X Startup Failed, Aborting Installation. Pane is Dead.

[dennis...@gmail.com]

Full transparency, I’m completely new to Qubes. So treat me like I’m an idiot.

I’ve dd’d the iso onto my usb 3.0 drive using Rufus.

When I run the installer legacy it opens the installer GUI.

I’ve tried:
• regular install of R4.0.3.
• test this media and install Qubes R4.0.3
• ran UEFI text only installer.
• different usb drives. (But same brand.)
• different USB ports

Always, I get the message:
X startup failed, aborting installation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

[Peter Funk]

Hello Dennis,

You could try another Live-Linux Distro (for example fedora) to
find out, whether your graphics hardware is supported by Linux at all.

See
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-and-using-a-live-installation-image/index.html
for more information.

Best regards, Peter Funk
--
Peter Funk ✉:Oldenburger Str.86, 27777 Ganderkesee, Germany; 📱:+49-179-640-8878
✉office: ArtCom GmbH, Haferwende 2, D-28357 Bremen, Germany
☎office:+49-421-20419-0 <http://www.artcom-gmbh.de/>

[dennis...@gmail.com]

Hey Peter!

I did install Fedora successfully using the same USB device. No problems at all.

I’m running an Alienware M15 R3 which is on the Qubes compatible list.

Could it be Rufus not writing the DD properly?

Thanks so much for your help!

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hello Dennis

Might be a bit of a long way round, but if you have aLinux Live system on a USB stick, could you boot from that then try to write the Qubes installer using dd from the command line?

Good luck 

[dennis...@gmail.com]

Hey Andrew!

Did exactly that and even went a step further.

Installed Fedora onto my 256gb USB drive. Works flawlessly.

Then copied the Qubes iso onto the 256gb Fedora drive.

Wrote the Qubes install using the command line onto 32gb USB drive. (Same exact kind used to install Fedora)

Shutdown restart and boot the Qubes installer with legacy boot from usb.

Blue splash screen with “Install Qubes” and “Test Media then Install Qubes” appears.

Chose install Qubes, about and same errors occur.

Could there be something corrupted with the .iso? I’m seriously at a loss

Here’s a link to a video I shot with the last attempt. Maybe there’s something I’m missing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yndf1lGhQexMtfe0SdZtCninkAE8m4lU/view?usp=drivesdk

Thanks so much for the help!

[Andrew Sullivan]

Did you check the ISO you downloaded was good? As described here:

https://www.qubes-os.org/security/verifying-signatures/

Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs!

Andrew

[dennis...@gmail.com]

I didn’t verify, no. But I’m gonna redownload now and try again from scratch.

And hey, I’m pretty much a moron with this so, any help is amazing!

[dennis...@gmail.com]

I verified with the PGP key. Redownloded. Wrote the dd in Fedora. Still not working. I’m stumped. I don’t get it. I’m super bummed.

[dennis...@gmail.com]

Update! Solved the issue. For future searchers:

All that had to be done for me was:

•Launch in Legacy boot
•On the blue install screen, highlight Install and press Tab
•move the text cursor with your left arrow key and after “alpha_support=1” add “modprobe.blacklist=nouveau” (without the quotes)
•press enter and you should be brought to the install screen!

Good luck to anyone having a similar problem!

[Ulrich Windl]

On 5/30/20 1:10 AM, dennis...@gmail.com wrote:
> I verified with the PGP key. Redownloded. Wrote the dd in Fedora. Still not working. I’m stumped. I don’t get it. I’m super bummed.

Could it be that there _is_ graphics output, but your screen cannot
handle it (and thus stays black)?

You could try to use a different computer to install Qubes OS on a
removable media, and then try if your X setup works in the real OS.

Alternatively did you try to "switch back" to a text terminal using
Crtl+Alt+F1 through F12 (don't know which are alive, so try a few)?

And if you have a prompt on such a terminal, you could try inspecting
logs (specifically the X server's log)...

[Ulrich Windl]

On 5/30/20 2:49 AM, dennis...@gmail.com wrote:
> Update! Solved the issue. For future searchers:
>
> All that had to be done for me was:
>
> •Launch in Legacy boot
> •On the blue install screen, highlight Install and press Tab
> •move the text cursor with your left arrow key and after “alpha_support=1” add “modprobe.blacklist=nouveau” (without the quotes)
> •press enter and you should be brought to the install screen!

Congrats! So ignore my previous message...