot, this must be done from the UEFI bios.
I attempt to install the nVidia graphics drivers (v 367.44). I turn off xserver before running the install, as required. The installation nearly completes but fails with "ERROR: Unable to load the 'nvidia-drm' kernel module."
I look up this error and the suggested fix is to temporarily disable secure boot from the UEFI BIOS. I disable secure boot from the UEFI BIOS directly, however the OS only enters an empty screen and never starts.
To sum it up:
Xubuntu will not start if secure boot is disabled or is installed as legacy boot.
The nVidia driver will not install if secure boot is enabled.
It's a Catch 22.
I am sudo
It's 2017, why is everything so complicated?
Is it worth trying an older BIOS version?
how are you installing the nvidia driver? ubuntu official repositories appear to offer nvidia-v367.57, is there some reason you don't want to use the official ubuntu package?
– quixotic – 2017-02-09T07:57:17.500Yes, it fails to install from there too. So I downloaded the .run file directly. – Ivan Dossev – 2017-02-09T08:40:37.850
the installation type needs to match the UEFI-bios setting. i'm guessing your first try was install-as-legacy-boot but UEFI-bios was not set to legacy-boot, so that failed (but created MBR partitions). i'd recommend setting UEFI-bios to secureboot-disabled, no-legacy-boot, and reinstalling as no-legacy-boot, no-secureboot, and be sure the installer wipes the drive (full repartition). you want a GPT partition style, not MBR, and need to make sure it creates an ESP (EFI System Partition) for you. – quixotic – 2017-02-09T09:02:03.217
I wanted to try rolling back to a previous BIOS version. I had two previous versions ready to go on a USB drive, the same USB drive I used to update the BIOS to 3016. The Ez Flash utility keeps saying "Selected file is not a proper BIOS!". That is a complete lie! I am very unimpressed with ASUS at the moment. – Ivan Dossev – 2017-02-09T17:58:55.817
quixotic: The BIOS Boot Device Control is set to "UEFI and Legacy OPROM". I had a Windows 10 legacy boot OS which boots fine on this system. – Ivan Dossev – 2017-02-09T18:01:27.123