Hangs up after Debian 9 install (I think)

[jenser]

Hello,

I have here an Intel Atom N280 with 2GB of Ram
There are 2 1TB disks, which I assembled as Software RAID 1 (currently: /dev/md0 is ext4 with 950GB and /dev/md1 is a 50GB swap)

The install runs smoothly without any errors. Actually I did the install now several times from an USB stick trying several RAID setups. (manual, guided, etc) ..

Well on bootup I see the GRUB bootloader, loading initrd, disk clean and the the screen goes black. It does not go into standby, so it gets a signal. Also no out of range or so... there is no graphical env. installed, so it should show only plain text. At first I thought it may be an issue with the graphics (it's an Intel mobile 945GM), but since the LED of the numlock does not react, if I press the numlock key, I guess the PC has crashed.

I tried a lot of things since then, rescue mode, checking the raid ... If I assemble the raid from sda and sdb and use it as root system I see all files

mdadm --query --detail /dev/md0
in rescue mode shows me a valid raid (which is currently resyncing)

Since the PC never did a bootup the logs are empty.

So I'm kinda out of ideas.

Do you have any idea what else I can try?

I found this topic:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1724639

May this be the problem?
(Current Kernel is: 4.9.0-8-686 (of the rescue mode), but in /dev/md0/boot I see 4.9.0-8-686-pae - odd)

[arochester]

the screen goes black

Does it go totally black or black with a flashing cursor at the top left?

Have you got xserver-xorg-video-intel?

[jenser]

No - no cursor - just a black screen.

PS: I should not need any xorg stuff, since there is no graphical stuff installed

PPS: thats odd - I was looking for a kernel 4.9.0-8-686 (without the pae), but there is none (with apt-cache search). Could it be, that the non pae of the rescue system if the key? Let me try to install 4.9.0-7-686 (w/o pae)

Edit:
The 4.9.0-7-686 (w/o pae) does not work aswell .. thats sad :/

[jenser]

me again .. I just found this:

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller ... devices.3F

A: The installer supports software RAID levels 0, 1, 4, 5, 6 and 10, and SATA RAID. Note that if you use RAID for /boot, you will be forced to use lilo since grub doesn't support RAID.

Why on earth does the installer does not put out a warning if you try this?

[stevepusser]

Just to answer the kernel question, the one you have is fine.

You could file a bug report against the installer to see if the devs will add that the RAID check and warning.

[jenser]

Just to answer the kernel question, the one you have is fine.

You could file a bug report against the installer to see if the devs will add that the RAID check and warning.

Hello,

after a lot of reading yesterday, I found that some (many?) people are having problems with that. However, I also read, that a lot of people say: "Grub can boot from a md device"

This is what I have tested:
- setup sda and sdb as raid and use the auto disk setup during install - no luck
- setup md0 as / and md1 as swap - no luck
- testing the same things using Debian 8 install - no luck
- erasing and setting up the raid in several configurations, with different flags - no luck
- using a non pae kernel - no luck

It is difficult to find any informations relating my setup - most of them are using UEFI/GPT, which my machine does not support. OK - GPT should be possible...

So open options are:
- set up md0 as bios_boot (1mb, raw), md1 as / and md2 as swap - I don't think this will work, since I guess this is a setup if you are using UEFI (? or is this for GPT ?)
- set up md0 as /boot, md1 as / and md2 as swap - I don't think this will work ... if / is md0 and a bootloader is installed it should find /boot as well in it - this is a setup I found in an other forum
- screw the raid and set up a /boot as normal partition in sda and sdb and configure the md device behind this partition
- screw the raid and set up a bios_boot as normal partition in sda and sdb and configure the md device behind this partition
- use lilo

Well .. to test all of these will take a lot of time and I don't even know if this is the cause of the problem.

Ususally I just install Debian and then the real problems start when setting up the services. This time it seems to be the other way around. Also: Debian does run on this machine. I had a wheezy with just one disk running and later a jessy on an software raid. Sadly: I don't know the disk configuration, because I set up the Raid after setting up the OS ...

[p.H]

Note that if you use RAID for /boot, you will be forced to use lilo since grub doesn't support RAID.

This warning is obsolete. GRUB 2, which is installed by default, supports Linux RAID.

One major difference between the installer and an installed system is that the installer does not use KMS graphic drivers. Try to boot with the kernel parameter "nomodeset" and see what happens.

[jenser]

Hmm .. what can I say but: WTF? no wait .. I mean WTF?

After trying LILO and some other RAID configs with GRUB I got bored and removed the Raid and installed Debian 9 just on /dev/sda

Guess what? Same Thing - Black screen!
I did even remove sdb physically from the computer and swapped the other drive around in different slots ...
All I see is the Grub bootloader ... /dev/sda clean and then a black screen
If I start the rescue mode via USB Stick I see the following disk layout. (this is the auto - generated one by the installer)
/dev/sda1 ID 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 Extended
/dev/sda5 Swap

grub-install runs without any errors

Do I look at a broken Mainboard? The disks should be fine - one is from 2007 and the other from 2014 - no SMART Errors

Or does the installer do something weird and assumed UEFI, which does the PC not support?

[jenser]

Me again ..

Ok .. I found it .. darn

I pulled an old Intel Atom N270 with 2GB RAM I had laying around. Nothing special - just a 250GB SATA disk. Did exactly the same install (guided disk layout) and and and?

It worked wright away. Got a login screen .. Everything works fine .. the other Pc seems to be broken --- 3 days of my life are lost Gimme a cookie ...