Ubuntu

Ubuntu on Acer Spin1 (Apollo Lake)

Asked by ppetterr

Hello,
I have tried to boot Ubuntu 16.10/17.04 (the latest daily build with kernel 4.10) on my Acer Spin1 (CPU: Apollo Lake Intel Celeron N3450/GPU: Intel HD Graphics 500/BIOS: InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev. 5.0, Version: 1.01/RAM: 4GB/HDD: eMMC 32GB) but I had no luck with it. Originally there was Windows 10 installed but I formatted HDD with the Arch linux (the only one linux distribution which I was able to boot and run properly). What have I tried:
- disabled Secure Boot option in BIOS
- added an UEFI file as trusted for executing from the USB with installed Ubuntu in BIOS
- created bootable USB with rufus or directly from a computer with Ubuntu installed
The problem is when I try to boot the Ubuntu from USB I only see white underscore character (_) in the upper-left corner and Acer logo in the middle of the screen. Personally, I have no idea how I can boot and install Ubuntu on the Acer Spin1 properly. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide (sorry for my English).

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Solved by:
Manfred Hampl
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded?

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ppetterr (ppetterr) said : 		#2

Yes, I did (c74136eea1ce913ae3ae553ff4a832b2 *zesty-desktop-amd64.iso 2017-02-21) and it was the same. Something is bad but I don´t know what (I tried a lot of different linux distributions) but only Arch was booted properly.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

Try the boot option:

nomodeset

May help

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Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#4

If you "...see ... Acer logo in the middle of the screen..." then apparently the computer is still working in its BIOS mode and has not yet stared loading the operating system from the USB stick.

I suggest that you try entering BIOS setup and experiment with the settings (secure boot an/off, boot device priority, ...).

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ppetterr (ppetterr) said : 		#5

Thank you Sirs. I did a lot of testing and it seems that BIOS v1.01 for Spin SP111-31 is buggy. I asked Acer technical support if they check the situation or provide me a newer version of BIOS. So, we will see...I will share my experiences with you.

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ppetterr (ppetterr) said : 		#6

So the solution is enabling "Network Boot" and "F12 Boot Menu" in BIOS.

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ppetterr (ppetterr) said : 		#7

Thanks Manfred Hampl, that solved my question.