[URGENT] Pop_OS Boot Failure After Keyboard Layout Config - New Linux User Needs Help!

[Stockholm]

Hardware: Tuxedo Infinity Book 14 (3 weeks old)
OS: Pop_OS (fresh install)
Experience Level: Linux newbie (first installation ever!)

What Went Wrong​

Hey everyone! I'm hoping this friendly community can help me out. I'm completely new to Linux and managed to brick my Pop_OS installation while trying to add a Workman keyboard layout. Here's what happened:

1. Fresh Pop_OS install went perfectly using Balena Etcher
2. Spent weeks customizing everything - apps, themes, dev tools, the works
3. Found some terminal commands online to add Workman keyboard layout
4. Ran a logout command from terminal as instructed
5. BOOM - system won't boot anymore, just shows "Oops something went wrong, contact administrator"

Current Situation​

• Can boot into Pop_OS Demo mode from my USB stick
• My user files are still visible in the file system (thank goodness!)
• Original installation completely inaccessible
• USB drive seems to have formatting issues and won't accept file transfers
• Stuck and frustrated after weeks of setup work

What I'm Hoping For​

Before I throw in the towel and reinstall everything from scratch, I'm really hoping someone here can help me:

1. Recover my existing installation - all my customizations and configs are there!
2. Save my files and settings - weeks of work I'd hate to lose
3. Learn what went wrong - so I don't make the same mistake again

Questions for the Community​

• Has anyone seen this "contact administrator" error before?
• Are there recovery tools or commands I should try?
• Can I somehow repair the boot process without losing everything?
• What's the proper way to add keyboard layouts in Pop_OS?

I know I probably did something wrong with those terminal commands, but I'm hoping there's a way to undo the damage. Any guidance, tips, or even just pointing me toward the right resources would be amazing.

This community seems super welcoming to newcomers, so I'm really hoping someone can throw me a lifeline here. I'm eager to learn and do this the right way!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Update: I'm actively monitoring this thread and can provide logs, screenshots, or run diagnostic commands if anyone has suggestions.

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Posted in Getting Started - figured this was the right place for a Linux newbie disaster recovery question!
I live in Stockholm, if anyone can meet up with me, and partly help me out as well help me get started understanding Linux better I buy you a coffee! Thanks

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome,
Did you install and run "timeshift" or similar recovery software?
When you boot, do you get the grub screen?
Do you have a spare USB keyboard you can use

Although POP is based on Ubuntu, it is made specifically for system76 own build of machines, although it is based on Ubuntu, it is not a full Ubuntu build. If it works OTB great, if not you could spend days trying fixes
I believe the latest LTS version of Ubuntu has drivers already in their repo

 

[Stockholm]

Thanks so much for jumping in to help!

Yes, I can open the GRUB screen, and I can move between the four listed options using the arrow keys. The first entry is Tuxedo OS, and further down I see the USB with Pop_OS.

Here’s the strange part: when I select the USB option (third in the list) and press Enter, the screen just flashes and resets right back to the first (Tuxedo OS) entry, as if nothing happened. It doesn't actually boot into the USB live session or proceed any further.

I’m not sure if the USB is corrupted, or if there’s some GRUB/UEFI weirdness happening here. But I’m stuck at that screen and can’t get the live session to load from this menu.

Thanks again—I really appreciate your time! Let me know if there's anything I should try or if you need screenshots or logs.

 

[Mike-BTU]

@Stockholm Welcome to this site!

 

[Brickwizard]

First thing to try, from grub choose [wording may vary] distribution advanced features open select fix broken installation [or similar] let it run and then re-boot to see if that has helped
if not and you can open a terminal, try,
dpkg --force-all --configure -a
then
sudo apt update && apt --fix -broken install -y

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Stockholm , welcome

Yes, I can open the GRUB screen, and I can move between the four listed options using the arrow keys. The first entry is Tuxedo OS, and further down I see the USB with Pop_OS.

1. Can you take a phone pic of that screen and upload it here? If we can see what you see it may help.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[wizardfromoz]

...and

2. Are you able to boot into a working session of Tuxedo?

If so, I may be able to help fix one from the other.

I am east-coast Australia, so allow for timezones.

