Select and install software fails. [WAIT NO NOT SOLVED]

[Bog]

Debian 9.2.1 i386

I have the most vanilla hardware you could hope for. So much so, that you might want to convert this to a bug report.

Low-power 32 bit Pentium M. 4Gb ram. Installing onto a 750gb drive that runs fine in knoppix and I checked it against badblocks. Empty drive.

I used all three 32 bit debian disks, no problems there. Graphical install:

When I got to "Select and Install Software", everything went great for the 15 minutes; swimmingly, and it got all the way (or nearly) to the end of the progress bar and gave:

"An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else. The failing step is: Select and install software."

So, naturally I tried skipping it.

Went back to the next step on the list, which is installing grub.

"The "grub-pc" package failed to install into /target/. Without the GRUB boot loader, the installed system will not boot."

My hardware is pristine; ideal; not nuanced whatsoever; vanilla; tested; using the latest full release, not beta, Debian 9.2.1 i386. So you can't blame my particular system. (I've been a LAMP developer for 20 years.) We want to switch from CentOS to Debian but.... this is... we dipped our toe in and it burns, right?

I'm leaving the install window open on that box, ready when you are, to help fix your broken installer.

Please advise.

[p.H]

Switch to the log console with Ctrl+Alt+F4 to display the latest installer logs for more details about the failure.
If you need more depth, you can switch to a shell console with Alt+F2 and examine the full logs in /var/log/.
If it is a kernel error, you can also run dmesg to display kernel logs.
There could be no space left on a target filesystem. Check with df.

[Bog]

Thanks, there's definitely enough space on the drive, it's 750 gig and was blank before install. But here's what the logs say, image attached.

Oh, your forum is broken. When I attach an image it throws a 500.

[p.H]

filesystem != drive
You can have a full filesystem on an almost empty drive if the partition is too small.

[GarryRicketson]

Oh, your forum is broken. When I attach an image it throws a 500.

No it is not broken, it does not allow attachments. You upload the image to a storage site
of your choice and us the

Code: Select all

[img]img url goes here [/img]

But here's what the logs say, image attached.

You shouldn't need a image to post the content of some logs any way, just copy
past the out put of the log into the post, and please use 'code boxes" like this:
For example:
Dmesg output (part)

Code: Select all

real mem = 3164598272 (3017MB)
avail mem = 3061723136 (2919MB)
mpath0 at root
scsibus0 at mpath0: 256 targets
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.5 @ 0xf0450 (82 entries)
bios0: vendor Dell Inc. version "A06" date 11/03/2010
bios0: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 780


You can also upload the logs to :http://paste.debian.net/ if it is to big. You then
just post a link to where you have the file. There are more details here:
Attachments, How to post a screen shot and use code boxes

(I've been a LAMP developer for 20 years.)

I am sure someone with so much experience won't have trouble figuring it out,
the out of 'df' as requested would be help full.
----------- edited ------------

-----to help fix your broken installer.

P.S. I don't think the installer is broken, it worked fine for me, even on my old worn out
computers,

bog>>My hardware is pristine; ideal; not nuanced whatsoever; vanilla; tested; using the latest full release, not beta, Debian 9.2.1 i386. So you can't blame my particular system.

However, some of the newest "pristine" hardware is known to be very problematic.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Oh, your forum is broken. When I attach an image it throws a 500.

Our forum is run on a shoestring, please do not attempt to abuse our limited resources and instead post a thumbnail link using an image hosting site such as https://scrot.moe/

If the installer won't work for you, try this method instead:

https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch ... 03.html.en

I have to use that to install Debian to a btrfs subvolume, it works well.

Finally, these boards are for Debian users and there are no developers here (AFAIK) so a more humble attitude would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[p.H]

You shouldn't need a image to post the content of some logs any way, just copy
past the out put of the log into the post

I would agree in the general case. But when running the Debian installer, you cannot just "copy and paste into the forum".

What can be done is manually mount some persistent filesystem (e.g. USB drive) and copy the installer log file from /var/log/ on it. A LAMP developper should not have any trouble to do this.

