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    Weird startup

    I'm a newbie to linux....thank you in advance for those who come to my aid.
    I installed kubuntu on an old computer that was having freezing problems with Windows 95/98/ME. The installation froze after the initial questions on where to store and partitioning, so the installation never finished. Also, I chose to use the entire hard drive so I would delete windows and have only kubuntu. When I restarted the computer the grub operating system option screen came up with these options:
    ubuntu
    ubuntu (recovery mode)
    windows
    other operating systems

    When I choose the normal ubuntu os the next screen says "Starting up..." but then it freezes. I read through other forums and found out the commands do not seem correct under ubuntu. The list was:
    uuid
    kernel
    initrd
    quiet

    When I changed the commands to have
    root
    kernel
    initrd
    quiet

    the os was able to startup as it normally looks. The kubuntu icon and login screen came up fine. I thought I had fixed the problem, but then I noticed the computer freezing. The computer is consistent with freezing after 15-20mins of use. I attempted to reinstall kubuntu completely using the livecd sent to me (version 9.04), but now my computer does not read anything in the cdrom drive. It says it's checking the cdrom for boot but then it says "not found"

    I only want kubuntu and no extra partitions. These are the problems I would like to solve:

    1. kubuntu does not start automatically, computer sends me to screen asking which os to use from a list that also includes windows. (I need to edit the command line everytime to have root instead of uuid)
    2. get rid of windows (BTW when I tried windows, it was completely screwed up, asking me to install a whole slew of drivers that were not detected)
    3. fix the computer freezing (it doesn't freeze at all in grub when I tried using command lines)
    4. cd rom drive not reading (if this could be fixed, maybe I could reinstall completely which could fix problem #1&2)

    Please let me know what more info may be helpful...

    #2
    Re: Weird startup

    How much memory does the old computer have, and what size hard disk? If it was used for windows 95/98/ME it must be over ten years old and the chances of it having the minimum 256MB are questionable.

    I use and would suggest in your case to consider the alternative CD instead of the desktop CD, if you can get it. If not, don't worry - there's not a lot of difference - the alternative uses text and may work better with less memory.

    First. Run the CD as a live CD and see what works, like CD player, memory, hard disk, display and what doesn't work. If it looks OK, install. When you install you have three options. Choose guided - use the whole hard disk, and that will wipe out windows and everything on the disk and install only Kubuntu - then when you boot you only get the Kubuntu and memory check options. (Later you will get kernel options too.)

    You may need extra drivers for the CD drive - depending on what it is.

    Usually the UUID is the best way to go, but with Jaunty I've noticed on a couple of installs the swap wasn't working because it was a UUID, but when I changed it to /dev/sda8 or whatever, it worked perfectly. I found that too in dual booting, it didn't get my other version of Kubuntu correctly, but it was easily fixed as you did.

    From the live CD in a terminal type lspci. For a more complete listing type sudo lshw and post the output.
    HP Compaq nc6400, 2Gi, 100Gi, ATI x1300 with 512M

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      #3
      Re: Weird startup

      it freezes up faster than I can save it and transfer it to a working computer Can you work with this:

      idth:32bit
      capabilities:smbios-2.1 dmi-2.1
      configuration: chassis=desktop

      description: motherboard
      product: intel 440BX/440GX
      vendor: supermicro inc.
      physical id:0
      version: rev.1
      serioal: 00000000
      slot: USB2

      firmware
      description: BIOS
      vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
      physical id: 0
      version: 063100 (01/15/99)
      size: 64iB
      capacity:192iB
      capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade showing escd cdboot bootselect edd intl3floppy360 intl3floppy1200 intl3floppy720 intl3floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard intl4serial intl7printer intl0video acpi usb agp ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification

      cpu
      description:cpu
      product: pentium III (coppermind)
      vendor intel corp
      physical id:4
      bus info: cpu@0
      version 6.8.1
      slot: slot-1
      width: 32bits
      clock 100MHz
      capabilities: fpu fpu-excetion wp wme de pse tsc mrs pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up

      cache
      description: L1 cache
      physical id:5

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Weird startup

        Originally posted by madonna

        I installed kubuntu on an old computer that was having freezing problems with Windows 95/98/ME.
        If the old power supply (PSU) or some other hardware component is giving up, switching to Linux won't improve the performance. Did you try running the Livd CD for a period of time, so make sure it's not a hardware problem?

        Also, as others have informed you, Kubuntu requires a minimum of 256M of memory to run satisfactorily.

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