Bug 440813

Summary:	Neon Live USB not booting on Dell laptops and Intel desktop
Product:	[KDE Neon] neon	Reporter:	andresvkfouri
Component:	Live/Install images	Assignee:	Neon Bugs <neon-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED WAITINGFORINFO
Severity:	major	CC:	christianbueno.1, jr, neon-bugs-null, sitter
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description andresvkfouri 2021-08-09 22:54:57 UTC

SUMMARY
The latest Neon ISO doesn't boot on my Dell G3 3590 laptop. Other users online mentioned the same issue, all on other Dell laptop models. The same live USB worked fine on an Asus laptop.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Download the latest Neon User ISO (neon-user-20210806-1520.iso)
2. Burn it to an USB using the recommended Rosa image writer
3. Try booting it on a Dell laptop

OBSERVED RESULT
The live USB didn't boot and I got the following message:

Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\? - Invalid Parameter
Failed to load image \EFI\BOOT\? - Invalid Parameter
start_image() returned Invalid Parameter

The screen then went black and then booted into the currently installed OS (Mint 20.2). I tried the same USB on an Asus laptop and it booted perfectly. Live USBs for other distros (Kubuntu 20.04 and 21.04, Mint 20.2 and Solus 4.3) all worked fine.

EXPECTED RESULT
I expected the live USB to boot normally.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma: neon-user-20210806-1520.iso

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I posted the issue on Reddit and on the KDE forums. A few people replied with the same issue, and they were all also on Dell laptops (Latitude E7470, XPS 9560 and 9590, and another G3 3590). 
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdeneon/comments/ozcgq6/error_when_booting_into_the_neon_live_usb/
https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=309&t=172216

Comment 1 Christian Bueno 2021-08-10 06:46:10 UTC

The same problem here with the image "neon-user-20210806-1520.iso", it can't boot in UEFI mode but does in BIOS mode. It show the following Error with a black screen.

Invalid image
Failed to read header: Unsupported
Failed to load header: Unsupported
start_image() returned Unsupporte

I have installed Kubuntu 21.04 without problems.

Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i5-4430 CPU @ 3.00GHz
Memory: 15,4 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: GeForce GT 610/PCIe/SSE2

Comment 2 andresvkfouri 2021-08-10 14:47:49 UTC

I'm testing older ISOs from the Distrowatch archives right now. The image "neon-user-20210715-0945.iso" booted Neon 5.22.3 perfectly. I'll try some more recent images to see when they stop working.

Comment 3 Christian Bueno 2021-08-10 15:04:52 UTC

have you talking about this https://distrowatch.com/dwres/torrents/neon-user-20210715-0945.iso.torrent
It is a torrent, can't find normal image file.

Comment 4 andresvkfouri 2021-08-10 16:07:50 UTC

That's the one! I think it's only available as a torrent, but it checks out. I tried the more recent images from July (neon-user-20210722-0947.iso and neon-user-20210729-0944.iso) and they both worked perfectly too, so it seems to be a very recent problem.

Comment 5 Carlos De Maine 2025-09-20 09:35:54 UTC

Thank you for your bug report! 
However this bug report was created/provided previous to 01/01/2023 and also has not received any updates since  before 01/01/2025. 
Unfortunately KDE neon no longer provides updates for anything older than noble 24.04 based edition's.
Please upgrade to KDE neon noble and if you can reproduce the issue after upgrading to an active version, feel free to re-open this bug report.
Thanks for understanding!