this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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I tried to install Pop! and broke my system and really really need help if anyone is willing (lemmy.zip)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Vespair@lemmy.zip to c/linux@lemmy.world
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Hi I'm so sorry I don't mean to be a bother or force anyone into unpaid support, but I'm having a full meltdown and if I can't fix my system I'm screwed. I really thought I was doing it right and installing Pop to my second D drive to leave windows alone but somehow it completely broke Windows and I can load into that, only Pop! And unfortunately Pop! I guess isn't really my GPU (Nvidia 1080ti I think) so on my 4k monitor everything is blown up and the wrong aspect ratio, cutting off the bottoms of windows I Pop! so I can't even navigate this system that I'm 100% entirely unfamiliar with. I don't even care about getting windows back at this point if I can get Pop! usable, I just need a usable machine. I've tried some terminal stuff I've read online already but nothing has worked and I'm afraid to do the purge ~nnvidia command because it said it might turn my screen black and if I can't even get into Pop! then I'm screwed. I don't even know what help I need but I desperately need help

Edit:

I'm too stupid for this. I don't understand what anyone is saying, nothing is working. I don't know what to do. I need to stay away for a few because if I don't I'm going to kill myself. I'm very sorry and I appreciate everyone's help, I wish I that I was smarter and I wish that I was stronger.

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[–] zo0@programming.dev 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

First take a deep breath, there are infinitely more ways to fuck up a system beyond repair and you are not even in the yellow zone.

  1. Plug in the old usb stick
  2. Go into BIOS and change boot order to usb
  3. boot into live mode, there is usually an option to 'try the os' instead of installing it, do that
  4. There download a new image, maybe mint or correct version of pop!
  5. put in a new usb stick
  6. use 'dd' to write the image to the new usb stick
  7. reboot into the new usb stick and install the image
[–] harmbugler@piefed.social 6 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Instead of 'dd', see if there is some sort of media writer you can use instead because that should help you write to the correct drive.

Also consider opening up your PC and physically unplugging the Windows drive, at least until you get your Pop! install sorted.

(dd jokingly stands for data destroyer, or definitely dangerous)

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Also consider opening up your PC and physically unplugging the Windows drive, at least until you get your Pop! install sorted.

I just want to highlight this for OP, this is great advice.

It accomplishes two things:

  1. It keeps the Windows drive from being accidentally changed.
  2. It helps the motherboard decide to boot into Linux.

And of course, if OP needs to focus on booting back into Linux, the opposite also applies - removing the POP_OS drive can help the motherboard decide to boot back to Windows.

There's ways to use BIOS to tell the motherboard which drive to boot to, but doing that doesn't also protect the drive from changes. So I like to remove the drive I am not changing at the moment.

Here's some videos:

https://youtu.be/-Qkn5uZUiJg https://youtu.be/6Puffq24nl8 https://youtu.be/_IPqfCy8Uew

And tips for OP from my own experience:

  • I have not seen a heat sink of top of an SSD before. There's a good chance OPs computer doesn't have one, and that's fine.
  • The SSD might be any length between about an inch to about four inches. There's usually multiple spots where the clip that holds it in could be installed, but OP shouldn't need to move the clip.
  • Those plastic clips can look very different, and may or may not need to be fully removed to get the drive out. I just fiddle gently with them until I can get them out of the way, or back. I usually end up accidentally removing them, but they go back in.

In case ops needs more videos, the search terms I used were "Remove NVME SSD".

[–] zo0@programming.dev 4 points 15 hours ago

Haha right! That's a good idea, don't use dd actually