need help, no startup

[RJ Hythloday]

I'm using kubuntu gutsy and did 2 things.

I blacklisted ipv6 and also turned it off in about:config for firefox.

And I installed ie4linux, It told me I could start IE6 from konsole but it wouldn't, and it didn't add it to the start menu.

I also let apt-update install several updates.

I tried restarting to see if it would make it appear and now I don't get startup.

I get the usual k splash menu, then I can hit esc to choose from reg/safe/memtest.

It tells me it is starting up and then nothing ever happens.

Can someone help? fast!

tia

Bob

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

Do you have access to the installation CD?

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

yep,I've still got the live dvd.

I'm on my windoz boot that I really want to get rid of :lol: but I guess it's good to have it for a bit longer.

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

I'm on my windoz boot that I really want to get rid of :lol: but I guess it's good to have it for a bit longer.

Probably so; I still have Vista installed on my laptop just in case I run into issues where I need certain applications that aren't available on Linux, which happens occasionally (although I haven't booted to it in a couple weeks, and don't feel the need to ).

Boot to the DVD, and reinstall GRUB by opening Konsole (or any terminal application), and running the command:

sudo grub-install hd0; sudo update-grub

Then, remove the DVD and reboot your computer; see if that fixes the problem.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

Thanx, I'll give it a shot now.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

alright, so I couldn't even get the live cd to boot.

It did let me get to safe graphics mode and it told me it could not find menu.lst would I like to create it. So I did. It still won't boot, I can't get the live cd running. I did get to install from command line.

I'm not sure what to do from here. I'd reinstall, but I don't feel comfortable doing it from command line.

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

Boot to the DVD and post the output of this command:

sudo fdisk -l; df -hT

That will give me an idea of how you have your hard drive partitioned; the menu.lst file should be in your /boot directory, and if it can't be found, your /boot directory probably isn't mounted.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

sorry it took so long, the live dvd wouldn't run. It would get to starting cups and never progress.

I tried to install from command line and it has the same result, starting cups, no further progress.

I tried an older live cd of ubuntu 6.1 and it wouldn't run. It told me my xorg.conf was wrong, monitor detected but not usable please restart gnome after fixing it.

Any ways I'm on an old gentoo live cd right now,

Thanx for any help.

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

OK; I believe you can run the above commands from Gentoo. If you can't, can you describe how your HD is partitioned and how each partition is mounted during a normal boot?

Edit: You may also want to check out Super Grub Disk.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

OK; I believe you can run the above commands from Gentoo. If you can't, can you describe how your HD is partitioned and how each partition is mounted during a normal boot?

Edit: You may also want to check out Super Grub Disk.

I tried super grub from ubcd last night, but it just brought up prompt and I had no idea what to type, I will read up on it.

Still confused why the ubuntu live cds aren't working, and no idea if the text install should boot or if I should redo it from gui after the live cd works.

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9324 74894998+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9325 9726 3229065 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9325 9726 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs tmpfs 744M 15M 730M 2% /
/dev/hdb iso9660 697M 697M 0 100% /mnt/cdrom
/dev/loop/0
squashfs 668M 668M 0 100% /mnt/livecd
udev tmpfs 744M 200K 744M 1% /dev
cachedir tmpfs 668M 668M 0 100% /mnt/livecd/lib/splash/cache
tmpfs tmpfs 744M 4.2M 740M 1% /mnt/livecd/lib/firmware
tmpfs tmpfs 744M 0 744M 0% /mnt/livecd/usr/portage
tmpfs tmpfs 744M 0 744M 0% /mnt/livecd/var/lib/xkb

Thanks for your help

Bob

edit: I've found quite a few threads about live cds not working, usually to do w/ gpus not being recognized by x. The thing is I've used both the live cd and dvd w/ this same setup w/ no problem. The text install gets to the same point starting cups then a black screen. Is there any way to get konsole open from the black screen?

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

I tried super grub from ubcd last night, but it just brought up prompt and I had no idea what to type, I will read up on it.

Qqmike's HOW TO: GRUB Methods - Toolkit should help a little. It looks to me as though you have Kubuntu installed on your 1st partition, and that it isn't being mounted. Try creating a mount point and mounting that partition with:

sudo mkdir /mnt/sda1; sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1

Then, check to see if that partition contains your /boot/grub/menu.lst file:

ls /mnt/sda1/boot/grub

If it does, you should then be able to reinstall GRUB:

sudo grub-install hd0; sudo update-grub

Let me know how it goes

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

I tried super grub from ubcd last night, but it just brought up prompt and I had no idea what to type, I will read up on it.

Qqmike's HOW TO: GRUB Methods - Toolkit should help a little. It looks to me as though you have Kubuntu installed on your 1st partition, and that it isn't being mounted. Try creating a mount point and mounting that partition with:

sudo mkdir /mnt/sda1; sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1

Should I do this from gentoo or from super grub?

Then, check to see if that partition contains your /boot/grub/menu.lst file:

ls /mnt/sda1/boot/grub

If it does, you should then be able to reinstall GRUB:

sudo grub-install hd0; sudo update-grub

Let me know how it goes

alright here's what I get from terminal

gentoo@livecd ~ $ sudo mkdir /mnt/sda1; sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
gentoo@livecd ~ $ sudo mkdir /mnt/sda1; sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mkdir: cannot create directory `/mnt/sda1': File exists
mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /mnt/sda1 busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /mnt/sda1
gentoo@livecd ~ $ ls /mnt/sda1/boot/grub
default fat_stage1_5 menu.lst stage1
device.map installed-version minix_stage1_5 stage2
e2fs_stage1_5 jfs_stage1_5 reiserfs_stage1_5 xfs_stage1_5
gentoo@livecd ~ $ sudo grub-install hd0; sudo update-grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
sed: can't read /boot/grub/device.map: No such file or directory
grep: /boot/grub/device.map: No such file or directory
/dev/loop/0 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.
sudo: update-grub: command not found

[integr8e]

Re: need help, no startup

Gentoo would probably be the best option; I don't know if you can use Super Grub Disk for the above, but you could follow Qqmike's HowTo to reinstall GRUB with it.

Edit: I guess you posted an edit while I was thinking Try following Qqmike's HowTo - he addresses the GRUB shell commands.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: need help, no startup

I'm reading it, but I can't edit menu.lst. I'm not sure how to get root from terminal

[Fintan]

Re: need help, no startup

The easiest way is to do: alt+F2->
kdesudo (or kdesu dependig on how you have sudo set up) kate->give your password
open /etc/boot/grub/menu.lst