Ubuntu – No possible way to install Ubuntu on Asus Zenbook UX433FN

18.0418.1019.04asusnvidia

My laptop specs:
512 GB SSD
CPU: COREI7 8'th generation
RAM: 16GB
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce MX150

I've had an Ubuntu 18.04 on my laptop for a while. I had to install ukuu to upgrade kernel to 4.20 (otherwise the output sound won't work). It worked fine until recently that when I ran "sudo apt upgrade", I encountered a freezing red screen before login. I changed boot parameters but it didn't fix anything.

I thought ukuu was causing this problem, So I tried to install Ubuntu 19.04 (which comes with kernel 5). But I failed to do so. The only way I can get past setup options is to choose "install Ubuntu in safe graphics". After the installation finishes and I reboot, the freezing red screen reoccurs and I can't login. I tried to change boot parameters by pressing E in boot menu. In the line "linux" line, I replaced "ro quiete splash" with "nomodeset" or "nouveau.modeset=0" (I also tried only adding these two latter commands at the end of the line only.) But it didn't change anything. If I go to recovery mode (in any kernel version), it stucks on "loading initial ramdisk".

I also tried installing Ubuntu 18.10 and then upgrade it to Ubuntu 19.04. I was successful in installing Ubuntu 18.10. However, in order to be able to boot into Ubuntu 18.10, I must add "nouveau.modeset=0" to boot parameters. When I was able to login, I installed Nvidia drivers by navigating to "Software & Updates" and installed recommended 390 version of Nvidia drivers. After that, the boot and reboot is ok but again when I run "sudo apt upgrade", then after reboot the red freezing screen comes again. So I tried installing Nvidia driver version that is suitable for Geforce MX150 (I searched and found out that the latest supporting version is 430). I did it by adding Nvidia repository. After that, the red screen reoccured again. Trying to blacklist Nvidia drivers (by creating and editing a file in direcotry etc/modprobe.d/) lead to failure in the end again. And recovery mode (of any kernel version) stucks on "loading initial ramdisk" on Ubuntu 18.10 too.

I'm not much of an expert but I guess that some recent updates in Ubuntu packages are seriously not compatible with my laptop and especially Nvidia messes up everything. I tried to find any solution I find but still no beam of hope… I'd be really appreciated if someone gives me a solution to get rid of the curse of "freezing red screen" and get me back on Ubuntu.

Thank you for reading my problem folks.

Best Answer

I just solved this problem on my Zenbook UX533FD with Ubuntu 18.04.

It turns out update/upgrade will update the Intel related stuff and then crush the system

This is what I did:

In grub, choose Ubuntu, DON'T PRESS ENTER, press 'e', add dis_ucode_ldr after the line start with Linux, then boot (press F10), should be bootable now.

Once booted, in terminal:

sudo apt install intel-microcode=3.20180312.0~ubuntu18.04.1

Then hold the package:

sudo apt-mark hold intel-microcode=3.20180312.0~ubuntu18.04.1

I have written a readme about the problems I have with this laptop. Hope it helps.