#1 2018-06-16 23:28:48

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

I am burning midnight oil installing Helium on my Lenovo ex230. I am stuck failing to connect to a Debian mirror, any Debian mirror... The one that works (I just tested) for my stationary computer (ftp.se.debian.org) does not work and I have tried with Germany, Estonia and Finland. Both computers are hooked up to the same ISP via my apartment's ethernet. (My stationary computer is still running Deuterium.)

What now?
(apart from sleep)

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
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Piet Hein

ohnonot

...again

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 5,592

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

erm, just show us your sources.list, and if there's something in sources.list.d?

fwiw, these are working for me:

sudo cat /etc/apt/sources.list{,.d/*}
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

cat: '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/*': No such file or directory

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

The installer don't allow me move on. I am put in find-mirror-loop.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

ohnonot

...again

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 5,592

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

oh, you're still installing; sorry, i didn't get that.
you can do an offline install, then configure the mirrors later.

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

I have experimented a little this morning.

First trying to walk up and down the install process manually within the GUI and getting nowhere. Yes, I noticed I could bypass the mirrors step but then I was told Grub could not be installed.

Then I started all over again by checking my network connection in a live session -- it is OK. I then re-booted and started the installation from scratch hoping it would work better without midnight oil. It didn't. I ended up in the exact same place.

Next I tried an everything-default approach only entering my name and password. This works and I have been through the bl-welcome script. (I have yet to test wifi) But I don't have the partitioning, file system and HD encryption I used to have under Deuterium on this computer. Also I now have a long, random letter host name -- not very practical when doing command line stuff.

I have a sneaky suspicion that my attempts at picking a nice, short host name may have wrecked my network connection. This has worked in the past, though.

More experiments to be done but not now -- too nice weather.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

brontosaurusrex

Middle Office

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 2,755

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

For hostname one has to change /etc/hostname and  /etc/hosts irc. https://wiki.debian.org/HowTo/ChangeHostname

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My website full of interesting stuff.

ohnonot

...again

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 5,592

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

changing the hostname afterwards is not a biggie.
the partitioning and encryption however...
so maybe try one more install, leaving only the hostname unchanged?

if that works, there's still the question if this is specific to your (local, home) network or if you found a bug.

hhh

Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,181

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

You should still be able to install grub even when choosing to "Do not configure network" (or whatever the message is).

I'll do a test install to confirm this...

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I don't care what you do at home. Would you care to explain?

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

For hostname one has to change /etc/hostname and  /etc/hosts irc. https://wiki.debian.org/HowTo/ChangeHostname

Thanks, found a script there that worked like a charm.

And, that was all I had time for yesterday.

TBC

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

It has been a couple of days of other priorities but today I tried reinstalling with the intent of encrypting HDD and using btrfs. This time I did go with defaults for hostname as I now know I can change it to my taste later.

This does not help. I still fail to get the repo mirror configuration to work. It seems something I do when straying from the default, all automagic path for HDD-partitioning throws a spanner into the repo mirror configuration step.

More to test but not tonight.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

ohnonot

...again

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 5,592

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

i don't really know how to troubleshoot (you know, like provide some terminal output and syslogs and whatnot) installer issues, but that's what you need to do.

until then, all advice given will be a little vague.

of course i could websearch your issue for you, maybe:
https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?qu … encryption

Yes, I noticed I could bypass the mirrors step but then I was told Grub could not be installed.

even grub can be installed manually afterwards (from the live session again), but of course the question remains why you're seeing so many seemingly unrelated issues...

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

I just did an install involving manual HDD partitioning and going for btrfs for / and /home. I stayed away from encryption this time and now it worked like a charm. So, its /seems/ problems enter the process when I want encryption.

Additional information: So far I have been going for the GUI install option and Swedish.

I have noticed that the find mirror section of the install process does not look like the one in this video. Unless it fails I am not allowed to get a word in.

What's next? Try the comman line install process, I guess. This is a lptop so I would like to encrypt my HDD.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 801

Website

Re: Can't hook up to Debian mirror while installing He

I have just run the text-based installation. I actually found it clearer, easier to follow. However, the setting up of a Debian mirror still failed after me having encrypted my HDD. This time I managed to continue the installation and installing Grub worked just fine.

Another plug for the text-based installation: On a small screens like this I found some information on some screens ended up off-screen when running the GUI install. Not so for the text-based install.

I have just re-booted and have edited /etc/apt/sources.list -- successfully it seems as I am plowing through bl-welcome.

I must have done something different compared to when I installed Hydrogen last summer. Now I have to enter my encryption password for each encrypted partition where I only hade to do it once before. That midnight oil again...

Anyway, I think I finally have a set-up that works to my liking.

/Martin

---

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein