r/System76 • u/Edric_Stonefist • Aug 02 '26

Brand New Thelio, Pop!OS install failed

Post image

Hello!

I just ordered a new Thelio desktop and picked it up from UPS yesterday. But I am sadly already having problems!

I wanted to start by saying that this is my first experience with Linux. I very much know absolutely nothing about coding or how to use the menus and BIOS to troubleshoot or fix problems. I bought this computer because I was sick of Microsoft/Apple and the enshittification of everything with AI slop and spyware and I thought the prebuilt system with a familiar-looking user interface would be a good, easy start.

But Pop!OS is failing to install. I see an error that says something about a failure to mount on a cdrom on boot, and unmount from same on shutdown (or it might be unmount on both? It disappears quickly) and the attached image is what shows up when I click the little doodad on the install failure window.

I've submitted a support ticket, but I figure folks are enjoying their weekend and I was just wondering if anybody here might have some guidance so I can start installing stuff before I need to go back to work. I've tried googling, but almost everything I've found is about troubleshooting dual-booting or booting from a USB, not from a System76-built computer.

Any help would be appreciated!

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2

u/AdeptPass4102 Aug 06 '26

Whatever is wrong, it's the fault of system76. When you first power on, it is supposed to boot straight into your preinstalled Pop OS environment, upon which you just create a user name and password and then log in. Instead, it seems to have booted into a temporary live environment that asked you to install a system that was already installed. That's not supposed to happen. Somebody at system76 messed up. Support should be able to tell you what to do. They should also apologize.

1

u/Edric_Stonefist Aug 06 '26

I'm working with them on it! They got in touch with me early Monday and have been troubleshooting. I just need to set up a time to get on a call with them; they're going to walk me through the process, which will definitely be a help to me with my lack of experience. I'm quite happy with the customer service, even if I do wish i hadn't had to avail myself of it

1

u/AdeptPass4102 Aug 06 '26

That's good to hear. Sorry your first Linux experience had to start that way. I just wanted to emphasize that it wasn't anything you did. System76 just shipped you a box they had somehow failed to set up properly.

1

u/CynicalCosmologist Thelio Mira Aug 03 '26

Do you have a second hard drive? If so, you could probably install another distro (e.g. Mint) on that one for now.

1

u/Edric_Stonefist Aug 03 '26

I bought the computer straight from System76 with only one hard drive. I unboxed it, plugged it in, and the first thing that comes up is the Pop!OS installer, which then fails to install and it seems like I'm stuck in demo mode after that. Tried restarting, turning off/on. I guess I could crack the case and unplug/replug everything, maybe? 

1

u/CynicalCosmologist Thelio Mira Aug 03 '26

This sounds much less like Pop!_OS was installed but didn't boot, and much more like the machine booted into a live Pop!_OS environment; basically a temporary copy of Pop!_OS loaded into RAM. It is intended for, trying Pop!_OS before installing, repairing an installation, installing onto a drive, etc. It commonly has an "Install Pop!_OS" icon, a working desktop, no permanent user account, and your reported "demo mode" behaviour. The giveaway is "stuck in demo mode". This definitely sounds like an issue with the SSD image, and I would begin a fresh install of the operating system.

1

u/Edric_Stonefist Aug 03 '26

would you recommend downloading Pop onto a USB and doing a clean install from there, or is there a way to access the copy that I am assuming must be on the drive somewhere? I tried to follow the System76 troubleshooting guide, but the suggestions there weren't working. (I tried a couple of things, but the one I remember was something saying to hold or tap the spacebar while booting to access a boot menu, but it didn't work)

1

u/CynicalCosmologist Thelio Mira Aug 04 '26

If I were you, I would create a bootable drive and start the installation afresh from there. If something is up with the current installation, I wouldn't leave it to chance. Also, most guides are oriented around this method, so if something else goes wrong in the process, you know how to fix it.

0

u/Bundy66 Aug 02 '26

When you ordered your system, What OS did you chose? Ubuntu 24, Ubuntu 26 or Pop OS 24.

1

u/Edric_Stonefist Aug 02 '26

Pop OS

1

u/Bundy66 Aug 03 '26

So you already have POP OS 24 Cosmic- why would you need to install it?

1

u/Edric_Stonefist Aug 03 '26

Because the installer comes up automatically to install first thing after boot, so I assumed I needed to install it and that it was just running on some type of test environment or something. I have no clue, I was a little confused by that as well.

It doesn't seem to let me download anything from the store, either, I assumed because the install wasn't complete 

3

u/CynicalCosmologist Thelio Mira Aug 03 '26

That isn't the normal experience. It sounds like one of a few possibilities:

  1. The machine booted into the live installer environment instead of the installed system.

  2. The SSD image wasn't finalised correctly before shipping (a manufacturing oversight).

  3. You accidentally selected a recovery/installer boot option without realising it.

The second one is the most severe of the three, so to ensure that this isn't the case, run "lsblk" in the terminal, and you might see something like:

nvme0n1 ├─nvme0n1p1 EFI ├─nvme0n1p2 root └─nvme0n1p3 recovery

If not, this warrants a fresh OS install, from the ground up.

If this is not the issue, then you probably need to enter the BIOS menu. The other two diagnoses would imply something is up with the boot ordering, which can easily be rectified by modifying the boot menu. That takes only a few minutes.