Yet another "LM19.1 installer crash" post. [not SOLVED but worked around]

[NTL]

Hi.

HW: HP Elitebook Folio 1020 G1. Samsung 860 EVO 1TB M.2. Transcend USB 2.0 stick.

linuxmint-19.1-cinnamon-64bit; live USB boots fine (UEFI) and runs well. Installer starts and lets me get as far as the "enter username" part, then crashes. It does this consistently. The crash error message tells me I can send a crash report after I shut the window down. Unfortunately the window/installer really HARD crashes and are unresponsive so I can't close it. Killing the process does not start any "crashdump" app and I can't find any crash logs anywhere.
Help pls

sha256sum checks out.
I have read the release notes and tried the documented workaround (does not work).
I have tested Ubuntu 18.04 and BodhiLinux 5.0. These install without problems. Attempting to install LM19.1cin on top of these still result in the installer crashing.

[redlined]

hi NTL,

I'm new to Linux and this made me curious, I'm thinking it sounds like kernel issue with that 1TB M.2 involved, but think Ubuntu18.04, which you did install successfully, is same kernel as LM19, and older than 19.1 out of the box anyways, so that doesn't fit :/ so maybe it's graphics card related then...

Lets get some more environment info from you so more experienced members in forums can assist straightaway if they should see something recognized.

Please open terminal, then copy the following command: inxi -Fxzd and paste into terminal then hit enter. Copy all those results and paste back into your next reply between code tags you make by click the </> icon (top left side) on your reply edit box. Thanks!

edit to add: forgot to mention, just installed LM19.1 in UEFI mode for first time ever a couple weeks ago. Make sure secureboot is disabled in bios is my suggestion. There is a shim that can get configured in to alleviate issues with secure boot but I'd look at working that aspect once you got LM19.1 up and running.

[NTL]

Hi redlined,

secure boot is disabled

inxi output:

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ inxi -Fxzd
System:
  Host: mint Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc 
  v: 7.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.8 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 
  v: A3009DD18303 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 2271 v: KBC Version 91.50 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Hewlett-Packard v: M77 Ver. 01.22 date: 07/29/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 31.1 Wh condition: 33.0/33.0 Wh (100%) 
  model: Hewlett-Packard Primary status: Unknown 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core M-5Y51 bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Broadwell rev: 4 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 10376 
  Speed: 799 MHz min/max: 500/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 801 
  3: 798 4: 798 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5300 vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5300 (Broadwell GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.5 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Broadwell-U Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 
  Device-2: Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-20-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I218-LM vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e 
  v: 3.2.6-k port: 3080 bus ID: 00:19.0 
  IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: ef80 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 935.29 GiB used: 34.7 MiB (0.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Transcend model: JetFlash Transcend 4GB 
  size: 3.77 GiB 
  Message: No Optical or Floppy data was found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 3.60 GiB used: 34.7 MiB (0.9%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 30.0 C mobo: 0.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 198 Uptime: 1m Memory: 7.21 GiB used: 593.0 MiB (8.0%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.27 
mint@mint:~$ 

[NTL]

Just to eliminate the question of the "possibly unsupported 1TB SSD", I replaced it with a Lite-On 128GB SSD. Same results.
The installer actually crashes after I continue past the partitioning section. What I wrote about crashing after getting to the user name section was just due to not waiting long enough at the location section.
Using gparted partitions the SSD just fine. Installer still crashes when run on manually partitioned SSD.

Also, just now tested LM19 and this installs without problems.

Perhaps I'll just leave it at that and skip 19.1

[Moem]

Or you could get from 19 to 19.1 by upgrading through the Mint Updater.

[NTL]

Thanks Moem for slapping my face and pointing the bleeding obvious out to me.
Fantastic how near sighted or outright blind one can get when trying to solve a problem. Updater worked fine

(still interested in why 19.1 installer behaves the way it does on my computer though )

[Moem]

Thanks Moem for slapping my face and pointing the bleeding obvious out to me.

