Grup Yorum install fail on Acer Aspire laptop

[Member roland]

Dear Friends,

I recently tried to install 19.4 on a Acer Aspire laptop, one I have been using for about 2 years with 17.4 installed. The 17.4 install went through correctly and the laptop has performed ever since as expected. This laptop does not have a separate hard drive, instead it has 64mb soldered directly on the mainboard, therefore has a fixed configuration.

Because I wanted to avail myself of the 19.4 facility to have the boot, root and home directories on separate partitions, I had to delete all the existing partitions and create the new ones according to a rough idea I had regarding sizing and placement, which on this laptop may well have been far from ideal.

The install failed at format root partition. The screenshots attached give the partition picture and details, the usage I specified to the installer, the fail message and the option I was offered a regular install using the entire disk. This option I did try, it also failed but with a long hang attempting to format something, I failed to observe what but can repeat that if required.

I tried to create an extended partition in the first instance, to contain swap root and home partitions as logical, but Gparted would not allow this, these options being ‘greyed’ out of the menu. I only tried this because I thought 4 physical partitions may be one too many. Maybe this is indeed the case? I am too inexperienced to say.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions, whether they lead to a solution or not.

Attachments:

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   partitions.jpg
   

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   partition_usage.jpg
   

3. 

   format_fail_root.jpg
   

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   offers_regular_install.jpg
   

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi Roland, 3 Physical and one extended partition is the normal setup, more is not possible.

[Member roland]

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The installer does not seem to think that 4 physical partitions are 1 too many. I agree that I always regarded 3 as a maximum,which is why I usually embed them in an extended partition thus allowing further physical partitions. When I tried to run an install using the defaults, allowing the installer to make all the choices for me, it created 4 partitions, 3 of which are correctly formatted for this laptop, and one which was apparently not formatted, but which I guess was intended for linux swap.

I can now get nowhere with 19.4 on this laptop despite it having run 17.4 for over 2 years after a relatively event-free install.

Any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.

Attachments:

1. 

   installer_creates_4_partitions.jpg
   

2. 

   regular_install.jpg
   

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   default_creates_4_parts.jpg
   

[Member Xecure]

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Before installing, first disable automounting (Control Centre > Disks > Configure Automounting > Disable “automount external devices”.
Next, update the programs in the live system in case there is a newer version of the antiX installer in the repos.
Next, launch Gparted and unmount any mounted partitions in the internal device.
Next, launch the installer. Is your system UEFI enabled? choose the advanced partitioning option and the EFI partition make it fat32. If it is Legacy_BIOS, then remove the EFI partition and continue the installation.

Also,you may want to share the system info of the live session.
inxi -Fxz

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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There is a bug with installing to mmcblk.
It should be fixed with installer version 1.6.1 (not yet it repo), but sent to our repo manager to put it there as soon as possible.

You can download the deb from here

Install by opening a terminal where the deb is downloaded to and type

sudo apt install ./antix-installer_1.6.1_amd64.deb

Then run Install again.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member roland]

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Thanks for your responses. I tried each suggestion in turn, first that of Xecure:-

I formatted the EFI partition to fat32 after turning on advanced. Unmounted all mounted partitions with gparted. Turned off automount external with spaceFM. My system is (I believe) UEFI enabled, I have been running 17.4 booting from an EFI partition for 2 years. The writeable USB I used for the install was created from a recently downloaded full version of 19.4 Grup Yorum so I would expect it to be up to date. As a quite new laptop I did not think the bios would come into the legacy category (I assume).

The install failed attempting to format the EFI partition as fat32.

Next the anticapitalista suggestion:-

I downloaded the updated installer as suggested from the link he provided. The install (to my USB system) appeared to run correctly, although I received a warning that the installer was already the latest version (see log below).

The install using defaults throughout failed (hung) formatting /root, but unfortunately I failed to switch to live install log. I will repeat any of the suggestions offered if I have not taken enough diagnostics for an adequate examination.

