Debian Direct Load of Non-free Firmware? Also boot problem - SOLVED

[Martin109]

Last post for tonight!

Thanks for all the help so far.

I managed to capture the tail end of /var/log/syslog, which is reproduced here.

Looks like 21:42:02 was the point where the boot/start sequence which was hanging got interrupted by my pressing ALT+CTRL+F2 to start a new session. 

Just confirming the install was with a netinst CD of Buster 10.7, specifically tailored for i386.

[Kim]

The dhpc6 stuff before that is mostly harmless (unless you've got an IPv6 DHPC server on the network, in which case it shouldn't be timing out like that), but could something be blocking waiting for the network to come up?

[jdsnape]

I would suggest the issue is probably with GDM rather than the kernel ( what you’re getting with dmesg)

You should be able to see gdm logs with ‘systemctl status gdm’ or journalctl -U gdm

I also think Debian may now use wayland by default instead of X which is prone to issues on older hardware. It could be worth checking and switching to X11 if it is. There are some instructions here https://wiki.debian.org/GDM#Disabling_Wayland

Finally, you could also install something like lightdm instead of gdm and see if that works


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[Martin109]

I would suggest the issue is probably with GDM rather than the kernel ( what you’re getting with dmesg)

I also think Debian may now use wayland by default instead of X which is prone to issues on older hardware. It could be worth checking and switching to X11 if it is. There are some instructions here https://wiki.debian.org/GDM#Disabling_Wayland

You seem to have hit the nail on the head, jds!

I followed your suggestion and the link provided to disable Wayland, and the machine is now booting properly, also with access to ethernet! 

[pcolbeck]

I also wonder how old your PC is if it needs 32 bit rather than 64 bit Linux.
I'm running full 64 bit everything on four Thinkpads that are up to ten years old and until a few week sago a PC that I bought in 2006. You can run 64 bit Linux on Intel CPUs back to Core2duo.

[Martin109]

I also wonder how old your PC is if it needs 32 bit rather than 64 bit Linux.
I'm running full 64 bit everything on four Thinkpads that are up to ten years old and until a few week sago a PC that I bought in 2006. You can run 64 bit Linux on Intel CPUs back to Core2duo.

Wikipedia suggests it can't be newer than 2003!  Pentium M.

[hubner]

My Intel Atom 2009/2010 netbook is 32 bit and there aren't many 32 bit versions of Linux now. Although slightly later ones from 2010-2012 are 64 bit.

I would suggest the issue is probably with GDM rather than the kernel ( what you’re getting with dmesg)

I also think Debian may now use wayland by default instead of X which is prone to issues on older hardware. It could be worth checking and switching to X11 if it is. There are some instructions here https://wiki.debian.org/GDM#Disabling_Wayland

You seem to have hit the nail on the head, jds!

I followed your suggestion and the link provided to disable Wayland, and the machine is now booting properly, also with access to ethernet!

You would think that would be done automatically or at least display a message and offering an option to disable it instead of making people waste hours/days trying to sort it out.