sorry, i meant to say i was using [sudo efibootmgr --bootorder] and then listing all options in the order i wanted to try, and i wondered what the -- specifically meant. i do have a lot of pages bookmarked for using command line but it is hard to learn and memorize a thing that i dont use extensively. i do like it very much, though.

in a terminal:
man efibootmgr

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so in other words, a command beginning with -- is the long way, and an abbreviation of the one i was using is -o. i had noticed that different people write out command lines that are doing the same things in different ways.

this also i think answers another question i had in my mind, and that is was moving the usb live boot to the first place all that needed to be done, and the others could be left as they are.

but to get back to the problem of not being able to get them to boot, when i changed the boot sequence before so many times before i joined this forum, most of the time i didnt just reboot, i logged out and then logged back in thinking i had one chance before it went back to normal. i thought it was possible that it was necessary to logout rather than just restart, but a few times i did it that way because i already had to restart for some other reason and i left the flash plugged in. and it would have been plugged in the hub by the way, which is interesting. or am i wrong, and maybe it makes no difference whether i reboot or log out?

but what about the ubuntu flash getting stuck? should i just consider it to be bad and start all over by erasing and cleaning up the flash and then ... rather than just using the same iso, i would download the iso for 22.04.1 and do it from there.

it seems unlikely to me that i could have done something wrong in making the live boot flash so that it would only work once and then get stuck the second and third times that i was able to get it to boot. is it possible it could have gotten corrupted in some way?

i probably forgot to remove it properly when i was logging out at least once...could that have done it? that has happened to me before with pen drives that held only data and i never had any of them stop working-would a live boot flash be more susceptible?

Yes, it is certainly possible the flash drive and contents could be corrupted.

That is one of the more common ways they get corrupted. I don't think use the flash as an iso, live boot drive would make it more susceptible to corruption. They don't last forever and the more often you use them the more likely they are to go bad, just stop working.

I'm not sure what you are referring to in the third paragraph of your last post, logout or reboot. If you use the F9 key for one time boot options, you are booting the computer and that change will be used. On the next reboot, it will back to the original boot. If you want a permanent boot change, you need the f10 key for the BIOS firmware.

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i have only created a live boot on that flash twice now, so that is twice to write to and once to prepare to be able to. is that three times use? if so, then the lubuntu flash has had exactly the same usage, but the ubuntu flash has been tried many more times afterwards just to see if it worked when it didnt work...oh, and it has gotten stuck twice and frozen my system so that i had to poweroff without being able to first remove it safely. that would have to add to the possibility i think, wouldnt it...would that be enough to just wear it out even if it didnt cause any damage? or maybe just one time not removing it safely would be enough to corrupt it so that it wouldnt work properly any more?

as for the third paragraph in my last post, i meant what if i am using efibootmgr? in other words, after using efimgr and wanting to try and boot from the flash which i moved to first place in the boot sequence, do i restart or do i logoff or would both ways be correct?

i also know that to poweroff that way is bad for my computer. in the past, if i have a problem getting to the logout button i have been able to use tty and the shutdown command, but that was not possible in the above situation.

at the moment, according to the f10 screen the 'uefi boot order' is: os boot manager, usb flash drive/usb hard disk, then usb cd/dvd rom drive. where is the ssd drive? even on the f9 screen i dont see the ssd listed either, the list is: os boot manager, os windows boot manager, usb hard drive, boot from efi file. efibootmgr lists them all by their real names and gives descriptions, it is easy to recognize, but the firmware screen is bizarre to me (hp's fault). or is this trying to compare apples and oranges?

i like the command line better than gui...

Did you try the safe graphics menu entry on the ubuntu usb?

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The point I was making with regard to the possibility that your drive is bad is there is not guarantee how long one will work. Some users buy a drive and it is faulty and never works, you can use it few times and it goes bad or use it for years without problems. There's no real way to know how long one will work. This is one possibility with the flash drive and the problems you are having. Do you see it as an option in the BIOS when it is attached? If you boot the installed system and run sudo fdisk -l, does the drive show. If the answer to the 2 questions is yes then it is not that the flash is bad but is corrupted in some way.

You need to reboot to change the boot device. Logging out will not change it.

A method that I use to power off when the standard methods from the GUI or terminal don't work is to hold down the Alt key and the prtsc at the same time, then type in the following letters consecutively: r-e-i-s-u-b. It's always worked or me but others say it doesn't. It's not easy to do, physically but if you can it is a much better way.

If the SSD you are referring to is the internal drive which came with the computer, it isn't generally listed separately but is the device which boots when you select windows boot manager or OS boot manager. This option boots the default device and on most home computers, windows is installed by the manufacturer so both those options would originally boot windows. The OS Boot Manager option should give you the option to select another device installed on the SSD. On my HP compters, there is an arrow to the left of OS Boot Manager which means more than one OS installed and highlighting it and then highlighting another OS from the new window with the list will allow you to select it by then hitting the Enter key. efibootmgr shows the same information but in a different way. Remember that some of these options don't work on an HP computer.

