I broke my kubuntu installation

[em21701]

Since I upgraded to Gusty from Feisty I could not use Firefox or Thunderbird. I have been using Opera to fill the void but I was growing tired of it. Trying to run Firefox from the command line produced a GTK related error. I tried using adept to re-install GTK but after I removed it and re-installed it there must have been some dependencies that I did not replace because it will only boot to the command line and x will not start. I tried using the alternate install disk to re-install Kubuntu but after preforming all the setup it claims that I am not using a setup disk. I did not re-format/partition the drive so that I could keep my files. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Eric

[dibl]

Re: I broke my kubuntu installation

after preforming all the setup it claims that I am not using a setup disk.

That's a new one on me. It sounds like a problem with the drive controller or IDE bus, maybe, not being seen correctly by the installer. Go into your BIOS and make sure that the drives on the IDE bus make sense. If you're trying to boot Kubuntu on a SATA drive and you also have an IDE drive, that can be a tricky problem.

You might need to set a "boot" flag on the partition where you want to boot Kubuntu, unless you need it elsewhere to boot Windows. Not knowing anything more specific about your system, hard drive, other drives, other OS's, etc. I'd recommend making a GParted Live CD (download the ISO here)and reformat that partition -- make sure the "boot" flag is set where you need it, etc.

You can use the Live CD (any Linux Live CD) and copy your data files to another partition or drive to make a backup, assuming you have another place.

HTH

[em21701]

Re: I broke my kubuntu installation

Thanks for your reply. I have been dealing with quite a bit of computer related issues at me house. The Installer no longer claims that I am not using a setup disk, however it hung while installing. I think this may have been a network error and I'll try to take a look at it tonight. My router decided to give up the ghost somewhere in the middle of my last attempt to re-install. I was chronicling my last re-install as a reply to this post on my wifes machine when the router died. At that point I gave up for the day. Thanks again, I'll repost if I get any new errors.

[em21701]

Re: I broke my kubuntu installation

Eurika! My desktop is all set now. I had to reconifgure xserver but it's good now. It still failed out during the "Select and Install Software" part but since this was a re-install there was enough left on the hard drive to get to a command line. from there I ran:

sudo dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorg

[toad]

Re: I broke my kubuntu installation

You may know, but next time dependencies are out of sync a

sudo apt-get install -f

will help.

Glad you got it working