I trust it is OK to list all three problems I encountered with the Leap 15.1 installation in this one post. If necessary, I can split them off.
USB stick installation
I started with the intention of installing via USB stick. I downloaded the LEAP 15.1. iso file, checked the checksum, and installed it on the USB stick using SUSE Studio Imagewriter as instructed.
The installation on my desktop started correctly and I selected the installation option. However, the installation process terminated during the initial linux loading with a ‘kernel panic’. (I had experienced this behaviour during earlier OpenSuse installations so I decided to abandon the USB option this time again.
DVD Installation
I burned the same iso file on a DVD and the installation on the desktop went to a successful conclusion. Strangely, however, the installation on my laptop aborted with a message that libxcb-icccm4-04.1.lp151.2.2.x86_64.rpm was **‘broken, integrity check failed’ with an incorrect checksum. **
I wonder how this was possible since the error had not been notified during the desktop installation? I checked that the file had, indeed, been installed on the desktop.
By the way, I decided to abandon the upgrade alternative after I found that I lost my way through the (for me, at least) too complex instructions on the given link. Maybe others found the same. Shouldn’t the process be automated, including parking data on a temporary mount?
I can’t guarantee that, i am not to blame for some of the issues here, but perhaps others may be able to confirm some of my experience that may then lead to a correction here or there.
**My pressing issue is described under 2) above and I should be grateful for some hints as to what I might do. **Many thanks in advance!
It’s odd that installing from DVD is different from using the installer on USB. But I suppose it could be an issue with your USB hardware that triggers a problem.
Strangely, however, the installation on my laptop aborted with a message that libxcb-icccm4-04.1.lp151.2.2.x86_64.rpm was ‘broken, integrity check failed’ with an incorrect checksum.
The install was probably downloading that package from an online repo, and the repo was being updated at the time. You are usually redirected to a mirror for these, and your other install might have used a different mirror, or might have been at a time when the mirror was not in process of being updated. The chances are that this won’t happen on a retry.
[QUOTE
The install was probably downloading that package from an online repo, and the repo was being updated at the time. You are usually redirected to a mirror for these, and your other install might have used a different mirror, or might have been at a time when the mirror was not in process of being updated. The chances are that this won’t happen on a retry.[/QUOTE]
This is most strange! I have downloaded the LEAP 15.1 file again, checked the checksum, burned a new DVD and repeated the installation process:
**
The installation stops at exactly the same place, with exactly the same error, the expected checksum of the libxcb-icccm4 being the same as before, but the actual one is different.
Are you using the NET installer, or are you using the DVD installer?
If you are using the DVD installer, then when it asks about using online repos, click “No”. That way you only install from what’s on the DVD. I have done several installs from the DVD and I have never run into that problem.
Fundamentally,
Every time you write that ISO file, the result has to be checksummed again.
In other words, it’s not good enough to verify the checksum only after download, if you burn to DVD you have to check again. Or, if you image it to a USB dongle, you have to check again.
Depending on the software you’re using, some will do that checksum check when you burn or image but not all. Know the app you’re using, or do the checksum manually if you don’t know for sure.
Naturally, if you repeat imaging to DVD or USB repeatedly, the process may be flawed and you’re simply repeating the error.
Note also that the openSUSE install when started can checksum itself, it’s an option in the first menu you see.
I only use the DVD installer. I repeated the installation attempt again, this time being sure that I had not activated the WLAN connection, and therefore also no connection to any repo. (I believe, I had gone that way the first time round as well). The same thing happened. It seems that at each installation attempt the actual checksum of the libxcb-icccm4 package is a different value, so this is beginning to look like a problem with the DVD burning process.
I haven’t found the way to checksum the DVD. The mount point is apparently /run/media/<home>/ but what is the correct syntax for the check? But, in any case the explicit media check at installation time reveals “no errors” found. This also seems to contradict the idea that the burning process (with Brasero) could be to blame.
Note that this option may not function right on a USB drive installer since the difference on how space is allocated from that of a DVD file system. But there is much less chance of a copy error for USB drives.
That’s possible. I don’t trust DVD burning, which is why I mostly use a USB. My only 15.1 installs from a DVD have been to virtual machines, where the downloaded iso file is being used directly as a virtual DVD, so no actual burning done.
Maybe the DVD was burned on the desktop (and desktop install was fine) then the laptop drive is apparently reading something different each time… maybe the two are marginally unaligned or the laptop lens is dirty or… @hnimmo : can you burn the DVD on the laptop and then install from the same drive?
DVD tech is not all that reliable there can be alignment problems between different readers/burners also cheap media can read a little different on different readers. You should always burn at the slowest possible speed to minimize write errors.
As to kernel panic I am guessing it is a video problem. What video card is on that machine?
This seems to be a useful suggestion. I might give it a try when time permits. Not quite sure how, though, since the installation has worked and I won’t want to overwrite it!
So maybe the desktop has a firmware/BIOS that is some 8 years old (or more)? Maybe the bios USB driver has problems with the newer USB 3.0 sticks and before a compatible kernel driver gets loaded… the kernel panics.
Maybe trying with an older stick, something like an USB 2.0 about the same age of the desktop firmware might solve the problem.
In theory USB 3.0 sticks are “backward compatible”, but that compatibility has many sides; I have a 2007 laptop that boots happily from USB 2.0 sticks, but with some newer 3.0 sticks it can spend 10 minutes (yes, not seconds) just to load the kernel apparently via some low level BIOS protocol; then, after all needed kernel drivers are loaded, installation goes through fast and without a glitch…