Problem installing chaletOS

Hello. Because it looks realy cool and runs nice in live-mode in want to install Chalet OS an only operating system on 2 computers. The first is an intel-based Minix-ITX mini computer. The second is a Compaq C500 laptop. On both systems i can NOT install ChaletOS. In the final fase of installing i get a message that the install has stopped and a message is send to the developers. I end up with unbootable systems (a dash prompt). When the programm crashes its running dpkg (final stage). I tryed both 32-bit and 64-bit images, installing from USB (Unetbootin) and fro a DVD (burned at the lowest possible speed). I am an experiaced Linux user/installer (not a terminal wizzard).

Who can help...please...

Hello and welcome to the forums! that is not unusual, I believe you are dealing with uefi computers. You have 2 options.

1: disable UEFI. Google search "enter BIOS on [insert make and model of your computer]" and follow those directions to enter CMOS setup. then find somewhere that either says "enable legacy boot" or "disable UEFI boot" and disable it. Then reinstall chalet OS.

2: Try to get around uefi. This can be difficult but here's the instructions:

1. Install chalet os normally. At the end you will recieve an error saying that GRUB didn't install. hit ok and end the installation. (thankfully GRUB is the last thing that installs )

2. Open a terminal and run the following commands:

Code:

sudo bash
add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
apt-get update
apt-get install boot-repair

then run:

Code:

boot-repair

After sellecting the recommended options and a few minutes of waiting it will then ask you to run some code. copy it all and paste in new terminal window. (It will do this twice).

When it is done, reboot, when prompted remove installation media and hit enter, and you should be all set!

Hope this helps!

Hello James. I'll try this later today. Both systems, especialy the Compaq C500 are pritty " dated" and as far as i know both BIOS dont support UEFI but.. i might be wrong. More to follow

Hello James. I have tryed all possible options on my PC, the BIOS is Aptio Setup Utility (c)2011 American Megatrents Inc. Version is 2.14.1219. I read on the web you have to disable " fastboot" but there is never an option to switch off UEFF. Probably because the harddisk is an Samsung EVO-750 SSD that is auto recognized? So i did the following:

Install Xubuntu. No problems there, installs and runs good
Install ClearOS. No problems there
Install OpenSuze. No problem
Install Lubuntu. Also no problems installing and running.

Yes, this took some time :-)

I then went to a friend and we tryed to install ChaletOS on a Compaq EVO740 PC with a "traditional" Sata harddisk and BIOS. Same problem. Then we went on and try to install ChaletOS on a Siemens PC with one IDE harddisk. Also, no luck installing the OS, same crash of installprogram (at dpkg) as described earlyer.

Because other Debian/Xfce/Lxde linux-es install fine on all systems(!) i realy think there is something wrong with the code of ChaletOS?

Suggestions anyone??

this is because chaletos is not good at handling uefi and yes that must be fixed. Why don't you try the boot-repair option?

Hi James. I never reach a point where i can add a ppa or do anything. The install stops with the error message. In live mode i can not install ppa's or software. The system, when booted with the, upto then installed software, starts in a loop, keeps on rebooting. I understand the uefi problem but i get the same result on systems with no uefi support what soever. So.. solution is wait for the problem to be fixed?

ok, try doing this instead:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/apt/source.list.d/yannubuntu-boot-repair-saucy.list

then paste this:

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu saucy main

use ctrl+x to exit and then press "y" to confirm save the document then hit enter to confirm the write location.
then run in terminal

Code:

sudo apt-get update

then run[/code]sudo apt-get install boot-repair[/code]

Hope this works better!

Hello James. Thanks for your response and, above all, your patience!

Just tryed to follow your lead but let me explain. After the install crashes i end up in the " normal" live session.  (can not add the ppa). After rebooting the system i end up with one of 2 states.

State 1, the PC keeps on rebooting, its in a loop.
State 2, i get a Dash prompt. Any (realy any) command i give here is not recognized.

There is NO point where i get, or am able to, open, a terminal to enter the commands you suggest. To get a terminal, like any other linux, Chalet-OS needs to run /boot on the system.

