My problem is that I am not able to boot my Compact Series computer beyond the GNU GRUB version 2.02~beta3-5+deb9v2 screen. The only command line available is the grub command line. During the boot up process, I was unsuccessful in using the grub command line on any of the four process screens presented.

I would appreciate help from the LinuxQuestions.org community in solving this problem. Thank you very much.

Please refer to the following background presented below:

My original Compaq 6000 Series computer had a Windows XP Home Edition operating system. It had an AMD Athalon XP Processor Model 2100 (1.73 GHz). Eventually, I added a second hard drive #2 and additional ram.The Windows XP OS continued to perform very well until the main hard drive #1 became corrupted by a ransomware attack. As a result, I successfully replaced the corrupted hard drive #1 with the second hard drive #2. About three years ago Windows XP became obsolete. During August 2018, I decided to install Debian Linux on the Compaq computer. I had difficulties with the installation and was never able to achieve success. I was inspired to try again, however, in June 2020.

Prior to installing Debian Linux software again, I replaced the existing hard drive with a clean new Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
ULTRA ATA 160 Gbyte unit. I took all the necessary precautions to ground myself in respect to static electricity, during the hands on activities with the computer.

On 06/16/2020. I installed Linux Debian 9 9.5 Stretch i386 on my Compaq 6000 Series computer. The original Windows operating system was intentionally removed. I loaded only DVD #1 of a 14 disk set and then continued the installation of all the appropriate supplemental software via an internet software mirror. The installation appeared to process smoothly without any issues. When the installation was finally complete, DVD #1 automatically ejected.

During the boot process, the GNU GRUB version 2.02~beta3-5+deb9v2 screen presented the following two choices:
1. Debian GNU/Linux
2. Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux

I allowed the boot process to continue with choice no. 1, Debian GNU/Linux. The process scrolled through many lines of information and stopped. The following output presents the last portion of the scrolled information on the monitor screen:

[ 0.012529] Spectre V2: Spectre mitigation: LFENCE not serializing, switching to generic retpoline
[ 0.176873] pci 0000:02:07.0: BAR 0: error updating (0xf8200000 ! = 0xd8200000)
[ 0.176939] pci 0000:02:01.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8210000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.176994] pci 0000:02:02.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8214000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177049] pci 0000:02:03.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8218000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177103] pci 0000:02:04.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf821c000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177157] pci 0000:02:05.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8220000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177210] pci 0000:02:06.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8224000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177265] pci 0000:02:08.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8228000 ! = 0xf8200000)
[ 0.177319] pci 0000:02:09.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf822c000 ! = 0cffffffff)
[ 0.177372] pci 0000:02:0a.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8230000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177426] pci 0000:02:0b.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8234000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177480] pci 0000:02:0c.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8238000 ! = 0xffffffff)

Next, I selected choice no. 2, Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux. The following output produced two choices:
3. Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-7-686-pae
4. Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-7-686-pae (recovery mode)

I selected choice no.3, Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-7-686-pae. The process scrolled, again through many lines of information and stopped. The following output presents the last portion of scrolled information on the monitor screen:

[ 0.012914] Spectre V2 : Spectre mitigation: LFENCE not serializing, switching to generic retpoline
[ 0.176958] pci 0000:02:07.0: BAR 0: error updating (0xf8200000 ! = 0xd8200000)
[ 0.177023] pci 0000:02:01.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8210000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177078] pci 0000:02:02.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8214000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177132] pci 0000:02:03.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8218000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177186] pci 0000:02:04.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf821c000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177240] pci 0000:02:05.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8220000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177294] pci 0000:02:06.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8224000 ! = 0xf8200000)
[ 0.177355] pci 0000:02:09.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf822c000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177409] pci 0000:02:0a.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8230000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177463] pci 0000:02:0b.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8234000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177517] pci 0000:02:0c.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf8238000 ! = 0xffffffff)
[ 0.177570] pci 0000:02:0d.0: BAR 1: error updating (0xf823c000 ! = 0xffffffff)

Finally, I selected choice no. 4, Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-7-686-pae (recovery mode). The process scrolled through considerable lines of information before it stopped. The following scree presents the output of the last portion of the information:

[ 2.693955] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] scsi3-mmc drive 48x/48x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[ 2.694053] cdrm: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
[ 2.709053] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c077
[ 2.709119] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2 Serial Number=0
[ 2.709172] usb 1-4: Product: USB Optical Mouse
[ 2.709220] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: Logitech
[ 2.718095] hidraw: raw HID events driver copy write Jiri Kosina
[ 2.722702] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr1] scsi13-mmc drive 24x/24x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[ 2.726308 sada: sda1 sda2 <sda5>
[ 2.729516] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI
[ 2.734470] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 2.731719] input: Logitech USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1/1-4/1-:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0001/input/input3
[ 2.742571] hid-generic 0003:046D:C077.0001: input, hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:02.0-4/input0
[ 2.976369] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
Begin: Loading essential drivers...done.
Begin Running/scripts/init-premount...done.
Begin: Mounting root file system... Begin: /scripts/local-top ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-premount ... [ 3.217072] PM: Starting manual resume from disk

As I requested earlier, I need your help in resolving the problems that prevent me from a successful installationof a working Debian Linux operating system on my Compaq computer.

