Provide details when seeking assistance

gohlip · 15 March 2017 03:55

Often times, relevant details are left out when seeking assistance.
o graphic card details with graphic issues
o DE (kde, cimmanon...) when issue could be DE specific
o and so on.

Most problematic are when the system has been modified, such as
o installing aur packages replacing standard manjaro packages
o installing grub-repair or grub-customizer
o separate /usr or /var partitions
o modifying system itself, like 40_custom_my
o using gpt partitioning on bios-legacy boots

If unsure if these could be cause for problem, always better to provide more information than less.
It will help people trying to help.
Thank you for your understanding.

Cheers.

handy · 15 March 2017 04:08

Another reason why I really miss signatures in this forum, it makes it really easy for people to show what they are using to their readers.

eugen-b · 15 March 2017 08:41

You can click on the user icon and get some information there if the uses wrote there sth.

To add to the OP: there are some pieces of information I alsways ask for

inxi -Fxz
the output of hwinfo --<device> (you can find what to put for <device> with hwinfo --help)
/var/log/Xorg.0.log if it is a graphics problem like booting into black screen
the last part of /var/log/pacman.log if you get problems after an update

handy · 15 March 2017 08:35

@eugen-b I guess I should put some details in eh!

eugen-b · 15 March 2017 08:40

You rarely need any help with troubleshooting, do you?

handy · 15 March 2017 08:55

@eugen-b That's a laugh. Whilst ever I can still search the web in one place & another for help I'll be OK.

I love being able to look at tutorials & wiki pages that I've written, sometimes years ago, to show me how to do something that I've totally forgotten how to do...

No, I don't need any help. :

AlManja · 15 March 2017 13:39

Is this proper/best way to check what your hardware is based on:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

Well, my question really is, say someone has UEFI based hardware but he installed it in Legacy more. He used older msdos partition table instead. What would upper command return on his system, UEFi or BIOS?

I'm looking for a simple command that would return at least information, what is hardware based on. If there is command returning both info, what is metal based on and what installation was used that would be ideal. Is there any terminal command like that, for easy spotting if someone has their system wrongly set up?

AlManja · 15 March 2017 13:46

I mean, there are several commands one can use, such as:

sudo efibootmgr

or

efivar -l

or:

df -h --local | grep /boot

and so on, but all these only tell you what you have installed on your machine, not what is should be, what MB is designed for, correct?

AlManja · 15 March 2017 14:00

Maybe this one?

sudo dmidecode -t 0

AlManja · 15 March 2017 15:27

This one tells you what is installed, not what should be installed, correct?

test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

banjo · 15 March 2017 15:32

Bring all to the essence and pin it. This would be helpfull for users AND helpers.

gohlip · 15 March 2017 16:15

@AlManja
As you pointed out, there are several ways.
I have my favourite. test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
Of all the varioos commands besides my favourite, I guess the one command that would indicate UEFI and BIOS would be "efivar -l" but in a forum like this, we'll have to say, "Are there lots of output?" If so, then it's UEFI. If not, then it would be BIOS." That's lots of verbiage, and not sure if the other person will understand. So, my favourite.

As for the other commands, it would indicate what the system is capable of, not what the OS currently installed is actually UEFI or BIOS.

And UEFI cannot be installed in msdos partitioning. Not true anymore. Keep forgetting this. They should make this illegal. Calamares made this possible.
But bios-legacy can be installed in gpt; not nice, troublesome, not worth it and may be a hassle for later installations. (2TB notwithstanding).

Oh Happy Nowruz! (Happy New Year!)

AlManja · 15 March 2017 15:52

Yes, this is what I'm looking for, for output, what is system capable

And this is the reason. How to easiest spot miss configured system, when you have bios-legacy installed in gpt, that works but may be source of problems.

I'm putting (well trying) to put script (python) together that would have one simple output with as much useful info as possible, but condensed to show only important stuff and errors from different logs. Something that would be useful for beginners.

So which (probably two) commands would someone need to run to get the info if system is miss-configured?

Sorry if you already told me in previous post, this dummy is getting confused LOL

gohlip · 15 March 2017 16:05

I guess that would be
test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
sudo parted -l

eugen-b · 15 March 2017 16:07

AlManja · 15 March 2017 16:29

Great, thank you very much!

handy · 15 March 2017 20:56

I reckon sudo inxi -Fxmnxopz is a pretty good place to start.

