Debian 12 installation without any DE: blank screen with linking cursor at boot

[Madhur Sharma]

I used the netinstall iso of Debian 12 (32-bit) and on the menu "select and install software" I did not select any desktop environment and only selected standard system utilities. Everything installed fine and without any error, but after reboot, I'm greeted by an underscore blinking in the top left. Hard drive activity also stops after this. What should I do to use cli and then install xfce.
Grub is fine but instead of green background, it has blue background and the font of grub is also kinda old.
I've used netinstall previously and during that time I selected xfce. At that time grub menu had bluish green background with quite modern font.
What should I do to enter cli?

[Madhur Sharma]

Using nomodeset I'm able to boot into cli.

[bbbhltz]

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install task-xfce-desktop 

other options are task-gnome-desktop, task-kde-desktop, task-lxde-desktop, task-lxqt-desktop, and others.

If you are not able to sudo then...

Code: Select all

$ su

enter the root password, and run the commands above sans sudo.

[Madhur Sharma]

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install task-xfce-desktop 

Can I do sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies?

[bbbhltz]

@Madhur Sharma yes, that will be a little more minimal than my suggestion.

Are you planning on using LightDM or starting from the terminal?

[Madhur Sharma]

@Madhur Sharma yes, that will be a little more minimal than my suggestion.

Are you planning on using LightDM or starting from the terminal?

I'll use lightdm

[Madhur Sharma]

@Madhur Sharma yes, that will be a little more minimal than my suggestion.

Are you planning on using LightDM or starting from the terminal?

Ok, I've done that, everything was running fine after first reboot. All the graphics, resolution were correct, but now, after reboot I can only see an underscore blinking and I'm not able to get into tty also. What should I do?

[bbbhltz]

Fun.

After the first reboot you had the LightDM greeter/login screen and were able to login, but no it hangs?

As you can see in my signature, I am just an experienced newbie. I would guess that one of the services that starts on boot is hanging, maybe the network manager? Do you have a strong need for this minimal installation? Is there a reason why you don't reinstall and select Xfce from the get-go?

[Madhur Sharma]

Fun.

After the first reboot you had the LightDM greeter/login screen and were able to login, but no it hangs?

As you can see in my signature, I am just an experienced newbie. I would guess that one of the services that starts on boot is hanging, maybe the network manager? Do you have a strong need for this minimal installation? Is there a reason why you don't reinstall and select Xfce from the get-go?

I've tried that previously, and I met with the same problem, that's why I tried installing without any de

[Madhur Sharma]

Fun.

After the first reboot you had the LightDM greeter/login screen and were able to login, but no it hangs?

As you can see in my signature, I am just an experienced newbie. I would guess that one of the services that starts on boot is hanging, maybe the network manager? Do you have a strong need for this minimal installation? Is there a reason why you don't reinstall and select Xfce from the get-go?

Yes, I had lightdm and was able to login properly, Without any hangs.

[bbbhltz]

Using nomodeset I'm able to boot into cli.

Do that again. If you can get back to the login screen and to the desktop you'll need to permanently modify grub.

Code: Select all

# nano /etc/default/grub

Change

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

save and exit.

Code: Select all

# update-grub

[Madhur Sharma]

Using nomodeset I'm able to boot into cli.

Do that again. If you can get back to the login screen and to the desktop you'll need to permanently modify grub.

Code: Select all

# nano /etc/default/grub

Change

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

save and exit.

Code: Select all

# update-grub

I can see the login screen, but it's distorted, vertical lines of many colours cover the screen. Keyboard also doesn't work.

[Madhur Sharma]

Using nomodeset I'm able to boot into cli.

Do that again. If you can get back to the login screen and to the desktop you'll need to permanently modify grub.

Code: Select all

# nano /etc/default/grub

Change

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

save and exit.

Code: Select all

# update-grub

I can see the login screen, but it's distorted, vertical lines of many colours cover the screen. Keyboard also doesn't work.

The cursor appear for quite a few seconds and then disappears and the system hangs.

[Madhur Sharma]

I've removed xfce4 completely. Now when I boot, I put "3" at the end of the line starting with "Linux" in grub. Now I've observed that if it displays aspm could not configure common clock, then it boots into tty1. And, if it does not display the above error, a white underscore keeps blinking on the top left.
Does anyone know what causes this?

[NorthEast]

Is the video card supplied with a proper driver and the updated firmware?
Perhaps run to check the driver and the module:

Code: Select all

lspci -nnkd ::300

Then, you can check if the latest firmware for that card is installed.

[Madhur Sharma]

Is the video card supplied with a proper driver and the updated firmware?
Perhaps run to check the driver and the module:

Code: Select all

lspci -nnkd ::300

Then, you can check if the latest firmware for that card is installed.

I think the driver is fine because when I ran xfce (only for once it ran) everything was fine, the animations, scrolling etc etc.

[Madhur Sharma]

Is the video card supplied with a proper driver and the updated firmware?
Perhaps run to check the driver and the module:

Code: Select all

lspci -nnkd ::300

Then, you can check if the latest firmware for that card is installed.

Is there any solution to"aspm" problem?

[Aki]

Is the video card supplied with a proper driver and the updated firmware?
Perhaps run to check the driver and the module:

Code: Select all

lspci -nnkd ::300

Then, you can check if the latest firmware for that card is installed.

I think the driver is fine because when I ran xfce (only for once it ran) everything was fine, the animations, scrolling etc etc.

I agree with @NorthEast's suggestion: it would be worth investigating the video adapter manufacturer and its specifications.

It would be nice of you and useful to other users and readers of the forum to update the subject of the first post to focus on the topic of discussion; for example from:

Debian 12 installation without any DE

to:

Debian 12 installation without any DE: blank screen with linking cursor at boot