problem getting debian live to run

[L Dimov]

I am trying to run debian stable (11.5) live on a new Dell XPS laptop from a USB drive. After the Debian logo displays for a bout a minute, I get this text:

DPC: RP PIO log size 0 is invalid
thunderbolt 0-0: reading DROM failed
BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for list of built-in commans.
(initramsfs) _

I tried it multiple times, including first formatting the USB as a FAT32. None of that helped.

Any help in getting this party started will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Luben

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Exactly how did you copy the image onto the USB stick - what command did
you use and did you wait until it had copied fully?

Andy Cater

[L Dimov]

Andy, I did wait till it was done indeed. I copied the image to the USB with:

dd if=/home/luben/Downloads/debian-live-11.5.0-amd64-gnome.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync

I tried it without the:

bs=8M; sync

as well.

Thanks,

Luben

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

L Dimov wrote:
> DPC: RP PIO log size 0 is invalid

Looks like
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=209943
where it is characterized as annoying message but elsewise harmless.

> thunderbolt 0-0: reading DROM failed

Looks like a problem with the egg-laying woolmilkpig, which substitutes
for a USB interface.

I would assume that this is the reason why the (initramfs) prompt appears.
Assuming you boot in EFI native mode, it looks like GRUB was able to use
the USB interface for loading the Linux kernel and the initrd, but that
the kernel is not able to operate the Thunderbolt interface.

What happens if you boot a most modern Debian installation ISO ?
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso

Does it get to the first installation question ?
(IIRC it will ask for language and location. That would be the moment
to bail out.)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

[David Wright]

On Thu 01 Dec 2022 at 18:58:11 (+0000), L Dimov wrote:
> I am trying to run debian stable (11.5) live on a new Dell XPS laptop from a USB drive. After the Debian logo displays for a bout a minute, I get this text:
>
> DPC: RP PIO log size 0 is invalid

I agree with Thomas, just ignore it for the time being.

> thunderbolt 0-0: reading DROM failed
> BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)
> Enter 'help' for list of built-in commans.
> (initramsfs) _

Perhaps look at

https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/thunderbolt.html

and see whether you can authorise whatever thunderbolt is.

Cheers,
David.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Two things:

I'd suggest that you try using the unofficial .iso that includes the firmware.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.5.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/ - and pick your desktop from under there.

I'd also suggest dd if=/home/luben/Downloads/[whatever] of=/dev/sdb bs=4M oflag=sync status=progress

The oflag=sync forces the sync but status=progress also gives you a figure for
what's actually being written to the stick.

I try hard not to use the live CD but to use the normal Debian installer
instead.

> Thanks,Luben
>

All best,

Andy Cater

[to...@tuxteam.de]

On Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 09:53:37PM +0100, Thomas Schmitt wrote:
> Hi,
>
> L Dimov wrote:
> > DPC: RP PIO log size 0 is invalid
>
> Looks like
> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=209943
> where it is characterized as annoying message but elsewise harmless.
>
>
> > thunderbolt 0-0: reading DROM failed

[...]

> I would assume that this is the reason why the (initramfs) prompt appears.
> Assuming you boot in EFI native mode, it looks like GRUB was able to use
> the USB interface for loading the Linux kernel and the initrd, but that
> the kernel is not able to operate the Thunderbolt interface.

That actually sounds more like it, not a bad USB copy. Hmm.

Cheers
--
t

[to...@tuxteam.de]

On Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 08:43:29PM +0000, L Dimov wrote:

> On Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 03:28:33 PM EST, Andrew M.A. Cater <amac...@einval.com> wrote:

[...]

> > Exactly how did you copy the image onto the USB stick - what command did
> > you use and did you wait until it had copied fully?
> >
> > Andy Cater
>
> Andy, I did wait till it was done indeed. I copied the image to the USB with:
> dd if=/home/luben/Downloads/debian-live-11.5.0-amd64-gnome.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync
> I tried it without the:
>
> bs=8M; sync
> as well.

We don't know whether the copy was a problem. The `sync' is important,
though, and it is very important to wait until it finishes. Otherwise
the data may be in RAM, still waiting to be pushed out to the stick.

The `bs=8M' may or may not make the copy faster (in my experience,
it does, but not by a spectacular amount; my very incomplete tests
show a very flat maximum roughly in the abouts of 1M).

