after installing system updates, my computer won't restart!!

[przxqgl]

What you need to do, after booting, is to press repeatedly, the Esc key until the Grub Menu appears.

aahhhhh... that's how to do it...

once again, i don't remember, but it was my impression that this was the way to access the BIOS, which really had me confused, because i know enough about what the BIOS is to know that it didn't sound like what you were talking about...

You will boot into a console session. At that point, type startx and see if you get to your desktop.

yep, that did it... although i didn't boot to MY desktop, i booted to A desktop... specifically, the "Root" desktop... but it's definitely a big step in the right direction...

and, naturally, the first thing that came up was the fact that there are MORE system updates available...

i think i'm going to wait to install them until AFTER i get the recent batch working...

Hi there. Something definitely went wrong somewhere, and while you are likely in very good hands with people here in this forum to solve your issues

thanks, i appreciate it...

although i know, from past experience, that it may take a while, however there are enough people who are kubuntu GODS on this forum to fix just about any problem... ;-)

As a clue, I would go to the terminal (Konsole) and type:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

and post the output here if it complains about broken packages or conflicts, etc.

now i'm confused again...

i was successfully able to get the desktop, which implies that kubuntu-desktop is working somewhere, but when i did

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

it gave me

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kubuntu-desktop : Depends : kdm but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

if i'm looking at the root desktop, it would appear that kubuntu-desktop is working, but i have a tendency to believe what apt tells me, so... who do i believe??

Anyway - As for your system specs:

Method One: KInfoCenter

Just run KInfoCenter as it is installed by default (Start Menu > Applications > System > KInfoCenter). It will give you a nice screen of the basics of what you have.

once again, thanks very much!

Method Two: LSHW command

Go to terminal again (Konsole) and type the following:

sudo lshw -html > hardware.html

after it runs, you can use Dolphin to see a file named "hardware.html" in your Home directory. It will open in your web browser and VOILA! A nice, detailed hardware report for your viewing pleasure.

ooh, this is NIFTY! :-)

however, when i get to the "display" section, it is all in red (the rest of the sections are black text with a beige background)... it says the display chip is a RS780 (Radeon HD3200)... i also have red sections for "serial", "volume", and "enclosure", which makes me wonder why they are red. logic would say that they are red because there's something wrong with that section, but i don't know what... although there has been some distinctly wonky behaviour from the volume controls for some time now...

but one thing at a time... i'm guessing that if kubuntu-desktop is REALLY not installed, that there's still something wonky with that, and i still don't know what it is...

[Mr_Bumpy]

i was successfully able to get the desktop, which implies that kubuntu-desktop is working somewhere, but when i did

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

it gave me

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kubuntu-desktop : Depends : kdm but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

if i'm looking at the root desktop, it would appear that kubuntu-desktop is working, but i have a tendency to believe what apt tells me, so... who do i believe??

The problem is that KDM is missing, and can't be installed because of a packaging goof with the kubuntu-ppa, which I'm guessing you added at some point to keep up with the latest KDE desktop updates. However, this can all be fixed by running the following commands one-by-one, and following the prompts in each case:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
sudo reboot

The kubuntu-desktop package is a "metapackage" that basically pulls in all of the other packages needed for a functional KDE desktop. By installing it, it will also pull in KDM, which is what allows you to log in to your graphical desktop.

Here's a breakdown of what these commands do:
The first command (sudo apt-get update) gets the latest info on what packages are available. You need to do this so that apt is aware of the fixes that appear to have been uploaded earlier today.
The second comand (sudo apt-get dist-upgrade) will grab all of the updates, as there appear to have been a number of KDE packages updated since the KDM package goof.
The third command (sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop) will install the kubuntu-desktop metapackage, which will also bring in the kdm package that you need to get back your graphical login.
The fourth command (sudo reboot)... well, I'll bet you can figure out what that one does

Good luck

[przxqgl]

The kdm dependency issue was resolved with the package updates today, so kdm should install now. Try the following commands at the virtual terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
sudo reboot

...and you should hopefully be back to a login prompt after your computer restarts.

after i did this, there were some weird screen mutations, usually graphic screens that were rendered with text rather than graphics, and something that said that some address "was already in use", but when it was all through munching and barfing, i got a recognisable login screen, and, when i logged in, there was MY desktop... :-)

now for the big test... i'm going to shut the computer down, and restart it. if it all goes well, i'll mark this [RESOLVED]... although i'd still really like to know why some of the sections in the "hardware.html" that i generated are in red... :-)

[eddieg538]

Ok I checked on the updates today and KDM will no longer be removed like it would have yesterday. Konsole shows nothing to be removed. 3 to add which are kernel upgrades. I would run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade then reboot. If it still doesn't boot to desktop run: sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm and reboot. Hopefully this will get you to your desktop.