 

[Brickwizard]

Hardware: Tuxedo Infinity Book 14 (3 weeks old)

Good morning, this may be our problem, Tux os [like POP] is a Ubuntu derivative built specifically by Tux computers for their own machine, therefore like pop for system 76, it is machine specific and so may not carry all the drivers for all possible components, [I am downloading Tux at the moment and will test it out this evening]
If you can start Tux from the grub screen [highlight and enter] then open a terminal and run inxi -Fnxxz and copy/paste back the report [you may have to install inxi from your software repository] we will then be able to see what components you have, which drivers are installed,

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Stockholm
Welcome to the Linux.org forum,
You've already received some good advise. There should be an entry on the grub screen for advanced or repair or something similar that should take you to a screen with several options one being root terminal make sure your connect to the internet and from that termial issue this command

dpkg --configure -a

 

[Stockholm]

As mentioned, in the GRUB menu, it does not allow me to choose a restore option or boot from the USB drive that has Pop_OS on it. All I can do is access a demo version of Pop_OS. In this demo environment, I can see in the file manager that my documents and settings from when I first set up the system (before the OS crashed) are still there in folders. However, I cannot copy them to a USB drive. The USB is formatted correctly for Linux, but there's no way to paste all the folders from my original OS onto it.

I cannot find out how to reset my OS - I can only get into the demo OS or start a completely new installation. I don't want to do a fresh install because I want to restore my own built-up OS with all my documents, settings, and applications intact.

I'm not sure how showing photos would help demonstrate this problem. Does anyone have advice?

---

Context for others reading: The system crashed after installing a Workman keyboard layout when ChatGPT suggested logging out. The computer shut down completely and now won't boot into the original OS installation, only allowing access to a live/demo environment where the user's files are visible but not accessible for backup or system restoration

 

[kc1di]

Why not just reinstall tuxedo on it. wipe out popOS and go with what the machine was designed to work with.
I'm sure if you need assistance some here or at the tuxedo thread of redit would be willing to help you.
Do you have a disk /usb stick with tuxedo on it?

 

[Stockholm]

Why not just reinstall tuxedo on it. wipe out popOS and go with what the machine was designed to work with.
I'm sure if you need assistance some here or at the tuxedo thread of redit would be willing to help you.
Do you have a disk /usb stick with tuxedo on it?

It seems it’s difficult to find someone online right now, especially from the other side of the world, who can support a beginner like me and help make this work with Pop!_OS.

I’m sure TUXEDO OS is great for the right user — I just feel it wasn’t the right fit for me.
Yes, the TUXEDO OS is still available to reboot with.

I have other priorities I need to focus on at the moment, so I won’t be troubleshooting or reinstalling this system further.
I had considered a System76, but they’re only sold in the USA, and the 25% VAT plus customs fees put it out of my budget — the same goes for Framework, which is even more expensive.

That said, I’m confident this computer will be perfect for someone else who loves TUXEDO, and I’m ready to let it go.

Thanks for understanding.

 

[Brickwizard]

It seems it’s difficult to find someone online right now, especially from the other side of the world,

Strange comment, firstly you must remember , this site is run by its members for its members, they are spread across the world, some of us work, some are retired, but we all have our own lives and give some of that voluntarily to help others.

Now I said this morning I would download and have a look at Tux, It was solid, worked well, although like yourself not keen as it stands, and I think the machine well suited to many Debian based distributions but not Pop I feel that may be a dead loss on that machine,

My recommendation
Either do a full reinstallation of Tux, wiping the disc fully, and then tailoring it to your own requirements [as you tried with Pop.]
OR
find another Debian distribution you do like and doing a clean installation with that,
I don't mind trying to help you I am GMT+1/UTC +1 and assume you are GMT/UTC +2 [as the machine is made specifically for the EU market] I am about most days [on and off] from 0800 -2400 CEST, but I do have other things to do,

But you will need time and patience to wait for my replies

 

[PuppyHome]

I’m sure TUXEDO OS is great for the right user — I just feel it wasn’t the right fit for me

Be that the case as it may be BUT TuxedoOS is specifically built for that machine so any other installed OS may (and often will) give problems.

My advice: Burn an USB with EasyOS and fire up your machine to access any files you may want to recover and copy them to somewhere.
Then reinstall with Tuxedo OS, get a virtual machine going and run any distro you'd like better or want to try out in that VM. Or even better burn said OS's on a brand new USB and run it live. If it works it works, if it doesn't move on to the next one. But keep Tuxedo on that machine while testing things out.

 

[KGIII]

Hmm...

I'm going to point out that this site is not the place to buy or sell computers. We should probably avoid posting ads for that as they could be seen as spam. The biggest concern, from my view, is that we have no protections for either party. Both seller and buyer could run into troubles and there's nothing we (the staff at this site) can do about it.