Now i wondere, as ChaletOS is based on Debian and XFCE, would it be possible to first install, lets say Xubuntu, and from there load the ChaletOs desktop? I know its possible to, for example, install lubuntu and then load / get the E11 desktop. Can i install Debian and from there switch to ChaletOS?

Later today i will try to install ChaletOS beside (multiboot) Lubuntu (now on the PC) to see if this gives a beter result. Before doing so i am following your advise by installing the bootrepair to make sure i can "try something" to fix it.

I wonder why you can't open a terminal. Just search "terminal" in the start menu and a terminal emulator should pop up. Or I think ctrl+alt+t works on live cd too.

If you followed my instructions to edit /etc/apt/source.list.d/yannubuntu-boot-repair-saucy.list and remember to use sudo apt-get update it should work.

If you have further errors can you describe them in more detail? thanks!

This is probably not worth mentioning since you had trouble with the DVD also; however, previous versions of Chalet didn't work well when made with Unetbootin. Lots of people had trouble using it in the past.

Recommendations were to use...

If using Windows, Rufus seems to work well...

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

or...Universal USB Installer worked well in the past...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

If using Linux (Debian or Ubuntu based), Mintstick has always worked well for me. Here's a link to download it as a .deb file. The latest version is at the bottom of the list...

http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/main/m/mintstick/

If you get rufus it does not magically do it well, you should do it in DD mode, NOT Iso mode. as long as you are in DD mode it works great.

And for Linux I do not go for mintstick, my favorite is actually using dd in the terminal. This is what I would do (on Linux):

1. open directory containing iso image
2. run "sudo bash"
3. enter sudo password
4. open "disks"
5. Find out USB device label, usually /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc. DO NOT include number after the label, eg /dev/sdb1 ignore the one.
6. run in terminal "dd if=[filename.iso] of=/dev/sd[x]
7. Wait until you see [username]@[hostname](new text entry line) then your write is done

I find that using dd in the terminal insures the best quality USB burns and *never* fails

Hi James. OK, first the options you mentioned before. If i use the "bash nano" option i get a write error. This is logic because...i am running in live mode and van not write to the live medium (the dvd). The Compaq C500 does not support booting from USB. I am now running the DD version on both the Minix-itx as well as on the Compaq that is giving up on me (keyboard). I altered the Compaq-BIOS to not support legacy. I read this had to be done to install "older OS-es". Its a Windows machine in origine and Compaq can be difficult with these settings. Luckely OnBoard works fine in live mode. Still running so i have to get back later today (or tomorrow) with the result. (somehow can not attche the screendump i made from error)

you altered BIOS to not support legacy? no, we want it to support Legacy! the opposite is uefi which we don't want.

Hi james, i see your point but Compaq sees it another way, it works opposite but you have to say "disable" so it will support " older OS". Now here is where i am:

After altering (so it support older OS) i was able to install ChaletOS on the Compac C500 laptop (YESSS). I was NOT able to get it running on the other system (same error). Now i did apt-get update followed by an apt-get dist-upgrade and waited for the system (C500) to finish, then did a reboot. I then took the SSD out of the other PC and connected it to the USB port of the Compac using a special cable. Now i did:

DD if= /dev/sda of=/dev/sdb conv=noerror,sync

Copying the OS from the compaq to the Minix PC. This took a staggering 5 hours to complete. I then placed the SSD back in the Minix and booted. First there was an error saying a device was not found but then o got the Debian bootscreen and selected ChaletOS. I got the ChaletOS bootscreen with the turning circle but after abt. 30 secs the screen went black and i came into a "busybox build in" kinda terminal. A lot of commands available when i type help. I spoted wget so it should be possible to download stuff? Anyhow, NEARLY there but i got to find out what to do next.

No more time now so probably tomorrow. Any hints? tips?

Jim, Some additional information: When i boot in recouverymode i get a message like "gave up waiting for boot device" and below this it sayes: UUID (blabla) does not exists droping to shell". I can see there is a command to changeroot but i realy have no knowledge on how to proceed. Hope this info helps?

