[nmglug] An Installation Adventure

[Arlo Barnes]

So many of you know that my current computer (a Thinkpad x30, which I am
using to send this email) was generously given by Jason, and set up with
Debian/XFCE by the GLUG. It is close to being a comfortable setup, just a
couple kinks to work out (which I might comment on later in this email).

My mother also had a computer, a Dell Inspiron 1370 (I do not have it in
front of me, so it may be a different number, but it was something like
that) which she bought for $150 from a friend whose business loans
computers and gives assistance. I *guess* that is a good price; on one
hand, it is fairly old (I am guessing ten years, although I am not sure
when the Pentium 4 came out / was retired, or the same for the Inspiron
model itself), slow (with even a stripping-down of Windows, it was running
about even or slower with the x30 netbook), and physically large & clunky,
but on the other hand it probably was an above-average computer when it
came out, having two CPUs. My mother bought it because increasingly, people
in her line of work (electrical contracting) want to communicate online,
send documents, receive bids, and so on.

The point is, it came with Windows XP. My mother was taking a class at the
community college (Introduction to Business Computing, which was basically
an overview of Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office - Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Access) that required Windows to be installed so that Microsoft
Office could run, but with my encouragement and the looming (now past)
end-of-support for XP, she agreed to let me install Linux on it after the
class finished.

Well, invigorated by the newly-mostly-working laptop I had, I set to work
straightaway, using the installation disc left over from when Jason and I
installed Debian on the x30 and an Ethernet cable at the Southside library*
to get additional packages.

Then I started it up, and it went through the usual things (which I detail
in an attached file) except that, when it got to what would be the login
prompt, only a black (but backlit) screen appeared.

Wondering whether I can fix this or whether I should install something
else. Anyway, I have to go so I will have to provide some more details in a
second email later, but if anyone wants to contact me, my number is
(obfuscated for [lazy] automated spam because we have a public archive)
five-oh-five nine-eight-two two-four-seven-two - I am still working on the
Internet connectivity situation at my house.

Cheers,
-Arlo

*which is very nice for sitting and working, as they have booths with power
and RJ45 (and phone) plugs. Except they seem to be having some trouble with
their networking setup also, because their guest WiFi network, although
there, was not accepting connections, and at one point a librarian came
around and asked everyone to unplug their cables (thankfully at a stage
when the Debian installer did not need connectivity) because they were
having an 'IP [address assignment, presumably] collision'.
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1. Press power button.
2. After short delay w/ black screen, BIOS loads:

D<//>LL
www.dell.com
F2 = Setup
F12 = Boot Menu

Inspiron 5160 Series
[|||||||||||||       ]
BIOS Revision r006

intel inside (R)
Pentium 4 (TM)

3. GrUB loads:

GRUB loading...
Welcome to GRUB!

4. Selection:

GNU GRUB version 1.99-27+deb7u2
[Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.2.0-4-686-pae]
Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.2.0-4-686-pae (recovery mode)
Use the + and - keys to select which entry is highlighted.
Press enter to boot the selected OB, 'e' to edit the commands
before booting or 'c' for a command line.
The highlighted entry will be executed automatically @logo 48. <?>

5. Booting <takes ~47s>:

Loading Linux 3.2.0-4-686-pae ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
<blinkencursor _ >
Loading, please wait...
<blinkencursor _ >
INIT: version 2.88 booting
[info] Using makefile-style concurrent boot in runlevel 3.
[ ok*] Starting the hotplug events dispatcher; udcvd <?>                                     *As with almost all the OKs, originally .... 
[ ok ] Synthesizing the initial hotplug events...done.
[ ok ] Waiting for /dev to be fully populated..._<then done.>
[ ok ] Setting preliminary keymap...done.
[ ok ] Setting parameters of disc: (none).
[ ok ] Setting up LVM Volume Groups...done.
[....] Checking root file system...fsck from util-linux 2.28.1
/dev/mapper/mardeb-root: clean, 1577228/1750008 files, 1063406/7000064 blocks
done.
[info] Loading kernel module loop.
[ ok ] Cleaning up temporary files... /tmp
[ ok ] Activating lvm and md swap...done.
[....] Checking file systems...fsck from util-linux 2.28.1
/dev/sda1 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
/dev/sda1: |=                                                               | 2.3x <to> - 67.7x
<to> /dev/sda1: 248/124496 files (1.3% non-contiguous), 32798/240032 blocks
fsck died with exit status 1
done.
[ ok ] Mounting local filesystems...done.
[ ok ] Activating swapfile swap...done.
[ ok ] Cleaning up temporary files...
[ ok ] Setting kernel variables ...done.
[ ok ] Configuring network interfaces...done.
[ ok ] Starting rpcbind daemon...
[ ok ] Starting NFS common utilities: statd idmapd.
[ ok ] Cleaning up temporary files...
[ ok ] Setting up ALSA...done.
[info] Setting console screen modes.
[info] Skipping font and keymap setup (handled by console setup).
[ ok ] Setting up font and keymap...done.
[    ] Setting up X socket directories... /tmp/.X11-unix /tmp/.ICE-unix
INIT: Entering runlevel: 2
[info] Using makefile-style concurrent boot in runlevel 2.
[ ok ] Starting rpcbind daemon...[....] Already running..
[ ok ] Starting NFS common utilities: statd idmapd.
[ ok ] Starting enhanced syslogd: rsyslogd.
[ ok ] Enabling additional executable binary formats: binfat-support.
[ ok ] Starting acpi_fakekey daemon...done.
[ ok ] Starting ACPI services....
[    ] Starting system message bus: dbus[....] Starting deferred execution sched
[ ok  atd.
[ ok ] Starting anac(h)ronistic cron: anacron deferred while on battery power.
. ok
[ ok ] Starting domain name service: lwresd.
[ ok ] Starting domain name service...: bind9.
[ ok ] Enabling power management...done.
[ ok ] Starting network connection manager: NetworkManager
[ ok ] Starting web server: apache2[   33.698373] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: agent ab
orted loading b43/ucode5.fw (not found?)
[   33.707143] b43  ssb0:0: firmware: agent aborted loading b43-open/ucode5.fw (n
ot found?)
[   33.707627] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/user
s/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware for this driver v
ersion. Please carefully read all instructions on this website.
. ok
[ ok ] Starting GNOME Display Manager: gdm3.
[ ok ] Starting Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Daemon: avahi-daemon.
[ ok ] Starting bluetooth: bluetoothd rfcomm.
[warn] Not starting NFS kernel daemon: no exports. ... (warning)
[ ok ] Starting periodic command scheduler: cron.
[    ] Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd.[....] Starting internet super
[ ok r: inetd.

Step 5: At least 35s of lit blackness before holding power button & killing - brief push does not work.