Please someone respond to let me know if this message got to the Debian
User group.
On 2025 October 09 I opened for use a desktop computer which had not been
used for six months. On the evening of October 14 I closed it in the usual
way. The next morning I expected to reopen it also in the usual way.
Instead I saw on the monitor a long list of 'failure messages' partially
shown in the attachments to this message.
At the end of the list is the statement "you are in emergency mode" and a series of instructions ostensibly to eliminate the failures. Unfortunately
I could use them because the computer was not responding to any attempt in
any way to access it. I consequently decided not to try to determine what
is causing each failure. Instead I will try what I expect will be a quicker
way to restore the computer: to reinstall the OS.
For this purpose I used a CD-R disk Netinstall, "amd 64,12.7.0 Bookworm",
the same one I used for the first OS installation in this computer. (It
was I all had.) All went well until almost the end, when I received this disconcerting message: "'Executing' 'grub-install dummy' failed". I take
this phrase to mean that neither grub nor EFI were ever installed. (Since 'sarge', when I first installed a Debian OS, I have never received such a message, nor indeed experienced such failures.)
Further research will require a computer or an equivalent. As my only available computer is now unusable, I will have to find a suitable
substitute. After some thought I decided that my tablet will have to do. So
I spent intermittently the last three months learning what it can do for me and, perhaps more importantly, what it cannot. Luckily it can do emails
going and coming, such as this one.
I started by searching on line such titles as Debian, Debian wiki@gmail.com and DebianNetall grub. In short I was unable to match anything I found
there to my situation. I did however ascertain that what I needed is some
way to install grub etc. independent of what is already in the computer.
Among my researches I however did find the following mentions: "rEFInd
rescue media" and "Using Debian installer in rescue mode". Both of them
seem to anticipate some sort of activity respecting grub and perhaps EFI.
Since I have access to debian installer in rescue mode I scrutinized it.
There I found a series of obtuse, at least to me, lines which may be
relevant. If so, this neophyte is incapable of interpreting them.
Consequently I have abandoned attempts to resolve alone this computer
failure. I am now seeking assistance from the Debian-user group to help me.
I will be grateful for any assistance from those in the group can help me.
Fail1.jpg <https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hoAC8xriU_ISmQ3yvW_BRwxXa-ITDsv/view?usp=drivesdk>
Fail2.jpg <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lg0duq6aSL6RsOAqq3TSiG2cacaJfpmf/view?usp=drivesdk>


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Jan 11, 2026, MartinGary Padgett wrote:

Please someone respond to let me know if this message got to the Debian
User group.

It did.

On 2025 October 09 I opened for use a desktop computer which had not been used for six months. On the evening of October 14 I closed it in the usual way. The next morning I expected to reopen it also in the usual way.
Instead I saw on the monitor a long list of 'failure messages' partially shown in the attachments to this message.

I don't think attachments make it through the mailing list. I'm not one
to follow google-drive links either, sorry.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/10/26 16:34, MartinGary Padgett wrote:

Please someone respond to let me know if this message got to the Debian
User group.

On 2025 October 09 I opened for use a desktop computer which had not been used for six months. On the evening of October 14 I closed it in the usual way. The next morning I expected to reopen it also in the usual way.
Instead I saw on the monitor a long list of 'failure messages' partially shown in the attachments to this message.

At the end of the list is the statement "you are in emergency mode" and a series of instructions ostensibly to eliminate the failures. Unfortunately
I could use them because the computer was not responding to any attempt in any way to access it. I consequently decided not to try to determine what
is causing each failure. Instead I will try what I expect will be a quicker way to restore the computer: to reinstall the OS.

For this purpose I used a CD-R disk Netinstall, "amd 64,12.7.0 Bookworm",
the same one I used for the first OS installation in this computer. (It
was I all had.) All went well until almost the end, when I received this disconcerting message: "'Executing' 'grub-install dummy' failed". I take this phrase to mean that neither grub nor EFI were ever installed. (Since 'sarge', when I first installed a Debian OS, I have never received such a message, nor indeed experienced such failures.)

