Installation issue Testing + Nvidia graphic

[kalle123]

Running here on my desktop machine (ASUS X370-A + Nvidia GT 1030) Buster in efi mode.
Stable like a swiss watch. Have Testing on an old computer and in a vbox. Neither with any problems.
To prepare for Bullseye, I decided to have a go with Testing on an additional SSD on my desktop machine.
End of December first tests with alpha 3 - after installation (no faults), reboot, grub screen and then a black screen. No terminal, nothing.
Contacted the development team and learned, that there seemed to be an issue with the 5er kernel and the loading of add. firmware during installation.

Did another test last weekend with the daily build of Testing. Same situation, grub and then ... nothing.
So to crosscheck I did an Buster installation in efi mode on that add. SSD to exclude any faults on my side. Buster with the 4.19 kernel - no problem.

A bit frustrated about the situation, today I removed the Nvidia 1030 and replaced it wit an old ATI X1550 and ... Testing booted

Added non-free and contrib in the sources and installed the nvidia meta package. Shutdown, exchanged ATI with Nvidia and no issue any more.

What surprises me is, that I don't read anything about that issue. And I am not with some exotic hardware here ....

br KH

[sunrat]

So you have no problem?
Nvidia cards need the firmware from the package firmware-misc-nonfree.
I just installed Bullseye the other day without firmware on my system with GTX970 and the desktop displayed in a usable manner immediately after installing and rebooting. It was much better after installing firmware and nvidia-driver however.

[kalle123]

No, no problem. The issue is known with AMD/ATI.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/20 ... 00026.html

But with Nvidia!? And there is no way with ALT, CTRL, Fx to have a console.
One other way to come around this issue, install Buster and upgrade from there..
I posted this here, maybe it helps someone. Can not imagine, I am the only one

br KH

[Head_on_a_Stick]

But with Nvidia!? And there is no way with ALT, CTRL, Fx to have a console.

Did you try adding 2 (or 3, or 4, or systemd.unit=multi-user.target) as a kernel command line parameter?

[kalle123]

But with Nvidia!? And there is no way with ALT, CTRL, Fx to have a console.

Did you try adding 2 (or 3, or 4, or systemd.unit=multi-user.target) as a kernel command line parameter?

No, and as I am not in a hurry to change over from a well running Buster to Bullseye, I only checked from time to time, if that 'feature' is solved.

What I heard from one of the developer is that ...

'But the reason, why the Bullseye installation fails, lies in the new kernel
resp. the new graphics driver version. They enforce the firmware to be existing
to make graphic output work.
In the old 4.19 kernel this was a bit more relaxed (firmware not strictly
required).

The installer has a conceptional problem here:
the installer detects, if firmware is needed, when a kernel module is loaded,
and then you are asked to provide the firmware via an usb stick or similar.

However the specific kernel modules for those modern graphic cards are not
included in the installer environment. Because of that the installer is
unable to detect, that you have hardware in your pc, which requires
firmware files.'

That makes sense to me, for what I have seen here ....

The problem is known to the developer team and hopefully will be solved, when the official release is out.

And for for me, I have now two ways, to circumnavigate with this for the moment.

To your advice ' kernel command line parameter', we are now in a status with Testing, that when a newbie with fresh new hardware shows up and asks, ' .... is my hardware supported in Debian?', the answer normally is, take Testing, Buster is a bit outdated. And nobody has an issue, only me (ASUS X370-A + Nvidia GT 1030)

br KH

PS. With my first solution (Buster > upgrade > Bullseye) I did not want to file an official bug report, but with my new solution (old graphic board, install Nvidia, change boards) the bug report will be the next thing to do ....

[sunrat]

If you use hardware which requires non-free firmware, it would save you some pain to use the "unofficial" non-free installer which includes firmware. I'm sure I've written this a hundred times in the forums.
For why firmware is not in the official installers, look up DFSG.

[kalle123]

I did try that. Not only once.

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... -firmware/

In vain. Therefore I think, this is , what is happening here

However the specific kernel modules for those modern graphic cards are not
included in the installer environment. Because of that the installer is
unable to detect, that you have hardware in your pc, which requires
firmware files

Strange.

br KH

[sunrat]

GT1030 is a common card and I don't recall any reports of similar issues.

