arch linux [arch-announce] Binaries move to /usr/bin requiring update interventio

[ichase]

That is why I always BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP before ANY of those Manual intervention updates. LOL

[amenditman]

I am going to attack the laptop problem today.

I am hoping to not have to use the backup.

I think I can rescue the system with the install disk and chroot.

 

The problem arose when the bash update step was done.

The error messages are something like "no interactive shell installed"

and "bash not found".

Got me thinking it might be fixable.

 

Any advice from the community would be welcome.

[amenditman]

Update on the laptop.

 

I booted from the Install CD

mounted the partitions under /mnt just like install process

got filesystem and bash to update/reinstall

rebooted and got to the kdm login screen

where it sat and would not accept any username or passwords

 

Went back into a chroot environment and tweaked around a few things in kdm and systemd

reboot and same problem

 

Walked away to clear my head

came back about 10 minutes later and booted the computer

 

It fails to POST and is dead

I have tested HDD, RAM in another system, all good

 

Looks like the upgrade failure may have been hardware related.

[abarbarian]

Tough luck amenditman.

 

Do laptops have coms bateries ? Might be worth a look if they do.

[amenditman]

I will do an autopsy this week and see if there's anything to be done.

 

This is the first time I've had a major hardware problem with any ThinkPad.

Not bad considering the number of them I've had over the years.

Not to mention the abuse I put them through.

Edited June 16, 2013 by amenditman

[amenditman]

It appears the laptop is still under warranty.

Lenovo has fantastic warranty support so this should be pretty painless.

[abarbarian]

That is great news.

[amenditman]

The IBM tech was here today and replaced the mainboard in the laptop. No charge, of course.

Not bad for a second hand, factory refurb with no transfer of warranty needed!

Lenovo Warranty rocks! IBM techs are very professional and well-trained.

 

I am back to where I was pre-failure.

 

Grub does not load with an unrecognized filesystem error.

If I boot from SuperGrub2 rescue disk I can get to the kdm login screen. And no username/password combo is accepted.

 

Have tried fixing the install with the install cd but no luck. Not really sure what else to try before I just reinstall with the new install media from 2013-06-01, which was after the transition to /usr/bin.

[securitybreach]

At this point, I would probably go for the reinstall. I would first boot a livecd and mount your / partition, then copy your /etc folder (should be less than 100mb) to a usb drive or your /home directory (if you used separate partitions). This way you will save most all of your config files.

 

Once you have your system setup, I would suggest making a backup with Clonezilla. It should not take more than 10 minutes to clone your / partition.

[amenditman]

I have a pre-/bin migration rsync backup but don't want to use it because then I will have to cross my fingers and try the manual intervention again.

After a fresh install I will extract some files/configs from the backup (can't do that with Clonezilla) and use them to set up the laptop a bit quicker.

Then a new rsync backup.

[securitybreach]

Sounds good!

[amenditman]

It appears there is a serious flaw with the 2013-06-01 Arch Install media.

I can boot it just fine in BIOS Legacy mode but cannot boot it in UEFI mode.

There are a bunch of threads about it and all the solutions involve using Legacy mode.

That is not a solution, it is giving up.

 

Details of problem

Boot from install CD in UEFI mode (with Intel graphics).

Screen goes blank, not black, I can see the backlight on.

Tried adding nomodeset to the command line at boot

Tried adding video=SVIDEO-1:d to the command line at boot

Tried adding i915.modeset=0 to the command line at boot

 

Read through this entire thread and all referenced threads, there are no solutions which do not involve booting from Legacy mode

 

Must think on this for a while

[securitybreach]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI#Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO

[amenditman]

Yes, I had already tried that.

Here's some interesting stuff.

 

If I set the Setup options to Legacy-Bios only, I can install/ run just about any distro I want.

Thought I would try out a couple others. CentOS, Debian.

Both of them work fine as Live CD (and USB) in Bios mode.

No luck in UEFI mode. Blank screen just like the Arch Install media.

I can't install either in UEFI mode.

 

I am wondering if this is a UEFI problem or an Intel HD graphics adapter problem.

Definitely not an Arch Linux issue.