Blinking Cursor after grub...help needed pls

[mrchip]

Fresh install of debian 10 Buster. Systems start up grub and then goes to black screen with blinking cursor. I can alt +2 and get terminal but no gui. I have been pouring over google and forums and so far nothing has worked. I am new...but trying. Thanks for any help. Here's what I have and what I've tried:

Intel B460 chipset
Kernel 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64, Linux 10 (buster)
Asus Pro B460M-C, i5-10400 Intel Driver: N/A (am running the latest stable bios - released in Aug 2020. There are 2 newer ones but are marked as "beta version" so did not install)
Display: server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: vesa unloaded: fbdev,modesetting

I have tried the following:
Press e on boot, added: nomodeset (after ro and removed the quiet)...booted past grub...hung at IPv6: ADDRCONF (NETDEV_CHANGE): eno1: link becomes ready

Network drivers work can ping google.ca and do an apt update

changed /etc/apt/sources.list to contrib non-free
ran: apt-get install intel-microcode then rebooted
ran: apt install firmware-linux-nonfree -rebooted
ran: apt-get remove --auto-remove xserver-xorg-video-intel
ran: ls /usr/bin/*session and it shows cinnamon, gnome, xfce4, dbus-run, sessions however when I run $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

I added in sources.list buster-backports main and did an apt update then a apt install -t buster-backports intel-microcode but it said I had the latest updates.
ran: xstart and it said Server terminated with error (1) and to check the xorg.0.log. At the bottom of the log under Fatal Server error: it said Cannot Run in framebuffer mode. Please specify busIDs for all framebuffer devices
after googling that I seem to come full circle back to the intel drivers.
How do I fix this?

Thanks

[Head_on_a_Stick]

i5-10400 Intel

Enter "10th generation Intel" into the search box for these forums. This exact problem has cropped up at least 43,000 times in the last few months.

[mrchip]

First off my apologies for not knowing what to search. Figured it was a video issue so spent my time searching on video and the chipset rather than cpu (when you don't know what you don't know). I did a search on here as per

Enter "10th generation Intel" into the search box for these forums. This exact problem has cropped up at least 43,000 times in the last few months

and found 24 matches. Although I assumed the 43k was a hyperbole out of those 24 matches I only found a few that had to do with video problems. Even the other results, although full of banter and "it's been answered before", did not offer (that I could find) any direct instructions for a resolution a new user could understand.

I found references to installing Mesa but any google or other search results I found and tried failed along the way or lacked instruction and/or had old references without any instruction on how to find the latest version to download.

I found a reply from Head_on_a_stick to "You could add the MX repositories using my guide and install their backported Mesa packages in buster." I followed some links and ended up on the github repository "https://github.com/Head-on-a-Stick/newer-buster" and followed these instructions:
sudo apt install git live-build
git clone https://github.com/head-on-a-stick/newer-buster
cd newer-buster
sudo lb clean --purge
lb config
sudo lb build
and then ran tasksel (after checking internet) the desktop still failed. Tried a reboot but still no go. I'm assuming I did this right by using a fresh debian 10 install (64 dvd iso using rufus on a usb drive) logging in and using root to run the above.

When that failed and after some more searching in one of the forum search results (Started Gnome Display Manager ||Stuck) said to run: apt install -t buster-backports linux-image-amd64 firmware-linux
Again, still no desktop. Could someone kindly post some instructions or guide me through this. I am trying to learn but a bit of stumbling around in the dark here with not knowing what to look for. Some of the instructions I run I believe refer to old versions & I can't find out how to find out what is the latest version to try the same command with the newer version?
Thanks again for any help

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I found a reply from Head_on_a_stick to "You could add the MX repositories using my guide and install their backported Mesa packages in buster." I followed some links and ended up on the github repository "https://github.com/Head-on-a-Stick/newer-buster" and followed these instructions:
sudo apt install git live-build
git clone https://github.com/head-on-a-stick/newer-buster
cd newer-buster
sudo lb clean --purge
lb config
sudo lb build

My buster-backports ISO image does not contain any packages from MX Linux.

See my thread in the HowTo section for instructions to add the MX AHS repositories and see http://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=25688#p25688 for a list of the required packages (that's for AMD but I'm sure you can figure it out).

EDIT: or just try Debian bullseye instead, the soft freeze has started now so it should be fairly usable if a little buggy.

[mrchip]

Ended up putting on MX Linux AHS on and that worked right out of the box.