Could you install inxi and post the output from

Code: Select all

inxi -Fx

It may show something a bit less obvious.
Also with the Nvidia card:

journalctl -b -p3

[kalle123]

GT1030 is a common card and I don't recall any reports of similar issues.

That is, what I think too

I did all my testing with an add. 60GB SSD. But I erased this SSD and a new 240 GB SSD is on the way. So at the moment I have Buster running here.

Code: Select all

~$ inxi -Fz
System:
  Host: nostromo Kernel: 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce 4.12.4 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME X370-A v: Rev X.0x
  serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 5602 date: 07/14/2020
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
  L2 cache: 3072 KiB
  Speed: 1444 MHz min/max: 1550/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1435 2: 1450
  3: 1435 4: 1547 5: 1390 6: 1547 7: 1404 8: 1547 9: 1383 10: 1451 11: 1387
  12: 1546
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 driver: nvidia v: 418.181.07
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1680x1050~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 418.181.07
Audio:
  Device-1: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video
  Decoder with 3D Comb
  driver: cx23885
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-14-amd64
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
  driver: r8169
  IF: enp7s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.04 TiB used: 240.86 GiB (11.5%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37120G size: 111.79 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD20EZRZ-00Z5HB0
  size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WDS120G2G0A-00JH30
  size: 111.80 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 28.91 GiB used: 16.96 GiB (58.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /home size: 68.40 GiB used: 5.46 GiB (8.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 18.63 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 39 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
  Processes: 232 Uptime: 1h 41m Memory: 15.67 GiB used: 982.3 MiB (6.1%)
  Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32


Code: Select all

~$ journalctl -b -p3
-- Logs begin at Wed 2021-02-17 07:23:34 CET, end at Wed 2021-03-03 12:02:08 CET. --
Mär 03 10:29:54 nostromo kernel: sp5100-tco sp5100-tco: Watchdog hardware is disabled

I was aware about this message from the beginning, because the ASUS board is not complaint ....

But as it does not take long, to do an installation (~20 min), did the following. Disconnect all 3 drives, connected the 60 GB SSD and made a Testing installation with daily dated 28.2.2021. Grub, black screen ... as expected.

Take the 60 GB disk out, connect my 3 drives, start Buster and have a look.

In /var/log/syslog I see this here



For me this is ok. No one else seems to have that issue, only me. But found ways to live with that feature.

For next stable Debian Bullseye, just week away from release, I find it a bit strange ....

br KH

[sunrat]

For next stable Debian Bullseye, just week away from release, I find it a bit strange ....

It will be a few months until Bullseye is released, it only went into soft freeze on Feb 12 and hard freeze is due Mar 12.

I can't read that image you posted; text should be posted as text.

[kalle123]

I can't read that image you posted; text should be posted as text.

Was in a hurry, had to walk the dog ....

Here in text

Code: Select all

Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    0.984545] fb0: switching to nouveaufb from EFI VGA
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    0.984593] Console: switching to colour dummy device 80x25
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    0.984619] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    0.984652] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: NVIDIA GP108 (138000a1)
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102230] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: bios: version 86.08.24.00.2e
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102324] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: firmware: failed to load nvidia/gp108/nvdec/scrubber.bin (-2)
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102328] firmware_class: See https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for information about missing firmware
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102339] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: firmware: failed to load nvidia/gp108/acr/bl.bin (-2)
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102341] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: acr: firmware unavailable
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102343] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: pmu: firmware unavailable
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102385] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: gr: firmware unavailable
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102391] nouveau 0000:09:00.0: sec2 ctor failed, -38
Mar  3 12:35:12 nostromo kernel: [    1.102403] nouveau: probe of 0000:09:00.0 failed with error -38

Anything else from /var/log/? I am not going to change the graphic boards to get a running system for the moment.

br KH

[sunrat]

Code: Select all

apt policy firmware-misc-nonfree

[kalle123]

Code: Select all

apt policy firmware-misc-nonfree

How please?

End of December first tests with alpha 3 - after installation (no faults), reboot, grub screen and then a black screen. No terminal, nothing.

....and no STRG + ALT + Fx

br KH