Corrupted my install, help recover my data

[pwright2]

I have been running Edgy for about 3 months. I found an article that listed some new repositories and added them to the list. And then I let Adept update the whole world. And now it doesn't boot to the gui. In truth, I have no idea where it leaves me, just at a black screen and a login prompt. It accepts my login but then prints a bunch of "-bash: /dev/null: Permission denied" lines and then stops. I can type on the screen but nothing responds.

So, I figured I could use the liveCD to recover. Install wants to reformat the partition. I'd like to save some of the data. I've managed to mount the drive and copy much of what I wanted over to a thumb drive. Kontact, however, has me stumped. It won't let me into the .kde folder, telling me I don't have permissions.

Anyone know a way around this?

-----Paul-----

[arochester]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

After you login try inputting

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

, This should (may?) start a text-based wizard which should reconfigure your x-server. Answer any questions you can. If there are any questions you don't know the answer to then go with the suggested answer. If (- it comes up at all and-) it doesn't seem to work at first then try again and specify VESA as the driver.

Good luck!

[pwright2]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

Thank you. That was interesting and hopeful but, in the end, not quite it.

When it comes to a stop and I log in, I get a black screen that accepts input but doesn't react to it. I can type quit or exit or whatever and it prints it on the screen and linefeeds but does nothing else.

I can Alt-F1-F6 and get new TTY login screens but they give me the same screen after login.

Whoops! Now I have managed to get to a command prompt. I still don't know what got me here.

I have been able to maneuver around the drive to find the files I want to copy. Now I cannot figure out how to mound the USB drive and copy files to it.

Surely there is some way in the liveCD to get access to the files and copy them.

-----Paul-----

[dibl]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

Did you try the "recovery" boot option? Going in that way, then using CTRL-ALT-F1 to get a login prompt, and then configuring your GUI using the "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" routine, and choosing "VESA" as the display driver, might get you to a usable GUI desktop.

Yes, running the live CD, and then running Konqueror will get you a file browser, but you will have to mount the filesystems on the hard drive and the USB drive to accomplish your data transfers.

USB hard drives can be somewhat challenging -- a search on "USB external drive" on this forum and the Ubuntu forum will yield lots of threads where folks have worked out their interface challenges.

HTH

[pwright2]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

Yup, I've done the LiveCD/Konqueror/Mount routine. That's how I got most of my data off the drive. But Kontact apparently stores its data under the .kde folder and LiveCD won't let me get into any dotted folder. Says I don't have necessary permissions.

-----Paul-----

[arochester]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

The " Unofficial Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) Starter Guide" tells you how to use the installation disk to get root user access - at http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_E...ot_user_access

Does this post contain an answer? http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=481000

[pwright2]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

Ah, now that looks useful. Actually, what I did was chmod the permissions on .kde to 777 and then I could copy using the liveCD. Clumsy but, in this case, it did what I needed. But I am definitely going to peruse the guide now. Obviously it has many useful tips.

Thanks,

-----Paul-----

[disturbedite]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

ummm.....this might sound so simple that it sounds like i'm being sarcastic, but.....
seriously, if it won't let you access hidden directories (.kde, etc.) then just run konqueror as root and then copy over your files to whatever device(s) you want. (assuming you've mounted it/them).

e.g. from command prompt/console/whatever
kdesu konqueror
or
sudo konqueror

[pwright2]

Re: Corrupted my install, help recover my data

When you are running the LiveCD, are you not running as root? At least, when you activate any of the thingummies that call for admin privileges, it doesn't ask for a password, it just pops you in.

-----Paul-----