NUC8i5BEK - Ubuntu 18.04 / 18.10 Server Installation Menu Keeps Restarting Every ~1-2s

[CBole1]

(I cross-posted this on the Ubuntu forums but thought I would also try here in case someone has seen this before)

I have a new NUC8i5BEK with a 500GB M2 Samsung 970 and a single stick of Crucial 2400MHz 16GB RAM that is updated to the latest 2018/11/28 BIOS/Firmware. With both the 18.04 and 18.10 server ISO images I am able to boot via USB just fine, but once it gets to the language selection menu, the screen flashes back briefly to a grey background one with a single line of text at the top that says something to the effect of "Ubuntu Server 18.xx LTS", and then returns to the language selection menu again for a second or two. I think the grey screen is the installation menu app starting up and basically this app is restarting every second or two. If you hit enter quickly, you can get through a page or two of the menus, but it always restarts so you can never complete anything. I have had one or two instances where after leaving it cycling like this for a half-hour or so, it eventually stops and you can interact with the menus, but once I go past the networking selection screen it restarts again. I want to emphasize that the machine is not rebooting back to grub, etc. - it is very quickly hopping between the installation menu screen and this grey screen.

Has anyone seen this behavior before? I would think if I had a bad hardware or BIOS configuration it wouldn't get this far.

[David_V_Intel]

Hello CBole1, Thank you for posting on the Intel ® communities. First, I would like to begin by letting you know that we have not validated the use of Ubuntu* in that Intel ® NUC and we do not provide support for Linux*, we recommend to open a support ticket or thread with Ubuntu* support or communities, which I can see that you have already done. You can also see if other community members have experienced similar issues in this community. You can check more information of the supported operating system for the Intel ® NUCs in the link below: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005628/mini-pcs.html Regards, David V Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[CBole1]

Thanks. After letting the 18.10 server installer to restart itself every second for maybe 15min, it seemed to stop and I was able to proceed through the installer and everything is now working fine. I tried doing the same with the 18.04 server installer but it just kept resetting itself ad nauseam. Once 18.10 was working I was able to downgrade it via apt back to 18.04. The NUC seems totally stable otherwise so I don't think this was a hardware / config issue, just an Ubuntu installer one.

[David_V_Intel]

Hello CBole1, Thank you for your response. I am glad to know your system has now the operating system you wanted and it is working stable. Other users may refer to this thread for assistance with similar issues Thank you for your feedback. Regards, David V Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation