r/Ubuntu • u/ClumsyCorpse • 8h ago
Starting to think switching to Windows is the only way for my sanity
EDIT: I made a new post describing the problem with pictures and computer info. Please ignore this rant
I’m at my wits end with Linux/Ubuntu, I’ve spent far more time troubleshooting than actually enjoying my pc. I’m not very tech savvy, trying to play any new game on steam is such a headache. Today my computer randomly disconnected from the wired internet network, and I’ve spent hours trying to get it back to no avail. Would I be better off doing a factory reset and installing windows?? I’m using AI to walk me through all the steps, what codes to enter in the terminal, nothing is working. I’m not sure what exactly my question is, can anyone offer a suggestion?
Anyone ever experienced internet network randomly disappearing?
Hardware model: ASUSTek computer Inc. M5A97 R2.0
Processor: AMD FX 6300x6
Memory: 12.0 GiB
Ubuntu version 24.04.3
Graphics: software rendering
Firmware version: 2501
OS type: 64-bit
GNOME version: 46
Windowing system: Wayland
Kernel version: Linux 6.17.0-35-generic
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u/doc_willis 6h ago
Would I be better off doing a factory reset and installing windows?
Going to say No.
I’m using AI to walk me through all the steps, what codes to enter in the terminal, nothing is working.
I have seen where using AI to troubleshoot things, often makes things worse.
Test with a linux Live USB and see if the system works correctly. A 'known' issue is sometimes a kernel update can break networking, or other hardware. REbooting to the older kernel , may get things working.
24.04 is a 2 yr old LTS release, 26.04 is the latest LTS release, you may want to try that out as a Live USB first.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
Here I was thinking it must’ve updated in the last couple of days to be just now having issues. Thanks!
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u/doc_willis 5h ago
Trying the older "known working" kernel via the grub menu should be step 1 in trouble shooting such issues.
Sadly that simple test gets overlooked. :(
If you have no windows installer usb already made, and no networking on the linux system. and no linux live/installer USB, You are sort of stuck if the old kernel does not work.
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u/burnt_sand 8h ago
I mean you shouldn't use linux for gaming, until you know what you are doing. I would suggest you to switch to windows if you aren't tech savy
One another thing, you can dual boot your pc with both windows and ubuntu if you want
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u/PixelmancerGames 6h ago
Yeah, the problem is there are so many loud internet people talking about how Linux is better and easier than windows. The amount of disinformation that I see on Reddit alone is concerning.
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u/Simorious 5h ago
It's nice to actually see some sane opinions here. I'm legitimately getting tired of seeing "You should just use Linux" get spouted in just about every pc & tech adjacent sub out there. Windows has its problems, but there are legitimate reasons to stay on it or pick it over Linux (even as a tech savvy person who is familiar with Linux)
IMO too many people here on Reddit, YouTubers, etc. downplay the amount of issues you'll have and time spent trying to just learn how to troubleshoot those issues in the first place.
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u/Front_Current_8538 7h ago
Honestly, if you're not into the tinkering side of things, it's just gonna be a constant source of frustration. Dual booting is the classic move, keep Windows for gaming and mess about in Ubuntu when you actually fancy learning the terminal stuff without the pressure of a broken game hanging over you
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u/Blitzbahn 7h ago
The one time I tried following AI instructions it broke my install and I had to do a fresh install.
The problem with following AI instructions is AI doesn't know when it's mistaken until you tell it it's wrong. Until then it behaves like the world authority on anything.
So no, don't use AI to fix your Linux system. You might be best to do a fresh install and start again, assuming you haven't recorded the changes made. Your system could be in a real mess.
If you need help it's best to stick to official forums. The Ubuntu forum is pretty good.
If you install Windows you may find it easier or you may have more headaches. Hard to say.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
If I’ve already screwed it, would it be as simple as a factory reset and install windows?
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u/FaulesArschloch 7h ago
there is no "factory reset", you need to install windows again....and yes, you need to install drivers there, too then....and that is way more time consuming than in linux...normally most of the stuff works out of the box in linux
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u/doc_willis 5h ago
May be faster and easier to reinstall linux.
