FWIW I've had something that looks a lot like this problem (purple screen; hang at "loading initial ramdisk ..." when booting with text) after upgrading to the Eoan beta on a Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYB (Intel hw not ASUS; Core i7-6770HQ).
5.3.0.12 and 5.3.0.13 kernels were affected, but booting with a leftover 5.0 kernel worked fine. The problem went away after updating BIOS to latest firmware (KYSKLi70.86A) but I don't know if it'll come back when there is again newer microcode than what the BIOS has...? -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1829620 Title: intel-microcode on ASUS makes kernel stuck during loading initramfs on bionic-updates, bionic-security Status in intel-microcode package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in linux package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in linux-hwe package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in linux-hwe-edge package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Description: - my system gets stuck at "Booting, Loading initramfs" (the first 2 lines of booting, after grub) - does not even show the enter cryptsetup passphrase - affected kernels: # apt list --installed |grep linux-signed WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts. linux-signed-generic/bionic-security,bionic-updates,now 4.15.0.50.52 amd64 [installed] linux-signed-generic-hwe-18.04/bionic-security,bionic-updates,now 4.18.0.20.70 amd64 [installed] linux-signed-generic-hwe-18.04-edge/bionic-security,bionic-updates,now 5.0.0.15.71 amd64 [installed] - the setup is not new, has been working perfectly before (about 7 days since my last restart?) System: - HW: ASUS Zenbook 14 UX433FN - Ubuntu 18.04, runing latest HWE, fully updated - grub(-pc), cryptsetup (crypttab entries for custom encrypted LUKS setup), Suspected/possible cause?: - recent intel-microcode package update - recent kernel package updates Steps taken: - tried to remove "splash quiet" from grub/kernel cmd line (also tried adding nosplash, noplymouth) - completely removed nvidia drivers (apt purge *nvidia*) - completely purged and reinstalled grub (grup-pc) - completely purged and reinstalled all kernels (headers, modules, image, ..) - toggle BIOS "fastboot" (now using OFF) - toggle UEFI SecureBoot (now using ON) - remove plymouth (apt remove *plymouth* , but the workaround is working with plymouth installed) Workaround: - so far, I'm only able to boot with non-Ubuntu kernel! (linux-image-liquorix-amd64) - which needs "splash" option ON - reinstall cryptsetup & update-grub (as suggested in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1829620/comments/10 ) I am not sure how to get you more debug info, as this setup has been working before, and it's a very eary boot-process bug, so I can't even access dmesg etc. EDIT: Hypothesis: Only affects ASUS with i7-8565U Whiskey Lake Intel CPU Upstream Bug Report: https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files/issues/1 WORKAROUND 1: disable intel microcode updates during boot From this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-microcode/+bug/1759920 1/ add the boot parameter: dis_ucode_ldr to /etc/default/grub 2/ update-grub WORKAROUND 2: downgrade (and hold) intel-microcode to older version from bionic/main apt install --reinstall intel-microcode=3.20180312.0~ubuntu18.04.1 WORKAROUND 3: upgrade BIOS Asus has released updated BIOSes, which probably include the newest microcode. After upgrading workarounds 1,2 are not needed. Please NOTE, unlike workarounds 1,2, BIOS upgrade is permanent and cannot be (easily) reverted. --- ProblemType: Bug ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.6 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: KDE DistroRelease: KDE neon 18.04 InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-23 (2337 days ago) InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.1) Package: linux-hwe-edge (not installed) Tags: bionic wayland-session Uname: Linux 5.0.0-17.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 UnreportableReason: The running kernel is not an Ubuntu kernel UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: adm libvirtd lpadmin netdev plugdev sudo vboxusers video _MarkForUpload: True --- ProblemType: Bug ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.6 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: KDE DistroRelease: KDE neon 18.04 InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-23 (2339 days ago) InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.1) Package: linux-hwe-edge PackageArchitecture: amd64 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.0.0-15.16~18.04.1-generic 5.0.6 Tags: third-party-packages bionic wayland-session Uname: Linux 5.0.0-15-generic x86_64 UnreportableReason: Toto není oficiální KDE balík. Prosíme odstraňte všechny balíky třetích stran a zkuste to znovu. UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: adm libvirtd lpadmin netdev plugdev sudo video _MarkForUpload: True To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-microcode/+bug/1829620/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
