Mageia forum

[SOLVED] I have had Mageia 1 working so great. Then I started to see the prompt telling me I could upgrade to Mageia 2. So I did. BIG mistake. I get the Grub screen and go to Boot Mageia 2 and I get a black screen. I try all other Mageia options with the same result. The failsafe option gets me to a root login. Can someone help please, I'm bitterly disappointed, I love Mageia 1, what's gone wrong?

I think that team work of Mageia commited a mistake: they think that upgrade is easier than real... I've big trouble in graphical environment, caused from video driver, new kernel and something more... Upgrade isn't so easy and direct. But in website I can't find good explanation... I'm a little disappointed

mabari wrote:I have had Mageia 1 working so great. Then I started to see the prompt telling me I could upgrade to Mageia 2. So I did. BIG mistake. I get the Grub screen and go to Boot Mageia 2 and I get a black screen. I try all other Mageia options with the same result. The failsafe option gets me to a root login. Can someone help please, I'm bitterly disappointed, I love Mageia 1, what's gone wrong?

Do you have ATI video?

I have a Radeon 9600 video card and my monitor is a Samsund HD TV. All worked perfectly with Mageia 1.

I had problems the first time I upgraded to 2 from 1. I tried again today successfully! I upgraded from Mageia 1 by entering (as root) in a terminal:
mgaapplet-upgrade-helper --new_distro_version=2

Afer the update and BEFORE rebooting I used RPMDrake to install the package kernel-firmware-nonfree and the current driver for my nvidia card. I suspect that if you install the kernel-firmware-nonfree package and the most current driver for your card you'll be all set. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will chime in with better advice...

I can't get a terminal, the only option I have is to boot in failsafe mode which gets me a console with root prompt. If I try to run the command you suggest or rpmdrake, I get the message 'Can't run in console mode'!

try this and see if it works...

# urpmi.update -a

# urpmi kernel-firmware-nonfree

If that doesn't work you may need to download the package from another computer and transfer it to install it. I googled and came up with this download link: http://pkgs.org/mageia-cauldron/mageia- ... h.rpm.html

tkmm wrote:I had problems the first time I upgraded to 2 from 1. I tried again today successfully! I upgraded from Mageia 1 by entering (as root) in a terminal:
mgaapplet-upgrade-helper --new_distro_version=2

After the update and BEFORE rebooting I used RPMDrake to install the package kernel-firmware-nonfree and the current driver for my nvidia card. I suspect that if you install the kernel-firmware-nonfree package and the most current driver for your card you'll be all set. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will chime in with better advice...

I referenced your answer in this thread as I can't boot to a console or gui too.
I have two questions for you:
1. How did you manage to "rollback" the first mageia 1 to 2 upgrade process?
2. How can I get to a terminal so that I can install the desired packages (same question that mabari asked)

thank you

uluru wrote:
I referenced your answer in this thread as I can't boot to a console or gui too.
I have two questions for you:
1. How did you manage to "rollback" the first mageia 1 to 2 upgrade process?
2. How can I get to a terminal so that I can install the desired packages (same question that mabari asked)

thank you

I don't if there is a way to 'roll-back.' I reinstalled Mageia 1 from the ISO. I was able to retain my /home directory, but I did have to reinstall all the applications that I had previously installed. Then I started the upgrade and when it completed I used RPMDrake to install the video driver and the firmware package I mentioned. After rebooting everything worked.

I'm stumped as far as what you can do if you can't get a comman line... If you could reach the CLI and have net access you could probably avoid having to do a complete reinstall plus upgrade. Good luck!

Tried the urpmi command, got this response
mirror list not found
Could not find a mirror from mirror list $MIRRORLIST
Added option mirrors.kernel.org to list, but still got the same message
How do I get the mirror list working?

If you are using the 32b version try this (as root):

urpmi.addmedia nonfree ftp://ftp.mandrivauser.de/mirrors/Magei ... e/release/

(I found this in another post in this forum:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2536
so hopefully it will work).

Thanks for helping. Tried this and got the following:

adding medium "nonfree"
...retrieving failed: curl failed: exited with 6

no metadata found for medium "nonfree"

I guess that support for Mageia 2 is pretty thin on the ground, which leaves me with a number of options:

1) Clear everything out and re-install Mageia 1
2) Just wait until somebody comes up with a solution to my dilemna
3) Add Kubuntu to my Ubuntu on my other hard disk and see how it is. At least Ubuntu has pretty amazing support and response to problems

(A few days later)
I chose 3) and have installed Kubuntu (which really isn't too bad). I have left my other disk as is (with botched Mageia 2 upgrade) in the hope that someone will come up with something to help me. I will give it a week or so, and then I will probably use the disk space as an extension for Ubuntu.

mabari wrote:Thanks for helping. Tried this and got the following:

adding medium "nonfree"
...retrieving failed: curl failed: exited with 6

no metadata found for medium "nonfree"

I suspect the problem here is that you have booted in safe mode, which doesn't automatically start the network connection (safe mode starts the minimum number of services necessary to get you a working command line - this is to maximise the chances of it working when something is broken).

At the root login prompt, type:

Code: Select all

systemctl start network.service


This should enable the network connection, and allow you try the suggestions for fixing your original problem.

P.S. You seem to have had answers within a few hours of each of your posts, so I don't understand why you feel you are lacking support. Don't forget Mageia doesn't have nearly as many users as Ubuntu, and everything is done by volunteers, so you can't expect to get answers instantly.

Thanks for your help. I was able to use "systemctl start network.service" to get the network working. Then I followed the advice above and loaded up the driver for my Radeon 6450 card. And it worked! I was able to boot Mageia 2. Only one problem though - no 3D effects, and I don't know how to fix this. Any suggestions?

Regarding support, I do realize that you are all volunteers, and I really think this is admirable, so forgive my impatience, I really want to stick with Mageia and I may have shaken the support tree a little too hard, again please forgive me.

Thanks in advance!!!

mabari wrote:Only one problem though - no 3D effects, and I don't know how to fix this. Any suggestions?

Maybe have a look at viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2466 or viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2443


BTW: Patience is a virtue. And just pushing harder or complaining further does not make people help you better/faster.

I used drakx11 to change from the proprietary driver to my Radeon 6400 and higher driver, then I logged out and in again. Bingo! the desktop effects worked perfectly. I then went into the control center and looked at the options for desktop graphics. It still had No 3D effects option button checked, so I thought that I should check the only other option for Compiz just so it would not say No 3D effects. When I clicked OK it loaded up the Compiz packages. I then rebooted to find 3d effects gone again. The desktops had gone from being a grid to four desktops in a line and I could only work in the first dektop. So I pulled up the Update Manager, got all the compiz packages and unloaded them. I then rebooted again and phew! I was OK again, although it still has No 3D effects checked, but I will leave it alone.

Thanks for all your help.