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Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

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Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#1 Post by este.el.paz »

Folks:

Haven't spent much time with Debian Sid, but I have a multi-boot '12 cMP with about 8 linux distros running on it. I've had repeated occurrence of selecting "Debian Sid/bookworm" from the grub listing and rather than booting to GUI log in window it goes to a TTY with a the word "initramfs" showing and a blinking cursor requesting some command to input . . . but it doesn't accept "reboot" . . . ???

I have to shut down and cold boot . . . and then, selecting "Debian Sid/bookworm" (rather than "advanced options") brings me the dmesg and into a GUI log in???

I'd rather not have to boot twice just to get into Sid if that is possible?? Or, that is a known issue with Sid and just goes along with the generally unruly nature of being the delinquent kid in the machine??? :roll: :?: :shock:

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#2 Post by sunrat »

What's a "'12 cMP"?
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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#3 Post by este.el.paz »

sunrat wrote: 2021-11-22 02:31 What's a "'12 cMP"?
@sunrat:

"classic Mac Pro" . . . .

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#4 Post by p.H »

Disclaimer : I don't know anything about Macs (and do not want to).
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-22 01:50 it goes to a TTY with a the word "initramfs" showing and a blinking cursor requesting some command
Do you mean the "(initramfs)" shell prompt ? This does happen for a reason, which should be printed just above. Usually failure to find or mount the root filesystem. What if you press Ctrl+d to exit the shell and resume the boot process ?
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-22 01:50 it doesn't accept "reboot"
Try "reboot -f". But you could also use the shell and investigate the problem.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#5 Post by este.el.paz »

p.H wrote: 2021-11-23 20:15 Disclaimer : I don't know anything about Macs (and do not want to).
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-22 01:50 it goes to a TTY with a the word "initramfs" showing and a blinking cursor requesting some command
Do you mean the "(initramfs)" shell prompt ? This does happen for a reason, which should be printed just above. Usually failure to find or mount the root filesystem. What if you press Ctrl+d to exit the shell and resume the boot process ?
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-22 01:50 it doesn't accept "reboot"
Try "reboot -f". But you could also use the shell and investigate the problem.
@p.H

Thanks for the hints on it . . . . Actually, since Apple went to intel cpu there really isn't much difference between PC & Mac . . . just on the software side.

But, back to the questions . . . yes, likely it is the "initramfs" shell prompt . . . that has appeared a few times lately. It didn't happen this morning when I booted the **cMP** into Sid, but it has happened enough times to get me to post about it. I'll try those two hints out if and when we get back to the "initramfs" shell prompting.

Today's problem in Sid was FF "crashing" or freezing multiple times in an hour, requiring to FQ out of it . . . ??? Now, I'm over in my Sys76 laptop in FF and not a single issue with it?????

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#6 Post by p.H »

este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 20:30 since Apple went to intel cpu there really isn't much difference between PC & Mac
I beg to differ : non-standard hardware, firmware, keyboard layout...
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 20:30 yes, likely it is the "initramfs" shell prompt
You can trigger it by adding "break" to the kernel command line at boot time. Unless the system is encrypted, the initramfs uses the default kernel keymap (US QWERTY). If you want it to load the system defined keymap, edit /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf to set KEYMAP=y and rebuild the initramfs with update-initramf -u.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#7 Post by este.el.paz »

p.H wrote: 2021-11-23 20:53
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 20:30 since Apple went to intel cpu there really isn't much difference between PC & Mac
I beg to differ : non-standard hardware, firmware, keyboard layout...
Well it used to be back in the day that Macs were for the "creative kooks" . . . but, that has indeed changed to "kooks who live in Beverly Hills" types . . . . Which is why I moved to a linux based laptop.
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 20:30 yes, likely it is the "initramfs" shell prompt
You can trigger it by adding "break" to the kernel command line at boot time. Unless the system is encrypted, the initramfs uses the default kernel keymap (US QWERTY). If you want it to load the system defined keymap, edit /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf to set KEYMAP=y and rebuild the initramfs with update-initramf -u.
OK, thanks again for those suggestions, but "why?" Why would I want to "trigger" the initramfs shell prompt?? I just want to get to the GUI log in and get on with updating Sid and some internet browsing . . . . :?: :shock:

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#8 Post by p.H »

este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 21:01 Why would I want to "trigger" the initramfs shell prompt?
To check that is is what you saw, practise investigating (dmesg, blkid, lsmod, cat /proc/cmdline /proc/partitions...) and compare with what you get when the issue happens again.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#9 Post by este.el.paz »

p.H wrote: 2021-11-23 21:08
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-11-23 21:01 Why would I want to "trigger" the initramfs shell prompt?
To check that is is what you saw, practise investigating (dmesg, blkid, lsmod, cat /proc/cmdline /proc/partitions...) and compare with what you get when the issue happens again.
Alrighty . . . it does seem like mr Sid is a little more "high maintenance" . . . so, something to do on a rainy day . . . .