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i remember you suggested that before, i got sidetracked. i have never done anything with it. i have seen a grub screen, but usually when my computer was about to or in the middle of some kind of malfunction.

i dont remember the choice being there when i boot the usb, i thought it was only the one screen, where it offers 'try' and 'install'. maybe the grub screen option comes after making that decision; if so, that is where i get stuck so i wont be able to do it...unless there is another way.

but i will try and read some tutorials from different linux sites and then try what i can learn to do.

yes, i see the usb drive listed in the boot options when it is attached, but i dont see it on that screen listing the disk devices. (i attached a screen print. i think it is only parts of my laptop drive.) also i tried both with the flash plugged into the hub and again with it plugged into the port on the laptop. so what does it mean if the answer to the first question is yes and the answer to the second question is no?

as for the better way to get out of a stuck screen that you use, thanks for showing it-i will write it down and keep it next to my computer with my other emergency stuff. i will try it the next time i get stuck. i better ask, you dont want me to press the dashes in between the letters, right? just leave a space between them? why is it hard, do you mean i have to hold down the two keys while i am typing the other thing too?

thanks for explaining why it looks to me like there is no ssd.

yes, i hate to ask a million silly questions, but i noticed the big black arrow in front of the OS Boot Manager option and i wondered what it was there for. of course i have no other thing installed on this machine, i forgot if i clicked on that to see what would happen, but probably not since i dont know anything about this new way of doing things.

last night i permanently changed the boot order to put the usb first from the f10 screen and this morning i checked and it is still like i left it.

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The safe graphics option would come before the Try or Install options. immediately on booting if the option is there.

Are you referring to the logout and reboot options? You can't boot to another device with a logout you need to reboot. A temporary change is using the F9 key. If you set the usb to first boot in the BIOS, it will change back to what it was before the change in the boot order. F9 is temporary, F10 is permanent. A change made with the F10 key will stay until you again access the BIOS with the F10 key and make another change.

If you are referring to the quote above regarding to the two options of seeing the drive recognized in the BIOS but not with fdisk, the drive is recognized in the system so that is good. If it doesn't show with fdisk, there could be a number of reasons such as being corrupted in some way. Do you not see it when plugged into the hub as well as when plugged into a usb port?

Yes, you need to hold down the Alt and prtscr keys while then pressing consecutively the letters and NO dashes.

hello yancek and color purple-
ok, i saw the grub screen this time and i tried the safe graphics mode and it does the exact same thing as if i just pressed try or install...it gets to the screen with the two big squares 'try' and 'install' and the language options and there it is stuck, there is nothing can do at that point. the only difference is that the image on the screen was much bigger, i mean maybe 150% of the same screen size if it was not in safe mode. so i had to twice again poweroff cold without safely removing the usb.

i read a number of articles or tutorials mainly about using safe graphics mode and they were all mainly about nomodeset and Nvidia. they sort of reference you can make repairs to your boot process or something, install a different bootloader, etc, without any specific instructions for how...but since i cant use it i guess that's that.

i couldnt imagine how to work the keyboard without seeing the things on the screen. is that how you do it? if you are stuck on a graphics screen, you just hold down those keys while pressing the other keys one at a time?
you are not like on a tty screen or anything, right?


i see the usb as an option in the bios when it is attached-yes. but the fdisk -l does not show it-no.

oy, i always think in terms of logoff, but i mean poweroff. my usb drive is probably nuked by now. by the way, is it better to pull out the flash and then poweroff cold (if i am forced to) or better to leave it plugged in and then poweroff cold? or does it not make any difference...

Boot the usb, at the grub menu, use arrow keys to highlight:

"OEM install (for manufacturers)"

Press the e key for edit and change the line that begins with linux to this:

linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed only-ubiquity

press ctrl-x to boot. It should come up to the beginning of the installation process, if it locks up note what is on the screen.

i tried OEM install-got as far as welcome screen (language selection but no ‘try’ and ‘install’ buttons). box for selecting name of files to be installed-i typed 'sysmanmodeOEM' and pressed ‘continue’, waited ten minutes, screen still stuck-then pressed ‘quit’, no response-pressed ‘logout’ from upper menu bar, but no response. cold poweroff.

If you are referring to the Alt+prtsc REISUB method no, I use the keyboard on the laptop and it is not easy to do but it always works when I manage to hit the correct keys.

Leave the usb plugged in when you poweroff, then remove it. If you get a chance at some point to test it on another computer. I don't know what else you could try but powering off is likely to damage the usb if you don't safely remove it. Formatting it and writing another iso to the usb might be worth a try if you haven't done that.

The welcome screen where you select the language?
You are in the install mode at that point, select the language you want and continue. For The live desktop change the linux line to this:

linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed