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Debian 11 Flickering white screen

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GrahamBrown
Posts: 2
Joined: 2022-09-21 21:39

Debian 11 Flickering white screen

#1 Post by GrahamBrown »

Hello. I am a newbie so probably being dumb.
I have installed Debian 11 32bit onto an old Dell Poweredge 1850, spec 2.8ghz cpu 8GB ram and 300GB scsi hdd.
The install went though fine with no errors but when I reboot I get a white screen which flickers periodically like it is trying to display the login or desktop . I do get a screen displayed very briefly which I'll capture just to see if it contains errors.
Is there anything else I need to do (display drivers etc)
Will try it on a VM tomorrow.
Appreciate any pointers
Regards
Graham

bin
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Re: Debian 11 Flickering white screen

#2 Post by bin »

May I start by asking why you're installing a 32bit OS on an 1850? It is some years since I worked with then but I'm reasonably certain they were 64 bit machines?
You'll probably need the firmware-amd-graphics package from non-free to get the 'best' from this VGA display.
If you can get to a command line login Ctrl.Alt.f2 then you can add the contrib non-free options in sources.list

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Add contrib non-free to the end of the uncommented Debian Bullseye line
Ctrl-W to save Ctrl-X to exit

Code: Select all

sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-amd-graphics
sudo reboot

GrahamBrown
Posts: 2
Joined: 2022-09-21 21:39

Re: Debian 11 Flickering white screen

#3 Post by GrahamBrown »

Hello. Thanks for replying.
I initially tried to install the Windows Server 2012 64bit operating system and it crashed with a reboot loop. Same story for Ubuntu with a Kernel Panic error.
There is nothing in the BIOS to identify this as a 64bit capable processor so I assume it is 32bit. My Dell 1950 took Server 2012 64bit so perhaps that is the difference.

I attempted to go into the recovery from the grub menu but it locked up.
Ctrl Alt F2 briefly shows a login screen but disappears after about a second I then get a black screen with no further activity.

Perhaps Debian is not compatible with the 1850.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Debian 11 Flickering white screen

#4 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

GrahamBrown wrote: 2022-09-22 09:28 Ctrl Alt F2 briefly shows a login screen but disappears after about a second I then get a black screen with no further activity.
What happens if you boot to a console login? Append 2 (or 3, or 4, or systemd.unit=multi-user.target) to the kernel command line from the bootloader to disable the graphical login screen.
deadbang

bin
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Re: Debian 11 Flickering white screen

#5 Post by bin »

GrahamBrown wrote: 2022-09-22 09:28 Hello. Thanks for replying.
I initially tried to install the Windows Server 2012 64bit operating system and it crashed with a reboot loop. Same story for Ubuntu with a Kernel Panic error.
There is nothing in the BIOS to identify this as a 64bit capable processor so I assume it is 32bit. My Dell 1950 took Server 2012 64bit so perhaps that is the difference.

Perhaps Debian is not compatible with the 1850.
https://www.aventissystems.com/Dell-Pow ... 0-s/91.htm
...The PowerEdge 1850 can be equipped with up to two 64-bit single or dual core Intel Xeon processors, up to 16GB RAM and 600GB of SCSI storage, providing loads of scalability in a small rack footprint. With dual onboard gigabit NIC’s, and two 64-bit PCI-X slots.....

I assume that you bought this as a used item so it will have had a life in a rack somewhere. First of all - if you've not already done so would be a full BIOS reset. Now, I cannot remember if the Dell Diagnostics ran from the BIOS/System Boot Menu, or whether it was a bootable CD/DVD - sorry I'm going back about 18 years to one 1850 in a sea of Proliants... however a dig around in the land of 'oogle should help. A full disk diagnostic may reveal any number of issues.

That you have had issues with Server 2012 and Ubuntu and Debian says to me that there may be problems elsewhere in this machine. That you can boot and install a system but it then won't run is also an indicator. For example, have you tried using a persistent install on a USB key so you can run the whole thing that way? Possible issues with RAID controller, if it's the original disks they're going to be be way EOL.

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