Latest Update Prevents My Computer from Booting

[mikech]

The last update (after 5-5-2024) prevents my computer from completing the boot process. I get the MX-Linux selection screen but after that just a blinking underbar in the top left corner of my screen. If I fiddled around with it by pressing enter or escape, it eventually went into emergency mode and provides a CLI but I am not nearly expert enough to know what to do from there. The way I fixed it was to restore my 5/5/24 timeshift snapshot. When I do that it boots just fine. I turned my computer off and rebooted twice to make sure that te problem was really fixed. I also thought it might be the Grub boot loader so I used a live MX disk and tried the boot repair program in MX tools. It appeared to do something and there were no errors, but there was no change when I tried to reboot.

I was not sure the upgrade was the cause so after the first restoration I saw it wanted to upgrade so I let it. After the upgrade completed I once again rebooted and sure enough was left with the blinking underbar in the upper left. So I tried all this one more time just to be sure and there is no doubt now. The upgrade breaks my computer. Just like we are used to in Windows 10! :-)

Here is the upgrade list:

Code: Select all

  Calculating upgrade...
  The following NEW packages will be installed:
     linux-headers-5.10.0-29-amd64 (5.10.216-1)
     linux-headers-5.10.0-29-common (5.10.216-1)
     linux-image-5.10.0-29-amd64 (5.10.216-1)
  The following packages will be upgraded:
     gnome-shell (3.38.6-1~deb11u1 => 3.38.6-1~deb11u2)
     gnome-shell-common (3.38.6-1~deb11u1 => 3.38.6-1~deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-0 (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-0:i386 (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-bin (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-data (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-dev (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-dev-bin (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     linux-headers-amd64 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
     linux-image-amd64 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
     linux-kbuild-5.10 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
  11 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
  Need to get 74.5 MB of archives.
  After this operation, 377 MB of additional disk space will be used.
  

Now what?? I cannot upgrade because I do not know what is causing the problem and I cannot NOT upgrade because that creates a security vulnerability!

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20230315_2318
System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-28-amd64 [5.10.209-2] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-28-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.3_x64 Wildflower March 15  2023 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI-CF serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
           v: F12 date: 11/05/2021 
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech M720 Triathlon Multi-Device Mouse 
           serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-9600K bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake note: check 
           family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: D (13) microcode: FA cache: L2: 9 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 44398 
           Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 
           5: 800 6: 800 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode 
           Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
           Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS 
           Type: spec_rstack_overflow 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: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence 
           Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
           Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA TU106 [GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER] vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: nvidia 
           v: 525.147.05 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1f06 class-ID: 0300 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.14 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver: loaded: nvidia 
           display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.0x11.3") 
           s-diag: 583mm (23") 
           Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 40 size: 1209x680mm (47.6x26.8") 
           diag: 1387mm (54.6") 
           OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 525.147.05 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403 
           Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f9 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.0-28-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
           Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.19 running: no 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl 
           bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a370 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Gigabyte driver: e1000e v: kernel port: efa0 
           bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bc class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
           bus-ID: 1-14:5 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.1 
           sub-v: 100 hci-v: 5.1 rev: 100 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: slave accept 
           service-classes: rendering, capturing, audio 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: 5020 
           bus-ID: 00:17.0 chip-ID: 8086.2822 rev: 10 class-ID: 0104 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 9.12 TiB used: 1.53 TiB (16.7%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: A-Data model: SX8200PNP size: 953.87 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD 
           serial: <filter> rev: 42AZS6AC temp: 35.9 C scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD4002FYYZ-01B7CB0 
           size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD 
           rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: 1M02 scheme: GPT 
           ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital model: WD40EZRZ-00GXCB0 
           size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD 
           rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 0A80 scheme: GPT 
           ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 QVO 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: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 945.61 GiB size: 929.7 GiB (98.32%) used: 31 GiB (3.3%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 423 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
           ID-3: /home raw-size: 3.64 TiB size: 3.58 TiB (98.43%) used: 354.11 GiB (9.7%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 5 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 38 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0 fan-3: 0 gpu: nvidia fan: 31% 
           Power: 12v: N/A 5v: N/A 3.3v: 3.38 vbat: 3.21 
Repos:     Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 3798 lib: 1912 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates non-free contrib main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye non-free contrib main
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bullseye-security non-free contrib main
           3: deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
           4: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-backports non-free contrib main
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.6.list 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-5.0.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list 
           1: deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian bookworm/mongodb-org/7.0 main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
           2: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list 
           1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_18.x/ nodistro main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-bookworm.sources 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian bookworm main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-bullseye.sources 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian bullseye main
           No active dnf repos in: /etc/dnf/dnf.conf 
Info:      Processes: 267 Uptime: 32m wakeups: 6 Memory: 62.72 GiB used: 3.79 GiB (6.0%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.4-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[fehlix]

