Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

[coolrat33]

Hi
I'm a new diehard Kubuntu user. But now I really need help.

Something happened yesterday when I was fiddling in fstab trying to get the system to recognize my external NTFS drives.

Now the system won't boot up at all.
It begins to boot, the Kubuntu splash screen appears, but it stops after a short time and the error messages appear:

udevd event [4096] run_program: exe of program
'lib/udev/usb_device_name' fail
'lib/udev/check-ptp-camera' fail
'/sbin/modprobe
'lib/udev' fail
'lib/udev/usb_id' fail
'lib/udev/path_id' fail
'lib/udev/usb_device_name' fail
'lib/udev/path' fail

I'm not sure why this happened nor do I know how to fix it. :P I'm using XP for the time being.. ugg!

Please help me to solve this! I'm quite new, so I need pretty clear instructions on what to do!

Thanks very much!

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

Boot into recovery mode. You will end up at the prompt only. From there:

cd /etc
pg fstab

Write down what is listed. Then reply back and provide the information.

[bootdoc]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

Boot into recovery kernel and at prompt do:
ls /etc

See if there is a backup of fstab. if so then do:

cp /etc/name_of_backup_file /etc/fstab

and reboot.

[coolrat33]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

Thank you VERY MUCH for your replies!

If it wasn't for these forums, many new people would not be able to switch OS. Thanks so much for your contribution of time and effort!

Booting into recovery would not work.
So I used a live CD and started Kubuntu. But it wouldn't give me access to my old ext3 partitions with my installation on it. I had to fiddle around a lot with System Settings - Disk and File Systems to enable access to my Kubuntu ext3 partition.
Why am I haveing such trouble mounting partitions?

Then when I had access, I found that I DID have a backup of fstab. But I couldnt' rename it because I lacked permissions. So I changed permissions on my <mount point> folder so that anyone could read and write. (Was this i a huge mistake? How can I fix it?)
Then I renamed the backup to fstab. I renamed the faulty fstab too.

Kubuntu rebooted after this nasty process!
Please advise me on how to fix my fstab so it will recognize my cd drives and NTFS external drives automatically.
Each of the NTFS external drives has a label that I created for it in WINDOWS ) ie StorDisk1, StorDisk2, 500gDisk

Here is the results of the "pg fstab" command in Terminal

-- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

<device> /cdrom iso9660 noauto,loop 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=c4512ba6-9225-486e-a054-89c456783f14 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=705c2608-7208-41fb-81db-d1671468fb21 /home ext3 nouser,defaults,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=E0DCD45EDCD43090 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=85e11f71-c121-4b89-a766-df66c1569477 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 iso9660 0 0 0
LABEL=500GDISK1 /media ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdd1 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb2 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb3 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
:

I'm tempted to give up and switch back to MINT because of its flawless handling of my NTFS external partitions. But Iwant to stick with Kubuntu! Thank you for ANY advice you can give.

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

>>>CAUTION<<<
>>>MAKE BACKUPS OF ALL CRITICAL FILES BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES<<<

Based on what you provided of your /etc/fstab file, I've rewritten it. Look it over very carefully. You may also want some one else to look it over before taking the steps below.

-- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=c4512ba6-9225-486e-a054-89c456783f14 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=705c2608-7208-41fb-81db-d1671468fb21 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=E0DCD45EDCD43090 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
LABEL=500GDISK1 /media/500GDISK1 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/sdb2 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
/dev/sdb3 /media/sdb3 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
/dev/sdd1 /media/sdd1 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=85e11f71-c121-4b89-a766-df66c1569477 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

Where your post showed ntfs-3g, I've taken your word that those partitions are ntfs formated partitions (Windoze).

Before proceding, open a console shell and type:

sudo fdisk -l & df -h -T

Compare the results to what I've written above. If in doubt, copy and paste the results in a reply before proceding. If you are comfortable, then:

Rename your existing /etc/fstab to /etc/fstab_MESSEDUP
Open a console shell and type:

kdesu kate /etc/fstab

Copy and paste the above into the open document. Save and close Kate.
Reboot. Note any errors and report back.

[coolrat33]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

Hi

Thank you very much for your detailed reply! I'm sure that we'll get to the bottom of this!
I have 3 external hardrives formatted to NTFS. One is connected by Firewire, the other two are USB2.
Details are below:

The notebook has:
10 gb windows partition dev/sda1
1.5 gb swap partition dev/sda5
8.1 gb Linux OS partition dev/sda6
18.3 gb home partition dev/sda7
built-in DVD burner.

External Harddrives:
1) 300 gb drive formated as NTFS
it is subdivided into 3 partiions,
In Windows XP i labeled the drives
- Stordisk1
- Stordisk2
- Stordisk3

2) 500gb harddrive formatted as NTFS
it is not sub-partitioned
It is labeled as "500GDISK1"

3) a second 500gb harddrive formatted as NTFS (I have not connected it yet. It will be a backup for the other drive)

4) an external DVD burner manufactured by LG connected by USB2 or Firewire.

in Kubuntu, it seems that these harddrives are given a different identity-tag depending on which drive I start... (sometimes the StorDisk1 is called /dev/sdb1 while other times its /dev/blaablaa ). Is there a way to mount each drive according to its label so that it doesn't "jump around"?

I just turned on the 300 gb and the 500 gb external drives. I have included a JPEG of what is displayed by System Settings- Disk and FileSystems.

Also, In terminal, I typed sudo fdisk -l & df -h -T and this is the result:

ray@kaeru:~$ sudo fdisk -l & df -h -T
[1] 18386
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6 ext3 8.0G 3.7G 4.0G 49% /
varrun tmpfs 506M 160K 505M 1% /var/run
varlock tmpfs 506M 0 506M 0% /var/lock
udev tmpfs 506M 132K 506M 1% /dev
devshm tmpfs 506M 0 506M 0% /dev/shm
lrm tmpfs 506M 34M 472M 7% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
/dev/sda7 ext3 18G 9.2G 8.0G 54% /home
/dev/sda1 fuseblk 9.4G 8.7G 692M 93% /media/sda1
ray@kaeru:~$ [sudo] password for ray:

sudo fdisk -l & df -h -T
----------------------------------------------------------------

In case this is useful, I also typed pg fstab and got this:

ray@kaeru:/etc$ pg fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

<device> /cdrom iso9660 noauto,loop 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=c4512ba6-9225-486e-a054-89c456783f14 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=705c2608-7208-41fb-81db-d1671468fb21 /home ext3 nouser,defaults,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=E0DCD45EDCD43090 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=85e11f71-c121-4b89-a766-df66c1569477 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 iso9660 0 0 0
LABEL=500GDISK1 /media ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdd1 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb2 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb3 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 <mount\040point> ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
(EOF):
----------------------------------------------------------------

If you can help to check the new fstab that you created, I will be very grateful.
I will also do my reading about fstab to try to improve my knowledge!
Thanks!

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu 7.10 crashes on startup! HELP please!

USB connected HDs will reflect /dev/sxxx designations assigned during boot due to the way that the USB devices are accessed during the boot process. It's frustrating. But, you can avoid the frustration by using the UUID designation instead.

You can see this in your fstab file for the partitions on your primary HD:

# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=c4512ba6-9225-486e-a054-89c456783f14 / ext3 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=705c2608-7208-41fb-81db-d1671468fb21 /home ext3 nouser,defaults,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 2

You can modify your fstab for the USB HD partitions accordingly. The UUID information for your connected disk devices are located in /dev/disk/by-uuid. You can see them by opening a console and typing:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid

or, you can type:

blkid