nouveau stalled at ffff error message while trying to convert Windows 10 laptop to Ubuntu

I am trying to convert my old MSI gaming laptop into an Ubuntu machine.

I followed the tutorial Converting an Old Windows Laptop to Ubuntu and downloaded and installed Ubuntu on a bootable USB.

I then shut my PC down and restarted it. After that, Ubuntu starts up, but then stops with the following message:

nouveau 000:01:00.0 tmr:  stalled at ffff

Solution 1:

I ran into this issue converting to Ubuntu 20.04 last night. Nouveau is the generic Nvidia driver. The fix this morning (fixed all my problems with secondary monitors, frame rates, and random black screens) was a hard re-installation with the "Install 3rd Party [whatever the rest says; can't miss it]" box checked. This will likely install your graphics driver and everything else correctly.