On the GRUB-menu select the previous kernel under advanced.If that makes it boot,
open mx-cleanup and remove the newly installed kernel, which failed to upgrade nvidia.
Followed by purge and reinstall of nvidia-driver
using the Nvidia installer tool ( ddm-mx tool ).

[mikech]

I forgot (I am old!) to mention that I tried booting into previous versions using the advanced menu. All of them. I think I have 4. I did not bother with the System D options since none of them have ever worked in any version of MX, even when MX was a fresh install.
.
The Nvidia driver is brand new and was updated within the last month through the upgrade program. I think I was at 470 and and was upgraded to 540 or something like that in early May or late April. I would rather have the latest Nvidia driver than the latest Linux Kernel.

Looking at the DDM-Mx tool there is not enough information in the help menu for me to understand how to use it. I will try to find some documentation and see if I can figure it out. I know I could get it to work with some experimentation but I am not going to do that. Life is too precious! Not sure I need to since I already have the latest driver and the new kernel is apparently not compatible with it.

Ya know I suspected that it might be something related to the Nvidia driver. As I was staring in frustration at the non-responding screen, I noticed on the black background a very subtle cyclic dimming and brightening of screen, and I recognized that from every computer I have ever bought or built (including the old Atari) as the operating system attempting to dial in the graphics card. But I thought: NO WAY! Not in this day and age! :-)

So what am I going to do about upgrades now???

[DangerD]

My problem was slightly different from what you were experiencing (one of my two monitors was not showing anything, the other one was using default system drivers).
I have the latest 470 Nvidia drivers installed.
I booted to 5.10.0-28, uninstalled all of the 5.10.0-29 stuff (image/headers) using Synaptic, rebooted, and everything seems to be working correctly now for me.
I did not have to uninstall Nvidia drivers.

[DukeComposed]

The last update (after 5-5-2024) prevents my computer from completing the boot process.

The way I fixed it was to restore my 5/5/24 timeshift snapshot. When I do that it boots just fine.

Here is the upgrade list:

Code: Select all

  Calculating upgrade...
  The following NEW packages will be installed:
     linux-headers-5.10.0-29-amd64 (5.10.216-1)
     linux-headers-5.10.0-29-common (5.10.216-1)
     linux-image-5.10.0-29-amd64 (5.10.216-1)
  The following packages will be upgraded:
     gnome-shell (3.38.6-1~deb11u1 => 3.38.6-1~deb11u2)
     gnome-shell-common (3.38.6-1~deb11u1 => 3.38.6-1~deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-0 (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-0:i386 (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-bin (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-data (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-dev (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     libglib2.0-dev-bin (2.66.8-1+deb11u1 => 2.66.8-1+deb11u2)
     linux-headers-amd64 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
     linux-image-amd64 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
     linux-kbuild-5.10 (5.10.209-2 => 5.10.216-1)
  11 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
  Need to get 74.5 MB of archives.
  After this operation, 377 MB of additional disk space will be used.
  

Now what?? I cannot upgrade because I do not know what is causing the problem and I cannot NOT upgrade because that creates a security vulnerability!

So what am I going to do about upgrades now???

