MX Linux Forum

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:28 pm**

Greetings, I am a Linux novice, so please forgive me if I am going about this incorrectly. I welcome all the help I can get.

I have been using MX Linux, 21, Wildflower, 64 bit, the last several months. I have been very happy with it. It has proven to be stable and easier to work with compared to some of the other distributions I have tried. I have it installed on 2 computers, but I am having problems with it on my main driver after this last update about a week ago.

The last update listed 3 options: agree to full upgrade, stay with current version, or compare the differences. I selected the third option with the hopes to make a more informed decision. The computer froze up after listing the comparison. I left it alone for a bit, but it was totally frozen, nothing would close, open, minimize, etc. and so I forced it off with the power button. Now it only boots with a picture of the Lenovo theme and grub rescue>.

I have searched online and tried various commands from the grub menu, booted with a live usb and tried various commands with a terminal, tried the boot repair/reinstall options in MX Tools and Rescatux and nothing works. Honestly, I'm guessing and I think I need to start over with someone who can help me more specifically. I am probably missing something, but I'm not sure what. If worse comes to worst, I need to learn how to get my data off the hard drive and reinstall it.

Once again, thanks in advance for any help or advice. I'm in and out, but I'll try to be as timely as possible to any help offered on here. Thanks!

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:32 pm**

Have you tried this, too?

https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 10#p695910

In the meantime, welcome to the Forum :)

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:48 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:28 pm...need to learn how to get my data off the hard drive ...

Any time you like (in fact, while you're at it just do it) you can simply copy-paste the home folder (of the installed MX,
access using the left pane) on live session with the file manager to somewhere else. You'll have peace of mind.

In case you decide/need to reinstall: You can either select to preserve home during installation and/or put back (overwrite) the backup again when on live session. This way you'll have most of your customizations back.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:51 pm**

I haven't yet. I will check this out and post what happens. Thanks!

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:59 pm**

So I tried the sudo dpkg --configure -a suggested in the previously mentioned link from a terminal launched with the live usb. It's in demo mode. It brings me back to a $. Not sure what to do from here...

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:01 pm**

There are several things you could try and several different ways to do them. IMHO, the first thing to try is a file system check, which is both the most likely problem and one of the easiest to fix.

To do this, boot a live session and open Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T). Run lsblk, which will give you a quick overview of your internal hard drive. From that, you should be able to tell which is the system partition. If not, try all the likely candidates, as the command you're going to run can't hurt anything. That command is sudo fsck -yv /dev/xxx, where xxx is the device ID, e.g., sda2 or nvme0n1p2. You'll get the device ID from the lsblk output. To give you an idea what this should look like, here's what happens when I run those two commands on an MX system in VirtualBox:

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~
$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0  1.7G  1 loop /live/linux
sda      8:0    0   60G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   57G  0 part 
└─sda2   8:2    0    3G  0 part [SWAP]
sr0     11:0    1  1.8G  0 rom  /live/boot-dev
demo@mx1:~
$ sudo fsck -yv /dev/sda1

We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

    #1) Respect the privacy of others.
    #2) Think before you type.
    #3) With great power comes great responsibility.

[sudo] password for demo: 
fsck from util-linux 2.36.1
e2fsck 1.46.2 (28-Feb-2021)
MX-Linux: clean, 827121/3735552 files, 5184213/14940160 blocks

Be aware, the password for user demo in a live session is demo, so that's what you type at the prompt.

There's a really good chance this will be enough to enable you to boot again. Shut down the live session and give it a shot, then report back either way.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:09 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:59 pm... from a terminal launched with the live usb.

No. You need to either manually login on the installed MX (when trying to boot) or first Chroot (to the installed MX via live session) then issue. Otherwise, whatever you do will be on that live system, not on your installed MX.

(Hence those steps first)

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:27 pm**

I tried the suggestions in #6. The information looked similar to the example shown. It did say "file system changed". I shut down the live session and rebooted without the live usb. I am back to a black screen with a Lenovo theme in the center.

It says, "Welcome to Grub!
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/normal.mod not found.
grub rescue>

This is the message it has been showing. I am not very familiar with how grub works. Thanks in advance for your patience!

