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January 18th, 2023 09:00

XPS 8950 - cannot install ubuntu server 22.04.01 LTS

I am trying to install ubuntu 22.04.01 LTS using a USB onto a XPS 8950 that I bought specifically for this purpose. The USB works on other machines, but not this one.  Everytime it goes to install - it just says there is a problem with the installer right - the timing of this failure screen changes but is usually after the third party drivers screen ( I opt not to install any, and I have also tried installing - neither changes the outcome. I am doing the default settings for everything (eg. I let the installer choose the partitions). The last thing I see on the screen when it fails is the line "installing grub to target devices). 

 

 

Any idea how to get this going? I bought this machine literally only to act as a server.  

3 Posts

January 18th, 2023 13:00

Can you please define what PTT is, I have disabled Secure Boot and removed windows boot manager in BIOS. 

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

January 18th, 2023 13:00

Do you have to disable PTT and Secure Boot, remove Windows Boot Manager from Boot Sequence, if listed, etc - all in BIOS setup?

8 Wizard

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17.1K Posts

January 18th, 2023 14:00

Be sure BIOS is set to AHCI (not RAID).

Only one SSD connected for now. Should be completely blank. F12 on boot. 

 

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

January 18th, 2023 16:00

@ice9g  PPT = "Platform Trust Technology visibility to the operating system" - An added layer of security protection.  If you disabled Secure Boot in BIOS setup first, the PTT option may not be visible. So that may mean it's off.

@Tesla1856 - Good one! Forgot about changing RAID to AHCI...

3 Posts

February 1st, 2023 11:00

I was not able to resolve it, though Ubuntu desktop installs ( but doesn't work well, it freezes up) 

2 Posts

February 1st, 2023 11:00

I also have this problem (and it also affects Ubuntu server 22.10). 

I've tried everything mentioned previously (and then some):  

  • Secure boot is off
  • Windows SMM is off
  • Sata/NVMe is set to AHCI
  • Only one SSD (but it is not blank)
  • And I even turned off the efficiency cores (out of desperation).

 

2 Posts

February 4th, 2023 12:00

I was able to install a number of other linux distros without issue, and since the error message (for me) involved EFI boot, I suspect the problem with installing Ubuntu Server on the XPS 8950 is something Canonical will need to resolve.

FWIW -- Fedora 37 Workstation and Server both install and run without issue (and seem to do what I need, allow access to the Intel UHD 770 through /dev/dri for hardware accelerated Emby/ffmpeg).  The downside is that I suspect the pain of going through Fedora's new release upgrade process every year or so hasn't changed since the last time I used Fedora for something serious (15 or 16). 

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