Further research will require a computer or an equivalent. As my only available computer is now unusable, I will have to find a suitable substitute. After some thought I decided that my tablet will have to do. So
I spent intermittently the last three months learning what it can do for me and, perhaps more importantly, what it cannot. Luckily it can do emails going and coming, such as this one.

I started by searching on line such titles as Debian, Debian wiki@gmail.com and DebianNetall grub. In short I was unable to match anything I found
there to my situation. I did however ascertain that what I needed is some
way to install grub etc. independent of what is already in the computer.

Among my researches I however did find the following mentions: "rEFInd
rescue media" and "Using Debian installer in rescue mode". Both of them
seem to anticipate some sort of activity respecting grub and perhaps EFI. Since I have access to debian installer in rescue mode I scrutinized it. There I found a series of obtuse, at least to me, lines which may be relevant. If so, this neophyte is incapable of interpreting them.

Consequently I have abandoned attempts to resolve alone this computer failure. I am now seeking assistance from the Debian-user group to help me.
I will be grateful for any assistance from those in the group can help me.

Fail1.jpg <https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hoAC8xriU_ISmQ3yvW_BRwxXa-ITDsv/view?usp=drivesdk>

Fail2.jpg <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lg0duq6aSL6RsOAqq3TSiG2cacaJfpmf/view?usp=drivesdk>

Please provide more information:

1. What is the computer used for?

2. What is your network environment and Internet connection?

3. What is the make and model of the computer (or motherboard and case,
if homebrew), the processor, the memory modules, the hard disk drive(s),
the solid-state drives, and any other hardware other than keyboard,
mouse, and monitor?

4. Is the firmware BIOS, UEFI in Legacy mode, or UEFI? If UEFI, is
Secure Boot enabled?

5. What operating systems and/or file systems are on the various drives?

6. What is the boot order setting in firmware/ non-volatile memory?

7. What boot manager(s) are installed?


Please take notes when installing Debian and post them. Please see my
daily driver installation notes, below.


David



January 9, 2022

1. Wipe Intel SSD 520 Series 60 GB drive in Intel DQ67SW. Insert
debian-11.2.0-amd64-netinst USB flash drive into USB 3.0 port
adjacent Gigabit port. Boot:

Debian GNU/Linux installer menu (BIOS mode)
install
Language C
Continent or region North America
Country, territory or area United States
Keymap to use American English
Hostname laalaa
Domain name tracy.holgerdanske.com
Root password ********
Re-enter password ********
Full name for new user debian
Username for your account debian
Choose a password ********
Re-enter password ********
Select your time zone Pacific
Partitioning method Manual
Select a partition... SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 60.0 GB ATA INTEL SSDSC2CW06
Create partition table Yes
Select a partition... pri/log 60.0 GB FREE SPACE
Create a new partition
New partition size 1 GB
Type Primary
Location Beginning
Partition settings
Use as Ext4 journaling file system
Mount point /boot
Mount options defaults
Label laalaa_boot
Reserved blocks 5%
Typical usage standard
Bootable flag on
Done setting up the partition
Select a partition... pri/log 59.0 GB FREE SPACE
Create a new partition
New partition size 1 GB
Type Primary
Location Beginning
Partition settings
Use as physical volume for encryption
Encryption method Device-mapper (dm-crypt)
Encryption aes
Key size 256
IV algorithm xts-plain64
Encryption key Random key
Erase data no
Bootable flag off
Done setting up the partition
Select a partition... pri/log 58.0 GB FREE SPACE
Create a new partition
New partition size 13 GB
Type Primary
Location Beginning
Partition settings
Use as physical volume for encryption
Encryption method Device-mapper (dm-crypt)
Encryption aes
Key size 256
IV algorithm xts-plain64
Encryption key Passphrase
Erase data no
Bootable flag off
Done setting up the partition
Configure encrypted volumes
Write the changes to disk Yes
Encryption configuration Create encrypted volumes
Devices to encrypt
[*] /dev/sda2 (1000MB; crypto)
[*] /dev/sda3 (13000MB; crypt)
Continue
Encryption configuration Finish
Encryption passphrase ********
Re-enter passphrase ********
Select a partition... #1 13.0 GB f ext4
Partition settings
Use as Ext4 journaling file system
Mount point /
Mount options defaults
Label laalaa_root
Reserved blocks 5%
Typical usage standard
Done setting up the partition
Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
Write the changes to disks Yes
Debian archive mirror country United States
Debian archive mirror deb.debian.org
HTTP proxy information <blank>
Package usage survey No
Choose software Debian desktop environment
Xfce
SSH server
standard system utiilties
Device for boot loader installation
/dev/sdb (ata-INTEL_SSDSC2CW060A3_********)
Installation complete Continue

