I just got a copy of Hacking Exposed, Linux 3rd edition.

600 pages, I hope I learn more about securing my box. :-)

Hi, I'll look into that new kernel very soon for my main desktop box, running Daedalus plasma5.

I have just completed a new install on my laptop, asus n550jv... with Devuan ascii. With a new battery, and a clean ssd (dos-mbr partitioned, finally)

I did this because the newer kernel with Daedalus did not load my sound chipset and quite a few other things although the screen and keyboard dimming was working.

I've just checked the sound operation with a .mp3 playing through vlc and it sounds ok.

I've put it aside for now, I still have the network devices (wifi and tethering to the iPhone) to set up... some research will be required.

I'm very happy with the laptop at the moment, although I'm not used to the apps with xfce4... I'll look into it.

The day before yesterday I had trinity setup on the laptop, and it looked good, but too many chipset errors like, keyboard characters Getting pound instead of hash and others..., eth (nic) wifi and sound in particular. WIP! But the graphics card was used by default which was a nice change to see it was actually working (with nouveau)

I endeavour to slowly migrate back to the recent kernel versions and trinity desktop, but keeping an eye on the modules required for that set up.

I had found a faulty re-purposed flashdrive (rarely used, parrot-live) that was giving some serious looking errors and freezing the system on this desktop box, a new kernel and clean install may help to resolve those.

As well as that I binned the faulty flashdrive. I have to draw the line somewhere.

@oui: I'm glad to see you are making progress.

Hi, thank you for all the suggestions. Much appreciated.

Last night I repartitioned and setup a dos-mbr, and installed trinity to the 4 partitions I setup.

It's booting as normal now, thanks again.

The pc-linux live system has a whole bunch of tools, but I couldn't get any of them to fix the install of Devuan Daedalus plasma at that install attempt.

Still, it's good to know there are tools out there.

I was a bit stubborn about gpt over dos, and I noticed the Flags were a bit different.

Thanks again. Have a great weekend.

I tried the tools on a PcLinuxOs-Live yesterday, but still got similar errors.

I'm considering option 2. resetting the bios so as to install an msdos mbr with UEFI before I do anything else.

I'd had so much good fortune with my laptop.

One of the last things I did a few days ago was to remove the ssd from the laptop and do a clean install to it from this desktop box/machine

I'll have another crack at it over the weekend.

Thanks for your help and tips.

It replied, "no errors reported"

But the same error appears on reboot. insert proper disk

@rolfie: Thank you, I always boot in legacy bios mode where and when I can, to avoid the esp shims and signing.

I made up my mind a long time ago, and always use legacy boot. But my laptop is a slightly different scenario.

It just has to work.

I do know from experience that most of the iso have a similar installer function.

I might try the PcLinuxOs iso, just to see if that gets me out of this situation.

There is an upside to using the grub-super...iso, if the laptop gets lost it will be hard to use without the usb as a key..

Thank you fred.

I had this before and the bios gave the error above, this is why I am asking.

I just rebooted the laptop and it gives the same error. edit...

partmon gave a warning the the kernel would not be aware of the change until rebooted.

When selecting the bios (esc) it shows only the cdrom as a bootable device (no usb inserted).

I have that iso, exegnulinux... but even after several installs, I get the same bios error.

wip

I haven't found one (a log file) for the network device after startup (boot and init) but the place to search is /var/log/

I did see references in user.log sys.log and dmesg, but mostly early initialisation.

user.log tells me cron is complaining about not have mta for internal mail (to nobody but me) but doesn't explain the drop outs.

I think if I were to search further, I would check the logs inside the modem/router, But I am not suppose to access the modem, It's not mine.

I get those too, but I had a feeling it was the old wifi router at this place.

I don't get the start-up prob... I turn the wifi off before I shutdown for the night to avoid surprises

(I start the vpn, proxy and ptunnel manually, but the nft firewall starts with sysinit)

I'd be interested to see what may cause the drop-outs.

Hi, thank you for all the replies.

I am avoiding any M$ crap, if possible.

I partitioned the disk with gpt.
I have switched off fastboot, and secureboot in the bios.
Also I have the disk recognised using ahci.
CSM is ENABLED.

Because this is a different machine, here is the partitioning table list from,
lsblk

loop0 ... clip
sda    8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
-sda1 8:1 0       2M 0 part
-sda2 8:2 0   23.4G 0 part
-sda3 8:3 0    8.4G 0 part
-sda4 8:4 0    3.5G 0 part
-sda5 8:5 0    3.5G 0 part
-sda6 8:6 0  16.6G 0 part
-sda7 8:7 0   183G 0 part
sdb ... (devuan-live memory stick)
-sdb1 ... clip
... clip
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom

I wrote UEFI, but I may have meant EFI.

If I am to re-install an OS to the laptop, I must get past this partitioning problem.

My memory fails me, but I'm beginning to think that the laptop was using efi-boot, with fastboot and secureboot switched off.
In my old notes I have a 199.2Mb fat partition.
I may have changed this at some time, without reinstalling the OS, and maybe that is why I'm not familiar with the boot time grub errors.

I only use it when I'm away from home and need a PC. Like travelling, holidays, house-sitting, etc.

There is no personal data at risk... so I may reinstall, but boot from the efi section of the flash-drive and then see if the install progresses past the grub-install section.

The last attempt, last evening I continued past the error, but on reboot could login but not start a gui. ( now I remember I installed xfce4, not plasma, lol)

Anyhow, I wanted to install trinity, because I like (familiar with) kde systems.

I downloaded and dd'd to a stick super_grub2_disk,

dd bs=512k if=/home/glenn/Downloads/super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s10.iso of=/dev/sde status=progress && sync

But didn't find a way to install/reinstall grub. So, I must have changed the partitioning scheme and borked the install on my own.

Anyhow, life's an adventure, and I'm always open to a new truth & still learning.

Thanks again

Thanks zapper...

What have you tried with rfkill?

I currently do not have rfkill installed, although I have seen some info on rfkill... like this web page

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-manage-wifi-interfaces-with-rfkill-command-on-linux

... by interface ID or type for BT and wifi.

from another page suggests iwconfig... is power management enabled?