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:35 pm**

Huckleberry Finn, I am learning about chroot as I go, pretty new with that also. If I boot back with the live usb and open a terminal, would I type chroot, get the $ prompt to type in the sudo command and enter sudo dpkg --configure -a? Or is there another screen I need to operate chroot from? Thanks for your patience-this is why I love the Linux community. There are so many people who are smarter than I am and willing to help-

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 6:42 pm**

What you do is click the Applications Menu (lower left), enter chroot in the search box, then select Chroot Rescue Scan. Press enter to select your system from the scan list. This will take you to a chroot> prompt. Run dpkg --configure -a (sudo not needed, as chroot runs with root privileges) (notice as best you can any messages displayed as the command runs). Shutdown live session and try booting again.

By the way, there's a way to run chroot from Terminal in the live session, but it's complicated and technical. Chroot Rescue Scan is about a thousand times easier.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:45 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:28 pm ...

The last update listed 3 options: agree to full upgrade, stay with current version, or compare the differences. I selected the third option with the hopes to make a more informed decision. The computer froze up after listing the comparison. I left it alone for a bit, but it was totally frozen, nothing would close, open, minimize, etc. and so I forced it off with the power button. Now it only boots with a picture of the Lenovo theme and grub rescue>.

I have...

For future reference (since you may encounter this again in a future update of certain packages) , the computer did not freeze in the midst of the update. The terminal was waiting for you to return to the previous page to answer the question of whether you wanted to keep or replace your existing config files (nothing to do with full upgrade) . You do that by pressing "q".

https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 84#p695184

so, the listing of differences in the terminal can be scrolled down (if it doesn't fit in one page) with space bar, and "quitted" by pressing "q" on your keyboard. Pressing "q" will bring you back to the previous terminal screen where you were asked to input Y,N or D, so that you can input your response to that question.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:27 pm**

Thanks asqwerth, I did not know that. I hope I didn't damage anything too badly. I'll certainly keep that in mind for if it happens again. I had not encountered that before and assumed it was frozen.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 12:06 am**

I tried the suggestion in #10 to enter chroot after booting with the live usb. It brought me to the chroot-rescue-scan terminal. After a very brief scanning of partitions and directories it says:

Warning: No Linux systems were found
Paused at exit
Press <Enter> to continue

Pressing Enter makes it disappear.

When I open a terminal in the live usb and enter sudo fdisk -l, it does show:
/dev/sda 1, 256m EFI system
/dev/sada 2, 923.3G Linux filesystem (which is the largest size of all and makes me think this is where my Linux operation is)
/dev/sda 3, 8G Linux filesystem

Each also has starting, ending, and sector numbers. There is also another listing for /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2 which is the live usb.

Am I thinking right on this? It looks like my system is in there still...

Also, I forgot to mention this is not a dual boot set up. It is solely MX Linux.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 1:20 am**

That's both puzzling and cause for concern. Hard shutdown is bad practice, and how to get out of a frozen system without doing so was one of several things I was going to mention after we got the system back on its feet, but I can't recall another instance of hard shutdown blowing up the system so badly it couldn't be repaired by fsck, never mind so badly it couldn't be detected by a system scan.

Let's try a simple test. Boot the live system, open Terminal, click the maximize button (upper-right), and run these commands:

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
ls /mnt
ls /mnt/boot
ls /mnt/boot/grub
ls /mnt/home/dragonfly

Note: If your username on the system is something else, substitute the correct name in the last command. As you probably can guess, the object of these commands is to see whether you still have the files we would expect to see in those directories. Frankly, if these files are missing, there's not much point worrying about the rest. Remember, the sudo password in a live session is demo.

Once you've run all the commands, click Edit > Select All on Menu (top of screen), then Edit > Copy. Still in the live session, set up an internet connection, navigate to the Forum and paste from clipboard into your next reply. To make the thread easier to read, select with your mouse the text you just pasted, then click the </> button above the text entry window, which will put the outputs in a code box, just like the one I used above.