Push and hold power button at POST; release when computer turns
off. Remove USB flash drive.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

MartinGary Padgett wrote:
...

Fail1.jpg
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hoAC8xriU_ISmQ3yvW_BRwxXa-ITDsv/view?usp=drivesdk>

Fail2.jpg
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lg0duq6aSL6RsOAqq3TSiG2cacaJfpmf/view?usp=drivesdk>

sorry, can't get into this further but before going to
extreme measures perhaps it is just a loose connection or
cable?

with the computer completely unplugged and you grounded
to prevent static shocks (this time of the year the air
can be dry and static charges can build up) you can open
the computer and inspect the connections and carefully
remove dust if it has built up.

then put it back together and see if it will reboot
when you turn it back on.

worth a try...

but also for the record Refind is a different booting
setup from grub (i happen to have both setup here on my
machine). Refind works and i do like it as an alternative
and backup to grub (which does at times get upgraded and
messes some things (now usually just the boot order) up
but i'm running Debian testing so that is all ok with me).
luckily when efi does get changed by a grub update the
command efibootmgr can be used to put things right again.

good luck, and hope if you can't get it working again
that you have good backups or that your storage device
can be recovered.


songbird

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 07:34:56AM +0700, MartinGary Padgett wrote:

Consequently I have abandoned attempts to resolve alone this computer failure. I am now seeking assistance from the Debian-user group to
help me. I will be grateful for any assistance from those in the group
can help me.

This is definitely *not* my field, but I'll try my best!

Instead I saw on the monitor a long list of 'failure messages'
partially shown in the attachments to this message.
There I found a series of obtuse, at least to me, lines which may be relevant. If so, this neophyte is incapable of interpreting them.
At the end of the list is the statement "you are in emergency mode"
and a series of instructions ostensibly to eliminate the failures.

It's always better to attach the full log if possible, because it's
easier to help you if we can see the whole situation.
Also, I recommend using https://paste.debian.net instead of Google Drive (which I suspect Gmail used without telling you in your first message).
Many users on Debian lists - including me - are not eager to cope with Google(-like) services, and you are more likely to receive useful
answers if you follow local customs.

Unfortunately I could use them because the computer was not responding
to any attempt in any way to access it.

What do you mean by "not responding"? Did key presses produce any
output? If so, what, and if not, did you try an external keyboard?

Instead I will try what I expect will be a quicker way to restore the computer: to reinstall the OS.

For this purpose I used a CD-R disk Netinstall, "amd 64,12.7.0
Bookworm"

[...]

I did however ascertain that what I needed is some way to install grub
etc. independent of what is already in the computer.

Since you already tried to reinstall, and thus your data is gone
already, it would probably be better to just try again to reinstall
everything from scratch. I recommend you try to install Debian 13.3.0,
which is the latest version, in case someone fixed an obscure bugs
affecting you. Just ask a friend to prepare for an installation drive
for you.
Finally, please let us know if you subscribed to the list, or we should
CC you.
Cheers,

--
Ceppo
https://wiki.debian.org/Ceppo
Please, encrypt our messages with the key at the link above and send me yours.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)