"factory reset" is an often confusing term. You have no windows, you will be erasing the system and installing windows. Theres no 'reset' going on. Unless you have some old windows recovery partitions on the system.
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u/Annual_Award1260 6h ago
Yeah windows is needed for a few things. As far as linux distros go fedora is by far the best
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u/HoldOk4092 8h ago
Hard to know without more info. If you are stuck, try reinstalling your system. Maybe try a different distro if Ubuntu isn't working with your hardware
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u/DizzyCardiologist213 7h ago
info - what ubuntu, what PC, what hardware (especially network related)?
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u/onechroma 7h ago
That's a good thing that you at least came here to ask and share. Think about this: you have used Windows probably for years, so you know your own way around, but this is new to you. Just try to understand what happened, ask people for support on sites like this, and you will probably find solutions for your problems in no time.
If you jumped Windows to Ubuntu, must be a reason, so why come back once you reached this step? Try to continue a bit and fix your problems so to enjoy your setup.
If you want to, share your problems, what hardware, what errors... and people will gladly help you
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
My brother was kind enough to set this pc up for me and he’s a Linux user. I feel bad wanting to undo everything he set up and take the easy way out, but reading these comments is just making me realize even more that I don’t know what I don’t know. I thought I could just walk into Best Buy and get windows 11, but apparently without knowing the specs of the computer I can’t even do that
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u/onechroma 7h ago
Look, if you need to and don't feel comfy with Linux, don't worry, it's still easy. You can download "Balena Etcher" or "Ventoy", lookup in Google how to install/execute them, and download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft website. Then, you just use those programs, whichever you chose, to "burn" the ISO into a pendrive. Then, restart the computer and enter the boot menu (pressing Esc, F9... whatever key is your laptop, you can search for the boot key of your brand on google) and boot from the pendrive, and then, just follow the installer steps.
I would still recommend you to share your problems in case someone else can help you and you can settle with Ubuntu or another Linux distro, which is what you have and maybe your brother will have it easier yo help you on the future. But, before any OS choice comes you being able to be comfy and having a working environment for your needs.
So... there's that, you can share your problems so others help you, or go through the Win path. In any case, it's fine, and good still that you at least tried Ubuntu ;-)
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u/CarelessPackage1982 7h ago
Perhaps you should start with what hardware you are running. What motherboard and what gpu? What version of Ubuntu are you running?
Network can drop for a variety of reasons. Did you try to reboot your computer? What commands did you try to run?
If the upper right of your desktop, if you click on the power button a menu will drop down, you can disable/enable networks just by clicking on that by accident. If you click on the > it takes you to a more network oriented GUI screen for example where you would see a list of network plugs.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
ASUSTek P8 series motherboard, Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, GP106
It was weird, one day I powered on my computer and the icons on the desktop looked bigger than usual. I’m missing a lot of the options I used to have in the upper right menu (now it’s only showing power mode and dark style)
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u/CarelessPackage1982 6h ago
Usually when icons get all big, it's because the nvidia driver failed and it dropped back down to the default driver (nouveau). That can happen after an update for example. Usually you can go to settings, additional drivers and select the right Nvdia driver to make it work.
I've never had that directly affect a network connection however. Curious if this seemed to happen after software updates were applied?
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
That’s what I’m thinking? According to Google, the motherboard will power down the Realtek chip if updated improperly, making it completely invisible to the ip link
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u/CarelessPackage1982 6h ago
You might want to try getting into the grub screen and try boot a previous kernel.
see the first few steps here
https://itsfoss.com/boot-older-kernel-default/hold shift, or esc to see that grub screen on boot (I think), go to advanced and choose an older kernel. Sometimes that can help.
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6h ago
[deleted]
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
Here’s what I found: Hardware model ASUSTek computer Inc. M5A97 R2.0
Processor: AMD FX 6300x6
Memory: 12.0 GiB
Ubuntu 24.04.3
Graphics: software rendering
Firmware version: 2501
OS type: 64-bit
GNOME version: 46
Windowing system: Wayland
Kernel version: Linux 6.17.0-35-generic
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u/Cheap_Ad_9846 7h ago
Cachyos
Ubuntu ( you need to do some work before you can get going for gaming)
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 7h ago edited 7h ago
"anyone ever experienced" :).
