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#1 2010-07-18 16:27:40

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

So I have an Inspiron 1525.  Replaced the hard drive on it, and now I can't get Arch to boot properly.  Got everything reinstalled without an issue, booted fine for all that, all the firmware and drivers that don't automatically work (xf86-input-synaptics, xf86-video-intel, linux-firmware) but when I reboot, it boots to a black screen.  Now the really odd thing, is that it's still set to boot runlevel 3, so it shouldn't even be trying to do anything X related.  And NONE of the ctl-alt-F1 through F12 are able to access a terminal, it just stays a blank black screen.  Ctl-Alt-Bkspc doesn't do anything, as Ctl-Alt-Del does nothing either.  The ONLY way I can get in is to pass the S argument on the kernel line.

This laptop used to work fantastically with Arch.

Specs:

C2D T8100, 3 GB ram, 160 GB hdd.  Intel X3100 graphics.  Intel 3945 wireless.

I know it's not a hardware issue, Win7 and Debian Squeeze are both on this box and working wonderfully without a single hiccup.

Last edited by tlmiller (2010-07-18 16:28:21)

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#2 2010-07-18 16:30:52

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

> The ONLY way I can get in is to pass the S argument on the kernel line.
And this works? You can run apps, access files?
Any errors: kernel, dmesg?

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#3 2010-07-18 16:43:43

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Yes, can work normally from the terminal, and all terminals work.  I have to manually /etc/rc.d/network start obviously since single user is no network by default, but it works fine once I start the service.

As for errors, never checked, and it's shut down right now.  Passing the S doesn't work EVERY time, and I got fed up with trying to get back in, if I can later again I'll check for errors.

Last edited by tlmiller (2010-07-18 16:46:45)

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#4 2010-07-18 16:45:31

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Check /etc/inittab.

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#5 2010-07-18 16:47:51

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

/etc/inittab is normal.  It is set to 3 as default, runlevel 5 is commented out, exactly as it should be on a fresh install.

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#6 2010-07-18 16:58:41

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Well, I guess it's a non-issue now, I just booted up 10 straight times passing the S argument and it didn't let me in once, so I give up trying to get in.  Thanks for your help though.

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#7 2010-07-18 17:09:58

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Sorry to hear that. A faulty drive maybe?
Any logs would be helpful.

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#8 2010-07-18 17:13:24

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

No, definitely not the drive.  Debian and Windows work fantastically well, onboard diagnostics shows no issues, diagnostics cd finds no issues.  I'm just gonna blow out this install and put Kubuntu in it's place, I would prefer Arch, but I don't wanna go through the whole install process again, doubly so if I don't know what was causing the issue, so most likely will just wind up at the same point again.

I still need to put Arch back on my Studio laptop, so if I wind up in the same issue with that (won't be today, maybe sometime this week), I'll resurrect this thread.

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#9 2010-07-18 17:16:04

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Did you change anything when you still could get in?
_That's_ the weird part - 's' in the kernel line works, then it doesn't anymore - out of the blue.

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#10 2010-07-18 17:22:28

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Ok, quick history of install.

Boot, install, reboot to get into system.
pacman -Syu, update pacman.  pacman -Syu again, update system.  Saw kernel updated, rebooted to take effet.
pacman -S <all the various software I use>.  rebooted.  At this point, no config files have been touched.
Couldn't get in, issue as described.  Tried passing 3, no change, tried passing 2, no change.  Tried passing S, was able to get in.
Rebooted a few times after looking at various things, it would usually take between 3-4 tries passing S that I was able to get in, not EVERY time, but often enough that it wasn't a huge deal.

So it started as soon as X was installed (amongst a bunch of other software), but X shouldn't have been doing anything.  I point out X because it ACTS like X when it fails to load.

Last edited by tlmiller (2010-07-18 17:23:15)

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#11 2010-07-18 17:35:20

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Maybe it's not X but video drivers, KMS.

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#12 2010-07-18 17:39:18

tlmiller
Member
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 93

Re: Replaced hard drive, can't reinstall

Yeah, thought of that.  Because the first time I installed I forgot to install my xf86-video-intel.  So after the initial reboot that I couldn't get in, I installed them, and of course didn't change anything.

Had not yet created a xorg.conf.  HAD ran X -configure and tested that, which resulted in the same behavior.

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