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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?

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  • 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
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 7:57
  • Yes, it fails to install from there too. So I downloaded the .run file directly.
    – Ivan Dossev
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 8:40
  • 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
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 9:02
  • 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
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 17:58
  • 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
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

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I was finally able to get things to work by using the Xubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak. It appears there is better support to handle the secure boot.

  • Re-enabled secure-boot from the BIOS. This seems to be required in order to boot from a bootable USB drive, otherwise you enter the blank screen when launching the installation or must resort to a CD-ROM.

  • Install Yakkety Yak from a bootable USB drive.

  • During the installation I checked on the disable secure-boot and set a password.

  • Installed the OS as UEFI.

  • When the OS boots for the first time there is an option to disable secure-boot. It asks you to enter several randomly chosen characters from the password you created during installation. Note that the first index is 1 not 0 regarding this input menu. This is a very important menu I was unable to access in 16.04.1 LTS. It allows you to disable secure-boot without having to do it from the BIOS.

  • The OS will then allow the 3rd party drivers to install from the Software&Updates.

  • I was able to install the nVidia 367.57 driver and also the Intel-microcode for my CPU.

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