I upgraded/rebuilt a system that died (dual boot on AMD Kaveri). Basically just replaced processor; mobo, and RAM (Ryzen 5700G; Asrock ITX/TB3;. DDR4-4400), and kept the boot drives (one for Windows and one for Manjaro).
It will boot into windows. However, when I try to boot into Manjaro I just get a black screen, so it seems to be hanging on something which, I have no idea what that could be.
Also, I still have the optical disk which I originally bought to obtain Manjaro (19.0). If I try to boot to the optical drive, it runs through a startup sequence, but then hangs when it reaches TLP system startup/shutdown (something along those lines–see attached pic).
Anyway, I know I can boot into windows and then download a fresh install of Manjaro, but I’d like to try and understand what is going on here. Many thanks in advance for any help.
EDIT:. Tried attaching the pics but I’m getting an error that says I “can’t embed media”. Maybe has to do with being a new forum member?
There is a good chance the image on the usb is corrupted. If its a new image did you check the hash of the iso file you downloaded to make sure it was a good download? If its the 19.0 image, download a up to date image, and check the hash. Updating from that far back is likely to lead to problems.
Hi, Jim, thanks for the reply. As I stated above, it’s an optical disk, not a USB. The system drive I was using is an SSD, and that is the one that just black screens. If I try to boot off the optical disk, that’s the one that goes through the long sequence that scrolls like you’re in terminal, but still never goes to desktop. It reaches a line that says “Started TLP system startup/shutdown.”, and then just stops doing anything.
Anyway, one thing I’m wondering is if there’s anything I can do from terminal to check the SSD or look for anything in hardware that could be creating problems (before initiating the startup sequence, the optical disk shows a menu which includes an option to go into terminal).
I wouldnt go looking any farther than the optical drive or the disk. If you are using a optical drive, it is possible the dvd is scratched if its the 19.0 image. You could also have a problem with the drive. I know from experience that those drives eventually go bad and dont read disks.
can you enter into tty? boot normally into manjaro and in the stuck screen press ctrl+alt+f2 - or f1-f6 keys instead, enter your username/password and provide output from: mhwd -li - just type here whats there, for example: video-linux; video-nvidia etc…
brahma, thanks for the suggestion. I definitely will try that.
Just to clarify, when you say “get into tty”, is that the same as getting to a command terminal (or perhaps not interchangeable but effectively the same for our purposes)? And is hitting ctrl+alt+f2 (or f1-f6) a “shortcut” way of getting there?
Maybe these questions will answer themselves just by doing as you say. I have no recollection of my username/password, though (it has been several years since the system died), so the attempt may be an abortive one. . . .
Well, a slight exaggeration perhaps. A good two years, I think. Kind of a long story having mainly to do with COVID and scarcity of parts making everything unaffordable for a while there.
Manjaro 19.0 is from September 2020. Its possible that the new parts you installed do not have drivers in the 19.0 kernel, the CPU was released six months later in 2021. You will likely have to reinstall with an up to date image.
Yes, unused, though Jim.B’s comment tells me it’s probably been more like a year to a year and a half, since I got the install DVD right about the time 19.0 came out and I was using it for at least 6 months or so when my system died. I could hook the boot drive to my windows laptop to see that last date the disk was updated. Kind of a moot point, though, I think?
I do understand the point about drivers (this is why I included the basic details of old hardware/new hardware). At the same time I wonder how the system boot gets as far as it does, but then somehow the drivers are stopping it? Where drivers end and lower (or higher?) level stuff begins, I dunno, seems sort of overly mysterious. I mean, I am getting graphical output and mouse and keyboard work. Further, my pretty poor understanding of Linux doesn’t help, obviously. For example, I have no idea where in the boot sequence the system is when it hits “Started TLP system startup/shutdown”. I know there has been quite a long scroll up to that point, but what the TLP system startup/shutdown is, and what comes next? No idea.
Anyway, I am about to give your tty suggestion a try. If I am able to get into command terminal, is it then conceivable that I could run a sudo to get the disk image to update? Perhaps an unnecessarily complicated process, esp if the update has to be done in stages. I’m just trying to get a picture of what is going on, and what might be done to resolve the situation without resorting to “force majeure/ex machina” solutions, if that is even feasible.
you can try enter into tty, but if you dont remember your username and password, well you cant enter into it… if you do provide first output from: mhwd-kernel -li
I see you didnt include a graphics card. If you are using the built in graphics of the CPU its very likely that that is whats stopping the boot at a black or frozen screen because of lack of drivers for the video output of the chip. Up to that point the system is running on basic video output. TLP is a power saving feature, and it may not be the cause of the problem unless you see a specific error, the next thing in the list may be causing it and not show because it freezes the system.
All that being said, trying to troubleshoot a almost 2 year old system with hardware released after the OS is going to result in nothing but problems. The first step is to make sure the OS is up to date to eliminate that and then move forward.
Even if you somehow managed to get to the point of somehow trying to update the existing install, its likely to fail. Manjaro is a rolling release distro, updating anything more than a month old can lead to problems, at 2 years problems are guaranteed.
Now that is a very valid point. For a variety of reasons, I was trying to figure out whether I can resolve the issues (whatever they are) “in-system”, but I’m prepared to go the route of a fresh install if necessary.
Looking at my download options, I’m not clear on the difference between “download full torrent” and “download full image”. Does the latter allow me to skip the process of creating a live usb with tools like rufus? In other words, just select “download full image”; choose the usb drive as the download destination, and I’ve got my live usb?
you still didnt try haha … but a fresh install would be probably just better as is mentioned by jim and jtyle … download latest iso, use ventoy to flash it, disable secure boot and fastboot and boot it
This is what is not adding up, though, because the system boot drive was regularly updated whereas the original install dvd was not. Yet the install dvd (older distro) is giving me graphical output while the updated system drive is black screening. Could be corrupted data. Or maybe what you’re saying is that the live dvd would also eventually black screen if it didn’t hang after TLP? In which case, there’s no other option than to do a fresh install. Part of the learning is in trying to navigate these kinds of problems, though.
It looks like you answered one of my questions, though. I wasn’t sure whether the “download full image” option on the downloads page meant “burning” the live disk (usb) was built in.
