Interrupted Safe Upgrade - Now Sparky Won't Load

[dhinds]

While doing a routine Safe Upgrade via Sparky Aptus the electricity went off (and I was not using an Uninterruptible Power Supply).

Now the system won't boot, even if I choose the recovery option (which I generally had to do anyway, before that happened).

What happens now is, after I select Sparky Multimedia Edition 64 bit from the Grub Menu (the default) and the recovery mode, the system looks for what's installed and recycles continuously after finding the logitec optical mouse.

I also booted the Sparky Multimedia Edition 64 bit CD but don't see a recuperation option and doing a fresh installation of everything I had installed is going to time consuming.  (I had intended to perform a remastersys on the installation to transfer it to other machines but hadn't gotten around to it, unfortunately).

Otherwise, there was no data loss, since that is kept in a separate partition and backed up.

Any idea about what I could do to recover my Sparky Multimedia Edition 64 bit installation?  (i.e. change boot parameters or chroot in)?

Thanks in advance for your response.

(I got an old Fedora 23 Xfce installation working OK for the time being, but Sparky was performing very well and with more options.  I'd like to fix it).

[paxmark1]

Since the safe mode is cli, maybe unplug the mouse and try one more time in safe mode. 

Are you seeing the sequential  one line status reports scroll past i.e.

[ OK ] Blah blah blah        ###  or did you get to the Ctl-D prompt

did you get to the  series of linear output 

[ 496.151195]  Service:  Status or action

What does the looping error message exactly say.   

EDIT on #debian-next someone seems to have had a similar problem after a restart.  Was there a libinput upgrade recently?  Also - poster on debian-next had more luck with kernel 4.7 than 4.8 so also try safe-mode with 4.7

And if you do get to a command line of course the old faithful "dpkg --configure -a" might be helpful and for dpkg the -f switch does not mean force  but fix.    peace out

[pavroo]

The problem has been made after (during) upgrading. The system has to by succesfully upgraded to be fixed, so...
1. Try to log in safe mode, and run "dpkg --configure -a" as paxmark1 said
2. If not possible, run sparky-recue iso live, run 'Chrooter' application, choose your partition with broken 'root' sparky system.
Then try to fix it via:

Code Select Expand

apt-get update
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get install -f
apt-get dist-upgrade

[dhinds]

Since the safe mode is cli, maybe unplug the mouse and try one more time in safe mode. 

Are you seeing the sequential  one line status reports scroll past i.e.

[ OK ] Blah blah blah        ###  or did you get to the Ctl-D prompt

Yes

did you get to the  series of linear output 

[ 496.151195]  Service:  Status or action

What does the looping error message exactly say.

It finds the mouse and stops, over and over

EDIT on #debian-next someone seems to have had a similar problem after a restart.  Was there a libinput upgrade recently?  Also - poster on debian-next had more luck with kernel 4.7 than 4.8 so also try safe-mode with 4.7

And if you do get to a command line of course the old faithful "dpkg --configure -a" might be helpful and for dpkg the -f switch does not mean force  but fix.    peace out

OK. Thanks for the tips. I see what works and get back to the forum.

[dhinds]

The problem has been made after (during) upgrading. The system has to by succesfully upgraded to be fixed, so...
1. Try to log in safe mode, and run "dpkg --configure -a" as paxmark1 said

I'll try that. I didn't, since I needed a command to use.

2. If not possible, run sparky-recue iso live, run 'Chrooter' application, choose your partition with broken 'root' sparky system.
Then try to fix it via:

Code Select Expand

apt-get update
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get install -f
apt-get dist-upgrade

OK. Between those actions I can probably recover my installation and  do a remastersys on it.  (I had forgotten about the existence of a Rescue edition - which didn't exist when I began using Sparky with Mate and soon after, Openbox Ultra).

The Rescue iso from Linux Freedom is almost done downloading (at about 1.2 mb/sec - only 6% left). Then I'll burn a DVD with XfBurn - whether I need it or not.

[dhinds]

Is

Code Select Expand

apt-get dist-upgrade
safe? (Equivalent to Upgrade safely)?

[paxmark1]

I only use command line for upgrades.  For Debian Testing "apt-get dist-upgrade" is the basic form for chugging along.   "apt-get upgrade" will not be enough in Testing - there are transitions and new programs are added. 

"apt-get update"  followed by "apt-get dist-upgrade -d" (to only perform the download), an examination of the proposed actions AND when you have examined it enough  then "apt-get dist-upgrade"  has been used by thousands in Debian testing and sid for years as well as Ubuntu betas and RC's.   peace out. 

[dhinds]

My Sparky Multimedia Edition 64 bit installation is working again.

I reached the command line and logged in as root but was unable to perform the dpkg --configure -a because no connection could be made with the repositories (any of them).

So I booted the Rescue DVD and chrooted into the Sparky root partition and the only command that functioned was apt-get dist-upgrade.

I then rebooted and found that the new kernel -4.8- wouldn't boot but the older one (4.6) would.

I am now doing a system upgrade again via the original Sparky greeting GUI that I had never removed.

This is from Sparky and i want to thank both of you (paxmark1 and pavroo) for your assistance.

Both the Sparky Tools and the comprehensive forum support make Sparky unique among GNU Linux distros and Sparky is by far the best Debian derivative (including the buntoo's).

(I am 53% through the system upgrade at the moment).

Sparky reigns!

[dhinds]

The current situation is about what it was before the upgrade:

I can only boot into Sparky via the recuperation option and only using the 4.6 kernel. (Choosing the 4.8 recuperation mode leads to kernel panic and a hard reboot -turning the computer off manually- is required).

Otherwise everything works as before, which is adequate for my needs, even if my upgrade path was limited.

Is the Liquorix kernel likely to help?

TIA

[pavroo]

I suggest to reinstall the 4.8 kernel (via Synaptic) as first job.
If no luck, install Liquorix or Sparky kernel to give it a try.

[dhinds]

I suggest to reinstall the 4.8 kernel (via Synaptic) as first job.
If no luck, install Liquorix or Sparky kernel to give it a try.

Thank you for your response.

But before I read it I installed the latest Liquorix Kernel and rebooted. I had to use recovery mode (which I have had to do anyway for some time) to load the system but that did work and is what I am using now.

So I have both recovered the system and am now able to upgrade it.

What is the Sparky Kernel designed to do? IOW, in what way is it different from the Debian and Liquorix kernels?

TIA

[dhinds]

The Sparky Kernel (which is a little newer) behaves in the same way:  It won't load except through recovery. But that is no problem.

[pavroo]

What is your machine CPU?
What kernel version 4.8 have you installed? amd64/686/686-pae?

[dhinds]

What is your machine CPU?

A first generation Intel i7, installed in a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7rev-1 (1366 socket) in July of 2010

What kernel version 4.8 have you installed? amd64/686/686-pae?

So far all my computers have Intel or AMD 64 bit CISC  CPUs and amd64 is generally all I install.

There are 4 kernels installed and 3 are working, provided I boot using the recuperation option.

Have you considered creating RISC or a Devuan versions of Sparky? (Could the problem be related to systemd)?