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#10 Post by este.el.paz »

So, the general problem with Sid not getting to GUI or in today's case, a working TTY log in . . . continues, more or less consistently with each attempt to use the system. Today's problem showed several "fails" and then, rather than the "initramfs" error . . . it was "root account is locked. Press ENTER to continue."

And pressing enter just showed the same data, with each enter entered. I tried the cntrl +d suggestion, didn't think of the cntrl + f option . . . none of that broke it out of the "root account is locked" error mode. After a couple of minutes I shut it down, and cold boot, to grub and same selection for Sid i.e., not "advanced options) . . . and it zipped through the dmesg and to the log in GUI screen. "Problem solved" . . . ????

Reading through @p.H 's suggestions when this was an "initramfs" error problem I looked at the file that was suggested and it showed

Code: Select all

# KEYMAP: [ y | n ]
#
# Load a keymap during the initramfs stage.
#

KEYMAP=n

#
# COMPRESS: [ gzip | bzip2 | lz4 | lzma | lzop | xz | zstd ]
#
But, since there was no error showing for that "initramfs" issue today I didn't mess with that file. I did try to get to another TTY window to see if I could log in to single user and all that showed there was a blinking cursor . . . .

My question remains, why does it seem like on first boot to Sid it "declines" the option, but on cold boot "second request" it goes through without a problem??? :?: :?: :?:

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#11 Post by p.H »

este.el.paz wrote: 2021-12-07 17:06 "root account is locked. Press ENTER to continue."
This is emergency mode, triggered by some failure during init, often a mandatory filesystem mount failure.
The emergency shell requires the root password but the root account is locked probably because you did not define a root password during the installation and use sudo instead. I recommend you set a root password with

Code: Select all

sudo passwd root
when the system boots normally to be able to investigate the problem when it happens again.
este.el.paz wrote: 2021-12-07 17:06 since there was no error showing for that "initramfs" issue today I didn't mess with that file.
Note that you do not need to set KEYMAP=y if the keyboard layout is QWERTY US.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#12 Post by este.el.paz »

p.H wrote: 2021-12-07 19:55 This is emergency mode, triggered by some failure during init, often a mandatory filesystem mount failure.
The emergency shell requires the root password but the root account is locked probably because you did not define a root password during the installation and use sudo instead. I recommend you set a root password with

Code: Select all

sudo passwd root
when the system boots normally to be able to investigate the problem when it happens again.

Note that you do not need to set KEYMAP=y if the keyboard layout is QWERTY US.
@p.H

OK, thanks for the details . . . I'll look into it. There are "issues" with this Sid install, subsequent to my posting earlier today, for yet another time, while browsing in FF and logging out of FB the browser "freezes" and becomes unresponsive, and then GUI also becomes "frozen" in time.

This time I was able to get a TTY to open and I could reboot out of the problem . . . took two minutes for the "stop job" to . . . um, stop.

When I get back to mr Sid I'll check into your "root password" suggestion . . . but I do recall during the installation that the debian installer provides a question or opportunity to set root password???? Something that is different from the standard installer . . . I have done about three installs of Debian in the last couple of months, so there is always the chance for pilot error . . . but there does seem to be **something** that is kicking out errors in this Sid partition . . . .

In my other 7 or so linux installs on this machine my GUI is not "freezing" in repeated fashion as it is in Sidster . . . . I was starting to think about changing the sources.list to whatever the next iteration after "bookworm" would be . . . I have a couple of bookworm editions already . . . . Not too critical I just have Sid installed in a SSD for the "quickness" of it, but that gets defeated by needing to boot several times and/or the "freezes" . . . .

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#13 Post by este.el.paz »

et al:
This problem was "intermittent" but then this morning became entrenched. I tried to boot Sid this morning and it went to "initramfs" . . . I shut it down and booted again and selected "Sid" in the grub list and it booted up fine to the GUI . . . .

