SeaTools Bootable

[DexSK]

Hello everyone, I've recently downloaded the SeaTools Bootable image, which is based on Tiny Core, which can be found here: https://www.seagate.com/files/old-support-files/seatools/USBbootSetup-SeaToolsBootable.zip
However, I ran into a problem booting it, instead of the GUI starting, I've landed on the command line, and that was that. I admit I'm very basic on linux knowledge, doing advanced things exclusively on the CLI is not exactly my strong suit. I've searched this forum for any info on that particular custom product, as well as their own resources, and after not finding anything I'm posting here.
What I suspect is that the software has an issue with my graphics card, the X server doesn't like nvidia very much. My question, could anyone please help me analyze and solve this issue? Maybe there's an extension for that already, and I'd need instructions on where to place it and how to set it up to load at boot, or whatever else would be needed.
My specs are as follows:
Gigabyte GA-Z270-HD3P, Intel Core i7-7700k and a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.
I've recently bought a set of 8TB Seagate HDDs and I'd like to have them thoroughly tested offline before I use them.
Thanks very much.

[gadget42]

grab the latest Core Plus and see what it does.

[DexSK]

grab the latest Core Plus and see what it does.

Do I just overwrite the files? (the TCZs in the Optional folder)

[DexSK]

grab the latest Core Plus and see what it does.

just came back from trying after overwriting the files under Optional, no change sadly.

[gadget42]

have you tried just booting up Core Plus to see if it fails in the same way?
if it doesn't fail then that will give you a good starting point for troubleshooting.

also did some poking around seagate website:

used:
https://www.seagate.com/search/?keyword=seatools&pagetype=support

to find:
https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

and then the third selection down was labeled:
"SeaTools Bootable - Use this kit to create a bootable USB that uses SeaTools to diagnose hard drives and monitor SSDs."
(and then the hot-link was the same url that was referenced in the OP)

note: did not download anything...yet...

20220819-0414am-modified-added notes on seagate website navigation/search

[gadget42]

this post mentions Geforce GTX 1060:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,22984.msg143593.html#msg143593

and the whole thread is quite a read(2 pages):
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=22984.0

[Juanito]

Which version of Tinycore is seatools using (enter "version" and "uname -a" at the cli)?

Is seatools attempting to use Xvesa, Xfbdev or Xorg-7.7 for the gui (enter "cat /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst" at the cli)?

[DexSK]

have you tried just booting up Core Plus to see if it fails in the same way?
if it doesn't fail then that will give you a good starting point for troubleshooting.

also did some poking around seagate website:

used:
https://www.seagate.com/search/?keyword=seatools&pagetype=support

to find:
https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

and then the third selection down was labeled:
"SeaTools Bootable - Use this kit to create a bootable USB that uses SeaTools to diagnose hard drives and monitor SSDs."
(and then the hot-link was the same url that was referenced in the OP)

note: did not download anything...yet...

20220819-0414am-modified-added notes on seagate website navigation/search

Hello, thanks for the reply, just tried a VM (using VMWare Workstation 16) with CorePlus-current.iso, BIOS mode went to boot screen, UEFI (as my physical machine) didn't work. The ISO doesn't have UEFI boot files, just BIOS mode, I'd like to avoid having to switch my physical machine to BIOS mode.

As for the USB bootable download for SeaTools, I'm using a multiboot USB with various live CDs (recovery stuff like Gandalf's Win10 PE), even a LinuxMint LiveCD, it's set up using rEFInd, so I put the USB SeaTools right beside the other recovery stuff. Not running it from an optical drive, don't have that on my system anymore.

[DexSK]

Which version of Tinycore is seatools using (enter "version" and "uname -a" at the cli)?

Is seatools attempting to use Xvesa, Xfbdev or Xorg-7.7 for the gui (enter "cat /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst" at the cli)?

Version Core 10.0
uname -a 4.19.10-tinycore64 kernel version

the onboot.lst file is present but empty.

[DexSK]

Okay, now I have a new situation, following the questions from Juanito I downloaded a fresh USB installer of Seatools Bootable, apparently they've updated it in the meantime, this version apparently does have nvidia drivers, did see the GTX 1060 text blink up during the boot process, but still landed on the command line. After trying startx in the cli I get a "failed in waitforX" response. Amazingly when I boot up from the USB inside a VM (64bit UEFI LinuxMint is installed), I get the SeaTools GUI, not the command line.

[Juanito]

There are nvidia drivers in CorePure64 10.x (nvidia-390.116-KERNEL), so you might be in luck.

You can see which extensions are loaded with "tce-status -i".

You can check out the "failed in waitforX" error with "Xorg -nolisten tcp" and by looking at /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[DexSK]

An internal server error on this forum prevents me to post the xorg log either inline or as attachment.

There are nvidia drivers in CorePure64 10.x (nvidia-390.116-KERNEL), so you might be in luck.

You can see which extensions are loaded with "tce-status -i".

You can check out the "failed in waitforX" error with "Xorg -nolisten tcp" and by looking at /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[DexSK]

Xorg logfile attached, the -nolisten tcp switch didn't help with it either, what I've seen inside is "No screens found" but I'm unable to solve it, various forums suggest various fixes, not an universal one.

[Juanito]

The log file shows this:

Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 0 (driver not present)
Matched nv as autoconfigured driver 1 (driver not present)
Matched modesetting as autoconfigured driver 2 (graphics-KERNEL not present)
Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 3 (driver not present)
Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 4 (address out of range)

[Juanito]

..so you can try (from the console prompt)

* loading the graphics-KERNEL extension then startx to try the modesetting driver.
* loading the xf86-video-nv extension then startx to try the nv driver.
* loading the xf86-video-nouveau extension then startx to try the nouveau driver.

After each attempt it would be useful to examine Xorg.0.log