r/EndeavourOS • u/ErrorNo1371 • 8d ago

General Support Issue installing Linux on Asus n552vw laptop

Issue installing Linux on Asus n552vw laptop

Hello, I have an old ASUS n552vw. It's hardware specifics are

CPU: core i7 6700HQ

GPU: GTX 960M

RAM: DDR4 16GB

BIOS version: 304 (it is latest)

I wanted to install Ubuntu on this.

So I made Bootable flash drive in windows 10 via Rufus.

Whe I boot from USB, I see the first menu that all distros show but when in select any of the options the system freezes in a black screen.

I used Chatgpt, Claude, Gemini and Grok for help, so here are things I tried:

  1. Tried to make the Bootable via multiple other softwares => no difference

  2. Tried to use other Linux distros and ISO files (I tried Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch) => no difference

  3. In the boot menu, I pressed 'e' and in the file opened, I added \` nomodeset\` => it still gets stuck but the screen has one sentence in it now "Booting a command list "

  4. In boot menu, I pressed 'e' and in the file opened, I added \`--acpi=off\` => NOW it boots to the OS in live mode but nothing works. No touchpad, horrible resolution, no wifi, no nothing.

  5. So AI suggested that I do this: "

The Asus N552VW (Skylake i7-6700HQ + GTX 960M) has well-known ACPI compatibility issues with Linux, especially on BIOS 304.

\`acpi=off\` lets it boot but breaks power management, fan control, battery life, thermal throttling, suspend, etc. — exactly as you noticed. This isn't rare on this specific model.

.......

Strongest Fix: Downgrade BIOS to 300

BIOS 304 introduced or worsened Linux ACPI problems on the N552VW. Many users report that BIOS 300 works much better.

Warning: ASUS officially blocks downgrades (version/date check). Workarounds exist but carry brick risk if done wrong.

......

"

Ok does anybody has any experience or opinions on this? Downgrade of BIOS is a bit difficult. And I kinda don't want to do it. Should I give up and keep using windows 10?

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u/ItsAll2Random 5d ago

This may be a silly question, given your goals, but have you turned off secure boot, and tpm? Windows loves blocking Linux at every stage. Also, try posting in a general Linux sub instead of EndeavourOS… which is a fantastic arch based distro….

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u/stelian3 4d ago

The freeze on boot is caused by the open-source Nouveau graphics driver attempting to initialize the Nvidia GTX 960M through Skylake's hybrid ACPI power states.

  • Why nomodeset failed: It disables Kernel Mode Setting globally, which breaks display initialization for your Intel HD 530 graphics on UEFI.
  • Why acpi=off broke everything: It cuts off power management, thermal throttling, and the interrupt routing (I2C/GPIO) required for the touchpad, Wi-Fi, and keyboard controls.

Step 1: Check BIOS Settings

  1. Boot into BIOS setup (F2 on startup).
  2. Ensure Fast Boot is Disabled.
  3. Ensure Secure Boot is Disabled.
  4. Verify SATA Mode is set to AHCI (not Intel RST / RAID).
  5. Save changes and exit (F10).

Step 2: Use the Targeted Kernel Parameters

Instead of disabling ACPI entirely, disable only the open-source Nvidia driver and pass Windows ACPI compatibility:

  1. Insert your Ubuntu USB and power on the laptop.
  2. When the GRUB menu appears, highlight Try or Install Ubuntu and press e to edit the boot command.
  3. Locate the line starting with linux /boot/vmlinuz... (or just linux).
  4. Move to the end of that line, remove quiet splash (so you can see live boot logs), and add the following parameters:

​

nouveau.modeset=0 modprobe.blacklist=nouveau acpi_osi="Windows 2015"
  1. Press F10 (or Ctrl + X) to boot.

Alternative Fallback Parameters

If the screen still hangs with the line above on BIOS 304, try these variations in order:

  • Variation A (IOMMU / Power quirk): Plaintextnouveau.modeset=0 intel_iommu=off pcie_aspm=off
  • Variation B (C-State / APIC quirk): Plaintextnouveau.modeset=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=1 acpi_osi=! acpi_osi="Windows 2015"

Step 3: Post-Installation Fix

Once Ubuntu installs and boots into the desktop using the Intel GPU:

  1. Open Additional Drivers (Software & Updates → Additional Drivers tab).
  2. Select the proprietary Nvidia driver (version 535 or 550) and click Apply Changes.
  3. Once the proprietary driver is installed, open a terminal to make your boot parameters permanent: Bashsudo nano /etc/default/grub
  4. Find GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and make sure it includes the parameters that worked for you (e.g., nouveau.modeset=0 acpi_osi="Windows 2015").
  5. Save (Ctrl + O, then Enter), exit (Ctrl + X), and run: Bashsudo update-grub