Hi,

I just downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu from the official website and made a bootable USB with it using Rufus. I've booted Ubuntu on other computers before so I know how to do this and I also followed the instructions (so I had my USB drive in FAT32, etc). However, after I opened the boot menu on my laptop, selected the USB as drive to boot from and then clicked "Install Ubuntu on this device", I get a black screen. I've watched it for hours, so it isn't loading or anything, just stuck. When I click the "Try Ubuntu on this device", the same thing happens.

Could someone help me fix this? Thanks in advance.

Not sure which way to go here. Could be bad download or burn. Could be a video issue or memory amount issue.

Can try alternate screens and see if they open. Some combo of ctrl-alt and numbers.

Might try safe booting or nomodeset on boot.

The problem is that rufus is good/great for many things but not an official way to make a bootable usb for ubutnu. Can try official way to make a usb or make a dvd.

Hi,

thanks for the reply. However, I'm a little confused here. What is the "official" way to make a bootable USB for Ubuntu? Also, how do I set "nomodeset" on boot?

at the boot menu hit tab to add nomodeset to end of line, or hit e and add to end of Linux Line.

I usually follow the distro's instructions for making a usb flash drive to be used for installing.

It also depends on how old your laptop architecture is. Sometimes, if you use a large USB stick, the old hardware will not recognise it. Best results for Core-2 duo and later CPU laptops - use 8 or 16 GB USB stick.

Other issues can be due to a bad download or bad image being written.

I have used rufus before - it is a good tool. Try with a smaller USB stick size, if u have one.

Now a days I use either Etcher or the built-in USB imager that comes with Deepin Linux.

https://etcher.io/

https://www.deepin.org/en/

If you are mainly a Windows user and want to use Linux as a desktop, I would recommend Deepin Linux - it is simple, small and best desktop I have used so far - better than Ubuntu, Zorin, Mageia, etc.

I've always used Easy2boot. Takes some figuring out how to use it, but once that hurdle is surmounted, it allows you to put several to many (depending on the size of your USB stick) Live distros--and Windows iso's--onto the same stick--with its own built-in grub menu. You can also install from whatever live distro you choose to boot up.