Below are screenshots from both attempts, and the inxi requested by Xecure. Thanks for your efforts.

demo@antix1:/media/demo/USB-DATA/acer_aspire_install_problem
$ su
Password: 
root@antix1:/media/demo/USB-DATA/acer_aspire_install_problem# apt install ./antix-installer_1.6.1_amd64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'antix-installer' instead of './antix-installer_1.6.1_amd64.deb'
antix-installer is already the newest version (1.6.1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
root@antix1:/media/demo/USB-DATA/acer_aspire_install_problem# inxi -Fx2
System:
  Host: antix1 Kernel: 4.9.0-264-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: IceWM 2.3.4 dm: SLiM 
  Distro: antiX-19.4_x64-full Grup Yorum 20 May 2021 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A114-31 v: V1.09 
  serial: NXSHXEB0017331506A7600 Chassis: type: 10 serial: N/A 
  Mobo: APL model: Bulbasaur_AP v: V1.09 serial: NBSHX110027331506A7600 
  UEFI: Insyde v: 1.09 date: 10/17/2017 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 15.7 Wh condition: 34.2/37.0 Wh (92%) volts: 7.4/7.7 
  model: PANASONIC AP16M5J serial: 4497 status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Celeron N3350 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Goldmont rev: 9 L1 cache: 56 KiB L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 4377 
  Speed: 1000 MHz min/max: 800/2400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 999 2: 1101 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5a85 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 500 (Broxton 2x6) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor N4200/N3350/E3900 Series 
  Audio Cluster 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:0e.0 chip ID: 8086:5a98 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.9.0-264-antix.1-amd64-smp 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 1000 
  bus ID: 02:00.1 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: a8:1e:84:d1:97:12 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Lite-On driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 1000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:0042 
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: f8:28:19:bf:9a:c1 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 79.92 GiB used: 1.24 GiB (1.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: DF4064 size: 58.24 GiB serial: 0xa62aba52 
  ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: TransMemory 
  size: 14.45 GiB serial: C412F52D6C85C1B04002F6EC 
  ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: TransMemory size: 7.23 GiB 
  serial: 1078D2C4F5BDCF317099F81F 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 2.97 GiB used: 17.7 MiB (0.6%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 36.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 149 Uptime: 17m Memory: 3.77 GiB used: 310.2 MiB (8.0%) 
  Init: SysVinit v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 
  Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 running in: roxterm inxi: 3.0.36 
root@antix1:/media/demo/USB-DATA/acer_aspire_install_problem#

Attachments:

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   format_EFI_fat32_fails.jpg
   

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   formatting_EFI_failed.jpg
   

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   install_hangs_format_root.jpg
   

[Member Xecure]

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It seems to always fail on the format ESP partition step, which i strange.
Tomorrow I will try to charge my tablet again (the charging port is a bit loose), backup everything and try to install antiX 19.4 on it, as it also has a emmc drive. I will see if I can figure something out then.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member Xecure]

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I finally got to revive the laptop, made a backup and finally booted antiX 19.4 full (loaded to ram, as the USB port randomly disconnects). Updated only the antix-installer package, made some space on the emmc for a ext4 antix19 partition, and ran the minstaller. The custom partitions I used were only the 100MBs ESP partition (preserved automatically) and the new 7GBs ext4 partition for root (/). No swap or /home or anything else.
Successfully installed. There was no problems in the installation process and the ext4 partition was properly formated.
Rebooted and went directly to the new install.

The only difference compared to your tries is different partition layouts (only 1 root partition and 1 ESP one), and I booted toram (as trying to do it from the USB drive had it disconnect halfway and never got to install).

Try booting with toram, removing the USB device once properly booted, update the installer and try installing again.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member roland]

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I shall try to replicate your install Xecure, when time allows, but as I am not even slightly short of ram I am not certain that I should use the toram boot option, however I can try both ways.