Thank you very much,
Bob (marklin777)

After seeing all those messages scroll after having booted via any of the Grub selections, can you key in Ctrl-Alt-F3 to find a login prompt? If yes, Please login to collect some additional information we need to see to troubleshoot. This will get the process started:Please provide the resulting output here wrapped in code tags ( # above input window) as instructed here. If the inxi command produces a not found error, please try installing it:If that fails, provide output from the following:

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mrmazda,

Thank you for responding to my thread. I tried Ctrl+Alt+F3 with different grub>_ screen scenarios to access a login prompt without success. In addition, I used different key combinations to no avail.

The four recommended commands were tried at the grub prompt without positive results.

Since the only command line available is the grub command line, there seems to be a limit to the number and types of commands that are available. I will continue to research and experiment with grub>_.


Thank you,

Bob
marklin777

This seems to be a situation where it is necessary to boot the Debian installation media and choose to boot in rescue mode so that troubleshooting steps can be performed and needed repairs made or incomplete installation completed.

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There are several guides to troubleshooting grub issues. The grub> prompt means it could not find the grub.cfg file. Try this

https://www.linux.com/training-tutor...-grub-2-linux/

I would try the last version i.e. 9.12 or even 10. I even might try a different distribution like bodhi.

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Have you considered looking into what 'spectre mitigation' might mean?

Never mind. Aint awake yet.

My
I don't think the message about Spectre mitigation is a real problem. It looks to me like a warning, not an error. The kernel is falling back on a generic solution because LFENCE doesn't work on your system. The PCI messages are definitely errors, especially if the boot stops there.

In your original post, you don't mention getting a GRUB prompt. GRUB seems to have functioned normally in giving you a menu of Debian boot options. What changed between then and now? In any case, the instructions mrmazda gave you are Linux commands, so they won't work in GRUB.

Your no.4 choice looks to me like a complete boot. Does it give you access to a console (alt-Fn)? If so, you can try mrmazda's instructions from there.

1 members found this post helpful.

This being an older machine at the grub menu press e for edit
add "nomodeset noacpi noresume" to the end of the line that begins with linux without the quotes

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colorpurple21859,

Thank you very much for responding to my Thread.

I followed your instructions for editing the grub menu to incorporate the suggested text at the end of the line that begins with linux.
I rebooted from my choice no. 4, Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-7-686-pae (recovery mode). The screen scrolled through considerable lines of information and stopped at "you are in rescue mode". This is a significant improvement over the amount of scrolling lines achieved in the past. The screen instructed me to key Ctrl-D. The screen then scrolled slightly and went blank.

One thing I noticed is that the edited grub menu does not remain permanent and reverts back to the original. I will correct that issue and continue researching grub>_ and the installation problem.


Thank you,

Bob
marklin777

Appending at the Grub menu is for single instance usage, mainly testing/troubleshooting. Permanent changes go in /etc/default/grub after testing to determine and change required/desired. Nomodeset in most circumstances is a troubleshooting parameter that is highly undesirable for most uses. The primary exception is historically use of tainting NVidia graphics drivers.

1 members found this post helpful.

32bit operating system versions have been slowly being phased out of support by various Linux distros. It may be that exists a bug not found by the scarce testing that 32bit versions receive, and a kernel change might solve. If your Compaq has 3GB or less of RAM it could be worth upgrading to linux-image-4.9.0-12-686 instead of linux-image-4.9.0-12-686-pae. Even if it has 4GB it might be worth testing this optional kernel.

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Did you try booting the first menu entry with those items added to the linux line?

hazel,

Thank you very much for responding to my Thread.

In response to your comment about a grub prompt, I do have the prompt. My problem is determining the correct commands and scripting to move me along. There is in excess of 86 commands, when keying TAB and help.

This past May I successfully installed the same Linux Debian 9 9.5 Stretch i386 distribution (the same DVD #1 of a 14 disk set and then continued the installation of all the appropriate supplemental software via an internet software mirror) on my Dell Inspiron 15 laptop. By comparison with my present on-going Compaq/Linux installation troubleshooting, the Dell laptop install went very smoothly. The scrolling lines of information generated on the Dell laptop far exceeded the Compaq output.

This is a very interesting project and I look forward to the challenge.

Thank you,

Bob
marklin777

Is the dell a newer system?

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