Debian can not be launched on my laptop

[Vdbk]

Hello,

I've recently got an Acer aspire A515-55 (Intel Core i5) and my first move was to install Debian on it. I naturally chose the iso for amd64. It is the first DVD in https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/.

The launch starts with a lot of lines which begin with "[OK]", as expected. Then the screen is black, with only a blinking cursor.

After a while, this error appears :
dell_smbios: Unable to run on non-dell system

According to my researches it should be a little warning, but the launch does't go further. I haven't found neither any explanation nor any solution to that problem.

Could help somebody, please ?

[Deb-fan]

Elementary dear watson, what's going on is lack of adequate black powder, just stuff some more under that puppy light a match and believe me, all kinds of launching will occur.

Errr, random note, leave a trail, dont pile it up and stand over it during any of this, wrong stuff may be launched.

[FreewheelinFrank]

At the grub screen, press the key you need to press to edit the kernel commands, then you can get information about where the kernel is hanging up.

https://www.askapache.com/linux/linux-debugging/

[Head_on_a_Stick]

The kernel has already launched if the OP can see the [OK] messages from systemd so the OP should probably read the Frequently Asked Questions thread in the HowTo section of the forums but they should also bear in mind that the kernel version and graphics stack for the current stable release was frozen almost two years ago so they won't work at all with 10th or 11th generation Intel hardware. There have been *many* threads about this on these boards but presumably the OP couldn't be bothered searching for them

[Vdbk]

Thanks guys for your answers.

I'm a little annoyed to give you more infos. I edited the kernel commands, but I can only see the end of the result because my screen becomes black. To get and share it, I should probably use netconsole, get the MAC address of the port I use on my box and so on... It will be hard, or maybe it's less complicated than I think.

You seem to be a wise man Head_on_a_stick. Unfortunately, I haven't reached your level yet. I don't even know what is a "OP" and my researches didn't help me on this. Morevover, I spent hours on google and its proposals just to make my Debian work, with no good results. I'm surely not very good at searching, but I will take a look to these "many" threads, hoping I will not loose myself too much. All this to say, common and silly humans like me need sometimes help.

[FreewheelinFrank]

The kernel has already launched if the OP can see the [OK] messages from systemd so the OP should probably read the Frequently Asked Questions thread in the HowTo section of the forums but they should also bear in mind that the kernel version and graphics stack for the current stable release was frozen almost two years ago so they won't work at all with 10th or 11th generation Intel hardware. There have been *many* threads about this on these boards but presumably the OP couldn't be bothered searching for them

Yes, my mistakes, thanks for that.

I'm only used to installing on bargain-basement hardware, not the latest technology, so that didn't occur to me.

I should of course have advised debugging systemd and not the kernel.

I was looking at this post but wasn't awake enough to notice the link to diagnosing systemd bugs and posted a link to diagnosing kernel bugs.

https://bbs.archlinux32.org/viewtopic.p ... 3650#p3650

https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/s ... Debugging/

Thanks for putting me right.

[Vdbk]

I don't even know what is a "OP" and my researches didn't help me on this.

I got it : "Original poster"

Thanks FreewheelinFrank for the links.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I should of course have advised debugging systemd and not the kernel.

There is no bug in systemd either (or at least not for this specific problem). The OP's system has booted just fine but their graphics hardware is not supported by buster's ageing kernel & Mesa stack, that's all. If the OP searches the boards for "Intel 10th generation" then they will easily find several threads covering this exact issue.

[FreewheelinFrank]

Thanks guys for your answers.

I'm a little annoyed to give you more infos. I edited the kernel commands, but I can only see the end of the result because my screen becomes black. To get and share it, I should probably use netconsole, get the MAC address of the port I use on my box and so on... It will be hard, or maybe it's less complicated than I think.

You seem to be a wise man Head_on_a_stick. Unfortunately, I haven't reached your level yet. I don't even know what is a "OP" and my researches didn't help me on this. Morevover, I spent hours on google and its proposals just to make my Debian work, with no good results. I'm surely not very good at searching, but I will take a look to these "many" threads, hoping I will not loose myself too much. All this to say, common and silly humans like me need sometimes help.

I think that Head_on_a_Stick is right that Stable isn't up to date enough to cope with your new hardware. It seems Fedora is, but that's more cutting edge.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussio ... -5-a515-55

It won't be too long before Bullseye becomes stable - in fact it's very useable now - I'm typing this from it. If you're not going to be using the laptop as a work machine, installing Bullseye might be an option, if you are willing to accept the normal warning - if it breaks, you get to keep the pieces.

Sorry about the wrong link in my first post - as Head_on_a_Stick pointed out, you need to be diagnosing systemd. Perhaps the corrected advice in my previous post will allow you to discover where the computer is hanging, but again, Head_on_a_Stick is almost certainly right here and Stable will have a non-trivial issue with the hardware, unlike in the link I posted where it did turn out to be a trivial issue.

[FreewheelinFrank]

I should of course have advised debugging systemd and not the kernel.

There is no bug in systemd either (or at least not for this specific problem). The OP's system has booted just fine but their graphics hardware is not supported by buster's ageing kernel & Mesa stack, that's all. If the OP searches the boards for "Intel 10th generation" then they will easily find several threads covering this exact issue.

Yes, what I was hoping was that method would show where systemd was stopping. I don't doubt that's the issue. I would just like to know if it's going to work for this and other occasions when the boot stops with just a flashing cursor and there is no way of knowing what the problem is.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

occasions when the boot stops with just a flashing cursor and there is no way of knowing what the problem is

That happens because graphical.target is set as the default but the graphical hardware isn't supported. Set multi-user.target as the default to make the system boot to a console screen instead. To do that add 2 (or 3, or 4, or systemd.unit=multi-user.target) as a kernel command line parameter. See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke ... eters#GRUB

[FreewheelinFrank]

occasions when the boot stops with just a flashing cursor and there is no way of knowing what the problem is

That happens because graphical.target is set as the default but the graphical hardware isn't supported. Set multi-user.target as the default to make the system boot to a console screen instead. To do that add 2 (or 3, or 4, or systemd.unit=multi-user.target) as a kernel command line parameter. See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke ... eters#GRUB

Useful to know. Thanks.

[stevepusser]

If you want to try a Buster based distro with the necessary backports for tenth-gen hardware, you could maybe possibly see your way to giving MX Linux AHS or KDE edition a try from a LiveUSB. No install necessary--just see if it gets to the GUI from the USB boot.

MX-AHS originally was one of my projects, BTW. It stands for "Advanced Hardware Support". Happily, another packager has volunteered to keep rolling in updated packages to it.