upgrading Jessie *SOLVED*

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noo_b_nomnoms
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upgrading Jessie *SOLVED*

Unread post by noo_b_nomnoms » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:48 am

This is not something specific to Space Oddity. This has happened with every stable install of Greatest Hits, Break, and actually on a Q4OS install when I have 'apt upgrade'd Jessie. I think it must have something to do with a BIOS setting on this computer, because the linux stable world would be in an uproar, lols.
Ok! So I upgrade and keep on working. Everything is looking good, then I turn the box off and go to sleep.
The next break I fire it up and either login and startx or I get to my login screen (lightdm, slim, and even gdm3) and at that point I am faced with a screen full of nothing. Well, usually that Debian blue screen without the logo. I mess around with it for a while until I get either bored with it or my head feels like exploding, then I give it up and lose all the data I burned for all those programs, etc, and burn even more data building a fresh install.
Today I decided to 'sudo apt update'- just to see what might really need to be updated and try to update just what I needed to (I have never done this because, tbh, I don't know how, lols), only to find that I couldn't update because I was missing a program called 'apt-transport-https' (something like that), So I installed it and then I ran 'update'.
There are about 50 packages out there that need to be updated, but I was sure one of those packages was the fiend involved in my system fails.
I tried a few different ways to just upgrade what I thought I needed, but it insisted that I upgrade them all, so I gave up.
I played around a bit, powered off, and went to work.
I got to my next break stop, and powered back on, selected Space Oddity, and everything looked good until I was faced once more with a blank login screen.
Having had enough of this bullshit, and not wanting to give up this system because I really love what I got going on there I rebooted and selected the recovery (rescue) option, got the command line, and started thinking. I knew the only thing that I had added between boots was the 'apt-transport-https' (or whatever), so I 'dpkg-reconfigure apt' and- just to be on the safe side because the blankness started with the login- 'dpkg-reconfigure gdm3' and crossed my fingers, ten Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers, and rebooted.
Success.
I am still scared to upgrade because the thought of remembering and dpkg-reconfiguring 49 packages just to fix a blank screen seems a bit crazy.
So I am hoping one of you guys with a Thinkpad might know of a setting in my BIOS that might set things right. I also have that problem of disappearing installs with a fresh install. Just coincidence?
I really hate to bother you guys with this stuff. :( That's why I've just been reinstalling and not upgrading. I wish I could remember what upgraded with that apt-transport-https thingy, but I have the short-term memory of a long-term pot smoker, lols. I think it might have been a 'libc(or 6)-bin.
If you can help, thanks! If you just want to spank me, I guess I could go for a little of the old s&m tonight, lols.
Just don't tell me I'm crazy. I couldn't have hallucinated through a month or so and a few dozen installs, lols! Or could I......

*Edit* Also: Admins feel free to dump this if it is in the wrong place or just plain
stupid sounding, lols. Just shoot me a pm telling me what you think it
might be, or just tell me to stfu and gtfo, lols. This isn't specific
to bbq- that has been proven- so really not your problem and I already
feel more than a little silly posting this. My feelings won't be hurt!
:)
Last edited by noo_b_nomnoms on Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sir! Put down the hammer and slowly step away from the computer.

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wuxmedia
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Re: upgrading Jessie

Unread post by wuxmedia » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:06 am

^ read your sig :)

Sounds like the X breakage, you shouldn't have that on jessie though.
I'd recommend point by points, conversational style trouble shooting is hard lols :P
like:
output of fdisk -l
* installed <spin> /dev/sda2
* did this
* then that.
got a blank screen
* did this
* seemed to work

I'd go log diving, read /var/log/dmesg and syslog and kern.log Xorg.log with the time you borked it, and see if anything comes up in there.

I managed to break my (sid) install with unmet dependencies, no idea how, don't really care about fixing it, so I'm probably not the best person to go through this. :D
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machinebacon
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Re: upgrading Jessie

Unread post by machinebacon » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:24 am

apt-http-transport is not to be blamed. OOTB all BBQ releases come without display manager (we know why), and if you "see the Debian blue background" it means it falls back to the default wallpaper of a login manager. That's none of our business.

On a "startx" system, if X is fucked up, you should either have a cursor and nothing more or just a blank screen and no response to any key press, not even REISUB.

Do never fuck with libc6. This is known to FU perfectly working installations BAR.

Do me one favor:
Install any Jessie-based BBQ release on a spare partition.
Follow the installation instructions depending on the spin. Some want you to run bbqsetup as root, others don't.
Run "upg" after setting up the network.
Go through the whole upgrade.
Run "sudo update-grub2".
Reboot your box.
Let it boot into the default session.
Log in with your user and enter "startx"

This should be working even after upgrade. Everything you add from this moment on will leave the BBQ path: gdm, lightdm, slim, systemd, etc etc. If you install one of these packages and activate them (for example systemd via GRUB entry) you will really be on your own. It's Debian, so you can search the googlenet for solutions.
If it still breaks after reboot without having added aforementioned packages, please attach your /var/log/apt/history.log


Good luck.
..gnutella..

anticapitalista
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Re: upgrading Jessie

Unread post by anticapitalista » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:57 am

This might be of use(?)
It says that an upgrade of the kernel breaks AMD graphics.

http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewtop ... 04&t=39803

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noo_b_nomnoms
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Re: upgrading Jessie

Unread post by noo_b_nomnoms » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:23 pm

^That was it! Thanks, anticapitalista! The kernel was upgraded every time, and it was something I should have checked. :(
^^You are right, machinebacon! Straying off the bbq path is a bad idea, and libc6 is a genuine pos. A lot of programs in the X world seem to like it, but I would rather never see it. After the 2nd or 3rd crash I don't think I bothered to do the upgrade while still in the virgin bbq state, believing that it was something hardware related to the upgrade (especially after the Q4OS episode), and thus it would break anyway. I don't know why I ever made the decision to uprade at all except that maybe I was hoping that at some point a fix would be introduced, lols. Just crossing my fingers and pushing the buttons, smh.
I will do as you directed. I have the spare partition, so getting on this today! :)
^^^I hear ya, wux! *offtopic since this is solved* I have been back on irc lately, and haven't seen ya! :p
Sir! Put down the hammer and slowly step away from the computer.

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wuxmedia
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Re: upgrading Jessie *SOLVED*

Unread post by wuxmedia » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:48 pm

^ you're in the wrong timezone :)
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machinebacon
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Re: upgrading Jessie *SOLVED*

Unread post by machinebacon » Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:57 am

..gnutella..

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