SpiralLinux
Won't boot to desktop after Debian 12.6 update #448
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I've been using Debian 12 (KDE version) via Spiral Linux for a week or so now, and I've been thrilled with it. Thanks so much for creating this sensibly-configured Debian distro! I've suddenly run into a big problem, though. I installed the just-released Debian 12.6 update (or at least I think I did, there were around 100 packages pending in Discover), restarted, and... just got a white underscore blinking on a black screen. I restarted again and got the same result, though eventually this message came up. Unfortunatelty, it just stayed there. The boot process never continued. Fortunately, everything is fine after using Snapper to rollback to a pre-update snapshot. So it's definitely the update that broke something critical with my SpiralLinux install. I think I'm running a pretty "stock" installation of SpiralLinux Debian 12 stable KDE. I'm using kernel 6.7.12+bpo-amd64, which I believe the SpiralLinux installer picked out for me. Any ideas what could be causing the Debian 12.6 update to prevent me from booting? Thanks so much! |
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Replies: 3 comments 22 replies
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Hi there, could you please try booting with the previously installed working kernel version from Debian Backports, or the 6.1.0 kernel from Debian Stable that is also pre-installed in SpiralLinux? |
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Thanks so much for getting back to me! Trying the 6.1.0 Debian Stable kernel was my first instinct too, but it doesn't seem to appear as an option at startup in GRUB. The only kernels that appear there are: Debian (SpiralLinux Plasma) GNU/Linux, with Linux 6.7.12+bpo-amd64 However, if I look in /lib/modules then 6.1.0-13-amd64 is right there with the other two listed above. Any idea how I can get my system to see/boot from the 6.1 stable kernel? Given my goals for this system (stability), that's probably the one I'd prefer to be on anyway. Again, thanks so much for your help! |
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Hi there, does it boot with kernel 6.5.0 ? |
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I'm very pleased to say that it does boot with kernel 6.5.0! Thank you so much for your remarkably prompt, helpful advice. |
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Everything works perfectly with kernel 6.5.0 now; thanks again! If it's not too much bother, what would be involved with getting it to boot from kernel 6.1.0? Sorry if I'm being daft. Just trying to plan for a proper stable Debian future. Again, thanks so much for all of your help. |
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Hi there, please try this:
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Hmm. Because the As such, I only did steps 2 and 3. Sadly, after rebooting and select the Any idea what could be causing this? I will note that Synaptic very briefly showed a few warnings about potentially missing amdgpu packages/firmware (I have a Radeon RX 7900 XT) when I had it "Force Version" Again, thank you so much for all of your help (and for creating such a great advanced Debian installer). And sorry in advance if I caused this trouble myself by skipping steps 1 and 4 of your helpful list; I just didn't want to end up in a situation where I had no working kernel at all. But, most of all, thanks for making this great Debian version! |
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I may have the same problem on one of my three Spiral Linux installations. I am not sure though. My situation:
All three systems have the exact same How do I repair my main system? Why is the virtual machine using a different kernel? I have not tried to influence the kernel choice in any of these systems. TIA /Martin |
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Hmm, copy/paste and typography did not work as expected :-( |
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Thanks for the console output. I would try to remove the 6.9 kernel and reinstall it: And since the one error also has something to do with Virtualbox, I would also reinstall this package. Perhaps even with the latest version from the official homepage: |
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I have just tried the first three commands. The first two do not generate error messages as far as I can see. The third, however, still complains and now I also see Virtualbox seems to be involved. Virtualbox is only installed on my main machine. Enough for tonight. /Martin |
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I installed SpiralLinux in Hyper-V (Windows) as a test and then executed the following commands: The last command executes the kernel updates and it cancelled at some point with the same error pattern as yours. I think I have found the error: It is due to the version of Virtualbox provided by Fasttrack: 7.0.12. Kernel 6.9 is only supported from version 7.0.16 onwards: I would therefore remove the Fasttrack package as already suggested and obtain the latest version directly from Virtualbox: I had to install the libqt5opengl5 package, as Virtualbox 7.0.20 requires it. This procedure resolved the error for me. If you need the latest Virtualbox expansion packs: |
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Thanks a ton. After having removed Virtualbox I re-ran the commands for removing and re-installing 6.9 kernels. Then re-booting worked like a charm. I updated Virtualbox as per your instructions. I had to remove guest additions first. Now, everything works smoothly again :-) /Martin |
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So, I'm still getting the same basic problem (booting to a black screen with a white underscore) on every kernel other than 6.5.0, most recently 6.9.10, but I think I have some new insight into what the problem is (and how I probably caused it). First, here's the output from When select kernel 6.5.0, the system boots properly and After giving the matter some thought, I think that this situation is probably my fault, but I hope someone here could be kind enough to offer me a solution if one exists. Basically, I think I "broke Debian", as they say, by very foolishly installing proprietary graphics drivers from AMD's website when I was trying to get ROCm working to replicate an AI art setup I had on my previous (Manjaro) machine. I've since noticed that the non-Debian AMD installer pinned this repo in I've since removed the files (rocm-pin-600 and repo-radeon-pin-600) responsible for creating this pin, but that doesn't appear to have changed the ability for any kernels other than 6.5.0 to boot with graphics. So, sorry that this whole thing was probably my fault. I vow to never break Debian again! But if there's any method short of reinstallation that will recover from this error and allow kernels other than 6.5.0, I'd love to hear any suggestions. Thanks so much! |
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Two approaches that might be helpful: 1) get the current driver as a flatpak or 2) build it yourself from source? |
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure that either of those approaches apply for my situation, however. Really, my big problem, is that Linux sees no graphics driver for my GPU at all—and thus cannot boot beyond a black screen with a white underscore—when I select any kernel other than 6.5.0. I should note that I was originally on kernel 6.7.x after first installing Spiral Linux, and that worked fine until the kernel updated with Debian 12.6. The first post in this thread details this. I believe I fell afoul of this commandment from DontBreakDebian:
So, as to approach 1, that's actually what I do for gaming via Steam (and it works great), but I can only do it on kernel 6.5.0 because nothing else will get past the black screen with the white underscore. Approach 2 is intriguing, though I worry about making things even worse. Really, I'd like to know how I can get back to having Debian, with no manual hacks, appropriately install and load the GPU drivers for kernels other than 6.5.0. I suspect that kernel 6.5.0 was spared from disruption because it came pre-installed with the version of Spiral Linux that I'm using, so it wasn't in any way altered when I was messing around with the GPU driver install script from AMD's website. Again, thanks for the advice. Sorry if I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this. |
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I don't think you can avoid a bit of manual hacking. If you know it worked well with a particular kernel, I would download and install it (and uninstall the newer kernels). There are archives where these can be downloaded: And then you could pin the specific version. For example: Create the file More on pinning:
Edit: Or take a look at the https://manual.siduction.org/sys-admin-apt_en.html#hold-or-downgrade-a-package |
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Thanks so much to everyone for all of the help you've given me with this. I'm pleased to report that I now have a much better idea of what is going on, and I've (not quite perfectly, but mostly) solved the problem. Here, then, is the real issue: For kernels other than 6.5.0, Debian is not loading the However, the So problem basically solved! Is there a way than I can get Debian to load the Again, thanks so much to everyone in this thread for all of the help you've offered. It feels great to be in the home stretch. |
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And, figured it out all the way! There was a file called Thanks so much to everyone for all of your help. Maybe this thread will prove useful to anyone else who winds up with the same weird, obscure problem. |
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Hi there, does it boot with kernel 6.5.0 ?