Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hi. I posted before in diffirent thread about wifi drivers and really got helpfull informations. Homeever since the problem I have belongs more in this group I will post here.
When I'm trying to boot into S15Pup64 the loading screen get stuck on "waiting for modules to complete loading" or "loading karnel modules". When I boot it in VirtualBox It works great. I tried flashing with Rufus, Balena, unetbootin in windows and even with FrugalPup inside virtualbox. I was trying with "Don't copy SFS files in RAM" and even this won't do.
Please help.

@DirectFX - I have a manual method for installing, but you would need to boot into puppy with a cd, as you need to format a usb stick in a specific manner, & ensure your pc will boot from usb. Basically, you need to have a linux-bootable usb stick, with boot files on a smallish fat32 partition (the first partition), & your puppy drv files on an ext3 (or 4) partition (the rest of the stick), not ntfs. I assume your pc is less than about 8 years old (i.e. definitely uefi). I also have a procedure for a legacy bios bootable usb, but I note that modern pcs either don't allow it, or require substantial changes.

Hi @DirectFX

View this forum thread, download the "SG2Dwith2PUPs.img.zip" that it direct you to, and expect to boot S15PUP64. I assume you know how to open a ZIP and I also assume you know how to write an IMG file to a USB stick.

It has only 1 step! Do it and boot S15PUP64 to desktop.

You can skip most everything there in that above post except the 1 step it instructs. Most everything in the post gives an in-depth understanding and is rather short.

Enjoy
P.S. Post any comments, observations or issues that you'd want others to see or help you, there...on that link's forum thread

I assume that the SG2Dwith2PUPs.img.zip Clarity has provided a link to is sufficiently recent to have included the S15Pup64 for which ozsouth has created the wifi driver you need.

I'm surprised that rufus didn't create a boot-able USB-Key. Did you use the latest version of rufus? and follow the instructions here, https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 522#p40522? Sorry, I don't have an available USB-Key right now to do my own exploration to find out if the problem you experienced is prevalent.

Just to make sure you got the implication of Puppys being portables. One of the effects is that to run a Puppy under Virtualbox, you have to create a virtual drive into which to install it. See snoring_cat's detailed instructions here, viewtopic.php?p=37495#p37495

loading screen get stuck on "waiting for modules to complete loading" or "loading kernel modules".

How long have you let it stay at this point in boot process before giving up?

You are using the latest version of S15Pup64?
S15Pup64-22.12+1-T.iso

Hi. Sorry it took me so long to reply. I was really busy. Hope you all have a good time. I did some testing though.
@Clarity I tried your method. Same results. I dont think flashing on usb is even the problem. Tried so many difirent options and always similiar results. I think the problem is in booting or loading drivers. Tried to boot on older computer (not even sure that it was UEFI pc since it loaded with "GRUB4DOS") and worked ok but not on my pc. Thank you anyway for helpful links.

@mikeslr Not sure If I understanded you correctlly, but S15Pup64 boots good in Virtual Box. I just want the same for booting from usb. I don't think the problem is in Rufus except sometimes there is 1 min wait time at the begining. Thank you anyway for VirtualBox testing recomendations. I often make frugal installs on usb via Virtual Box.

@bigpup At one occasion I waited 15 minutes, usually alot less but at this point i think i know when is stuck, because i tried some other pupies too. LxPupSc64 give the same results. Yes I'm using: S15Pup64-22.12+1-T.iso

So I think the problem isn't in flashing usb but booting or loading drivers etc.
When I deleted "zdrv_s15pup64_22.12.sfs" it booted into desktop but of course without kernel drivers so mouse and keyboard didnt worked.
Thank you @ozsouth to include some Mediatek drivers in new kernels. Tried to change to 6.0.15 which would probably enable my wifi driver, not sure if i went through all instructions i just replaced vmlinuz and sfs from zip with zdrv from s15pup64.

Every ideas i had just failed here. But then i always got even new ideas which failed again. Like a neverending puzzle. If anyone has any suggestions, please, i will be happy.

