Big weird update broke my KDE MX 21.3 Desktop Hard

[proteusguy]

My main Kde MX-Linux desktop machine just fubar'd. It suddenly requested to download 400+ packages in an upgrade (my similarly configured laptop never saw this) and ultimately rebooting the system made it drop booting into kde and completely forget all network drivers. I'm guessing this is likely because I may have included a debian ppa a while back which gave me no trouble until now because the boot screen now says Debian 12. Also all the helper apps in MX Tools do nothing when clicked including the Network Assistant.

Sadly grub doesn't offer me any last working setup options to roll back. Since it boots at command line instead of kde, is there a different script instead of startx I should be using that'll get me into kde again? Also I can't figure out what the command line method of bringing up the network is.

So I'm looking to try to do a fresh install of the beta KDE 23.1. I am using the full disk encryption option. Is there a way to do fresh install with full disk encryption (or some manual setup that will result in full disk encryption) and keep my current /home partition? I've backed up my home partition just in case anything goes really wrong.

Attached is my MX Linux System Report output.

report.txt

thanks for any advice.

-- Ben Scherrey

Oh I see the content should be pasted in so here it is.

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.14.0-4mx-amd64 [5.14.16-1~mx21+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.14.0-4mx-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 3 dm: startx 
           Distro: MX-21.3_ahs_x64 Wildflower November 22  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: B550M AORUS ELITE v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550M AORUS ELITE v: x.x serial: <filter> 
           UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F13 date: 07/08/2021 
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Anywhere 2 serial: <filter> 
           charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Zen 3 family: 19 (25) model-id: 50 (80) stepping: 0 microcode: A50000C cache: 
           L2: 3 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 93425 
           Speed: 3553 MHz min/max: 1400/3900 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3553 
           2: 4442 3: 3722 4: 3572 5: 4442 6: 4197 7: 3764 8: 4022 9: 4164 10: 4272 11: 4440 
           12: 4123 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: 
           always-on, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Cezanne [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] vendor: Gigabyte 
           driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300 
           Display: server: X.Org 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati 
           unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1016x285mm (40.0x11.2") 
           s-diag: 1055mm (41.5") 
           Monitor-1: HDMI-A-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 305 size: 160x90mm (6.3x3.5") 
           diag: 184mm (7.2") 
           Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 93 size: 527x296mm (20.7x11.7") 
           diag: 604mm (23.8") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (renoir LLVM 15.0.6 DRM 3.42 5.14.0-4mx-amd64) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Renoir Radeon High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 04:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637 class-ID: 0403 
           Device-2: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 04:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.14.0-4mx-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte 
           driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: br-7a8057da7a42 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-2: docker0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 8.24 TiB used: 1000.87 GiB (11.9%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB model: External USB 3.0 size: 7.28 TiB 
           block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0104 
           scheme: GPT 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: USB 3.2Gen1 
           size: 57.3 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR 
           SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure? 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 97.64 GiB size: 97.64 GiB (100.00%) used: 30.12 GiB (30.8%) fs: btrfs 
           dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0 mapped: root.fsm 
           ID-2: /boot raw-size: 512 MiB size: 487.2 MiB (95.16%) used: 115 MiB (23.6%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 
           ID-3: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 274 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
           ID-4: /home raw-size: 769.08 GiB size: 769.08 GiB (100.00%) used: 738.12 GiB (96.0%) 
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-2 maj-min: 253:2 mapped: 1.home.fsm 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 63.98 GiB used: 512 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 253:1 mapped: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 16.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 38.0 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Packages: 2924 note: see --pkg apt: 2921 lib: 1571 flatpak: 3 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
           1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           3: deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           4: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dropbox.list 
           1: deb [arch=i386,amd64] http://linux.dropbox.com/debian sid main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb https://mirror.kku.ac.th/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
           2: deb https://mirror.kku.ac.th/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sid.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list 
           1: deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/
Info:      Processes: 355 Uptime: 57m wakeups: 6 Memory: 30.76 GiB used: 2.38 GiB (7.7%) 
           Init: systemd v: 247 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 
           alt: 10/12 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[baldyeti]

Ouch - you have sid (debian unstable) repositories enabled and MX21 is based on debian stable (bullseye).
This is a sure recipe for disaster.
Given the huge number of packages that have been replaced/upgraded, i am afraid it would be impossible to patch things up from the command-line.
You may want to restart from a backup, or re-install (you can keep your home folder and take backups of anything else unless on a separate filesystem)

[Eadwine Rose]

I would indeed consider this lost. If you have a snapshot or timeshift, apply that one, otherwise backup what you can and reinstall.