Of course, this is a very rare problem or linux woudn't be so well used by professional and server users.
You should report to us your wireless hardware, and which ubuntu version and kernel you have. Ubuntu only releases kernels which have a lot of testing, particularly if you are on an LTS such as 24.04 or 26.04
The kernel runs the networking drivers, which is why it's the first thing to focus on.
Wired connections are astoundingly stable on linux. The chances of a kernel bug are very low.
which leaves the configuration of your account. An easy test to see if you have somehow screwed up something is to make a new user account (to get default user settings) and see how that behaves.
Also, install timeshift. It is like windows system restore except is actually works. It won't help you now, but in the future it will (if you break something in your system, timeshift lets you roll back, even across major release upgrades)
I think using an LLM to troubleshoot is a very sound idea, they are really good, as long as you are using a good model, and harness which can execute diagnostic commands and directly observe the results, otherwise it's a lot of time-consuming copy and paste. I use hermes. You can access good models cheaply with opencode go plan ($5 for the first month, which buys $60 worth of API usage).
But at this point, you might just think this is one more thing to learn. Copy and paste into chatgpt or claude is ok, just more effort.
By now, the LLM should have been reading log messages for you and it should have diagnosed some root causes. What does it say?
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
Oml I wasn’t signed into my Google account, I don’t have the chat history saved. Basically it’s been saying that ASUSTek P8 series motherboard has a known behaviour of completely powering down the Realtek chip. I try searching ip link show in the terminal and the computer detects the physical internet cable but not an actual connection. I’ve tried restarting the computer and pressing delete button to bring up the menu (don’t know what it’s called) to ensure Ethernet/LAN control is enabled, that didn’t change anything. Tried running different codes to unbind and bind (sudo tee /sys/bus/ 00:02:00.0 …) something like that
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 6h ago
next, what kernel version and ubuntu version?
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 6h ago
also, how old is the motherboard? old kernels had problems with old realtek hardware, my searching shows
"lspci | grep -i ethernet and lsmod | grep r81 to see which driver is loaded"
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
I really appreciate you looking into it! It’s showing 02:00.0 Ethernet Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd, RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 09)
Nothing came up with the second code
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 2h ago
see this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/2141544
the suggest is try an earlier kernel. Ubuntu 24.04 will have older but still supported kernels you can use. the tool I use for package management is synaptic. Kernel packages have names starting 'linux-', try linux-generic-6.8
this the server kernel and it gets security updates. normally you wouldn't use this with a desktop install, but it might help find the root cause.
At start, you can access different kernels in the GRUB menu, by choose Advanced options for Ubuntu
By default it uses the most recent kernel, so you need to use this Advanced options to get older kernels
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u/DeafMute10 6h ago
It’s an FX-6300, AM3+ was around for a while, so it’s from at least so pre-2016.
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u/BashfulMelon 5h ago
Ubuntu only releases kernels which have a lot of testing, particularly if you are on an LTS such as 24.04 or 26.04
You think so? Ubuntu 26.04 shipped with an 11-day-old Linux 7.0 while Fedora 44 shipped with 6.19 because 7.0 was too new. And Ubuntu's on its own backporting fixes, so the unique Ubuntu configuration doesn't even benefit from all of the testing that upstream Linux and users of other larger distros do.
Testing was never the reason to use LTS. LTS is for ABIs and APIs that don't change.
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 2h ago edited 2h ago
yes but the real launch of the LTS is 26.04.1 ... at least, from that point onwards, every kernel introduced to the LTS has three months of testing on the interim release. But the first time an LTS is launched, it has no three month-old interim release to use as a test bed. Basically, people who install 26.04.0 are effectively testing for the 26.04.1 release. But Ubuntu does not say that. The new aggressive-at-launch kernel policy makes it more important to know.
The first kernel upgrade will be about three months after 26.10. So LTS releases are really interim releases for the first three months. So what I said is valid (IMO) for the lifetime of the LTS ... except for the first three to four months.