Hah! Glad I could help. Yes, focusing too much on a certain part of a problem and overlooking other options that would solve it... that is certainly not something I have personally ever experienced, no way no how. *cough*

[redlined]

lol, install 19, then upgrade to 19.1... I missed that simple fix approach too (thankfully Moem stepped in to suggest such!

still curious (although already worked around) I was eyeballin that stock LM19 kernel (4.15.0-20) as potential culprit for choking on that M.2 drive, but guess not I recall another forum member was helping friend install LM19 on such new hardware, high speed gaming rig with M.2, and they gave up in frustration at install time fails, so well done there!

otherwise this line from your inxi:

ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
</>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 3.60 GiB used: 34.7 MiB (0.9%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102

tells me something is wrong, and is where I'd search for answers if we had gone forward troubleshooting.

anyways, looks like we got done here, so... next!

edit to add:
ps. it may be worth your while to pull up another inxi -Fxzd, and lsusb and blkid just to look for any issues that may be present. That fs overlay err-102 doesn't sound good if that was somehow ignored going back and installing 19. I'm not coming up with good search engine hits on the error, I can only imagine it is related directly to M.2 drive and how new they are.

[thx-1138]

...fs: overlay source: ERR-102 doesn't mean there's something wrong with the installation's procedure (or installation media) per se.
It's 'just' an internal error code of inxi for unknown devices...you can check inxi itself.

Now why inxi returns such when run from a live system however, no idea / i can't say...
I vaguely assume it can't parse something from /sys/block/ for some reason,
but i'm not a programmer so certainly don't take that seriously (i'd like to know / understand that myself as well...)

[redlined]

wow, code line 5455, nice find thx-1138!
(had read down to line 1000 or so before Ctrl+f to find err-102
always good to read code, dev comments can make it enjoyable- eg. ref: line 103-104 and 321

I vaguely assume it can't parse something from /sys/block/ for some reason,

on this, perhaps sudo will help? (disregarding dev code comment 321 lol... I find it strange that a Linux filesystem could not be determined by inxi and remain leery that somehow as formatted there is/was some underlying issue (overlayfs that has to do with those newish M.2 SSD's? would hate to learn the setup was built on a 'house of cards' and one day something does it's best to ruin the experience. Not trying to be alarmist, but worth checking syslogs for such filesystem or hardware errors that might signal trouble ahead if not corrected in timely manner

edit to add: on second thought (and another read back) maybe not...

Just to eliminate the question of the "possibly unsupported 1TB SSD", I replaced it with a Lite-On 128GB SSD. Same results.

seems more a manual partitioning using gparted may have been involved with creating the issue? as OP reported point of failure for live installer was at that transition for LM19.1, both drives, but worked fine to get LM19 installed

[Moem]

lol, install 19, then upgrade to 19.1... I missed that simple fix approach too (thankfully Moem stepped in to suggest such!

Laziness is its own reward.

[mrmajik45]

Remember folks efficiency is just clever laziness. -Echo (R6S)

[thx-1138]

redlined: no idea myself how overlayfs works - i'm not that advanced by any means,
pretty much all i know about it is that such gets mounted when inside live environments.
Ie. i really can't tell such is an inxi bug...a quirk / inherent limitation posed from overlayfs...or even both.
But in any case, the message is not something to worry in regards to a possibly troublesome installation...
as it is, it's more of a red herring if you will.

Moem & mrmajik45: that's the spirit...

[NTL]

seems more a manual partitioning using gparted may have been involved with creating the issue? as OP reported point of failure for live installer was at that transition for LM19.1, both drives, but worked fine to get LM19 installed

No, the manual partitioning with gparted (attempted workaround) was performed at a later time, just in case the installer was crashing during its partitioning phase as it seemed to do.
Prior to this, the installer (19.1) repeatedly & consistently crashed on both drives with the "erase all and install..." option.

All working fine now though so me == happy camper

[pcpunk]

I just seen this same problem in another post, so youre saying this is due to choosing "Erase Disk and Install Linux Mint"???