As far as beta, it is a beta, feedback on that goes in the designated beta thread.

[baldyeti]

Eadwine, this is MX21.3, not MX23 beta ?

[Eadwine Rose]

Read what is written in the post. I am addressing that part where beta goes.

[baldyeti]

Alright, i missed that part from the OP as the problematic sid repo was so obvious from the QSI.

Installing the beta whilst retaining one's home folder is certainly possible, but beta releases are not guaranteed to remain upgradable/compatible with the final release.

[j2mcgreg]

Code: Select all

Kernel: 5.14.0-4mx-amd64 [5.14.16-1~mx21+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.14.0-4mx-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 3 dm: startx 
           Distro: MX-21.3_ahs_x64 Wildflower November 22  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 

If this is the KDE beta, the kernel should be 6.1.xxx not 5.14.xxx. I think that he has installed KDE over top of XFCE. Then he enabled the Sid repository and let it update which has left him with a sort of MX XFCE + KDE + Sid stew which is, not surprisingly, non-functional.
@proteusguy
Your only option is to reinstall, but this time use MX KDE. If you still want the "sublime-text" package, submit a package request to have our developers back-port it for you rather than enabling the Sid repository. Otherwise, you will be back in this mess fairly shortly.

[asqwerth]

@j2mcgreg OP is not using MX23beta. He made a hash of his MX21 install by adding the Sid repo and is now asking if he should install the MX23 KDE beta and preserve his old MX21 /home. Yes, he may have installed KDE Plasma on top of the original XFCE in MX21, but that may not make much difference to the answers given.

The advice from Baldyeti was that the beta is not the final version and may not be supported, which is correct.

OP certainly needs to reinstall unless he has a valid Timeshift backup made prior to his adding the Sid repo.

Question is whether he should be installing MX23beta or MX21. It might be better to stick to MX21 unless he absolutely needs the newer versions of plasma etc in MX23. If he installs the beta, there is no guarantee he will eventually have a properly debugged final version of MX23 if some changes are made to default configs that won't get changed in upgrades because upgrades do not change contents in $HOME.

Either way, I think it is better for him to back up what he needs from his /home, instead of preserving the whole /home when he reinstalls. The reason is that his config settings for Plasma might be a mixed up version of configs for Plasma 5.20 (Debian 11) and Plasma 5.27 (Debian12).

[j2mcgreg]

@asqwerth wrote:

@j2mcgreg OP is not using MX23beta

I didn't say he was, I made that comment due to these earlier posts by Eadwine Rose:

Read what is written in the post. I am addressing that part where beta goes.

I would indeed consider this lost. If you have a snapshot or timeshift, apply that one, otherwise backup what you can and reinstall.

As far as beta, it is a beta, feedback on that goes in the designated beta thread.

I think that my statement that he now has a an MX XFCE + KDE + Sid stew is fair. The only thing we know for certain is that his once working system is now inoperable. What we don't know and have no way of discovering is the breadth of changes that were caused by the Sid update.

Finally, he asked for an opinion on whether he should use MX KDE 23 beta and I think that the prudent choice is to stick with MX KDE 21. MX KDE 23 is still a beta release and if Debian, in the next couple of weeks, discovers a bug which requires a wholesale change, we may have to implement that change as well. Given what he has just been through, I think that he should stick with what works for now.

[Eadwine Rose]

Ok I think my comment is getting misunderstood.


My comment about the beta was purely directed at his comment on thinking to install the beta. And if he wanted to use said beta, feedback on that install should go in the beta thread.