Tumbleweed Installation Freezes at 77%

English Install/Boot/Login
1

There was an older post with this title, but I did no see a solution posted and the stream is closed.

I have an ASUS vivobook Intel I51035G1 Quad-Core with 20GB RAM, 1TB SSD & 2TB HDD. I normally give more information, but I cannot access the computer to provide more. I have run TW on the computer for about 3 years without incidents. [Yes, I have gone in and switched “Intel RST Premium with Intel Optane System Acceleration” to AHCI to access my SSD drive on the laptop].

I attempted to update/grade [zypper dup] on Dec 6th and half way through the 4000ish updates, the system froze. I assumed I had waited too long for an update (about 4 months). downloaded an iso [openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20241206-Media.iso] but the installation froze. I then tried different mirrors and ways to create an off-line flashdrive for the installation (including impression). But the install freezes each time at 77%, with 1 package remaining. I am keeping my partitions in the install, but setting them to format as well as redoing luks. I have been using ext4 for files but am changing that to Btrfs for the root system on the SSD for the new install.

I am not a programmer, but can work in command line when pointed in the direction of a solution.

What has gone wrong with the installation and how can I get through this? I have two large desktop systems that need to update their TW, but I cannot do that without solving this problem?

Thanks for help in advance.

Richard

2

I forget to mention that I use KDE and have noticed a problem with KDE in regard to Libreoffice BASE and Mariadb. The install freeze is not related to LO Base, but are there issues with KDE??

3

Hi, did you verify the .iso hash? Which application did you use to create the .iso? You may need to use the ‘live rescue system’ , Tumbleweed installation media types can be found here > https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Tumbleweed_installation

If possible reattempt the ‘zypper dup’ and reply back with specific details of error.

-Regards

4

Do you follow the installation, or do you start it and then do something else? Which installation do you use liveCd, Dvd, Network?

5

Thanks for responding @panorain.

  • I downloaded the iso from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/iso/openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20241206-Media.iso.
  • I confess that I did not run a cksum.
  • The upgrade froze somewhere around 2020ish on the installations with the installation of a kernel. There was a lot of green text that came through and the freeze was with the green text.
  • At this point, turning on the ASUS laptop brings me directly to the bios setup utility with no opportunity to boot in safe mode, enter into a rescue mode or access a terminal.

I have noted there is a new iso out dated Dec 8th, Is it worth a try or is there another path to try?

Thanks Richard

6

Thanks for replying @enziosavio .

Suggestions?? Thanks, Richard

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The changes are minimal ( see snapshot 20241208 ) so maybe not worth it.
But you can boot your DVD again and you should find an option to “Repair existing system”? Or try “Upgrade” and see if the installer finds the failed install?
From your description the system apparently froze during building of the initramfs by dracut, so the packages are likely installed but some configuration steps didn’t finish, so the installer should find a linux system installed and maybe even be able to boot it.

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BTW, how large was the /root partition with btrfs? Installing with that filesystem needs far more room than with ext4, minimum 50GB but something near 100 GB might be better. Also, check the size of the EFI partition if you created it a few years ago.

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Hello Richard,
77% is after file copying and the system is trying to configure the system for the first boot. Do you have an connection to the internet whilst installation?
With an established connection the installer will download every update availabe at installation. Trying a new image may help, but the installer will install normaly only the latest versions…

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Thanks @OrsoBruno

Using the DVD flashdrive iso, I cannot do an update or repair - did not find them. That said, I did have my data saved, so I am fine with an new install (which I like to do periodically anyway). Of course, since the attempted update, I have had to do a hard shutdown during a full installation a number of times.

Also, I have 100 GB set aside for root and the Btrfs file system. The setup is:

20241210_123034
20241210_1230341920×1440 270 KB

The problem I have now is that a new install from a DVD iso on a flashdrive freezes at 77%.

Richard

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Thanks @Simonowski

Good to know where things are freezing. As for internet connection… nope. Even with the update I shut off net access after the packages are downloaded. As for now with the Install, there is no access either.

Thanks Richard

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@OrsoBruno , can I use a mix of Btrfs and ext4 with the install?? I have my root as Btrfs, boot/efi windows, and then swap, home, and 2 other partitions are ext4. This may not have anything to do with the update problem, but it might have to do with the failing to install at 77%.

Thanks Richard

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No problem mixing filesystem types as long as you tell the installer to mount those to the right place and format only the /root and possibly the swap partitions keeping the others as they are.

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@richard-caid

Yes.

We use BTRFS for / (root partition and such), but do not use it for /home - been doing it for years - we prefer a well established filesystem for /home.

15

Thanks for the Btrfs info.

I am still stuck though with an installation failure at 77% even with the newest Dec 8 DVD iso that I did a rsa256 cksum with. Can a lack of internet connection be a problem with the install??

Thoughts??

16

Thanks for tips on using Btrfs. I had noticed that I could not longer go back to a previous update when booting TW. On one of my systems’ root there is Btrfs which gave me a snapshot option… which already saved that install once. Thought I needed to put Btrfs on my other 3 computers to get the snapshot options working in my favour.

Any thoughts about the installation failure?

17

Confused by your install device you use a DVD or a USB flash-drive?? if the flash how did you copy he iso image. Did you do a clean binary copy or did you use some sort of Linux install helper??

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If you’ve chosen to do a “network install”, absolutely - it could freeze or fail, or pause … if there is a network issue.

We always use the “full install” ISO image (network not required), so no worries about network issues.

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My installation froze and I dont remember why… thats why I was hesitant to write here first. I think it was either secureboot, or the fact that I had broadcom wifi. Broadcom wifi is not included in Linux by default, so I think I choose to install without internet. Then after install I had to download broadcom drivers rpm on another computer and transfer them with usb. It worked until an kernel upgrade. Then I had to do the same thing again, but I got tired of it so then I bought a network-electricaloutlet-teleporter, and it worked…

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I usually use the LiveCD version of the DE system I want to install, lately Tumbleweed with the new Kernels has some problems, just look at the countless posts about it.