MY SPECs:
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
System Model: ROG Strix G513QE_G513QE
System Type: x64-based PC
BIOS Version: American Megatrends International, LLC. G513QE.314, 29. 03. 2022
Procesor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics 3,2 GHz
RAM: 16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM x 2
SSD: 1TB PCIe® 3.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD
Network Card(s):
[01]: Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
[02]: MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7921 Wireless LAN Card

The info that should have been provided in the first post is the clue.

I think it is the specs of this computer.

AMD Ryzen CPU based hardware is kind of new to Linux and the full support is still being developed.

There are some series 6 kernels compiled for Puppy Linux posted here:
viewforum.php?f=65

I suggest trying to change to one of the newer kernels.

Maybe one of these will work:
Here are some kernels suppose to be compiled for Ryzen systems.
Maybe one of these:
viewtopic.php?t=5138

viewtopic.php?t=5112

These got compiled in Fossapup64 but that should not matter.
Just change the name used in the files to what the name needs to be to work in S15Pup.

I think you understand how to manually change the kernel.
Take the files provided in the new kernel and rename them the same as those same files in S15Pup.
Swap the files so the new ones are now being used in S15Pup.
vmlinuz and zdrv......sfs files.

Note:
vmlinuz file always needs to just be named vmlinuz.

Sorry. When I opened topics I really didn't know the reason could be my components.
I will try switch to kernel which you sent me. I will post results.
Thank you for help.

Puppy Linux only knows about hardware issues when someone posts about them.

Keeping up with the support for new hardware is a constant process.

Really, a big issue with any operating system.

Hi @DirectFX. First Thank you for your update. I was wondering of your progress.

I ask only 1 thing:
Would you post the GParted or Fdisk terminal command result of the SG2D USB stick you built from the link I provided. It would help me (and others) to see more that could help avoid issues that others run into as well as hint at the real problem..

Below is the Gparted picture of the 1GB image that you might have downloaded to test. Would like to see the USB you are failing on. To get a similar view in Gparted, after you open it for your USB stick, on Gparted's Menu click View>Device Information

Thanks in advance of any info you can provide us.

Hello, wanted to share my solution to this.

In my case it was caused by the amdgpu module trying to load missing firmware, once I added linux-firmware.sfs (from https://www.mediafire.com/folder/k2j223jzddy9x/firmware) as ydrv_s15pup64_22.12.sfs, the system booted properly.

The system always hanged at "waiting for modules to complete loading" when booted in UEFI mode, when booted in non-UEFI (legacy boot), it booted but I only had 640x480 resolution, still it was enough to check dmesg and find amdgpu complaining about the missing firmware.

Hope this helps.

You probably could have replaced the original fdrv SFS with the new one.

That should have updated the fdrv with having more stuff in it.

Not need to add it as a ydrv SFS.

Usually a newer fdrv, is everything that is in the old fdrv, plus added newer hardware firmware.

Just following up bigpup's post. You may want to rename the ydrv you created.

By convention Puppys have been modularly constructed for at least the last 10 years; and on boot-up will automatically copy into RAM some file-systems packaged separately within the ISO. The earliest modular builds located both drivers and firmware in a zdrv.sfs. Some Puppys still do that, while others now package firmware in an fdrv.sfs. The employment of adrv.sfs and ydrv.sfs came later.

By convention these are used for 'additional' applications. This permits the Puppy's dev to package 'non-essential' applications separately. The user can chose to delete (or rename) such file-systems, not use their included applications and still have a fully working operating system. Amethyst (formerly known as nic007) has published a nicOS-utility-suite that includes a Save2SFS module. That module enables --among other things-- a user to create his or her own adrv.sfs and/or ydrv.sfs containing additional applications which will be available on boot-up without having to remaster the Puppy or use a SaveFile/Folder.

As things now stand, you have two 'alphabet' SFSes containing firmware. It is unlikely that the original fdrv.sfs does anything other than delay the boot-up process. It will be copied into RAM first, after which the ydrv you created containing the firmware you need will be copied into RAM. It is unlikely the original fdrv.sfs includes has any firmware you need which is not also found in the ydrv.sfs you created.

