Bug#607766: Fresh install of Squeeze on Thinkpad Edge 11; wireless network problems and grub oddity
Package: installation-reports
Boot method: USB key with hd-media images
Image version: http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-
i386/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz
http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-
i386/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz
Date: 18/12/10 10:15
Machine: Thinkpad Edge 11
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU U 380 @ 1.33GHz
Memory: 2GB
Partitions:
Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41a45b47
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 154 1228800 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 154 4331 33554432 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 37639 38914 10240000 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 4331 37639 267544577 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 * 4331 37169 263767040 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 37169 37639 3776512 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition table entries are not in disk order
Output of lspci -knn (or lspci -nn):
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller
[8086:0044] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor
Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
Kernel driver in use: i915
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400
Series Chipset HECI Controller [8086:3b64] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b3c] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
High Definition Audio [8086:3b56] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
Express Root Port 1 [8086:3b42] (rev 06)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
Express Root Port 2 [8086:3b44] (rev 06)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
Express Root Port 5 [8086:3b4a] (rev 06)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
Express Root Port 6 [8086:3b4c] (rev 06)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b34] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
[8086:2448] (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC
Interface Controller [8086:3b09] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
4 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b29] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2168]
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus
Controller [8086:3b30] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400
Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem [8086:3b32] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c8]
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000
[8086:0084]
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN [8086:1315]
Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21c5]
Kernel driver in use: r8169
ff:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath
Architecture Generic Non-core Registers [8086:2c62] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
ff:00.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath
Architecture System Address Decoder [8086:2d01] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
ff:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0
[8086:2d10] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
ff:02.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0
[8086:2d11] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
ff:02.2 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved
[8086:2d12] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
ff:02.3 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved
[8086:2d13] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2196]
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot: [O]
Detect network card: [O]
Configure network: [E]
Detect CD: [ ]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [O]
Install base system: [O]
Clock/timezone setup: [O]
User/password setup: [O]
Install tasks: [O]
Install boot loader: [O]
Overall install: [O]
Comments/Problems:
The NTFS partitions are from the preinstalled copy of Windows 7.
My initial attempt used a netinst image on USB key, which failed because it
couldn't get the wireless network configured.
First, it failed to find any accesspoints. My accesspoint doesn't broadcast, so
I didn't expect it to find that, but my neighbours are all noisy, so it should
have found those and it didn't. No matter, it offered me the option of entering
the essid manually, which was fine and it then went on to ask me for the WEP
key, also good. It said it was trying to configure with DHCP, which I don't
have enabled, so I waited for that to fail and then configured it manually. No
error messages at this point, everything looked fine. Then it failed to
retrieve anything from the mirrors. Looking at the log on console 4, it
claimed it had authorised with the access point, but going to console 2 and
looking at "ip link" said the interface was down and I couldn't get it to come
up. The ethernet configuration looked OK, but the lack of wireless tools meant
I couldn't check the wireless configuration.
At this point I tried again, using a hd-media image instead, as detailed
above. Not surprisingly, this had the same problem, but at the point where it
tried and failed to read from the mirrors, I was able to use iwconfig to check
the wireless configuration and determine that despite having prompted for an
essid and WEP key, it hadn't configured the interface with them. I corrected
this manually the interface came up and the installation proceeded normally
from that point.
Interestingly, when the reboot stage of the installation was reached, the
interface did come up afterwards correctly configured, all the right
information having been written into /etc/network/interfaces.
Perhaps wireless-tools should be included in the netinst initial ramdisk
image?
Although GRUB identified the two Windows partitions, they didn't appear in the
boot options on initial reboot. Running update-grub later on fixed it.
The only other minor gripe was that the task selection interface offers
"Graphical Desktop" and not having done a fresh install for quite a while, I
naïvely selected it, expecting to be offered the choice of which desktop... but
it went ahead and installed Gnome, which I did not want! I have absolutely no
interest in a debate about the relative merits of the various desktops, but if
the installer really can't offer the choice of desktops, the option should at
least be labelled "Gnome" so that it's clear what is being offered and those
who want something else can avoid wasting lots of time and bandwidth.
Otherwise, it all went smoothly and everything worked - well done, thanks!
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