By the way, had you by some mad chance set up Timeshift and/or saved a system image with MX Snapshot? If you did either of those things, we should be restoring the system that way.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:46 am**

So this is what resulted from the commands:
(My apologies, but I am not seeing a </> button over this entry window to make this easier to read. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place? I do see a Full Editor & Preview button below this screen. Does that make the code box?)
Also, I'm not sure what Timeshift is so I am guessing I did not intentionally do that.

demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount: /mnt: /dev/sda2 already mounted on /mnt.
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt
bin initrd.img libx32 media opt run tmp var
etc lib lost+found mnt root sys usr vmlinuz.old
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt/boot
ls: cannot access '/mnt/boot': No such file or directory
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt/boot/grub
ls: cannot access '/mnt/boot/grub': No such file or directory
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt/home/Vicky
ls: cannot access '/mnt/home/Vicky': No such file or directory
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:51 am**

Also, I don't know if this helps at all, but I ran this command, sudo parted -ls. It brings up all this, but I am wondering if all 3 are supposed to say "primary".

demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ sudo parted -ls
[sudo] password for demo:
Model: ATA ST1000LM035-1RK1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 269MB 268MB fat32 primary boot, esp
2 269MB 992GB 991GB ext4 primary legacy_boot
3 992GB 1000GB 8590MB linux-swap(v1) primary

Model: SanDisk Cruzer Glide (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.7GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
2 621kB 4889kB 4268kB primary esp

demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 11:57 am**

Some of that is okay, but on the whole doesn't look good. On the plus side, to answer your question, all the partitions being primary is exactly as should be. This means as opposed to logical, which was an important distinction in the old BIOS-style partition scheme (which was limited to four primary partitions). I am puzzled, though, by the legacy_boot flag on sda2.

Big problem is that most of your system folders seem to be missing, in particular the /boot and /home directories. For comparison, here's what I get:

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~
$ ls /mnt
bin   etc         initrd.img.old  libx32      mnt   pulse  sbin       tmp  vmlinuz
boot  home        lib             lost+found  opt   root   sys        usr  vmlinuz.old
dev   initrd.img  lib64           media       proc  run    timeshift  var

Unless someone else has a bright idea, I think you are looking at reinstall. Sorry.

Moreover, as the /home directory has gone missing, there's no simple way to "get my data off the hard drive" (as requested in the first post), from which I infer you don't have backups and the files aren't duplicated on your other computer. You could try data recovery with TestDisk, but that's time consuming and rarely 100% effective. In future, do backups obviously (Linux has several good apps for the purpose), but too late for that here.

As an aside, for future reference, in Linux your "real" username is always lower case (the other one is called your display name). The command should have been ls /mnt/home/vicky. Here, though, there's no /home directory, so that's why you got "no such file or directory."

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:01 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:46 am ...
(My apologies, but I am not seeing a </> button over this entry window to make this easier to read. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place? I do see a Full Editor & Preview button below this screen. Does that make the code box?)
...

Yes, you are looking in the wrong place. Clicking on the "Full Editor & Preview" button at the bottom of the "Quick Reply" window will show the </> button.

You can also make your text appear in a code window by simply typing "[code]" at the beginning of the text, and "[/code]" (minus the quotation marks) at the end of the text. The </> button does that automatically by putting the code tags around the highlighted text.

Posted: **Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:22 am**

Thank you all for your help. I do have a back to an external hard drive, but it is not the most recent back up. So I haven't totally lost everything, but I will definitely be more regular with back ups in the future. I learned a lot through this process. Thanks again!

Posted: **Wed Sep 21, 2022 10:42 am**

You're welcome. Sorry the story didn't have a happier ending. A few closing thoughts.

1. I'm still mystified that a hard shutdown could have so thoroughly trashed the system. I wonder whether the hard drive is failing.

2. When the system freezes, try to do a soft shutdown before resorting to the power button. The generally recommended procedure is something called "Raising Elephants," which refers to a special key sequence which usually shuts down the system in an orderly way, avoiding corruption of the file system. (Doesn't work is some cases, though, e.g., a kernel panic.) The key sequence is: (i) hold down the Alt key (and keep held throughout); (ii) hit (and release) the SysRq/PrintScreen key; (iii) tap in order, pausing a few seconds between each, the keys REISUB or REISUO (can be upper or lower case, both work). The "B" option initiates reboot, the "O" option does a shutdown. The usual mnemonic is something like Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring/Obnoxious. The trick is remembering all the details. Print out and put in a drawer next to your computer. Or do an internet search (e.g., Linux Raising Elephants) when the need arises.

3. After you reinstall, look into Timeshift (mentioned earlier). It's a great app, installed on MX out-of-the-box, which keeps a shadow copy of all your system files so you can restore to a prior state if something goes sideways during update (or otherwise). Main thing to be careful about is that it requires a lot of space, so save snapshots on a USB drive if you're tight on the hard drive. Also, do not use Timeshift for data files. Use something else.

