[GTALUG] Debian install fails due to network failure

[sciguy]

On 2022-01-08 16:16, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | From: sciguy via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> 
> This second message had a lot more useful information.  That
> eliminates several hypotheses / blind alleys.
> 
> | On 2022-01-08 11:20, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | > [I hate top-posting but it seems best in this case.]
> |
> | [No prob. I hope you will tolerate my "interleaved" posting :-) ]
> |
> | >
> | > It sounds like you have two problems:
> | >
> | > (1) debian doesn't understand your network card (NIC)
> | >
> | > (2) your UEFI setup isn't doing what you need it to
> | >
> | > What is your computer?
> |
> | "Brand-X". My own concoction from a few years ago. The motherboard is 
> a ASUS
> | Maximus VI Hero. Video is a NVidia GeForce GTX 1660 supporting a dual 
> monitor.
> | Sound is on-board. Processor is an Intel Core i7-4770K.
> 
> If I remember correctly, computers of that era supported UEFI but were
> generally configured to use the alternative.  The alternative doesn't
> have an official name.  MBR or "Legacy" or "BIOS" are sometimes used.
> 
> It's best to have one booting scheme on a computer.  If your current
> Windows system is MBR, your Linux ought to be the same.
> 
> There are complexities.  Like: how do you support large disks with
> MBR?  The Linux convention is to use GPT partitioning but fake an MBR
> partition table to allow MBR booting.  I'm not going to discus that.
> 
> Is your Windows set up as UEFI-booting or as MBR-booting?
> 
> | > What is your NIC?
> |
> | The NIC is also just a chipset on the motherboard. On Windows, my 
> Device
> | Manager says that I am using "Intel Ethernet Connection I217-V". 
> Network
> | discovery is enabled. I don't have wireless on this computer. A 
> direct cat-5
> | goes to the router, and DHCP is used.
> 
> Google is your friend.
> 
> Is this your problem?:
> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=191981
> 
> It looks as if the Windows driver, if Wake on LAN is enabled, puts the
> device in a state that Linux cannot deal with.  Rebooting doesn't fix
> it.  Turning off the computer doesn't fix it.  Unplugging the computer
> long enough (30 seconds?) does work.
> 
> | > (2)
> | >
> | > UEFI can almost always be convinced to do what you need.  If you 
> are not
> | > used to it, you are probably trying to get it to do something 
> unnatural.
> | >
> | > Note: UEFI and GRUB are not alternatives: you will be using both.
> | >
> | > UEFI booting is a multi-stage process (true of all kinds of 
> booting)
> | >
> | > - UEFI starts
> | >
> | > - UEFI has a setting for what to boot.  This will be the path to a 
> .efi
> | >   file within the ESP (EFI System Partition) of the hard drive.
> | >
> | > - The ESP is a distinguished FAT partition.  It will have been 
> created by
> | >   installing Windows.  Linux needs to share it.
> |
> | I think this is a bottleneck. I notice that it stalls when "writing 
> to boot
> | record" or something like that. I never saw EFI mentioned by Linux, 
> so I
> | wouldn't know how to "share" the EFI with Linux. I notice it is not 
> doing it
> | on its own; or in the case of Debian, it just goes halfway.
> |
> | I have also just tried installing Slackware, and it happily installs, 
> but
> | stalls on the dialog for writing boot information. Pressing ENTER 
> cleared that
> | dialog and the install finished, but something was probably up, since 
> it only
> | booted partially, and only with a USB as a boot drive.
> 
> At least with Fedora, if you booted the installation medium with UEFI,
> it will try to install a UEFI system.  Note: the Fedora installation
> meddium can be boote using UEFI or MBR.  Make sure that your boot
> options boot the flash memory stick the same way as you want the
> installed system to boot.

What I ended up doing is enabling UEFI (which had to be done in 3 places 
in the
boot settings menu), disable secure boot, and set the boot order. I 
found on
another discussion group that Debian and Ubuntu Studio have a dedicated 
BIOS mode
and EFI mode. The installer auto-detects which menu to offer me after it 
scans
the BIOS/EFI. If it sees BIOS, install is in BIOS mode; if it is EFI, 
the install
is in EFI mode. I got the BIOS mode menu first, and that tipped me off 
to reboot
right away and go into the ASUS boot settings.

As a bonus, I installed Ubuntu Studio and the network now works. It also 
read
the desktop settings from my user accounts on /home, and it is as if I 
haven't
left (but for some programs that still need to be installed). But I do 
have an
internet connection and am sending this email over it right now.

I attempted to mount the EFI partition, but it won't met me chdir into 
it. :-(

Paul