[Solved] Debian 10 NetInstall DVD Boots but 3-DVD Set Won't

[mdavidjohnson]

I have a recently refurbished $90.00 HP desktop from Amazon (was Windows 10) which I'm trying to convert to Debian 10. I've done this several times with no problems. This time, the Debian 10 DVDs wouldn’t boot: none of them.

I finally got an old 8.3.0 NetInstall DVD to boot and then got a 10.0.0 NetInstall DVD to boot over that. But none of the 3-set DVDs will boot and the 10.7.0 NetInstall DVD won’t boot either. (Yes, I have verified them via SHA512).

So, I’m now running the base 10.0.0, command line only. It recognizes and connects to my network via a DHCP established IP address, but it will not access my router (all connections are Ethernet, not wifi). So I need to use wpa_passcode to connect to the router. But, of course, wpa_passcode is not on the base system and, without access to the router, I can’t go out to a mirror and apt-get it. Catch-22. Chicken vs. egg. Etc.

However, I have several other Debian 10 machines on the network which DO have access to the internet (and thus the Debian mirrors) via the router. So I could build my own Debian mirror on one of those machines and then apt-get from it over the network, but that seems like overkill.

Is there any way to apt-get THROUGH one of those other machines to an established Debian mirror?

[arzgi]

That does not make much sense, you need wpa for ethernet?

Have you changed the boot order, that your computer boot's from cd?

If still stuck I'd suggest burning net-install image of current stable, leave router or, cable connected, and boot from that.

[mdavidjohnson]

Thank you for your quick response.

No, I do not need wpa for Ethernet. The Ethernet is working perfectly and I can easily access all the other machines on my internal network. But, this particular machine does not recognize my router and thus it cannot access the external internet. So, for that, I thought I needed to use wpa_passcode to get it to recognize the router, i.e. the ESSID and wpa password. (But, of course I couldn’t apt-get wpa_passcode w/o internet access). Perhaps there is some better way to solve this?

Yes, changing the boot order was the first thing I did. And it did boot from the 8.3.0 NetInstall DVD and, after that, it booted from the 10.0.0 NetInstall DVD. It just won’t boot from the other DVDs for some reason and, the NetInstall, not being able to go out onto the internet to retrieve packages from a mirror, was only able to install the base system.

Ultimately my problem is that I need to force the machine to connect to the internet through the router. Does that clarify what I was trying to describe any better?

[arzgi]

Can you see the leds where the cable connects to the pc?

If not, change the cable from working pc to that which will not connect.

[mdavidjohnson]

Thank you, but that's not the problem. The cable is fine. I can reach everywhere and every machine on my network. What I can't reach from this problem machine is the internet.

i.e. I can ping 10.0.0.34, 10.0.0.98, or any other machine on my local network.

But ping www.ford.com or the equivalent ping 136.2.49.37 does not reach.

[p.H]

the Debian 10 DVDs wouldn’t boot: none of them

Only DVD-1 contains the installer and is bootable. Other DVD images contain only extra packages.

I finally got an old 8.3.0 NetInstall DVD to boot and then got a 10.0.0 NetInstall DVD to boot over that. But none of the 3-set DVDs will boot and the 10.7.0 NetInstall DVD won’t boot either.

That does not make sense. There is no "netinstall DVD" image, only netinstall CD images. There is no "3-set DVDs", the full DVD set comprises ~15 DVD images.

it will not access my router

this particular machine does not recognize my router

"Access", "recognize" ? What does that mean ? Please explain.

wpa_passcode is not on the base system and, without access to the router, I can’t go out to a mirror and apt-get it

What is wpa_passcode" ? Never heard of this. I cannot find any package or program with this name in Debian.

Is there any way to apt-get THROUGH one of those other machines to an established Debian mirror?

Sure. Either set it up as a router, or an APT proxy, or a generic HTTP proxy, or even a plain port forwarder...

That does not make much sense, you need wpa for ethernet?

Well, wpa_supplicant can be used for IEEE 802.1X authentication on ethernet.

ping www.ford.com or the equivalent ping 136.2.49.37 does not reach.

What does that mean exactly ? Please show the full commands and outputs.

