Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

[misterT]

Hello all,

I haven't been able to find this problem in a search anywhere, so please excuse me if it's been addressed elsewhere. (If it has, I'd appreciate if you pointed me in that direction.)

I've been an Ubuntu user for years, and recently decided to give Kde a try (Gnome is functional, but I feel I'm missing all those fancy K-apps in the repo). I've been quite happy with kubuntu for about 9 months, and then a couple of nights ago, while testing out the latest Netbeans (6.5), the keyboard stopped working. Mouse still worked, so I asked for a reboot. Screen finally went black, but the disk light was still on. Eventually I removed the battery and replaced it, and powered up again. The Kubuntu welcome screen (with the old Ceylon eye) comes up, and then I'm dropped quite quickly into an Ash CLI screen.

My file structure seems intact, but it's no bash CLI environment, and it's certainly no GUI.

I'm stuck here. If anyone has *any* advice to offer I'd be very grateful.

Btw, this is my first posting to this forum, so I hope I've followed the guidelines properly. And hats off to the KDE creators and maintainers, up until this point I was a solid Gnome convert. However, as Firefox crashes often in KDE, and now this strange heretofore unseen event, I'm reconsidering my options...

Best regards,
Taivo

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

If I may, what do you mean by "Ash" CLI screen? Are you able to navigate the filesystem structure at all?

[misterT]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Yes, I thought the same thing when the ash shell appeared instead of lovely KDE.

I found a reference to ash here:

http://www.in-ulm.de/~mascheck/various/ash/#busybox

It is a command line environment that, it seems to me, offers limited functionality when compared with the bash shell.

[misterT]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

And, yes, I can navigate the file structure.

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

As long as you can navigate, you might want to rename your hidden .kde folder (in your user home directory) to .kde_CRASH and then shutdown/reboot. This will cause the system to rebuild the .kde folder. On the assumption that some personal configuration files may have been borked, this will result in a fresh KDE desktop - any customization you had will have to be redone.

[misterT]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

I tried to move the folder, but it said it was a read-only filesystem. Forgot to try out chmod so will do that when I get home from work. Will report back then.

Thanks!

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Rather than attempting chmod, reboot into recovery (single user) mode. This will/should put you at the CLI as root. At that point attempt to rename the hidden .kde folder and then shutdown and reboot with:

shutdown -r now

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

I tried to move the folder, but it said it was a read-only filesystem.

Hmmmmm -- that might imply other problems. You haven't been executing root operations in your user folder, have you? Installing software, or copying in files, in root mode?

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

He's dropping into a Busybox shell. The filesystem is being mounted ro, which is the default condition when an error is encountered while trying to mount it during boot.

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Yep, that would explain it. I wasn't sure if he was still operating in the ash shell or maybe from a Live CD with the Konsole.

[misterT]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

I was operating in the ash shell.

No, I was not doing any root operations in my user folder. I thought it might have something to do with Netbeans 6.5, since I was testing the IDE at the time these troubles began.

I will try to reboot into recovery (single user) mode, then rename the .kde folder, and then reboot with 'shutdown -r now'.

Thanks for the help and I'll report back after I've tried.

[misterT]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Tried to rename .kde, but still booted into ash.

Tried to use bash from Grub, but still no good.

Finally moved the files off with a Live CD and have reinstalled.... Gnome.

Thanks for all the offers of help!!!

[toad]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Okay, funnily enough I've had the same problem on both my desktop and my laptop after installing ArchLinux and Sidux respectively. I didn't really mind 'cos I was intent on using the new systems rather than the old ones anyway, but this thread got me interested again

It appears that 8.10 has problems with grub > BusyBox/Ash comes up telling me that root could not be found - is that the same message you get, misterT?

My error checking so far:

- uuid in kernel line is correct

My unsuccessful rescue attempts so far:

- added boot parameter rootdelay=

- added boot parameter clocksource=hpet

- added boot parameter all_generic_ide

- chrooted into kub810 to generate a new initramfs

- attempted to reinstall grub from within kub810 chroot jail

- using SGD (SuperGrubDisk) I got into /boot/grub/menu.lst of my kub 8.10 install and attempted to boot from that but I got error 13, could do some research on that

Hm, I believe that is it. Will get back with more if misterT's problem is the same...

[toad]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Right, I'm trying the hardcore version in that I'm going to go through the install procedure of the live CD again - but just install grub. Will report back...

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu crash, now stuck in Ash

Is this issue related to the change in block size that "new grub" uses? I think there's a thread on the sidux forum on that topic -- you have to be careful about "mix 'n match" filesystem formats and new installations of grub.