Keeping one particular kernel isn't necessarily a security problem. If you really needed the latest and greatest kernel in order to stay secure, we wouldn't have LTS branches in the first place. If I were you I'd avoid upgrading the kernel until you've figured out what exactly is messing up your graphics, but I also wouldn't sweat about being a few builds behind. You can pin the exact kernel you're on right now, the kernel version that works, and upgrade other software packages as needed.

[mikech]

Thanks Danger D, I fixed the problem temporarily by timeshifting back 3 days to before the upgrade. I am on version 525 for Nvidia and it works fine in Kernel 510.0-28, however, after the upgrade I could not boot to any kernel version from the advanced grub menu. Got the exact same problem and a dark screen with a blinking underbar. Reverting using Timeshift was the only thing that worked for me. So, using deductive reasoning, I have to assume that the upgrade had more problems than just the kernel.

I actually never understood the need to upgrade the kernel except for security reasons or you are installing newer peripherals. Upgrades have ALWAYS been a problem in Windows (more so in Windows 10) which is why they used to give you the option of selecting which upgrades you want to install. I am pretty sure this is a problem the MX people inherited from Debian.

OR... It is well known that Linus hates NVidia, liberally and enthusiastically using his middle finger to emphasize his dislike for them, so maybe... :-))

[mikech]

DukeComposed:

Thanks for you help but you may have misunderstood my concern? I do not want to upgrade the kernel! I do not want to upgrade anything! But I do not want to miss any security-related upgrades either. So to make it clear:

1. While some Linux fan-boys still claim the Linux is immune to malware, it is not true, has never been true, and is especially not true today. Linux is more secure than Windows and easier to keep secure, but it is not secure enough. It requires vigilance and maintenance to maximize security.
2. Keeping software updated with security fixes is one of the keystone elements of maintaining a secure computing environment in any operating system.
3. I don't see any options for picking and choosing which upgrades to accept.
4. Even if you could choose, there is no indication of which upgrades are security fixes or are critical fixes to known problems.
5. If I was given adequate information and the ability to choose, I would never voluntarily upgrade a program or kernel just to upgrade it, but in the absence of those controls. I have no choice but to accept every upgrade. Not doing so would be foolish.

If not for fixing bugs and security fixes I would never upgrade anything as they are often problematic. But no Linux distribution I am aware of provides the information for making informed choices or even a method to pick and choose. You just have to trust the developers, and until today, that has worked OK. I figure a developer who is working for free, is not going to waste their precious time working on upgrades unless there is a definite need to do so (at least that is my hope).

By the way, MX-Linux is free and provided by volunteers. So nothing in this should be construed as criticism. I am grateful they do as much as they do. I am merely responding to your incorrect assumption that I wanted "the latest and the greatest." I actually am a fan of Debian because they are not constantly putting out new releases.

[DukeComposed]

DukeComposed:

Thanks for you help but you may have misunderstood my concern? I do not want to upgrade the kernel!

I don't think I did. As I said, you can pin the working kernel and prevent your machine from upgrading it until you know why your graphics drivers don't work with a newer version.

But no Linux distribution I am aware of provides the information for making informed choices or even a method to pick and choose. You just have to trust the developers

Not true. Each software project has its own separate upgrade cycle, and it's up to you to decide which upgrades you want to accept. Running "apt-get upgrade" will take all updated packages by default, which is why I said it may be useful for you to pick certain packages, like your exact kernel that you know works, and pin it, so it won't be replaced by a newer package even when such a package is available.

[mikech]

I was wrong. Mint provides a check list about which upgrades are security-related and provides check boxes to pick and choose updates. So on my Mint computer (which I rarely use because I like MX so much more) I can do that and I never check any box that is not a security update. I cannot do that with the "MX updater" or in the documentation. Its all or nothing. I can use symantic to pick and choose but there is no info on whether it is a security update or not. So I don't bother.

No replies expected. I simply wanted to correct my error for the record i.e, for anyone reading this in the future.

[asqwerth]

I note that you have bookworm repos on your bullseye version of MX. I wonder if that has affected your system adversely. @mikech