4. Don't beat yourself up too much over not-quite-current backups. There's a cost to obsessively current backups. In general, I only backup data files once per month, though a particularly important project might be backed up manually more often, even daily. Strike a reasonable balance and then stick to the plan.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Posted: **Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:04 pm**

Thanks for the encouragement pbear! I am going to be more careful going forward and on how to properly shut down, for sure, in the future (and print these tips out as you have recommended). I have learned so much through this process about the different screens and processes for Linux. I read once Thomas Edison was asked how it felt to fail 1,000 times before creating a working light bulb. He is credited with saying “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps." Hopefully I'll figure it out in few less :D
Do I need to do anything to complete this thread?

Posted: **Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:10 pm**

A great tip there (I have also found it in a forum search and some posters as far back as 2017 have mentioned it too). I reckon it would be a useful instruction to be added into the MX Manual. I have encountered (not regularly but enough to be irritating) situations where a hard reset was needed and this little tip has now formed part of my own personal library of tips. I will copy hereunder a succinct enough description for anyone interested. This from https://mirzmaster.wordpress.com/2006/1 ... ly-boring/

... try the following set of keystrokes, in order:

ALT + SysReq + r

This stands for Raw keyboard mode.

ALT + SysReq + s

This syncs the disk.

ALT + SysReq + e

This terminates all processes.

ALT + SysReq + i

Kill’s all processes that weren’t terminated nicely.

ALT + SysReq + s

This syncs the disk, again.

ALT + SysReq + u

Remounts all filesystems as read only.

ALT + SysReq + b

This last one will reboot the system.

Think you’ll have difficulty remembering all that? Well, there’s a mnemonic for memorizing it: Raising Skinny Elephants Is So Utterly Boring.

Posted: **Thu Sep 22, 2022 12:30 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:04 pm Do I need to do anything to complete this thread?

IMHO, no, as I don't think we can call it "solved" and not sure what else we would call it. Anyhoo, good luck.

Posted: **Fri Sep 23, 2022 2:36 am**

Suggestion ... resolved?

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:49 am**

Unfortunately, not yet linexer2016. I'm going to try a few things and if those don't work, I'm going to reinstall it. If I find something that works I'll post it.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 5:06 pm**

Okay, so I am back. I did a total reinstall from the live usb. It loaded successfully. As I was tweaking some of the preferences, the green update box appeared with "342 new updates available." I did that successfully. So far, so good. A few minutes later as I was trying to accomplish a task online, the web page kept shutting down. The photo I saved in downloads would no longer open. Everything became unresponsive, so I followed the excellent suggestions on how to shut down properly. Eventually, instead of the black screen with the Lenovo theme and grub rescue> prompt, I had a totally black screen with a flashing cursor in the very far left corner after rebooting. Before it actually gets to the flashing cursor, as it runs its check, it says something like, "Error F1 not found: 0X601 (broken bios?) When it is at the flashing cursor screen, I learned if I ctrl+alt+F5, it brings me to a log in screen that accepts my user name and password in what I am guessing is called a CLI login since I didn't open a terminal. Everything worked fine after the reinstall and before the acceptance of updates. My computer doesn't seem to like the updates. Does this mean I need to do something to repair the BIOS itself? Is that possible? Thanks for any help in advance-

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:46 pm**

I very much doubt the problem is the updates. Rather, I expect it's a problem with the computer, perhaps BIOS but more likely hardware (RAM or hard drive). You may recall, I mentioned concern about the drive earlier.

Please boot a live session and open Quick System Info (an app on Menu). You will see a notification that a system report has been copied to clipboard. Set up an internet connection, open this thread and paste in the report from clipboard. As mentioned in the notification, the report is already formatted to display correctly once pasted.

Meanwhile, if you're feeling industrious, you might want to run the Memory Test (option on boot menu of live session). If you do, please report the results.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 11:13 pm**

