[SOLVED] Completed dist-upgrade to Jessie and now cannot open terminal

Higgsboson · 02-07-2016, 04:03 AM

I have done a dist-upgrade to a debian OS and everything seems to be fine. I originally lost sound but it returned once I opened pavucontrol and changed the 'Built-in audio' setting on the config tab.

But on the dist-upgrade of my second debian OS it kept saying 'probably missing firmware rtl8169'.
I think this is to do with my Realtek ethernet NIC which I don't really know anything about.
However, I'm at a loss why this wasn't an issue with my first debian OS which uses the same hardware.
My main problem however is that the terminal (both root and user) seems to open but then disappears. Without the terminal I can't install anything to sort out the problem.
Any ideas, please?

Emerson · 02-07-2016, 08:50 PM

Switch over to console.

Higgsboson · 02-07-2016, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Switch over to console.

Thank you. How do I switch over to console?

Edit: The shell on the debian OS is gnome.

rokytnji · 02-07-2016, 09:57 PM

Quote:

'probably missing firmware rtl8169'.

I get the same error with my kernel. So if no realtek wireless chip in your gear. Don't sweat it.

For switching to console

Quote:

How to access the Console

In Debian, there are already six default virtual Consoles ready to be used. They all can be accessed using the key combination Ctrl + Alt + FN#Console. For example, the Console #3 is accessed by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F3.

Note The Console #7 is usually allocated to the graphical environment (Xorg, etc.).

Another method is to use a graphic display terminal within your desktop environment.

Under GNOME: Applications> System Tools> Terminal

or the keyboard shortcut Alt + F2 for "Run Application" and type "gnome-terminal"

Under KDE K> System> Terminal (Konsole)

from

https://wiki.debian.org/Console

Edit: my bad. I missed your

Quote:

I think this is to do with my Realtek ethernet NIC which I don't really know anything about.

So just in case

https://packages.debian.org/jessie/k...rmware-realtek

Code:

harry@biker:~
$ apt search realtek
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
firmware-realtek/stable,now 0.43 all [installed]
  Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters

flashrom/stable,now 0.9.7+r1782-1 i386 [installed]
  Identify, read, write, erase, and verify BIOS/ROM/flash chips

librtlsdr-dev/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (development files)

librtlsdr0/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (library)

nictools-pci/stable 1.3.8-2 i386
  Diagnostic tools for many PCI Ethernet cards

rtl-sdr/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (tools)

Code:

harry@biker:~
$ cat /etc/debian_version
8.3

Higgsboson · 02-07-2016, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

So just in case

https://packages.debian.org/jessie/k...rmware-realtek

Code:

harry@biker:~
$ apt search realtek
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
firmware-realtek/stable,now 0.43 all [installed]
  Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters

flashrom/stable,now 0.9.7+r1782-1 i386 [installed]
  Identify, read, write, erase, and verify BIOS/ROM/flash chips

librtlsdr-dev/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (development files)

librtlsdr0/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (library)

nictools-pci/stable 1.3.8-2 i386
  Diagnostic tools for many PCI Ethernet cards

rtl-sdr/stable 0.5.3-3 i386
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (tools)

I currently cannot use a terminal to download realtek firmware from the debian repos.
This is because the terminal won't open.

However, if the issue is that realtek firmware hasn't been loaded during the dist-upgrade, then perhaps I can use the synaptic gui to install the realtek firmware?

rokytnji · 02-07-2016, 10:45 PM

Quote:

However, if the issue is that realtek firmware hasn't been loaded during the dist-upgrade, then perhaps I can use the synaptic gui to install the realtek firmware?

Might not hurt to try. It may be already installed though like I showed in mine. That error has the word "may" in it.

rokytnji · 02-07-2016, 10:48 PM

Also. While in synaptic. Look for roxterm and install it as a backup terminal till you figure out what broke in your gnome terminal launcher.

rokytnji · 02-07-2016, 10:53 PM

Screenshot of my roxterm
http://en.zimagez.com/zimage/screens...86a4943fd7.php

Higgsboson · 02-08-2016, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Also. While in synaptic. Look for roxterm and install it as a backup terminal till you figure out what broke in your gnome terminal launcher.

Wow. I now have the roxterm terminal.
What cmd can I input to find out why my gnome install is broken? Or what the hell is going on?

