Bug#954081: debian-live-10.3.0-amd64-gnome.iso fails to load desktop on Acer A515-43-R19L laptop
Just throwing a couple of thoughts your way in case it helps at all.
Ending up with a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the top left
instead of the graphical login suggests that the graphical environment
could not load for some reason. I have experienced this myself a couple
of times using Debian's unstable channel after a major partial upgrade
to a new version of Gnome. I also happen to have experienced it today
when I returned to my computer only to find that a download had used up
all of my remaining free disk space and things were not happy.
Note that you can use CTRL+ALT+<F-keys> to switch to a different
console interface and thus login in in text based mode. (The default
graphical environment is assigned to one of the F1-12 keys, just try
different F1-12 keys with CTRL+ALT until you get a text console).
Since other distro live discs are working, but not the current Debian
discs, have you tried an older Debian disc? Perhaps the particular
package versions in the latest discs have a bug, just like I've
experienced with the updated Gnome situation just mentioned, and the CD
release team did not notice or it only occurs in certain situations.
Note that you can build your own custom live disc with Debian's live-
build tool, though of course if you're having trouble getting Debian
installed in the first place ...
On Mon, 2020-03-16 at 11:13 -0700, Lou Poppler wrote:
> This is possibly a "non-free" firmware problem. I suggest you try
> with one of
> the "unofficial" "non-free" live images or installer images.
>
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
>
> On Mon, 2020-03-16 at 09:25 -0400, Mike Haag wrote:
> > Package: debian-live
> > Severity: important
> >
> > I first updated the BIOS using the supplied Windows 10, then
> > replaced the
> > supplied 128GB SSD with a new 500GB SSD.
> >
> > Verified the iso file with SHA512, and tried running as both DVD
> > and USB thumb
> > drive:
> >
> > Grub starts as expected.
> >
> > 1. Attempted to start the live desktop environment from the first
> > Grub menu
> > item, "Debian GNU/Linux Live (kernel 4.19.0-8-amd64)".
> > 2. Multiple status messages are displayed. Then, a Debian splash
> > screen is
> > briefly displayed, followed immediately by a blank screen with a
> > blinking
> > cursor, and the system freezes.
> > 3. Ctrl-Alt-Del will reboot the laptop into the Grub menu.
> >
> > The graphical installer (third Grub menu item) runs, and appears to
> > complete
> > successfully. But, the installed system exhibits the same problem:
> > Multiple
> > startup messages, and the system freezes before the desktop
> > environment starts,
> > just displaying a blank screen and blinking cursor.
> >
> > For what it's worth, I also tried several other Debian-based and
> > RPM
> > distributions. Could only get a working system with the RPMs:
> >
> > 1. Debian: The following produce the same results as above.
> >
> > debian-live-10.3.0-amd64-gnome+nonfree.iso
> > debian-live-testing-amd64-gnome.iso
> > debian-10.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso
> >
> > 2. Ubuntu 19.10 and LinuxMint 19.3: The live distributions work as
> > expected. Installed systems begin to boot but then both fail
> > with
> > unspecified watchdog soft lock errors before their respective
> > desktop
> > environments start.
> >
> > 3. Fedora 31: Live runs as expected. Installed system boots and
> > runs as
> > expected.
> >
> > 4. OpenSUSE Leap 15.1: Live runs as expected. Installed system
> > boots and runs
> > as expected.
> >
> > The only recommendation I could find using the Acer user forum and
> > other
> > internet searches, was to try editing the Grub menu line to
> > "nomodeset", but
> > that doesn't work. There was also some theorizing that the kernel
> > needed to be
> > updated to 5.0, but openSUSE 15.1 is kernel 4.12, and that is
> > working.
> >
> > Looking for advice and suggestions: I do not know how to proceed
> > with further
> > trouble-shooting.
> >
> > Thanks, Mike
> >
> >
> >
> > -- System Information:
> > Debian Release: 10.3
> > APT prefers stable-updates
> > APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
> > Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
> >
> > Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
> > Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8),
> > LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
> > Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> > Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> > LSM: AppArmor: enabled
> >
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