Code: Select all

System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.10.0-9-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-21_x64 Wildflower October 20  2021 base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 80XS v: Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR 
           serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 v: Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0J40700WIN serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO 
           v: 5QCN16WW date: 05/22/2017 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 23.0 Wh condition: 23.2/30.0 Wh (77%) volts: 8.4/7.5 
           model: SMP L16M2PB1 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Unknown 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: AMD A12-9720P RADEON R7 12 COMPUTE CORES 4C+8G bits: 64 
           type: MCP arch: Excavator family: 15 (21) model-id: 65 (101) stepping: 1 
           microcode: 6006118 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 21559 
           Speed: 1388 MHz min/max: 1400/2700 MHz boost: disabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1395 
           2: 1396 3: 1381 4: 1387 
           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, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Wani [Radeon R5/R6/R7 Graphics] vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:01.0 chip ID: 1002:9874 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: amdgpu,ati 
           unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: 
           renderer: AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (CARRIZO DRM 3.40.0 5.10.0-9-amd64 LLVM 11.0.1) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.5 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Kabini HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:01.1 chip ID: 1002:9840 
           Device-2: AMD Family 15h Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:09.2 chip ID: 1022:157a 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-9-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lenovo 
           driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 2100 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 168c:0042 
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Lenovo 
           driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 1000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-1.1:3 chip ID: 0cf3:e500 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 946.10 GiB used: 21.2 MiB (0.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 size: 931.51 GiB block size: 
           physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
           rev: LVM2 scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide size: 14.59 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: N/A size: 5.73 GiB used: 21.2 MiB (0.4%) fs: overlay 
           source: ERR-102 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.00 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap swappiness: 15 (default 60) 
           cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.1 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 52 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     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 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
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
Info:      Processes: 220 Uptime: 1m Memory: 7.23 GiB used: 757.8 MiB (10.2%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Shell: quick-system-in 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 11:16 pm**

#28 is the results of the the system report. When I try the Memory Test from the live usb, it does nothing. It only goes to a black screen. I agree something is going on besides updates.

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:56 am**

Nothing in the system report jumps out at me. Relatively modern machine, firmware ("BIOS") five years old but not ancient.

Let's start by running the same test we did last time, i.e., mount the internal drive's system partition and check directories. So, boot a live session and run these two commands:

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
ls /mnt

Copy-and-paste the output into your next reply. Recall, you're looking for something which looks like this.

Second, the best way I know to test the hard drive is installing to USB drive and seeing whether that works okay. Pretty easy to do, provided you have handy a largish flash drive (or, better, USB hard drive), preferably 16 GB but 32 GB (or more) would be better. This is only a test, so you're not committing to tying up the drive indefinitely. One crucial detail: if using a flash drive, it must be 3.0 (a 2.0 drive is much too slow for running an operating system). You do the installation same as for an internal drive, except different target. After installation, boot to the USB drive and run updates. Get this far (if you can) then report back.

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:50 am**

demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount: /mnt: /dev/sda2 already mounted on /mnt.
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt
bin etc initrd.img.old libx32 mnt pulse sbin usr vmlinuz.old
boot home lib lost+found opt root sys var
dev initrd.img lib64 media proc run tmp vmlinuz
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:57 am**

Thanks pbear, here are the results of those commands. I will try the installation to an external drive-I think that's a good idea. It may take me a bit to get that part done, but I will post the results. Also, are you familiar with gsmartcontrol? I read it checks the health of a disk drive, but I also read it may not be accurate.

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 3:03 am**

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount: /mnt: /dev/sda2 already mounted on /mnt.
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$ ls /mnt
bin   etc         initrd.img.old  libx32      mnt   pulse  sbin  usr      vmlinuz.old
boot  home        lib             lost+found  opt   root   sys   var
dev   initrd.img  lib64           media       proc  run    tmp   vmlinuz
demo@mx1:~/Desktop
$

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 3:04 am**

I resubmitted that in the correct in the correct form this time-

Posted: **Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:21 pm**

Thanks for reformatting the ls /mnt output. As you can see, you have all the expected directories this time (the only one I have which you don't is timeshift). By the way, for future reference, you could have fixed the formatting by edit to #31; that's what the little pencil icon is for. If you like, you can put a little note in the edited post explaining why you did the edit (I usually do).

Full install to USB test at your convenience. If you don't have a large enough flash drive, i.e., have to order one, I will mention that I've had good luck with Samsung. There are other good ones, but avoid cheap commodity drives. Okay for storage, but not running an OS.

Not familiar with gsmartcontrol per se, but see from a quick look that it relies on smartctl from smartmontools, which I have run into before. Yeah, it's one of those utilities that sometimes turns up useful information but more often not. On the other hand, no harm to running the test if you like.

Meanwhile, let's circle back to the Memory Test. No good reason for that to have failed. To confirm the flash drive is fine, please run the test on your good computer. No need to run the full test (Esc to cancel), though you can.