However I feel there are unknowns here which I would appreciate comments on or answers to.

Firstly if 3 partitions is a maximum (not counting an extended partition), why does Gparted permit them to be created in the first place? Is the answer that the EFI partition is a special category (like extended and logical) and so is in fact permitted as an extra? If so what is the suggested size and format of this partition? If defaults are used Gparted has to allocate a fat16 (vfat?) partition to succeed. Advanced options have to be used to create a fat32 partition. What format is recommended for EFI?

My EFI partition was already on the laptop when it arrived with Windows10. I used the original EFI partition when I installed 17.4, I think it was 100mb, not sure about that. the 17.4 install had only 2 (swap and root+home) partitions. It installed clean and ran without trouble. But 19.4 will not accept an identical disk geometry, failing usually on one or another of the required formats. I deleted the EFI partition at some stage and created it afresh at 256mb. I wonder if this could be a contributory cause? Does something else have to be specified when the EFI partition is created? Some flag maybe?

Second, why does Gparted ‘grey out’ the extended and logical partition options? Is it related to the EFI system (I have no idea what this is) ? Maybe I should try using advanced options to make these selections visible?

I’ll get on with your suggestion and report back, although I’m not sure that I’m going in an organised direction here, just stabbing in the dark really.

Thanks for your contributions.

[Member Xecure]

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roland wrote:

Firstly if 3 partitions is a maximum (not counting an extended partition), why does Gparted permit them to be created in the first place?

GPT partition table has INFINITE (not really, but practically it is infinite) partition capacity. You need GPT partition table for UEFI systems. The partition limit is only on msdos partition tables (qhich don’t work with UEFI).

Also, 4GBs is more than enough for toram. My tablet also has 4GBs of RAM, and I had no trouble getting toram to work.

roland wrote:

My EFI partition was already on the laptop when it arrived with Windows10. I used the original EFI partition when I installed 17.4, I think it was 100mb, not sure about that. the 17.4 install had only 2 (swap and root+home) partitions.

I also reused the EFI partition. It worked without any problem.
As long it is formatted vfat or fat32, and has the ESP flag set in Gparted (if creating anew) it should work.

I will have a look at the partition flags in a bit and report back.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member Xecure]

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Efi system partition is fat32 with flags boot and esp.

I forgot I also have a 4GBs Swap, but that doesn’t really matter.

The most important part is that the partition table scheme is gpt.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member roland]

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I made 3 install attempts after creating the GTP partition table and the 4 partitions my install requires, EFI (fat32, boot & esp flags set), root (ext4), swap, home (ext4).

Creating the EFI fat32 partition, Gparted produced an exclamation mark error, but the partition existed. I set the boot & esp flags as suggested. The install failed formatting the root partition.

I then selected the ‘entire disk’ option, this install failed hanging, it did not report its last action in the log as formatting anything.

I formatted the EFI partition as fat16, without error, set the boot & esp flags as suggested, this install failed formatting the root partition.

I should install 17.4 at this point I suppose but do not like to walk awaya from such an interesting problem, and 19.4 is a big step up from 17.4.

Attachments:

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   install_1_with_efi_fat32_warning.jpg
   

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   install_1_fail_format_root.jpg
   

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   install_3_efi_fat16.jpg
   

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   install_3_fail_formatting_root.jpg
   

[Member roland]

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I have tried all the suggestions listed in the contributions above, with as many variations as I could think of, without success.

So I ducked the problem for the time being at least by regressing to 17.4.1, which I installed without difficulty on 3 partitions, GTP partition table, an ESP fat16 256mb with ESP and Boot flags, a swap 5gb, remainder root/home ext4, a configuration which 19.4 is unable to cope with on this laptop.

Therefore I have to conclude that there is some fatal problem with either the installer, or the program being installed, as the configuration is acceptable to 17.4.1. I was careful to ensure that the updated installer was in use throughout the failed install attempts.

Thanks for all contributions despite the lack of a solution.

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