Arch Linux

deathgabox

Member

Registered: 2023-07-27

Posts: 2

[Solved]HP 2133 doesn't boot correctly

Specs:
Cpu: VIA C7-M 1.2Ghz (X86)
Ram: 1024MB DDR2
Storage: 240GB HDD
No extenal GPU

The problem is just before giving access to the tty, everything looks correct, but after the message

created slice Slice /system/getty

or

created slice Slice /system/modprobe

the screen "tests" for a long time (I haven't seen if it has any ending, but it doesn't seem like it), with the sequence "Black, White, Red, Green, Blue, Gray and gradient from white to black.
System doesn't seem to respond to anything No caps lock lights, or tty change with Ctrl+Alt+F2.

I checked in the forums and the vast majority have to do with ram or application problems, but the iso archlinux32-2023.03.02-i686 enters some kind of "screen test", you can modify the kernel parameters to start, i try "nomodeset vga=0"  "loglevel=7", "loglevel=0" and "debug" to see if something going wrong, they all end up the same.
There are absolutely no errors or strange logs, it just doesn't log in (i guess)

Absolutely any help is welcome, I hope it's just a silly mistake that I'm missing

PD: It's my first post, any advice on how to improve my writing is appreciated too

Last edited by deathgabox (2023-08-04 22:43:53)

abaumann

Administrator

From: Zurich

Registered: 2019-11-14

Posts: 1,033

Website

Re: [Solved]HP 2133 doesn't boot correctly

Ah, this a nice little machine, I love machines like those. :-)

From:

https://web.archive.org/web/20110614093 … 09_div.PDF

I get that the GPU is a "VIA Chrome 9", which points to a xserver-xorg-video-openchrome and some frame buffer in the kernel.

Sadly framebuffers have been deprecated in the kernel, you could compile your own kernel with:

VIA UniChrome (Pro) and Chrome9 display support

enabled (not as module, integrated into the kernel). Then you have to remaster the ISO (or rather the USB installation stick).
(you can use https://git.archlinux32.org/archiso32/ for this). This is the reason for Arch32 packages like
https://www.archlinux32.org/packages/i4 … ileo-gen2/ ior https://www.archlinux32.org/packages/i6 … -olpc-xo1/.

What I sometimes do is to boot into the machine (hopes are, that it boots and just doesn't show anything on the screen),
type blindly 'passwd', set a password, then start '/usr/sbin/sshd' and hope that the network is available, so I can go into
the machine and at least debug what goes wrong.

Be preapared to a bumpy installation, as this case is most likely untested. :-)

deathgabox

Member

Registered: 2023-07-27

Posts: 2

Re: [Solved]HP 2133 doesn't boot correctly

thank you very much for your help ^^
Although I don't understand about remastering the iso

I found https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Via_Technologies and as a saving grace before trying anything else, I saw that you could modify a kernel parameter

modprobe.blacklist=viafb

so now at least it gets to a tty, and the installation works without problems, even modifying /etc/default/grub and redoing the configuration I can enter the tty, without modifying any kernel parameter again.
I can't start startx but that's another problem, with only tty it will be fine, is just a patch but it [solved] my problem.

edit: is a HP 2133 not a 3122 hehe