[Bug 1990555] [NEW] Provide better system feedback when OS fails to boot

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

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I installed Kubuntu without issue on a VM and my laptop, after weeks of
testing and enjoying it I decided to install it on my desktop's second
hard disk.

I then selected that disk as my first boot option in my motherboard
settings, and restarted my computer.

Kubuntu shows this message:

[ 0.269691] tpm_crb MSFT0101:00: [Firmware Bug]: ACPI region does not cover t he entire command/response buffer. [mem 0xda56d000-0xda56dfff flags 0x200] vs da 56d000 4000
[ 0.269704] tpm_crb MSFT0101:00: can't request region for resource [mem 0xda5 6d000-0xda56dfff]
_

Then asks me to decrypt my drive, flashing the Kubuntu logo, then
returns to the error message and nothing further happens.

No helpful error message is shown. No information is shown on the screen
as to what is happening in the boot process. Nothing. Trying to search
online for answers was tedious and exhausting. Tried disabling various
BIOS security settings on advice of forum people. No help.

I eventually searched for information on how booting works and found
that if you push shift and escape after your BIOS logo flashes and
before disk decryption you can get to the Linux boot menu. Once in that
menu I chose to continue normal boot. But now everything worked. And
once I installed and updated all drivers and rebooted my OS worked fine.

So to recap: TPM, Fast Boot, disk encryption, disk drive order, boot
location, BIOS, had nothing to do with the problem. I think if you
choose in installation not to 'download updates during installation to
save time' and your computer isn't exactly what Ubuntu expects, then it
dies when trying to boot. I'm betting it was some graphics driver, but
who knows.

So I recommend some of:
1) Scrolling text display on the screen showing exactly what is happening during the boot process so users can see at what point booting fails.
2) Always providing the option to select the boot options GUI thingy when booting, so users don't have to spend hours finding out about shift escape.
3) Checking during installation if the user's computer will fail to boot without additional drivers, and not allowing installation to proceed without downloading those drivers.
4) If booting stalls after 30 seconds, display a link to a webpage explaining how to troubleshoot the problem.

This was a horribly Linux off-putting experience.

** Affects: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: bot-comment
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Provide better system feedback when OS fails to boot
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1990555
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