I wish you could give more detailed information about your errors. Like exactly what the error messages say. So do this for me: tell me exactly what error you get when you install normally. Then I may be able to help.

JaNosh wrote:DD if= /dev/sda of=/dev/sdb conv=noerror,sync

Now I see another problem, I don't think that would work. DD is made to move iso images to flash drives.

Wikepedia wrote:
dd is a command-line utility for Unix and Unix-like operating systems whose primary purpose is to convert and copy files.

Taken from Here
It can be used like the OP used and will place an exact copy (including UUID of partition) onto the other disk.

Hello James, i know the DD was a 'wild guess" for me due to lack of knowledge but it was a good learning excercise. (Dai thanks fot link also).

OK, when i install ChaletOS "normaly" i dont get any clue about what has gone wrong. Just a big white message saying the install program has stopped and information about that has been send to the maintainers. This is frustrating for me also because...no clue what went wrong. I did send a email to the ChaletOS team 2 weeks ago but never got a responce.

Today i am going to digg into the BIOS, i think your first remark that ChaletOS does not handle UEFI well was spot on. (confirmed by the succes with the Compaq C500 laptop). I think if i replace the Samsung SSD with a normal SATA harddisk i might be able to alter the UEFI setting in the BIOS. Want to give it a try. If so, assuming it then is possible to install, i can use DD to "clone" to the SSD and go from there? Can also try clonezilla for that but let's not get ahead. Will test with normal SATA this evening and get back to you.

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay, i had to work also but i found some friends willing to help with the testing. Here are our findings:

UEFI
On newer systems where you can NOT toggle UEFI on/of in the BIOS installing ChaletOS seems impossible. The install program stops in the latter stage of installing (while running dpkg) without any clue on why it has stopped. This problem persisted over 3 tested PC's (Minix-ITX, Asus X101C and a Packard-Bell standard dual-core desktop).

Keyboard
On the systems where ClearOS could be installed (Minix-ITX and Asus X101C) the keyboard is not working correct. The scroll-lock in ON and can not be toggled. Also the IOP-JKL-BNM keys are now nummeric keys 123-456-789. First the impression was that the computer(s) or keyboard(s) where broke but they worked fine in any other OS. You can use the on-board keyboard, this works well but it's unworkable when wordprocessing. This problem is already there in LIVE mode.

Screen
We found that the " right-click" menu is shown behind the active window. If you copy a password and use right-click to past it the menu is shown behind the password dialog so you can not use right-click in that way, you need Ctrl-V. There where more screen issues but this is now beeing tested / determinated.

Conclusion:
ChaletOS is one of the (if not the) nices't looking Linux-OS we encounterd upto now. At this stage it is probably NOT the right choise to use as only OS on a computer. It needs some work but has (in our opinion) the potential to be a "number one" Linux distro. On 2 (out of 6) test machines it was running nice in Live mode but here and there we encountered some issues that will be reported. We did NOT test running the OS as second OS/ dualboot system neither running it in a virtual machine (my job for this evening).

Hope the team will fix this as soon as possible. Will check distrowatch each day

On my personal note: James, i would like to thank you for your help, idea's, time, patience, lessons and knowledge. You are the best! Other responders also thanks.

Subject should be: not solved

no problem, feel free to ask more questions if necessary

stupid people you can not repear the downloaded iso (the chaletos iso dont work on any system try it enuff , if it not install on virtualbox not on vmware and not on a main computer ? conclusion is corrupted iso

chaletosuser wrote:stupid people you can not repear the downloaded iso (the chaletos iso dont work on any system try it enuff , if it not install on virtualbox not on vmware and not on a main computer ? conclusion is corrupted iso

Please do not verbally abuse other members on this forum by calling them stupid, they are all doing their best to help.
I will give you a official warning and if the abuse continues, we have no option other than to delete/ban your account.

I mean I always thought to launch a version after only 2 weeks of testing is not long enough. However I did not have any errors on the virtualbox install