You can also ditch the sync and let dd do it. I recommend

dd if=<your image> of=/dev/sdb bs=1M oflag=sync status=progress

(the `status=progress' gives you some feedback on how far the copy
is, the `oflag=sync' makes that the write is synchronized, so you
don't have to wait for the sync at the end).

Cheers
--
tomás

[L Dimov]

Andrew, Thomas, and David:
Thank you for the suggestions.
The suggestions at https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/thunderbolt.html did not help, unfortunately.
I also got the same result with live-nonfree. I am however able to get Linux Mint to run live (tho I didn't install it because I want Debian), so I think it is a Debian issue. I tried Debian testing as well - also a no-go. I also tried installing (rather than running live) Debian stable and testing and with and without non-free, to no avail: during installation I get these error messages:

"No kernel modules were found. This probably is due to a mismatch between the kernel used by this version of the installer and the kernel version available in the archive. You should make sure that your installation image is up-to-date, or - if that's the case, try a different mirror, preferably deb.debian.org"

and later:

"Software RAID not available. The current kernel doesn't seem to support software RAID (MD) devices. This should be solved by loading the necessary modules"
as well as:
"The current kernel doesn't support the Logical Volume Manager. You may need to load the lvm-mod module."

Based on all that, sounds like lack of current hardware support in Debian for this machine because it is so new? I have the output of lshw, if that would help.
Thanks,
L

[Joe]

I take your point, but when things get tough, it's worth trying the
latest Knoppix CD download.

Knoppix cannot normally be cleanly updated, so it is of no use as a
working distribution, but it specialises in detecting and running
recent hardware.

If it does run OK (it certainly ought to if Mint does), then we can go
through the process of finding out what it is using that the standard
Debian installation does not provide. It is based on Debian, mainly
sid, so anything it can do, Debian can usually also do once we know
what is required.

If later drivers are needed that require a later infrastructure or
kernel than stable provides, we may be out of luck. I've tried
installing testing from scratch recently, claws-mail is missing
completely, and there are library problems.

--
Joe

[L Dimov]

On Saturday, December 3, 2022, 11:22:27 PM EST, L Dimov <ldd...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, December 1, 2022, 10:12:21 PM GMT+1, Andrew M.A. Cater <amac...@einval.com> wrote:


On Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 08:43:29PM +0000, L Dimov wrote:
>    On Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 03:28:33 PM EST, Andrew M.A. Cater <amac...@einval.com> wrote:
>
>  On Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 06:58:11PM +0000, L Dimov wrote:
> > I am trying to run debian stable (11.5) live on a new Dell XPS laptop from a USB drive. After the Debian logo displays for a bout a minute, I get this text:
> >
> > DPC: RP PIO log size 0 is invalid
> > thunderbolt 0-0: reading DROM failed
> > BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)
> > Enter 'help' for list of built-in commans.
> > (initramsfs) _
> >
> > I tried it multiple times, including first formatting the USB as a FAT32. None of that helped.
> >
> > Any help in getting this party started will be greatly appreciated!
> > Thanks!
> > Luben
> >

Two things:

I'd suggest that you try using the unofficial .iso that includes the firmware.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.5.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/ - and pick your desktop from under there.

Andrew, Thomas, and David:
Thank you for the suggestions.
The suggestions at https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/thunderbolt.html did not help, unfortunately.
I also got the same result with live-nonfree. I am however able to get Linux Mint to run live (tho I didn't install it because I want Debian), so I think it is a Debian issue. I tried Debian testing as well - also a no-go. I also tried installing (rather than running live) Debian stable and testing and with and without non-free, to no avail: during installation I get these error messages:

"No kernel modules were found. This probably is due to a mismatch between the kernel used by this version of the installer and the kernel version available in the archive. You should make sure that your installation image is up-to-date, or - if that's the case, try a different mirror, preferably deb.debian.org"

and later:

"Software RAID not available. The current kernel doesn't seem to support software RAID (MD) devices. This should be solved by loading the necessary modules"
as well as:
"The current kernel doesn't support the Logical Volume Manager. You may need to load the lvm-mod module."

Based on all that, sounds like lack of current hardware support in Debian for this machine because it is so new? I have the output of lshw, if that would help.
Thanks,
L

SOLUTION: IN THE END, THE INSTALLATION WORKED OUT AFTER THE FOLLOWING:
in the BIOS/UEFI, under Storage, change the selection from "ACH/NVMe" to "RAID on"