 

[Stockholm]

Hmm...

I'm going to point out that this site is not the place to buy or sell computers. We should probably avoid posting ads for that as they could be seen as spam. The biggest concern, from my view, is that we have no protections for either party. Both seller and buyer could run into troubles and there's nothing we (the staff at this site) can do about it.

Ops. I had no idea about this! I thought it was anything Linux, so once I made a decision that is maybe better it goes to someone more advanced than me I just suggested anyone who is interested can buy it, if they like.. but if that is not allowed to bring up here, I can delete that comment?

 

[Stockholm]

Be that the case as it may be BUT TuxedoOS is specifically built for that machine so any other installed OS may (and often will) give problems.

My advice: Burn an USB with EasyOS and fire up your machine to access any files you may want to recover and copy them to somewhere.
Then reinstall with Tuxedo OS, get a virtual machine going and run any distro you'd like better or want to try out in that VM. Or even better burn said OS's on a brand new USB and run it live. If it works it works, if it doesn't move on to the next one. But keep Tuxedo on that machine while testing things out.

Thanks for your suggestion!

 

[KGIII]

I can delete that comment?

If it needed to be removed, I'd have taken care of that for you. I'll let it sit there but I'll be surprised if you get any takers. If you do get any takers, you might want to make sure they're a member in good standing and have a long history of posting here.

There are literally no protections we can offer. The buyer could demand a refund saying they were only shipped a brick and the seller could ship just a brick. We are powerless to help either party.

 

[Stockholm]

Strange comment, firstly you must remember , this site is run by its members for its members, they are spread across the world, some of us work, some are retired, but we all have our own lives and give some of that voluntarily to help others.

Now I said this morning I would download and have a look at Tux, It was solid, worked well, although like yourself not keen as it stands, and I think the machine well suited to many Debian based distributions but not Pop I feel that may be a dead loss on that machine,

My recommendation
Either do a full reinstallation of Tux, wiping the disc fully, and then tailoring it to your own requirements [as you tried with Pop.]
OR
find another Debian distribution you do like and doing a clean installation with that,
I don't mind trying to help you I am GMT+1/UTC +1 and assume you are GMT/UTC +2 [as the machine is made specifically for the EU market] I am about most days [on and off] from 0800 -2400 CEST, but I do have other things to do,

But you will need time and patience to wait for my replies

Thank you for that. I completely understand, and I didn’t mean people here aren’t helpful — quite the opposite.

What I meant by “difficult” is that, as a beginner, I struggle to explain what I see in GRUB or other menus. It’s not that people don’t want to help — it’s that I may not yet be able to give clear enough descriptions for you to guide me properly. I’ve been trying to get through this with the help of ChatGPT, and at first, I did manage to install Pop!_OS and set up a lot of things I used to like on my MacBook. I even found many new and interesting apps through the Pop!_Shop.

Then I installed the Workman keyboard layout, which I’ve used as a screenwriter for years. ChatGPT said I needed to log out and log back in to activate it, and gave me a terminal command to do that. But when I logged out, the whole screen went black — then white — and then an error appeared saying something had gone wrong and I should contact an administrator.

Since then, I’ve been stuck.

In GRUB or BIOS (I’m not even sure which is which — one is a grey screen with light grey text), I see several entries for Pop!_OS, but none of them work when I select them. In another menu (maybe BIOS?), I can move up and down between options marked in orange — USB recovery is one of them — but when I press Enter, the screen just flashes and returns to the top option again (TUXEDO).

I’ve tried all kinds of suggestions from ChatGPT — F2 to F6, logging in, accessing the live version of Pop!_OS. I even managed to open the Files app and could see my original OS folders listed separately from the Demo environment. But I couldn’t move or copy them to a USB stick.

As I’ve said, I’m a beginner — so I honestly don’t know why it’s behaving like this or how to fix it. I just felt I might not be skilled enough yet to communicate clearly here, especially when no one can see my screen.

That said, I found a local after-work coding group that’s having a meetup tomorrow, and I think I’ll go there and ask if anyone knows Linux and could take a look. Who knows — maybe this unlucky crash will lead to some new Linux friends in a café! Life can be funny like that.

I’ve really tried my best following ChatGPT’s guidance. I took a chance asking here, and I appreciate anyone who took the time to respond.

Thanks again for reaching out!

 

[Brickwizard]

Well if you decide to ave another go, the following link is a tutorial on using a USB to recover your system and should work with any Debian based distributions

Boot-Repair - Debian Wiki

wiki.debian.org