AlManja · 17 March 2017 01:37

My gosh, this is the longest and the most detailed inxi so far! Thanks for sharing. I see why it needs a password.

There is an alternative for another good start
Forgive my shameless promotion, but I really think it can be helpful in situations like this.

Instead of pulling information piece by piece from people that they need help, and many times they don't know where to find all the info, you could guide them like this:

from AUR install :logs-git (will be added in a few days)
open the terminal and type logs into it & enter password when prompted
copy and paste output here

What do you say? Do you guys mind downloading it from here and check it out: (I know you all know this but maybe someone else may need this info: wherever you save it on your computer, from there run in the terminal:

python logs.py

github.com

AlManja/logs.py/blob/master/logs.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

'''added dmesg_error & dmesg_fail, sept 26, 2017'''

import os

"""
This script prints out some computer info and errors from log files (Xorg.0.log, Xorg.1.log,
pacman.log and journalctl.txt. It is intended for Linux OS (Arch based: Manjaro)
"""


def inxi():
    """ Return some basic information about computer hardware, OS, software... """
    print()
    print('===============')
    print('| Inxi -Fxxxz |   Computer information')
    print('===============')
    try:
        os.system('inxi -Fxxxz')

This file has been truncated. show original

@gohlip

I added the check to see if system is properly configured regarding BIOS-msdos or UEFI-gpt. This is output I get on my ms-dos system. I don't have UEFI system to check the output.

Partition table is printed few times since I'm using simple ' | grep ...'

If you happen to have OpenRC it will show you status and all services. I'm looking for ideas, what else to include into output to help with collecting information for easier troubleshooting.

If you guys get bored and become stressed out because of lack of ideas, how to spend your free time...

It is really just my learning programming project, but it may be helpful for beginners and troubleshooting. Even for helpers to get more data in shorter time.

gohlip · 17 March 2017 03:53

Had this message when accessing your github

Whoa there!

You have triggered an abuse detection mechanism.
Please wait a few minutes before you try again.
Contact Support — GitHub Status — @githubstatus

You're testing something like boot info script. Perhaps a bit more detailed.

While I had tried to assist people with boot issues, I've never ask anyone for boot info script details either. My reasoning is that if the person can get to boot info script, he can provide the details he needs to provide for assistance. And if he is unsure about what details to provide (like a newbie and we shouldn't mind), telling him what details we need is much easier (for him) than to ask for boot info script.

It's often the case where a slight more experienced users, for whatever reasons, do not provide adequate details.

Thanks for the script, AlManja.

AlManja · 19 March 2017 00:37

Sorry about that, probably my mistake posting link from inside of my account. If you want to try again, this time it should probably work (link at the bottom)

Well, it is more than just boot information, it lists a lot of stuff one helper may need at troubleshooting

inxi (I used the one @handy provided, but this one require password)
mhwd -li (which graphic driver is installed)
mhwd -l (which graphic drivers are available)
checks if direct rendering is enabled
hwinfo --gfxcard (detailed infor about graphic card)
lsblk (disks and partitions structure)
test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
parted -l (require password which is already provided for Inxi)
Xorg.0.log - shows only errors, failed and WW lines
Xorg.1.log - shows only errors, failed and WW lines
pacman.log - shows only lines with: pacsave', pacnew, pacorig
journalctl -b - latest boot, shows only lines with: Emergency, Critical and Alert

And for OpenRC:

it will filter out rc.log (if it is enabled) for lines that contain: WARNING
it will list all services

So you really get a lot of output all together into the terminal and if you are helping someone, that someone runs the script, that will work in tty, (s)he can copy/paste output to this forum and helper should get plenty of information about that system right away.

I have second thoughts that user needs to enter the password when running the script. Many will not like this. I don't need to use inxi that require password, but if I check for the combo we talked about then password is needed anyway.

test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS'
sudo parted -l | grep "Partition Table"

I wish I could use something else instead: sudo parted -l and avoid the need for password.

logs.py - cli - version that needs password and provide most info
logsgui.py - available from AUR, no password, less info for now, clickable options what output you want. Not suitable for graphical cards troubleshooting since GUI may not work. Not updated yet to show as much info as cli one does.