[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Mint 17.1 Install Weirdness

[Steve Litt]

On Thu, 02 Jul 2015 17:59:20 -0500
Stephen Davidson <gorky at freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:

> 
> On 07/02/2015 05:51 PM, Gilbert Morrow wrote:
> > Do you see Grub? If so, can you issue a safe mode boot command?
> > Try a root command (su, sudo >enter) at prompt, do you get a
> > response? On Jul 2, 2015 5:45 PM, "Stephen Davidson"
> > <gorky at freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:
> >
> >> I'm not getting anything with any of the F keys.  I'm wondering if
> >> it's not getting that far?
> >>
> >> The fact that the Live DVDs work no problem and there are no errors
> >> during the (now repeated) installs is really confusing.
> >>
> >> As this is a laptop, it will be reasonably easy to take somewhere
> >> for a meet if somebody wants to look.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Steve
> >>
> >> On 07/02/2015 05:34 PM, Gilbert Morrow wrote:
> >>> There should be a way to get a console boot that will show the
> >>> boot process, usually a (F) function key, then you can see where
> >>> and what the fault is.
> >>> On Jul 2, 2015 12:42 PM, "Stephen Davidson"
> >>> <gorky at freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Task: Upgrade from Linux Mint 13 to Linux Mint 17.1.
> >>>>
> >>>> Target System: HP Pavillion zv5000 Laptop
> >>>>
> >>>> Live Boot -- boots up no problem and gives you a fully
> >>>> functional Live Desktop.
> >>>>
> >>>> Install -- appears to work correctly w/o errors.
> >>>>
> >>>> Reboot after install:  Hang, no errors, messages, or anything
> >>>> else. Just a cursor flashing in the upper left corner.
> >>>>
> >>>> Any ideas on where to look?  Or should I bring this to the LIP?
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards,
> >>>> Steve
> >>>>
> >>>>

> Hi Gilbert.
> 
> No on Grub.  No response to anything from the keyboard.  Cursor just
> blinks, but nothing is displayed when typed in.  I even tried;
> ?<enter>
> 
> No response.  Ideas?
> 
> Regards,
> Steve

Yes.

First, find a way of backing up your partitions on that hard disk, so
that you can't make it worse.

Your computer his hanging somewhere in bootload/boot/initialization,
and your job is to figure out where. There's no crystal ball, you need
to use diagnostic procedures.

Go through your bios (you *can* get to your bios
by striking a key, right?) and experiment all the boot orders. Switch
between BIOS and GUID or whatever it's called. Perhaps you'll find a
setting that shows you the Grub boot menu.

In your position, the next thing I'd do is tweak Grub so it displays a
menu. I'd do that by booting a live CD, mounting all disks, doing a
chroot, changing the grub config file to display the menu for 40
seconds, and whatever other mumbo jumbo you need to do. Undo the
chroot, unmount everything, and reboot without the live CD.

Once you have a grub menu, try all the alternatives and see if some
work. If not, take the default alternative, press E to get into edit
mode, add init=/bin/bash or /usr/bin/bash (depending on distro setup)
to run bash immediately after initramfs. If you come up to a bash
prompt, at least you know that Grub and initramfs did their thing. You
can now look around and see what's what.

If you can't get that bash prompt, you might be able to boot the hard
disk off System Rescue CD or super-grub-disk or whatever. If I'm not
mistaken, this boots the live CD's kernel, but everything else is the
hard disk OS. You can then figure out what's going wrong with your boot.

Those early boot failures are a pain in the butt, but they *are*
solvable.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
June 2015 featured book: The Key to Everyday Excellence
http://www.troubleshooters.com/key