[SOLVED] Fresh debian install, boots to blank screen with blinking cursor...that's it

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snarl

Going into the BIOS and toggling the boot sequence between my two drives solved my issue. Now I'm working on 1920x1080

Between optical and hdd? Tried that, no luck. Blank screen still. I have one hdd

EDDY1 · 07-10-2014, 10:22 PM

What is make & model of computer?

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDDY1

What is make & model of computer?

Toshiba satellite model C75D-A7310

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 11:14 PM

I'm dual dipping into a windows forum to see how windows 8 partitions should be set up. What I'm thinking is while running the debian install partition manager, I may have obfuscated a critical windows partition.

yancek offered this little gem: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/ which I ran to come up with:

Code:

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/bcd

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Mounting failed:   mount: /dev/sda5 already mounted or sda5 busy

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda7: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1                   1 1,465,149,167 1,465,149,167  ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition    Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1           2,048     2,099,199     2,097,152 Windows Recovery Environment (Windows)
/dev/sda2     763,449,344   764,448,767       999,424 EFI System partition
/dev/sda3       2,304,000     2,566,143       262,144 Microsoft Reserved Partition (Windows)
/dev/sda4       2,566,144   763,449,343   760,883,200 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda5     764,448,768 1,432,551,423   668,102,656 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda6   1,432,551,424 1,448,179,711    15,628,288 Swap partition (Linux)
/dev/sda7   1,448,179,712 1,465,147,391    16,967,680 Windows Recovery Environment (Windows)

Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32015679488 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62530624 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1                  32    62,530,623    62,530,592   c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/sda1        0020C65520C65178                       ntfs       System
/dev/sda2        25BA-5E1F                              vfat       
/dev/sda3        A8D6C931D6C90094                       ntfs       
/dev/sda4        F20CCB7E0CCB3C7B                       ntfs       TI10675800F
/dev/sda5        335bf987-7fd6-43ef-8464-5410086cc7e8   ext4       
/dev/sda6        f6154198-9105-4a0f-b49f-be2f5d57648f   swap       
/dev/sda7        B20844190843DACD                       ntfs       Recovery
/dev/sdb1        C801-14E2                              vfat       

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/disk/by-uuid/335bf987-7fd6-43ef-8464-5410086cc7e8 /                        ext4       (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sda2        /boot/efi                vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sdb1        /media/usb               vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

Still not seeing a problem, my windows partition appear to have the proper boot locations.

Beginning to go nuts...slowly fading into psychosis...

EDDY1 · 07-10-2014, 11:19 PM

Did you disable Secure Boot & EFI in bios to start installation?

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDDY1

Did you disable Secure Boot & EFI in bios to start installation?

I disabled secure boot, not EFI.

My boot options are:

Boot Mode [UEFI Boot]

or:

Boot Mode [CSM Boot] which opens up another option listed above Boot Mode:

SATA Controller Mode [AHCI]

which can be toggled to:

SATA Controller Mode [Compatibility]

EDDY1 · 07-10-2014, 11:44 PM

I only saw 1 EFI partition if you install Debian you should have a seperate EFI boot partition if I recall right. I think I read it in REFIT. But at present time I believe that Debian already has UEFI atleast EFI o.n the installation disk, but haven't dealt with Secure Boot.

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 11:48 PM

So I should have two EFI boot partitions? One for debian and one for windows?

What is this then?

Code:

sda4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe

Isn't this my bootable windows partition?

EDDY1 · 07-10-2014, 11:51 PM

Also as far as AHCI if system was setup originally with it do not change it, although you can change windows to recognize or not those changes.

jacnj · 07-10-2014, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDDY1

Also as far as AHCI if system was setup originally with it do not change it, although you can change windows to recognize or not those changes.

Ok. Here's what I'm going to do:

1) I'm going to reinstall debian, connected to a network this time, and try to get a working desktop.

2) During install I'm going to make sure the partitions listed above are set to bootable or active.

3) If that fails and grub doesn't find windows I'm going to abandon windows for the time being and get debian up and running, fully (GUI enabled)

4) Make a windows recovery disk from a friends machine.

5) Fix windows.

Getting debian working is my top priority as I want to be rid of windows eventually anyway. I have all my data backed up on a portable hdd. Should have made a recovery disk while I was thinking of it.

EDDY1 · 07-11-2014, 12:53 AM

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=81120
http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/refit.html

jacnj · 07-11-2014, 02:28 AM

OK, I'm going to do some more research. I didn't know about the Debian UEFI compatibility issues.

I'm confused though, I got GRUB to list both windows and Debian, without installing Debian in BIOS legacy mode. How would that be possible?

Also, could installing Debian in UEFI be causing the missing desktop environment?

EDDY1 · 07-11-2014, 02:54 AM

Check bios to see if secure boot is enabled' if not enable it & you should be able to boot to windows.
Then you can play around with settings.
For instance once Secure Boot is re-enabled try booting from cd/dvd or usb.

Snarl · 07-11-2014, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacnj

Between optical and hdd? Tried that, no luck. Blank screen still. I have one hdd

My system has two HD's so I toggled between them.

jacnj · 07-11-2014, 10:05 PM

Thanks for the info EDDY1, I learned a lot and have chosen to try my hand at Debian Jessie (testing) as it supposedly has UEFI support. I'm also going to connect to a network and use the netinst image to avoid any unnecessary sources.list changes.

Also, I was able to recover my windows partition thanks largely to the script yancek introduced me to. Apparently I had inadvertently formatted my windows boot partition to FAT32, which hasn't been used since windows ME.

I'm doing the Jessie install tonight, hopefully all will go well.

Thanks everyone.