I ran the weekly "apt full-upgrade" and it showed "150 packages to upgrade" and "130 to autoremove" . . . I ran them both through as apt listed them and continued to use the OS for some browsing. The third time was not the charm as to test the upgrades I rebooted and, back into the "initramfs" . . . this time I had checked here and saw the "crtl + d" option, which did get out of the initramfs window and into a regular TTY . . . so I looged in and ran "reboot -f" as also was suggested . . . and about 5 times we were back into the intiramfs situation. I tried to run an "apt -f install" but it said, "nothing to do."

Tried to use "advanced options" in grub, but there weren't any kernel options, just showing the same "debian bookworm/sid" for about 10 lines . . . anyway, that went back to initramfs . . . in the true definition of insanity, etc.

Eventually I gave up on Sid and rebooted into Gecko Plasma . . . no problem, ran "225 updates" . . . and all went well there. I had no clue about why Sid is behaving this way . . . until I got to work and had a recollection that perhaps one of the "autoremove" packages listed was a "gdm" item . . . but I didn't cross reference the "autoremove, no longer needed" packages with the "new install" list to see if there was a "gdm" package there . . . because, um, it was an "apt sanctioned procedure" . . . . But, perhaps apt removed the log in window manager . . . seeing it as "unnecessary"???

How to figure this one out?

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#14 Post by LE_746F6D617A7A69 »

Debian Sid is simply a testbed - it is used only by developers and by very experienced users - failures are *expected* to happen, and it's even *preferable* to have failures on testbed - so they can be analysed and fixed before they can hit the end-users of *stable* release.

Unfortunately, Your previous posts are proving that You're not so experienced, as You're unable to diagnose anything, nor to provide any useful feedback - but instead, You are complaining on why a testbed is not a stable OS...

Sid is simply not for You - SNS syndrome perhaps?
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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#15 Post by este.el.paz »

Well, I am a "tester" of it, and indeed it has "failed" . . . . Appreciate the help on it.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#16 Post by LE_746F6D617A7A69 »

este.el.paz wrote: 2022-02-09 22:57 Well, I am a "tester" of it, and indeed it has "failed" . . . . Appreciate the help on it.
Testers are expected to provide a meaningful feedback - like f.e. system log entries related to the reported problem, included in a BUG reports.
You gave nothing - so I'm sorry, but You don't seem to be a tester - although I understand that that a "Debian Tester" title may seem tempting ;)
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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#17 Post by sunrat »

Death, taxes, and Sid breaking. Certainties of life. I used Sid for ~12 years. There were only a handful of breakages over that time and only one was unrecoverable, but I'm back to Stable now and peaceful bliss.

I don't see anything in what you posted which would help anyone diagnose your problems. Maybe something critical was removed by autoremove; it lies sometimes. :|
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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#18 Post by CwF »

For sid it's best to avoid relying on package info being accurate. If you don't use meta-packages to help assemble then apt intelligence is less likely to make bad decisions. For example, there is no "perhaps" involved if you manually install the desktop, or login manager, or systemd login tweaks, etc. You should always notice when something is coming out that is needed, and simply re-install in the same session before the next reboot.

True breakage is when some single package is bugged.

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#19 Post by 4D696B65 »

If sid wants to remove 130 packages, it's best to wait a few days.
Be careful of full-upgrade

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Re: Sid boots to TTY with "initramfs" and blinking cursor???

#20 Post by este.el.paz »

4D696B65 wrote: 2022-02-09 23:41 If sid wants to remove 130 packages, it's best to wait a few days.
Be careful of full-upgrade
Appreciate the helpful replies . . . I got the advice here, possibly on this thread to use "full-upgrade" rather than "dist-upgrade" that I use in my other, Debian Bookworm install. I didn't mean I'm a "professional" tester, I'm an end user of a multi-boot machine, including TW . . . and all linux systems will have "issues" . . . but, since I have so many systems installed I'm not messing with them, I run what the installer and "apt" install. I figured that removing 130 packages probably wasn't a good idea, but, in the interest of science and testing I moved forward with it.

But, I have to say in multiple "excursions" with Sid & Sid-based distros they do have the **unique** capability to self-destruct in the basic running of "apt" . . . or in one case a couple years back ripping thru other partitions and deleting data in other systems . . . . So, I'm a glutton for punishment.

When I posted this time I was or am away from the offending machine or the offending install of Debian Sid . . . so, yes, no bug reports will be filed . . . ??? My question this time was is it "gdm" that is the default log in manager??

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