Edit: This is the output for a search on realtek:

Code:

apt search realtek
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
firmware-realtek/stable,now 0.43 all [installed]
  Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters

flashrom/stable,now 0.9.7+r1782-1 amd64 [installed]
  Identify, read, write, erase, and verify BIOS/ROM/flash chips

librtlsdr-dev/stable,now 0.5.3-3 amd64 [installed]
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (development files)

librtlsdr0/stable,now 0.5.3-3 amd64 [installed]
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (library)

nictools-pci/stable,now 1.3.8-2 amd64 [installed]
  Diagnostic tools for many PCI Ethernet cards

rtl-sdr/stable,now 0.5.3-3 amd64 [installed]
  Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (tools)

Code:

cat /etc/debian_version
8.3

rokytnji · 02-08-2016, 06:56 AM

Realtek .043 firmware shows installed.

For broken terminal. Launch the gnome terminal in roxterm to get error messages.

Higgsboson · 02-08-2016, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Realtek .043 firmware shows installed.

For broken terminal. Launch the gnome terminal in roxterm to get error messages.

This is the error message I get:

Code:

$ gnome-terminal
Error constructing proxy for org.gnome.
Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.
Terminal: GDBus.
Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.
ChildExited: Process org.gnome.Terminal exited with status 8

I have no idea what it means.

tredegar · 02-08-2016, 11:50 AM

Quote:

I have no idea what it means.

Neither have I, so I searched on Process org.gnome.Terminal exited with status 8
... and found lots of information and suggestions.

Including this, from https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Terminal/FAQ :

Quote:

Exit status 8

Starting Terminal fails with this error message:

Error constructing proxy for org.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.Terminal: GDBus.Error

rg.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.gnome.Terminal exited with status 8

Reason: The environment that gnome-terminal-server is started with does not correctly set the locale to a UTF-8 locale. Consult your distribution's documentation on how to fix this. Note that is it not relevant to check the locale settings from a different terminal (e.g. xterm); what counts is the environment that the session dbus-demon passes to the processes it starts.

Other suggestions in those search results include

Code:

sudo  locale-gen --purge
sudo  dpkg-reconfigure locales
sudo  reboot

I do not understand how you got into this mess. The side-panel says you are in the UK, but your posting times suggest you do not sleep when it is dark outside. So, where are you, and are you trying to set up your computer to be "in" several places at different times?

While you are here, please go back to your previous thread here and mark it as "Solved", as people are still trying to help you there.

Higgsboson · 02-08-2016, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tredegar

Other suggestions in those search results include

Code:

sudo  locale-gen --purge
sudo  dpkg-reconfigure locales
sudo  reboot

I could not find those cmds in the link.
Should I try them?
Also, with 'sudo reboot', is it better if I simply reboot the computer myself?

Quote:

I do not understand how you got into this mess. The side-panel says you are in the UK, but your posting times suggest you do not sleep when it is dark outside.

I work nights.

Quote:

While you are here, please go back to your previous thread here and mark it as "Solved", as people are still trying to help you there.

The thread is justified because I want to install Jessie as a fresh install rather than through dist-upgrade. However it has been solved from people's answers so I'll close the thread.

ondoho · 02-08-2016, 01:55 PM

higgsboson,
not to discourage you, but some people (incl. myself) have already warned you that a dist-upgrade on a probably already borked system has a lot of potential for breakage.

i'll say it plainly:
the recent flood of new threads by you makes it clear: you're in over your head.
when you solve this problem, the next is already waiting...
better salvage your data, re-install (make a seperate data partition, so you don't have the data-salvaging problem anymore in the future. of course backups are even better).

Higgsboson · 02-08-2016, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

higgsboson,
not to discourage you, but some people (incl. myself) have already warned you that a dist-upgrade on a probably already borked system has a lot of potential for breakage.

i'll say it plainly:
the recent flood of new threads by you makes it clear: you're in over your head.
when you solve this problem, the next is already waiting...
better salvage your data, re-install (make a seperate data partition, so you don't have the data-salvaging problem anymore in the future. of course backups are even better).

I'm going to make a fresh install of jessie soon.
However, if there are problems with the dist-upgrade perhaps that's more to do with debian than me.
I haven't had to open a thread for over a year! However, with the upgrade to jessie, it's no surprise that problems are coming in. In fact, I'm surprised why more people haven't chimed in with their dist-upgrade problems! They may even be taking notes from my threads.
Even so, once I have jessie on usb, this dist-upgrade issue will be ended.