Posted: **Fri Sep 30, 2022 2:54 am**

Okay, I'm reporting back, finally. This is what I did:

-I booted my problem computer with the live usb.
-I connected another usb and installed the OS to this 2nd usb.
-I shut the computer down (properly) and removed the live usb.
-I rebooted with the OS usb. It came up no problem. I typed a brief test document and saved it, changed the desktop and again properly shutdown.
-I rebooted with the OS usb, again with no problem, and it successfully kept the document and desktop (Is this what is called a portable OS? I'm considering doing this with an external hard drive so I can still operate if something happens in the future).
-I shutdown again, and removed the OS usb. I rebooted without any usbs and it goes directly to the grub rescue> prompt and Lenevo theme.

I tried the Memory Test from the live usb once more-no change, still a black screen. I forgot to mention my other computer with MX is a small netbook with the 32 version. My main driver is the 64 version, so I don't think I can run the memory test on that. I will have to borrow a computer, I guess. I know someone with Ubuntu. Could I do the Memory Test on that?

Lastly, if worse comes to worse, I have a techie relative who can help me replace the hard drive. Thanks in advance for suggestions on what to try or consider!

Posted: **Fri Sep 30, 2022 12:19 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 2:54 am Lastly, if worse comes to worse, I have a techie relative who can help me replace the hard drive. Thanks in advance for suggestions on what to try or consider!

Bear in mind, we're not sure it's the hard drive. Could be RAM. Unable to run the memory test points that direction.

Sure, you can run the test on another computer (we're testing the flash drive) and it doesn't matter which OS it runs (even Windows would be fine), except as you say it has to be 64-bit. Be aware, a full test takes a couple hours to run, so you're probably going to want to cancel pretty soon, once you've confirmed the flash drive works.

Back to the full install USB drive. Yes, it's a portable system, provided the hardware on which you wish to run it is supported by the kernel. If the hardware requires special drivers (e.g., for an Nvidia graphics card), the USB drive is less portable and may require some fiddling to move back-and-forth between systems. In any event, a useful tool. I have several.

Anyhoo, let's try the next test for the full install USB drive, which is updates. That's where the regular install went sideways last time.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 3:57 am**

Hello, I followed the suggestions in #37.

-I tried the memory test with the live usb on the borrowed Ubuntu computer. Unlike my computer, it did open to the Memtest86 screen and show general information about the CPU and memory. However, no key or mouse would allow me to run the test on it.

-I booted the full install usb on my computer and it successfully installed 340+ updates to the drive. As it did that I read about ram. I came across this:

addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/troubleshoot-ram-on-linux/

"As soon as the Ubuntu live USB boots up on your PC, press the ESC button. Selecting this button will instantly stop the booting process of the live disk and show you an Ubuntu menu. Please note on UEFI/Secure boot computer systems, you will not see a purple boot menu upon pressing the ESC button, and will not be able to access the 'test memory' option. This is due to the UEFI version of Ubuntu not supporting Memtest86. You must reboot your pc and load Ubuntu usb with 'Legacy Mode."

I booted into the BIOS and under the Boot tab changed Boot Mode to Legacy Mode from UEFI. I changed Boot Priority to Legacy First from UEFI First. Then I tried the memory test again and it worked ("Pass complete, no errors, press ESC to exit")! I did notice that Boot Order had 1-my live usb, 2-MX Linux, and 3-Ubuntu (I had this before MX).

So the memory test works under Legacy in the live usb, and the updates installed under UEFI to the full install usb. What should I do from here? Thanks!

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:30 pm**

Frankly, I'm puzzled MemTest is giving you so much trouble. As you probably noticed from your research, it's the standard app for this purpose. MX is just bundling it into their ISO (and it works fine for me in UEFI mode). At a guess, a small glitch in the USB burn process.* For future reference, you also can download the app and run directly. In your case, though, running the test in BIOS mode should be fine. I'd rely on it, albeit with an asterisk.

* Out of curiosity, which tool/app did you use to burn the ISO to flash drive? FWIW, I'm not, as I use something called Ventoy which boots directly from the ISO.
Edit: Just noticed UEFI Memory Test is also on the regular boot menu. What happens if you select that option from the full install USB drive?

Which leaves the hard drive. We don't know for sure it's defective, but have three reasons to think so (initial OS failure, update error on reinstall, and the full install USB test). That would be enough for me.

