Debian Lenny: no GUI after install

navy80 · 04-08-2009, 07:17 PM

Hello there,

I´m a refugee from Ubuntu and would appreciate your help.

I want to install Debian with xfce. I´ve installed Lenny using netinstall CD. After the first boot, I can´t see any graphical interface, only a few lines apper and then I see:

(mycomputername) login:

I thought after the install I would see some GUI...

Anyway, I logged in as root and typed apt-get update, however I get a message "temporary failure", "failed to catch ..."

The content of my sources.list is:
deb http://http.br.debian.org/debian lenny/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib

Any help greately apprecited and I would love to get Debian working - I don´t want to come back to using Ubuntu.

pljvaldez · 04-08-2009, 07:31 PM

Here's a guide to getting a "perfect" XFCE install for Etch. Just start at step 7 and ignore the fact that this is for Etch instead of Lenny. Should be about the same...

As to your other problem, can you tell if you have an internet connection? Try something like ping www.google.com. If not, you might need to do an ifup eth0 type command to bring up the network interface.

Or if you just want to reinstall, you might just download the special XFCE/LXDE install CD from here.

Robhogg · 04-08-2009, 07:33 PM

The message from apt-get update may be network related - have you got a network connection?

As for the GUI, what happens if you run sudo startx?

When I installed Debian on my Eee, I found myself at the command line at first. When I ran startx, I did get a GUI but with a very basic window manager. I had to install Gnome using apt-get.

It's a bit of time since I did it, but (AFAI can remember) I had to install the following packages before I had a usable desktop:

gdm
gnome-panel
gnome-menus

navy80 · 04-08-2009, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez

Here's a guide to getting a "perfect" XFCE install for Etch. Just start at step 7 and ignore the fact that this is for Etch instead of Lenny. Should be about the same...

As to your other problem, can you tell if you have an internet connection? Try something like ping www.google.com. If not, you might need to do an ifup eth0 type command to bring up the network interface.

Or if you just want to reinstall, you might just download the special XFCE/LXDE install CD from here.

Yes, I actually followed this guide and got stuck when apt-get update didn´t work.

I tried to type ping www.google.com and the screen started to be flooded with "64 bytes from www.google.com.br (64.233.163.103): icmp_seq=(rising number) ttl=(raising number) time=(raising number)

When I typed ifup eth0 it said "ifup: interface eth0 already configured"

navy80 · 04-08-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robhogg

The message from apt-get update may be network related - have you got a network connection?

As for the GUI, what happens if you run sudo startx?

When I installed Debian on my Eee, I found myself at the command line at first. When I ran startx, I did get a GUI but with a very basic window manager. I had to install Gnome using apt-get.

It's a bit of time since I did it, but (AFAI can remember) I had to install the following packages before I had a usable desktop:

gdm
gnome-panel
gnome-menus

It looks the problem is really in the network connection. How can I tell whether the network connection is up?

When I type "sudo startx" it says "command not found"

jay73 · 04-08-2009, 08:37 PM

debian does not use sudo by default, you'll need to su to root - unless you run visudo and set up sudo yourself.

farslayer · 04-09-2009, 07:15 AM

su - to root then try the following commands to check your internet connection settings.

su - <enter>
password:

ifconfig -a
cat /etc/resolve.conf
route -n

Post the output here if you are not sure what you are looking at.

navy80 · 04-09-2009, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farslayer

su - to root then try the following commands to check your internet connection settings.

su - <enter>
password:

ifconfig -a
cat /etc/resolve.conf
route -n

Post the output here if you are not sure what you are looking at.

I´ve done what you said and posted the output onto my blog as a photo (I cant copy and paste into Windows that I´m asshamedly using at the moment):

m_yates · 04-09-2009, 08:58 AM

The output you saw from ping-ing google.com indicates you have a working internet connection. Also, "ifconfig -a" shows that your eth0 interface has been assigned an IP address as it should.

I would suggest running apt-get update again to see if it truly is a temporary error as your error message indicated. You will need to do that as root. As others said, use "su":

Code:

su
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

If "apt-get update fails, try editing /etc/apt/sources.lst to change the sources. It looks like you are using repositories in Brazil. You might try using another source in Brazil, or try those in another country. You will also need to be root to edit the sources:

Code:

su
nano /etc/apt/sources.lst

Good luck!

navy80 · 04-09-2009, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m_yates

The output you saw from ping-ing google.com indicates you have a working internet connection. Also, "ifconfig -a" shows that your eth0 interface has been assigned an IP address as it should.

I would suggest running apt-get update again to see if it truly is a temporary error as your error message indicated. You will need to do that as root. As others said, use "su":

Code:

su
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

If "apt-get update fails, try editing /etc/apt/sources.lst to change the sources. It looks like you are using repositories in Brazil. You might try using another source in Brazil, or try those in another country. You will also need to be root to edit the sources:

Code:

su
nano /etc/apt/sources.lst

Good luck!

I´ve done what you suggested and still I get no joy.

I tried to change the repositories to *.us.* and also tried to change http for ftp. Still the same message "unable to fetch"...

Can I just check one thing: as I´m coming from Ubuntu this is not quite clear.
When I see the login prompt, I´m to type "root" and then the password, right? And then, I´m to type "su" and hit the enter key, is that right?

m_yates · 04-09-2009, 09:38 AM

You can log in directly as root. In that case, you won't need "su". If you enter the command "su" as root, it doesn't do anything. If you login as a regular user, the command "su" will prompt you for a password to become root.

Try using this as sources.lst:

Code:

#Debian Lenny
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

navy80 · 04-09-2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m_yates

You can log in directly as root. In that case, you won't need "su". If you enter the command "su" as root, it doesn't do anything. If you login as a regular user, the command "su" will prompt you for a password to become root.

Try using this as sources.lst:

Code:

#Debian Lenny
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

Thank you! Done that and it looks things have moved forward.

Now, when i do apt-get update, it does download some information, but still is not able to download some packages -see the screenshot

When I try to apt-get install some packages it says "couldn´t find the package".

farslayer · 04-09-2009, 10:10 AM

I wonder if this could be an ip6 issue.. Couldn't hurt to try disabling ip6 support on your Debian box..

http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/409

m_yates · 04-09-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by navy80

Thank you! Done that and it looks things have moved forward.

Now, when i do apt-get update, it does download some information, but still is not able to download some packages -see the screenshot

When I try to apt-get install some packages it says "couldn´t find the package".

Hmmm...Not sure why it is connecting to http://security.debian.org but not http://ftp.us.debian.org. I'm stumped. Just for the heck of it, try changing /etc/apt/sources.lst to:

Code:

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

navy80 · 04-09-2009, 10:53 AM

Dear all,

thank you very much for your replies. I´m leaving for a short holiday now...There´s nothing more stressful than going on holiday in the middle of installation of Debian

Anyway, I´ll be back on Sunday and get on with the effort to make it work.

Thanks again for your great assistance.