[SOLVED] New debian11 install

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 06:31 AM

I have MX Linux already installed on my drive.
I used debian-installer on usb to install debian 11 onto the same drive for a dual-boot system.

On reboot the grub menu came up allowing both OSs to be booted.
After changing settings in the new Debian 11 fresh install - when I rebooted again the grub splash screen had disappeared.
Now I can only log into Debian 11.
I'm guessing the grub splash screen does appear for the default 5 seconds but I can't see it on my monitor - and debian 11 boots.

Do I need to update-grub or use os-prober?

colorpurple21859 · 08-08-2022, 07:19 AM

Debian has taken over control of the booting process and os-prober is most likely disabled by default. If you wanted to enable os-prober in debian add this to /etc/default/grub and rerun update-grub

Code:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

If you want mxlinux in control of booting process boot into mxlinux and run grub-install or use efibootmgr if it is a uefi system to change the boot order.

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Debian has taken over control of the booting process and os-prober is most likely disabled by default. If you wanted to enable os-prober in debian add this to /etc/default/grub and rerun update-grub

Code:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

If you want mxlinux in control of booting process boot into mxlinux and run grub-install or use efibootmgr if it is a uefi system to change the boot order.

Thank you. I have added the os-prober code into /etc/default/grub and run update-grub.
When I run os-prober it successfully finds MX21 on the drive.

When I reboot however there is no change.
I get a blank screen until debian 11 boots.
I've also lost the splash screen for the gigabyte motherboard - so I can't access uefi bios.

I thought it might be a display driver issue and installed non-free amd microcode - but hat hasn't done anything.

It's weird because I saw the grub menu initially.
But on subsequent reboots the grub menu can't be seen - although there seem to be a 5 second pause.

Do I need to do anything with initramfs?

colorpurple21859 · 08-08-2022, 08:12 AM

in /etc/default/grub
Change this to 5 or 10 if it is 0

Code:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

comment these out by putting a # at the beginning of these two lines;

Code:

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

rerun update grub

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

in /etc/default/grub
Change this to 5 or 10 if it is 0

Code:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

On /etc/default/grub the timeout is already 5.

Quote:

comment these out by putting a # at the beginning of these two lines;

Code:

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

rerun update grub

These 2 comments are already missing from the grub file.
I ran update-grub again but there is no change to the boot process.

I don't understand why the motherboard splash screen doesn't even come on.
Never encountered that before.

I have just installed a new debian non-free OS.
Have I missed some routine changes I need to do to fstab or anything?

colorpurple21859 · 08-08-2022, 09:14 AM

Post the contents of /etc/default/grub and

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Post the contents of /etc/default/grub and

Here it is:

Code:

~$ cat /etc/default/grub
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false


# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

colorpurple21859 · 08-08-2022, 09:38 AM

Remove the # at #GRUB_TERMINAL=console
And run update-grub

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Remove the # at #GRUB_TERMINAL=console
And run update-grub

I've done this and re-booted but there is no change.

I tried using my MX21 live usb but this just gives me a blank screen.
Again I don't see the motherboard splash screen - so cannot access uefi bios.
Should grub be reinstalled?

suramya · 08-08-2022, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by braithwaite

Thank you. I have added the os-prober code into /etc/default/grub and run update-grub.
When I run os-prober it successfully finds MX21 on the drive.

When I reboot however there is no change.
I get a blank screen until debian 11 boots.
I've also lost the splash screen for the gigabyte motherboard - so I can't access uefi bios.

After the update-grub, you should also run grub-install. That is what solved a similar problem for me when I 'lost' the other installations after an upgrade.

colorpurple21859 · 08-08-2022, 10:03 AM

If your not seeing the motherboard splash screen something else is going on, that is before grub boot loader. Maybe a loose connection or monitor turned off.

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suramya

After the update-grub, you should also run grub-install. That is what solved a similar problem for me when I 'lost' the other installations after an upgrade.

I did this:

Code:

~# grub-install
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: install device isn't specified.

So I did a search on the error message and did this:

Code:

~# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=grub

grub-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/modinfo.sh doesn't exist. Please specify --target or --directory.

I'm not familiar with uefi bios.
Do you know what the target location for grub-install would be?

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

If your not seeing the motherboard splash screen something else is going on, that is before grub boot loader. Maybe a loose connection or monitor turned off.

Agreed.
Just checked the hdmi cable.
There is certainly a 5 second delay with a blank screen before debian boots.
I'm wondering if the motherboard and grub screens are displaying but its's not being displayed on the tv.

braithwaite · 08-08-2022, 11:31 AM

I looked up GrubEFIReinstall on the debian website.

It says this command will show if I have booted in efi mode:

Code:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"
should return "EFI boot on HDD".

But the output I get is:

Code:

~$ [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"
Legacy boot on HDD

So the target location for grub reinstall shouldn't be affected by the uefi bios.

yancek · 08-08-2022, 11:36 AM

Quote:

I'm wondering if the motherboard and grub screens are displaying but its's not being displayed on the tv.

What TV would that be? You haven't mentioned a TV before. Is this a laptop, desktop and you have a monitor on the computer and also have it connected to a TV? Do you see a display or anything on the computer monitor?

Quote:

It's weird because I saw the grub menu initially.

Doesn't seem weird to me since in your initial post, you indicate that both MX and Debian booted successfully until you changed some setting in Debian. Use your notes from when you made the changes and change them back.

If you aren't seeing the BIOS firmware page on boot, you have a more serious problem. Has that happened before?
It isn't clear from your posts whether you have a UEFI BIOS, do you know if you are using UEFI? Use one of your usb drives to boot and run sudo fdisk -l or parted -l to list the partitions. You should see a partition named EFI. If you don't, you are not using UEFI.

The command you posted to install Grub failed because you did not tell it where to install. Also, the methods to install UEFI or Legacy are similar but not the same so you would have to find that out before someone could give you the proper command. The first grub-install you tried showed installing for i386-pc platform which would indicate a Legacy install.