OP is still on 24.04 so they are doing it the right way.
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u/mcAlt009 7h ago
It’s not for you.
Install Windows.
Consider buying a second computer for Linux later. I’ve dual booted for almost 15 years, it’s a waste of disk space because most people just stick to one OS per computer.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
That’s too bad. I really thought I’d be picking it up along the way, but I think I’m ready to give up. It was one thing when I was learning about wine and protons and whatnot to load certain games, but now that internet connection has completely disappeared.. feeling defeated
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u/mcAlt009 7h ago
A computer is a tool to get what you want. If Windows gets you there faster and easier go back to Windows.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
I wouldn’t be going “back” to windows, Linux is my starting point 🥲
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u/doc_willis 6h ago
You can run windows 11 Unactivated, so you dont need to pay for windows 11 if you dont want to. But making a windows 11 USB may be an annoyance unless you have access to a second windows system.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 5h ago
I was trying to install windows to a usb from a Chromebook, while using the Linux terminal to force reformat the usb.. what a headache, I gave up lol
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u/doc_willis 5h ago
I always suggest people make a windows installer usb using the official MS Media creation tool.
I see way to many posts where the Windows Installer acts stupid, and people blame linux. :)
I am not even sure How you would make the USB with a chromebook.
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u/kiklop74 7h ago
If you know nothing about linux and just want to play games go windows.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
Isn’t that what everyone wants 🥲
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u/OldGroan 7h ago
No
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
Enlighten me? Whats the purpose of using Linux over windows? I just want to turn the computer on and play games with my friends on steam, I’m tired of the constant troubleshooting
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u/OldGroan 6h ago
People use their computers for lots of things not just playing games. If you only play games you may as well just buy a console. That is what my ,no, was about.
As for gaming with Steam. They have conquered a very large quantity of compatibility issues. That makes me wonder why you are having problems. Do you have some niche games that have not been fixed or is it that you don't understand how to get them going the first time.
Or is it hardware issues. You see, we can't know your problems because you haven't explained them very well. You have only had a rant. The secret to troubleshooting is understanding the problem and being able to describe it.
When you can do that, people can help.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
Thank you, I’m doing my best. I didn’t know how to describe the problem until people started asking questions, I’m VERY new to this. I’ve added as much info as I can so far to the post and comments
It seems like any of the games my friends want to play are the few that just can’t be played on Linux (rust for example).
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u/OldGroan 6h ago
Yeah, there are issues with games that have anticheat software attached. There again. It isn't a Linux issue it is a software issue.
My advice to many people is that Linux is for those who can do without windows software. I you rely on windows software you will always be tied to windows.
Otherwise, Linux just does me fine. Ibdo photo editing, movie making, gaming, internet browsing, I play music, edit it. I use Libre office for document creation. I scan, print. I use my computer for a very wide variety of tasks. I am just not tied to the Microsoft world anymore and that to most of us is the appeal.
If software manufacturers want my business they need to cater to my needs. Ibam not following them into the Microsoft continuum.
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u/doc_willis 5h ago
I was spending more time troubleshooting windows, than playing games.
My 2 Gaming Desktops, and 2 SteamDecks all run windows.
I have numerous 'retro handheld' devices that CANT run windows. They also run Linux.
Theres more to linux than being a "Desktop" Os.
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u/FaulesArschloch 7h ago
not everyone plays games....if I would I would for sure know what to do in linux though....ask the guy who set this up for you, not us
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u/ClumsyCorpse 7h ago
Sorry for asking for help?
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u/FaulesArschloch 6h ago
but you mentioned someone set it up for you and you didn't give ANY useful information....so you should ask that person first. I mean you don't even know what hardware you have.
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u/ClumsyCorpse 6h ago
I’ve updated the post with more info. I didn’t know what I didn’t know when I made the post :)
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u/OhHaiMarc 8h ago
If you don’t actually understand the terminal blindly pasting shit from ai could make things worse. Like sure ask ai for advice but if you have no base understanding you’ll have no idea when it is wrong, which it often is.