[przxqgl]

HOORAY! it's fixed!! :-)

you guys ROCK!!

thanks, once again!

however, if anybody wants to work with me on why the sections of the 'hardware.html' that i generated, are in red, i'd be much obliged. ;-)

[Mr_Bumpy]

HOORAY! it's fixed!! :-)

Awesome to hear! Be wary in the future if any packages are going to be removed during an update. Sometimes its okay, but in this case, as you found out, it can be debilitating.

Regarding the red sections in sysinfo.html (I have them as well), a quick search online provided this:
The red color is for .node-unclaimed class (you can check yourself looking at the <head>...</head> part of the output); so it is for unclaimed hardware, I think. So, nothing you need to be worried about, basically. (source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1472709)

[przxqgl]

Be wary in the future if any packages are going to be removed during an update. Sometimes its okay, but in this case, as you found out, it can be debilitating.

usually i am aware enough of these things to know when packages are being removed... but i don't remember seeing any immediately prior to THIS happening... i'll have to be even more cautious.

Regarding the red sections in sysinfo.html (I have them as well), a quick search online provided this:
The red color is for .node-unclaimed class (you can check yourself looking at the <head>...</head> part of the output); so it is for unclaimed hardware, I think. So, nothing you need to be worried about, basically. (source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1472709)

um...

unclaimed hardware?... so, theoretically, i have hardware in my box that kubuntu (or, unconsciously, me) has decided that it won't and/or can't work with or support, and so it's just left there, hanging??

weird... weirdly weird...

[GreyGeek]

IF you can get to a console then lspci will show you your hardware list. Here's mine. The video chips are in red.

~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
[COLOR=#ff0000]00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)[/COLOR]
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
[COLOR=#ff0000]01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 650M] (rev a1)[/COLOR]
07:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
0d:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
0e:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)

My system has the Intel chip as the primary and the Nvidia chip as the secondary. Unfortunately, I cannot switch between them in the BIOS, so IF I want to use the Nvidia chip I have to install the nvidiea-current and BumbleBee. Then, to run a graphic program using Nvidia I have to issue "optimus somegraphicapp" in a console. Fortunately, my Intel graphic chip gives me 60fps so I never use the Nividia. However, this morning an update construed my Nivida driver as the primary one and tried to use the bbswitch (bumblebee switch) to turn on my Nividia chip to run the desktop. I got a back light but nothing else. To fix the problem I had to boot into the recovery console, plug in my eth0 cable to get an internet connection, then use apt-get remove xserver-video app and reboot. My desktop came up except that I had no OpenGL acceleration. My test canary, Stellarium, reported "this system does not support OpenGL". I looked into the stellarium log.txt file and it reported that the kernel was selecting the nvidia driver, which I had removed. Turns out there were two nvidia drivers installed, and when I removed one the other took over. After I removed it and rebooted my desktop came up with OpenGL active.

[Mr_Bumpy]

unclaimed hardware?... so, theoretically, i have hardware in my box that kubuntu (or, unconsciously, me) has decided that it won't and/or can't work with or support, and so it's just left there, hanging??

Basically, yes. Unclaimed means that there is no driver currently loaded for that hardware (or hardware component). For example, on my system, there's no driver loaded for "SCSI Processor". Considering that I have no SCSI drives, there is no problem with this. So, whether or not unclaimed hardware will make any difference for you is determined by which devices are unclaimed. Again, in my case, it's nothing that actually needs to be running anyway (as far as I can tell). Sometimes a driver isn't loaded because it's not available... sometimes because it's not needed.

I've also seen some cases where it appears a piece of hardware has more than one "node", but a driver is only loaded for one of the nodes and the hardware seems to work fine.

...but now I'm starting to talk about stuff I don't really know much about, so I should probably stop

[Mr_Bumpy]

FYI, from the lshw website:

a node is marked as UNCLAIMED if no specific support for it has been loaded (or lshw has been unable to identify the driver)

[przxqgl]

FYI, from the lshw website:

than que.