[mdavidjohnson]

mdavidjohnson wrote:the Debian 10 DVDs wouldn’t boot: none of them

Only DVD-1 contains the installer and is bootable. Other DVD images contain only extra packages.
Yes, I understand that. What I meant was that the DVD-1 of the i386 10.0.0 set would not boot, the DVD-1 of the AMD64 10.0.0 set would not boot, the DVD-1 of the i386 10.7.0 set would not boot, and the DVD-1 of the AMD64 10.7.0 set would not boot.
mdavidjohnson wrote:I finally got an old 8.3.0 NetInstall DVD to boot and then got a 10.0.0 NetInstall DVD to boot over that. But none of the 3-set DVDs will boot and the 10.7.0 NetInstall DVD won’t boot either.

That does not make sense. There is no "netinstall DVD" image, only netinstall CD images. There is no "3-set DVDs", the full DVD set comprises ~15 DVD images.
Okay, I guess my terminology must be faulty. By NetInstall DVD I meant either:
debian-10.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso or
debian-10.0.0-i386-netinst.iso etc.

By 3-set DVDs I meant collections like:

debian-10.0.0-i386-DVD-1.iso
debian-10.0.0-i386-DVD-2.iso
debian-10.0.0-i386-DVD-3.iso etc.

mdavidjohnson wrote:it will not access my router

mdavidjohnson wrote:this particular machine does not recognize my router

"Access", "recognize" ? What does that mean ? Please explain.
To simplify: when booting from a NetInstall DVD, the boot process gets to the point where it wants to go out to a mirror to get additional packages and it can’t because it can’t find any mirrors, i.e. there is no valid path to the internet – as far as this base Debian package is concerned, it seems that my router doesn’t even exist.
Since I’ve successfully built a half-dozen of these machines without encountering any such problem before, I’ve concluded that there is some sort of glitch in this particular machine itself. As I noted, I COULD just build a local mirror on one of my other local machines and direct apt-get to that mirror, but that would be a lot of work. I would prefer to find a simpler work-around.

mdavidjohnson wrote:wpa_passcode is not on the base system and, without access to the router, I can’t go out to a mirror and apt-get it

What is wpa_passcode" ? Never heard of this. I cannot find any package or program with this name in Debian.
Sorry. Typo. Meant wpa_passphrase.
mdavidjohnson wrote:ping www.ford.com or the equivalent ping 136.2.49.37 does not reach.

What does that mean exactly ? Please show the full commands and outputs.

ping 10.0.0.1
64 bytes from 10.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.97ms

ping 136.2.49.37
64 bytes from 136.2.49.37: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.46ms

Whaaaaa?!? That wasn’t working before. WHAT DID YOU DO ???

Nonetheless, Upon going through the process once again, I again encountered the same response:

Configuring apt  Scanning the mirror  Bad archive mirror

And I continued to get this response no matter which mirror I chose.

Meanwhile, I did apt-get update and apt-get upgrade on two of my other machines on the same network and they exhibited no problems whatsoever.

So the problem does seem to be isolated to this one machine. It was only $90.00  I suppose I could just drop-kick it and start over. But that would be losing. I don’t like to lose!

Oh well, this back and forth is just delaying things: I guess I’d better go ahead and build the local mirror. I’ve done it before. (Ow! Ouch! HURTS!!)

[p.H]

Could you please quote properly using the forum tags like everyone else does so that readers can identify easily the quoted text and your replies ?

it seems that my router doesn’t even exist

This statement does not contain any useful information. Keep technical please.

Sorry. Typo. Meant wpa_passphrase.

wpa_passphrase is part of the wpasupplicant package which is included in the Debian installer.
But AFAICS it just converts a passphrase into a WPA PSK. Why do you need it ?

ping 10.0.0.1
64 bytes from 10.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.97ms

What is 10.0.0.1 ? The router ?

ping 136.2.49.37
64 bytes from 136.2.49.37: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.46ms

Faster reply than the previous local address, and same TTL ? Weird.
Next step : what about the DNS resolution ? Check the nameserver addresses in /etc/resolv.conf and their reachability.

I guess I’d better go ahead and build the local mirror. I’ve done it before. (Ow! Ouch! HURTS!!)

Setting up an APT proxy with approx is easy.