I recommend the following. First, Right-Click your fdrv.sfs, select rename it to, for example '0fdrv.sfs.' This is just a safety measure. It will not be copied into RAM on boot-up; and if all is well can then be deleted. If there's a problem you can reverse the process. Then Right-Click your ydrv.sfs and rename it fdrv.sfs. You can do the renaming from a running Puppy so you'll only have to re-boot once to see the results.

If all is well, you're system will boot faster, use slightly less RAM, and you'll be able to create or modify adrv.sfs and ydrv.sfs for their intended purposes.

Because of nature of my job at this time I rarely have a free time soo I reply really slow.
Homeever. The problem must really be specs of my laptop.
@bigpup Folowed your guide and changed kernel version. Now It get past "waiting for modules to complete loading" but xorg won't start. I will continue testing kernel changing and fdrv's.
I saw in my previous post I forgot to mention in my specs I also have RTX 3050 ti. I thought I mentioned but I forgot. I'm sorry.

@davidescu Tried your method. Got the same result that the xorg won't start. I'm happy that It worked for you. I'm gonna also tried to setup xorgwizard.

@Clarity This is the results of the "dd-2GB_SG2D-f2fs" flashed with Rufus. I hope It helps.

I succed with this method.

First. I Changed to kernel 6.1.4.
Changed vmlinuz, kernel modules and fdrv_17dec22 from post. At this point It still didn't worked.
Then I used linux_firmware_20221007 as fdrv and It works good. Even got wifi.
Still having some problems with saving sessions and S15Pup64 session doesn't stop or power off right, but that's minor problem for now. I will continue solving this issue.
I want to thank you all again for help.
I hope I can somehow contribute to projects in future because I want to learn further about this distro and continue testing diffirent versions.

DirectFX wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:39 am

@Clarity This is the results of the "dd-2GB_SG2D-f2fs" flashed with Rufus. I hope It helps.

The USB looks like the 1GB bootable USB stick was created properly and should boot without issues. If there are any problems on new PCs, it may be due to how the UEFI is set: namely Secure boot and ...

Also, (although I'm sure you know this) you can expand the 2nd partition, sda2, on the USB stick to take ALL of the remaining space at the end of the layout...should you choose. The 2nd partition as shipped is cramped as you show and needs expanding to allow you to add as many forum distro ISO files, you choose, into the 2nd partition's BOOTISOS folder. All modern forum distro ISO files will boot from your USB as well as many other distros found on distrowatch.

Please share if you have problems so that we can help with any PC UEFI issues you may be facing.

Question

• Is this a laptop that came with Windows 10/11?
  If so, we may need to change the disk from a MSDOS to a GPT as some UEFIs will not honor MSDOS for bootable system drives. It is currently showing up as 'sda' in Gparted pic

Using the files from S15Pup64-22.12-240518.iso
After getting to "waiting for modules to complete loading", screen changes as expected, but then appears to stall.
Booting with pfix=nox results in same behavior.

Previous working distro: S15Pup64-22.12-230729.iso

Replaced these files from ...240518.iso with same named files from ...230729.iso
vmlinuz
zdrv_s15pup64_22.12.sfs

It now boots as expected to the desktop.

Am I correct in understanding that all the new changes and improvements with the new version distro (puppy_s15pup64_22.12.sfs) are intact even with using older kernel (vmlinuz) and older? drivers (zdrv...) ?

version2013 wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2024 12:46 am

Using the files from S15Pup64-22.12-240518.iso
After getting to "waiting for modules to complete loading", screen changes as expected, but then appears to stall.
Booting with pfix=nox results in same behavior.

Previous working distro: S15Pup64-22.12-230729.iso

Replaced these files from ...240518.iso with same named files from ...230729.iso
vmlinuz
zdrv_s15pup64_22.12.sfs

It now boots as expected to the desktop.

Am I correct in understanding that all the new changes and improvements with the new version distro (puppy_s15pup64_22.12.sfs) are intact even with using older kernel (vmlinuz) and older? drivers (zdrv...) ?

That's my understanding as well, I'm doing the same with S15Pup32, but I went with an even older kernel and zdrv, from an older ArchPup32, mainly because the version 4 kernels are quicker when dealing with NTFS hard drives, which my Pups share with WinXP SP3.
Wiz