Live-usb only boots with failsafe, crashes at "waiting /dev ... populated" [Solved]

[kmiles]

Hi, I'm trying to install 23.3 onto an old desktop but am only able to boot into live usb by enabling failsafe.
It's an amd cpu with an msi motherboard, QSI below.

what I've tried:
- tried booting 23.3 with ventoy, and MX Live Usb Maker.
- have an SSD and HDD. tried with each one or both, or neither.
- have a monitor and samsung tv. tried with each one(and both) but still the same crash.
- made sure that secureboot, or anything else that might hinder linux, is off.

I currently have no way to connect it to the net as I've yet to get a spare ethernet cable.
Here's QSI from within Live usb on failsafe:

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-17-amd64 [6.1.69-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash failsafe
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.2_x64 Libretto January 21  2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: MSI model: A68HM-E33 V2 (MS-7721) v: 9.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 8.4 date: 08/10/2016
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD A6-6400K APU with Radeon HD Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Piledriver
    level: v2 built: 2012-13 process: GF 32nm family: 0x15 (21) model-id: 0x13 (19) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0x6001119
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: enabled cache: L1: 96 KiB desc: d-2x16 KiB; i-1x64 KiB
    L2: 1024 KiB desc: 1x1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2079 high: 2148 min/max: 1800/3900 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2010 2: 2148 bogomips: 15570
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT vulnerable
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Richland [Radeon HD 8470D] vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: N/A alternate: radeon
    arch: TeraScale-3 code: Northern Islands process: TSMC 32nm built: 2010-13 bus-ID: 00:01.0
    chip-ID: 1002:9996 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X: loaded: N/A
    unloaded: fbdev dri: swrast gpu: N/A display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x1024 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 339x271mm (13.35x10.67") s-diag: 434mm (17.09")
  Monitor-1: default res: 1280x1024 hz: 77 size: N/A modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.6 256 bits) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Trinity HDMI Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:01.1 chip-ID: 1002:9902 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD FCH Azalia vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.2
    chip-ID: 1022:780d class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-17-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 635.4 GiB used: 128 KiB (0.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050 size: 465.76 GiB block-size:
    physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 2K
    scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Kingston model: SHFS37A120G size: 111.79 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: BBF0 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Ultra size: 57.84 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: GPT
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  Message: No partition data found.
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2047 libs: 1045 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0
  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 bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 199 Uptime: 0m wakeups: 1 Memory: 6.98 GiB used: 1000.8 MiB (14.0%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI
Video Tweaks:
Nuke modules  amdgpu drm_display_helper drm_buddy drm_ttm_helper gpu-sched

tried looking for similar posts here but I think mine's different because of the hardware I have. Am about to try with 19.4 after this.

[j2mcgreg]

@kmiles wrote:

Am about to try with 19.4 after this.

Your CPU was released in 2013 so rather than going to MX 19.4, I think that you should try the Antix 4.19 kernel (available in MXPI) which would have been current to your machine's build date.

[kmiles]

Question. How would I go about getting the Antix kernel on the live usb? I don't have internet on the target device.
Should I install it on my current 23.2 MX laptop and make a snapshot, then flash it to the usb? or is there some other way?
(a bit cumbersome to make a snapshot of my current system as it is 67.1GiB)

edit: OOOH, could I boot the 23.3 live-usb on my laptop then install the antix kernel there, then clone the live system to another usb?

[fehlix]

Hi, I'm trying to install 23.3 onto an old desktop but am only able to boot into live usb by enabling failsafe.
It's an amd cpu with an msi motherboard, QSI below.

what I've tried:
- tried booting 23.3 with ventoy, and MX Live Usb Maker.
- have an SSD and HDD. tried with each one or both, or neither.
- have a monitor and samsung tv. tried with each one(and both) but still the same crash.
- made sure that secureboot, or anything else that might hinder linux, is off.

Maybe this: Get latest officail MX Snapshot August 15
Boot with LiveISO/USB, with failsafe
And yes, there is a reason for thos liveBoot options.
And perform installation onto the drive.
Reboot into the new installation.

[j2mcgreg]

Question. How would I go about getting the Antix kernel on the live usb? I don't have internet on the target device.
Should I install it on my current 23.2 MX laptop and make a snapshot, then flash it to the usb? or is there some other way?
(a bit cumbersome to make a snapshot of my current system as it is 67.1GiB)

Yes, install it on the system that is going to make the snapshot, use Boot Options to make it the new default and reboot. When you generate the snapshot, choose the "All of the above" option when configuring the exclusions so that the resulting ISO is limited to the bare necessities.

I would try @fehlix's suggestion (above) first and then use this method as a fallback.

[dolphin_oracle]

you can run the live-usb with persistence, install the kernel there, remaster, and then use live-kernel-updater to switch the kernel on the live usb.

remaster

live-kernel-updater

but I think @Stevo below has a good point about forcing the radeon driver.

[Stevo]

It seems like it really should be using the "radeon" driver, but you're saying it might not be working.

Have you tried forcing that in the boot options on the Live media?

[j2mcgreg]

Something else we have to consider is that both the Toshiba HDD and Kingston SSD are ten years old. See here:
https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest ... 0Q1%202014.

and here:
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/HyperX-Fu ... ating/2586

So there may be component failure in play.

[kmiles]

accidentally duplicated my comment below. So I erased this one.

[kmiles]

...
Maybe this: Get latest officail MX Snapshot August 15
Boot with LiveISO/USB, with failsafe
And yes, there is a reason for thos liveBoot options.
And perform installation onto the drive.
Reboot into the new installation.

Forgot to mention that I've already done this. But since I have no way to install a diff. kernel due to no ethernet, I didn't pursue that further and have since overwritten it with win10(planning to update the bios on a later date). What could I do to get the antix kernel on it? do you mean that I should wait to get the kernel once I get internet working?

...
Yes, install it on the system that is going to make the snapshot, use Boot Options to make it the new default and reboot. When you generate the snapshot, choose the "All of the above" option when configuring the exclusions so that the resulting ISO is limited to the bare necessities.

I would try @fehlix's suggestion (above) first and then use this method as a fallback.

I most likely will try @j2mcgreg's suggestion second since that seems to be the easiest to do after changing params as mentioned by @Stevo. I forgot that there was an option to exclude all of my files to leave an almost bare system haha.

It seems like it really should be using the "radeon" driver, but you're saying it might not be working.

Have you tried forcing that in the boot options on the Live media?

How would I go about doing that? will choosing "load=all" do it? very sorry as I'm still pretty much a newbie.

Something else we have to consider is that both the Toshiba HDD and Kingston SSD are ten years old. See here:
https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest ... 0Q1%202014.

and here:
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/HyperX-Fu ... ating/2586

So there may be component failure in play.

Might be so. Although I've tried both of them and could still properly install win10 and MX(failsafe) on the SSD, 21.3 mint and LinuxLite on the HDD, and Zorin lite on both with success (though mint has issues of only booting through recovery mode and resuming normal boot from there).
Correction: Zorin Core

you can run the live-usb with persistence, install the kernel there, remaster, and then use live-kernel-updater to switch the kernel on the live usb.
remaster
live-kernel-updater
but I think @Stevo below has a good point about forcing the radeon driver.

I'll try this last if I need to.
Also, thank you for the help guys. Means a lot :)