So, replace the hard drive, leave RAM alone (for now), and reinstall (keeping fingers crossed).

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:16 am**

To be honest I can't remember which tool I used to make the live usb for this computer. It was either MX Live USB Maker in MX Tools or Etcher. I used both for my 2 computers and the for the full OS usb. Now I can't remember which I used on which. I could for good measure just burn a whole new one and start over, and replace the hard drive. Also, I ran the memory test from the full install usb and it ran perfectly. I forgot to change it from legacy back to UEFI in the bios, though, before I ran it.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:00 pm**

dragonfly wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:16 am To be honest I can't remember which tool I used to make the live usb for this computer. It was either MX Live USB Maker in MX Tools or Etcher. I used both for my 2 computers and the for the full OS usb. Now I can't remember which I used on which. I could for good measure just burn a whole new one and start over, and replace the hard drive. Also, I ran the memory test from the full install usb and it ran perfectly. I forgot to change it from legacy back to UEFI in the bios, though, before I ran it.

Hard drive: Right, as discussed, your symptoms indicate that should be replaced.

Memory test: What happens if you run it from the full install USB drive in UEFI mode? I'm wondering whether there's some quirk with the computer which causes the UEFI mode test to fail. Nothing you can do about it (would suggest some sort of obscure bug in the firmware), but useful to know. Also, would remove the cloud over the live USB, i.e., not a glitch in the burn after all.

Live USB: If you redo, use the MX Live USB Maker. If you run into an issue down the road, better to have used the official OS tool. You can run the app from the full install USB or your 32-bit computer.

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:23 am**

From the full install usb:
When I go into the bios under the boot menu tab and change boot mode to UEFI, the boot priority option disappears. When exiting bios it goes to an error message, red letters in a white box, "Secure boot image failed to verify with *SECURITY VIOLATION*. Press any key to continue." OK is the only button. Clicking OK brings up the Welcome to MX Linux screen with options, but does not load the software and goes back to error message.

When I select Legacy Support in the boot mode under the boot tab, it brings back the boot priority and allows me to select UEFI First. It does not show the error message and loads the software. It also runs the memory test. Selecting Legacy Support seems to automatically disable secure boot, selecting UEFI enables it. Basically UEFI loads nothing, Legacy Support with UEFI First works (the onscreen images appear slightly smoother), Legacy Support with Legacy First works (the onscreen images appears a touch less smoother). Is it okay to use the mixed option for Legacy Support and UEFI First together, or should it be all legacy? Sole UEFI isn’t working.

I did make another live usb from scratch with a spare usb I had and used the MX tools since I couldn’t remember what I burned the first one with. All these suggestions are great! I am learning a lot.

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:16 am**

What you want is UEFI mode with secure boot disabled. You were able to boot in UEFI mode previously (e.g., for the system report), so just a matter of remembering how (or finding it again by trial-and-error).

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:46 am**

Ok, I will try to find that and set it.

Posted: **Sat Oct 15, 2022 7:11 am**

Sorry for the delay. I finally had the chance to install the new hard drive and reinstall the OS. From what I can tell it looks like it is not using Legacy. Seems to be working smoothly so far so good-

Posted: **Sat Oct 15, 2022 8:35 pm**

No worries. There are a couple ways to tell the boot mode. Perhaps the easiest is to look at Quick System Info (on Menu). Boot mode should be the last line on the report. It's also mentioned at the end of the Machine stanza (the second one, after System), which also indicates the firmware date (that's how I knew earlier yours is only five years old).

By the way, knock wood, you have run updates, right? That's where it fell down last time.

Posted: **Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:37 am**

Glad to report all is going well with the new hard drive and no problems with the updates. Actually, everything is working better than it did before. I learned a lot, including how to be smarter managing my computer system and file back ups. I appreciate the MX Linux community and the patience getting me through this process, and just the smoothness of MX Linux itself. I am able to get my work done again. Thanks!

Posted: **Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:37 am**

Congratulations, glad it worked out. Now would be a good time to mark the thread as Solved. I'd say Post #41 is where we decided the hard drive was the problem.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2023 12:46 am**

Two nit-picks:
1. The danger with putting all your trust in Timeshift comes up if/when (hoping never) you have a disk crash. You'll end up with a perfect but unreachable backup.
2. I find that easier than remembering "Raising Elephants..." is "BUSIER" (i.e. more busy) <-- *Backwards*. works for me, but choose your own acronym.

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