[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Mint 17.1 Install Weirdness

[Leroy Tennison]

Maybe it's time to move "out of the box", is there something about Mint 
that you just have to have it?  CentOS, openSuSE and Ubuntu might be 
viable alternatives.  I've moved between CentOS and openSuSE over the 
years.  I'm beginning to tire of the way openSuSE does things and may 
switch to Ubuntu for my next upgrade.  Yes, they all put things in 
different places but you get used to that and, after a while, generally 
know where things are for all of them.

On 07/03/2015 11:12 AM, Steve Litt wrote:
> 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
>
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