Debian boot stuck

[cfalcon]

I have a PC that I've been dual booting with windows and ubuntu, installed on separate SSDs (windows on nvme1n0, ubuntu on nvme1n1). I decided to replace ubuntu with debian, and even though it seems the install finishes correctly it does not load debian properly.

When I reboot it first takes me to a grub> cmd prompt (no idea what this is, doesn't look like a normal shell to me, even though I seem to be able to access the file system on some of the partitions). If I type 'exit', then it exits and loads windows. However, I followed some instructions to boot linux instead and i can get it going by doing the following

Code: Select all

grub> linux (hdX,Y)/boot/vmlinuz_version_etc root=/dev/nvme1n1p2
grub> initrd (hdX,Y)/boot/initrd.img-version-etc
grub> boot

The X and Y in (hdX,Y) seems to be changing with each new install attempt, but I'm pretty sure I'm picking the right one (the one with the linux directory structure).

After the boot command from the grub> prompt it exits the prompt and starts booting debian, but it get stuck (sorry, I can run it through chatgpt and paste it in text form if needed):


I tried waiting it out for over an hour, it just stays stuck here. I tried fiddling around with my logitech devices (mouse and kb) since it is the last line but I realized the last log line is probably a successful load and the stuckage is happening in whatever it is trying to load next.

I found one other instance of a similar problem on google, but their issue was a corrupted usb..not sure how to apply that here. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[bw123]

Hi, I think this is something you could use the installer rescue mode to investigate. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Rescue

If your skills with cli are more on a beginner level, then I would just reinstall, make sure you install stable (currently bookworm), you want to use a clean partition. Don't overwrite anything, or try and save home partition, that's just a bad idea.

Make sure you install grub in the right place. No, I don't know what it is, you didn't show any disk layout, or give any info about anything.

When the machine boots up, make sure you have selected Debian and not the old Ubunut installation. I have seen that can confuse people, it's sometimes hard to get rid of the UEFI entry, and the old setup might still be default.

good luck,
bw

[pbear]

Which installer are you using? If the standard one, consider trying a live ISO. Those use the GUI Calamares installer. Much easier. Notice there's a separate ISO for each desktop.

[cfalcon]

Hi, I think this is something you could use the installer rescue mode to investigate. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Rescue

Thank you. I will try out this recue installer. The iso I downloaded has this as an option

Which installer are you using?

I seem to have this other installer, the name is debian-12.8.0-amd64-netinst. I'm not sure where I got it from, but it's not a live iso image. Is this non-standard?

[pbear]

I'd call that Standard Lite. The different is that the net installer has many fewer packages, so it's a much smaller download. For this purpose, though, Standard and Standard Lite are the same. Frankly, I think its/their rescue mode is nearly useless, but you might as well give it a try since you have it handy. As I recall, there's also an option somewhere to reinstall Grub; might as well try that also. If still no joy, consider downloading a live ISO.

[cfalcon]

To clarify, I was initially using the netinst version, but then I tried the standard live iso too and it also didn't work. Though the live iso I used was the one marked "ahs", apparently uses a more recent kernel than the actual standard one. I could try the default base standard one, but I figured it'll be the same blocker.

So I gave up and tried MX linux and that worked. However, booting into the grub> prompt rather than the grub menu was still a problem, but I was able to use efibootmgr to fix that problem from within mx linux (after having to load linux from grub> prompt doing the same thing as my original post).

So the boot loader issue was separate and is resolved for now. However, I still don't have debian
Ubuntu worked on this machine all this time, MX is also working so far...just something about debian is getting stuck. I'm hoping to come back to it at some future time, but if any ideas for diving deeper, I could try them out sooner.

[friendlysalmon88]

I've seen great success with using the XFCE live ISO however, xfce is my own perfected desktop environment. This being said I'll also say that I've experienced the pitfalls of a corrupted ISOS do to either to dropped packets caused by inconsistencies in internet connectivity.