Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

I won't list the entire saga of a problematic install, because it might not be
relevant and I might bury the wood under trees.

I am doing a net install. I cannot find a usable mirror. I have tried at
least 4 in the UK and 2 in Holland. So I can progress no further. Even if I
were to download CD1 and install from it, the first thing I would want to do
would be to update and upgrade. Impossible without a mirror.

I am getting a long list of error messages in pairs. I have copied one pair,
but am not sure in which order they should go, so I may have copied the
second of one pair and the first of the next.

<quote>
Sept 15 21:15:36 choose-mirror[314171]: DEBUG: command: wget -q
http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl/debian/dists/squeeze/ Release -0 - |
grep -E '^(suite|codename):'
Sept 15 21:16:16 choose-mirror[31471] WARNING **: mirror does not support the
specified release (squeeze)
</quote>

Some of the spaces might be in the wrong places, because I copied the message
down long-hand and then typed it in.

This repeats over all my attempts, with just the details of the mirror
changing.

Any suggestions as to what I can do about this, from RTFM to LMGTFY, welcomed,
other than throw the *$)%%& thing through the window. I *need* this
computer. And I need it yesterday.

Thanks,
Lisi


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sat 15 Sep 2012 at 23:28:49 +0100, Lisi wrote:

> I am getting a long list of error messages in pairs. I have copied one pair,
> but am not sure in which order they should go, so I may have copied the
> second of one pair and the first of the next.
>
> <quote>
> Sept 15 21:15:36 choose-mirror[314171]: DEBUG: command: wget -q
> http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl/debian/dists/squeeze/ Release -0 - |
> grep -E '^(suite|codename):'
> Sept 15 21:16:16 choose-mirror[31471] WARNING **: mirror does not support the
> specified release (squeeze)
> </quote>

First check your network connectivity by switching to console 2/3 and
doing

wget http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl

You should get an index.html file.


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

Hi, Brian!
Thanks for this.

On Sunday 16 September 2012 00:04:05 Brian wrote:
> On Sat 15 Sep 2012 at 23:28:49 +0100, Lisi wrote:
> > I am getting a long list of error messages in pairs. I have copied one
> > pair, but am not sure in which order they should go, so I may have copied
> > the second of one pair and the first of the next.
> >
> > <quote>
> > Sept 15 21:15:36 choose-mirror[314171]: DEBUG: command: wget -q
> > http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl/debian/dists/squeeze/ Release -0 - |
> > grep -E '^(suite|codename):'
> > Sept 15 21:16:16 choose-mirror[31471] WARNING **: mirror does not support
> > the specified release (squeeze)
> > </quote>
>
> First check your network connectivity by switching to console 2/3 and
> doing
>
> wget http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl
>
> You should get an index.html file.

No, I didn't. :-( Now all I have to work out is where next??

The computer is attached to the network. I can ping it from another computer
on the network, the router lists it as an attached device and the router can
ping it. Other computerrs on the same net, using the same gateway, are
accessing the internet fine, so it isn't a supply outage.

Bash has not yet been installed, which makes running tests from the
installation a trifle tricky for me. The obvious thing to try next would
have been to test the internet with IP - i.e. establish whether it is a DNS
problem. But without ping, I don't know how to do this.

Thanks,
Lisi


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 5:28 PM, Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I am doing a net install. I cannot find a usable mirror. I have tried at
> least 4 in the UK and 2 in Holland. So I can progress no further. Even if I
> were to download CD1 and install from it, the first thing I would want to do
> would be to update and upgrade. Impossible without a mirror.

While it is not a solution to your current problem, if you were to
install from CD, you'd at least have a fully installed operating
system to troubleshoot from rather than trying to do so in the limited
environment provided by the installer.

--
Chris


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sun 16 Sep 2012 at 10:08:50 +0100, Lisi wrote:

> > First check your network connectivity by switching to console 2/3 and
> > doing
> >
> > wget http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl
> >
> > You should get an index.html file.
>
> No, I didn't. :-( Now all I have to work out is where next??

ftp.uk.debian.org has the IP address 83.142.228.128 so if

wget http://83.142.228.128/

gets you the file it might indicate you have a DNS problem.

The nameserver being used may be seen in

cat /etc/resolv.conf

which, assuming you have set up networking with DHCP, would probably be
the IP address of your router.


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sunday 16 September 2012 12:01:28 Brian wrote:
> On Sun 16 Sep 2012 at 10:08:50 +0100, Lisi wrote:
> > > First check your network connectivity by switching to console 2/3 and
> > > doing
> > >
> > > wget http://debian.mirror.cambrium.nl
> > >
> > > You should get an index.html file.
> >
> > No, I didn't. :-( Now all I have to work out is where next??
>
> ftp.uk.debian.org has the IP address 83.142.228.128 so if
>
> wget http://83.142.228.128/
>
> gets you the file it might indicate you have a DNS problem.
>
> The nameserver being used may be seen in
>
> cat /etc/resolv.conf
>
> which, assuming you have set up networking with DHCP, would probably be
> the IP address of your router.

Bingo! Brilliant! Thank you. It was a DNS problem, so I reconfigured the
network by DHCP instaed of entering static values and we have lift-off - and
I have learnt something.

:-)
Lisi


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sunday 16 September 2012 10:13:50 Christofer C. Bell wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 5:28 PM, Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am doing a net install. I cannot find a usable mirror. I have tried
> > at least 4 in the UK and 2 in Holland. So I can progress no further.
> > Even if I were to download CD1 and install from it, the first thing I
> > would want to do would be to update and upgrade. Impossible without a
> > mirror.
>
> While it is not a solution to your current problem, if you were to
> install from CD, you'd at least have a fully installed operating
> system to troubleshoot from rather than trying to do so in the limited
> environment provided by the installer.

Thanks, Chris. This is obviously sensible advice and I was just about to
start downloading CD1 when Brian's post arrived and solved the problem. I do
like this list!

Lisi



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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

On Sun 16 Sep 2012 at 12:15:18 +0100, Lisi wrote:

> On Sunday 16 September 2012 12:01:28 Brian wrote:
> >
> > ftp.uk.debian.org has the IP address 83.142.228.128 so if
> >
> > wget http://83.142.228.128/
> >
> > gets you the file it might indicate you have a DNS problem.
> >
> > The nameserver being used may be seen in
> >
> > cat /etc/resolv.conf
> >
> > which, assuming you have set up networking with DHCP, would probably be
> > the IP address of your router.
>
> Bingo! Brilliant! Thank you. It was a DNS problem, so I reconfigured the
> network by DHCP instaed of entering static values and we have lift-off - and
> I have learnt something.

Excellent :)

I forgot to mention that you could have also changed the nameserver by
editing the resolv.conf with nano. One of the Google ones, 8.8.8.8, is
useful to remember for an emergency.


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Problematic install - cannot find mirror
 

Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> writes:

> Thanks, Chris. This is obviously sensible advice and I was just about to
> start downloading CD1 when Brian's post arrived and solved the problem. I do
> like this list!

You might want to try installer from here some time:
http://www.debian.org/CD/live/

DHCP isn't the greatest thing to use; you might be better off by using
static IPs, setting up a local name server and use that instead of what
the router provides. I've seen routers unable to resolve some addresses
while bind did it just fine, so I don't trust them anymore. It gives
you control over the name server and tends to be faster. And it's nicer
when you can do "ping host" instead of "ping ... err, what was the
address? Was it 192.168.1.10 or 192.168.1.50? Or 20?" :)


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