[GarryRicketson]

What can be done is manually mount some persistent filesystem (e.g. USB drive) and copy the installer log file from /var/log/

Your right, that is what I have done, in the past when I needed to get a copy of a log.
for example:

Code: Select all

 # mount /dev/sd1i usb
# exit
$dmesg > /home/garry/usb/dmesg.txt


Puts the contents of "dmesg" in a file named "dmesg.txt" on the usb stick, that is mounted in my "usb" dir, it could be /mnt as well, it all depends on where they mount the device to. But then the contents of dmesg.txt, can be copied / pasted when the device is mounted on a working system. of

. A LAMP developer should not have any trouble to do this.

I am sure they wouldn't, in fact I kind of assume they know these basics, so I did not go into details, but for those that do not know how,...
Of course, in this case since they all ready have a photo, it might be easier just to use that, I never could figure out how to get a screen shot, of the screen when running the installer , but I guess that is another topic

[Bog]

Wow it's so great to have so much of a response!

Ok a lot to cover here (thankfully):

No it is not broken, it does not allow attachments. You upload the image to a storage site
of your choice and us the

Oh I see. The reply page provides the option, you can probably disable that. But hey I mean no problem, just a suggestion.

Our forum is run on a shoestring, please do not attempt to abuse our limited resources

How am attempting to abuse your resources? I don't understand.

Of course, in this case since they all ready have a photo, it might be easier just to use that

Yep, ok- so, since I already have the photo, I may as well paste it here. If you guys really want the text then I'll go to the trouble (actually I checked if I could scp it but scp isn't there. oh well, worth a shot.) Anyway, let me know if this cap is good enough,

(I'm using URL tags instead because when I preview it looks like it's cutting off, and this is a better fit:

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/3751/lrA7bp.jpg

Looks like a dependency type of problem. I'm thinking maybe I should try reinstalling but only use the first disk. (That would weed out the other repositories right?) I kinda doubt that though, and it would be too bad if I can't use the other disks.

Should I go ahead and try the apt --fix-broken install ? I mean that may sound like the obvious thing to do, but, the reason I hesitate is that what I'm doing is so vanilla that I figured this shouldn't be happening at all. You know what I mean... That step wouldn't be normal... so I figured I'll wait for advice first in case you want me to debug.

Speaking of screenshots, looks like enough room right:

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/7637/9k0g2a.jpg

Oh and yep, I know this isn't a developer forum, but I figured I'd be useful for you to let you all know up front what my capabilities are when you're providing advice, thanks.

thanks much, this is great,

b

[Bog]

Oh shit wait, it's a bad dvd maybe?!

[Head_on_a_Stick]

^ This.

[Bog]

Yea I was focussing on the dependency errors and didn't notice the Joliet stuff. Woo! Thanks guys. Good to know how to switch to the log and/or shell.

[Bog]

No. No. I take it back. It's not broken media. And it's not the drive. It's not me It's on your side. It's either the installer or your iso images.

I have, over the day, done the following:

Used new media on three different *sets* of disks. The same DVD drive (external) had no problem installing Centos 6.9 on a different machine 6 days ago. This is the same hardware and media that worked like two days ago and for 2 years.
Knoppix has no problem with it. Hell, the Knoppix disk was burned on the same external drive as I was originally burning/installing with. (Knoppix version is 7.7.1).

I downloaded the iso's again, this time using http instead of torrenting like I did the first time, and then used a different DVDR drive to burn them.

I've been through a total of 9 DVDs. (Three sets of three.) Something is wrong with your images.

This is not on me.

Please advise. And/or convert this to a bug report.

EDIT: Oh I thought bug reports were on the same set of forum categories. Ok, well, I guess I should just give up and go to them? Still seems so odd.

[Bog]

Oh and yea, the logs are identical; throw the same errors.

[dilberts_left_nut]

You do realise (again) that this is the Debian USER forum?
We are USERS, just like you.
If you want to make a bug report, go ahead.
If you want to talk to the devs, they will be on the mailing lists.

Why are you faffing about with DVD images? I don't recall ever using them.
Why not try the netinstall image and install direct from the repo's?