Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

[gizmobay]

Hello All,

I'm having a problem restarting my system in Kubuntu. I have the latest version of Kubuntu installed and I'am using KDE 3.5.9 instead of KDE 4.0. I was unable to get the pull down options in KDE 3.5.9 and I figured out this was because I had kdm-kde4.0 installed. I installed kdm for kde 3.0 and I now have the pull down options the only problem is they don't work. When I click on the restart for a few seconds I get some options. If I select one of the options, the system goes gray but it just sits there like that and I have to hit esc to get my system back. If I then try logout again, I don't get any options so it something must be crashing. Does anyone have any hints?

Thanks

[dibl]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

If you only want to restart it, open the Konsole and issue

sudo shutdown now -r

If you want to log in to KDE 3.5.9 (and assuming it is installed), then when you see the "greeter", i.e. the GUI login screen, click on the little "note" thingy and click "session type" and then choose KDE 3.

[askrieger]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

How did you get kdm-kde-4.0? This should not be present in an installation of Kubuntu 8-04 with KDE 3.5.9. I fear that somehow you have a mix of KDE3 and KDE4 apps. They do not play well together. My personal opinion is that no one who wants to use his computer for real work should install version ?.0 of anything, let alone something as critical and pervasive as KDE.

[gizmobay]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

To dibl:

I guess what I'm getting at is I want to restart the system in Windows and I just want to be able to click on the restart and select Windows and have the system automatically boot instead of sitting there waiting for grub to come back. If I just click on restart the system will reboot but once I bring the pull down up something goes wrong as I can no longer get the logout/restart menu. I don't have a problem selecting KDE4/KDE3, or Gnome.

to askrieger:

I just installed Kubuntu from the liveCD and it automatically came with 4.0. After messing around with it, I decided to go back to kde3.0 so I installed the necessary packages. Kdm-kde4.0 was automatically installed with KDE4.0. I still have it on the system, should I remove this?

[askrieger]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do. When you start your computer from a powered down situation, with one or more Linux distros installed, the first thing you see is a GRUB screen that asks you whether you want to start Linux or windoze. I don't have KDE4 on any of my machines yet, so I don't know whether Grub gives you a choice of KDE 3.5.9 or KDE 4.0, but I rather doubt it. As far as Grub is concerned they're all Linux. If you elect to start to Linux, you eventually come to a screen that is displayed by a Linux display manager, either GDM, or KDM (either 3.5.9 or 4.0). At this point, you can choose KDE3, KDE4, or GNOME. If you wish to continue using KDE4, you should not remove kdm-kde-4.0. It will be used to manage your display in kde4.

When you click on the little red button in 3.5.9, you can choose to restart your system which will return you to Grub, Logout which will return you to kdm, or do some other things which are irrelevant to this conversation. Again, I'm not sure what choices you have in 4.0. But the essential point is that to get to windoze YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO GRUB.

dibl has suggested a command line technique that will get there in the fastest way possible.

[dibl]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

I just want to be able to click on the restart and select Windows and have the system automatically boot

No, you cannot do this -- as Al says, only Grub can choose which OS you will boot.

FYI, it is possible to have both Kubuntu and Windows available, by running one of them in a virtual machine in a session on the booted OS. I run Windows XP in VMware Player, for example, so I can run a proprietary database that is not available in Linux. You could also install Kubuntu in a VMware Player, or VirtualBox, and run it on Windows. Be aware that whichever OS is running on the virtual machine does not have access to the real hardware, for the most part. In other words, you don't install the graphics drivers and motherboard-tweaking things on the OS that is in virtual mode. But you can run software applications, use the browser and printer and USB ports, and play music if the booted OS isn't using those things at the same time.

[gizmobay]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

Sorry let me clarify what I'm trying to do.

I have dual boot system with Kubuntu and Windows XP. When I start the computer, it goes to Grub and I can select the OS I want and it'll boot to whatever I select. This all works. So say I boot into Kubuntu, Kubuntu automatically goes to KDE3.5.9 and I know I can change this if I want to at login.

Okay so I'm now in Kubuntu/ KDE 3.0 and now I want to switch to WinXP. I realize the system needs to reboot to do this. In my previous distro, I could click on restart and I receive a pull down to change which option I wanted to boot to; this way I wouldn't have to wait for grub to come up on reboot as it'd automatically go to winxp. On Kubuntu, I didn't have the pull down options so I did some searching and found out I needed kdm-kde3 which I installed and now I have the pull down options but the problem is they don't work. If I even bring up the pull down, the system hangs and I have to hit esc to get my system back. Once this happens, I no longer can get the log out menu (Log out, Suspend, Hibernate, ReStart, Turn Off). I'm trying to figure out how to solve this problem.

[Snowhog]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

I think that what you are dealing with is mulit-faceted. First, you installed Kubuntu with KDE 4.x, meaning you used the remix LiveCD. You then decided that you wanted KDE 3.5.x. Your first problem is that you may not have a fulling installed KDE 3.5.x desktop - yet. Second, as both dibl and askrieger have pointed out, what you 'want to be able to do' can't be done. If after booting into Kubuntu you decide you want to run Windoze, you have no choice but to perform a normal logout and restart, which will reboot your PC and present you with the Grub menu, from which you can elect to boot into Windoze.

If you want 'immediate' access to Windoze, then you will have to install VMWare Player or Virtualbox and install Windoze as a VM (virtual machine). That done, you can run Windoze within your running Kubuntu session and easily move back and forth between the two.

[gizmobay]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

Thanks for the help. You're probably right, I'm missing some package that is needed to do what I want to. I figure what I'm trying to do must work since I do have the options on the pull down in the restart menu but for some reason it causes the logout menu to crash.

They way I've seen it work was it gave some choices in the pull down on the restart.

Like.

Restart
--> Linux OS
--> WinXP

I'd select the one I want. The system would shutdown and restart and a parameter must've been passed to the bootloader that tells which OS I want without having to do it myself since I already told at restart.

Under KControl - Login Manger - Shutdown, I did select Grub as the boot manager. This is how I got the pulldown options on the restart button.

[gizmobay]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

I thought I was onto something here.

http://wiki.debian.org/GrubConfiguration#installation

but I still can't get it to work.

Guess I just need to do a grub-reboot x

Can't believe this is this difficult.

[askrieger]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

What did you try to get working from the Debian Grub Configuration Page? What did you change and what happened when you made the change?

[gizmobay]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

In the menu.lst, I changes default 0 to default saved. I then changed savedefault to savedefault=false. I then did a update-grub then rebooted and then tried to change the reboot OS on the restart menu. I ended up with the same result. The log out menu froze I hit esc and then I could no longer get the log out menu.

[askrieger]

Re: Problem with restart in Kubuntu dual boot

I can see why that didn't work. You told Grub, "Don't open the top OS by default, instead open the one I save", then you told Grub, "Don't save a default.".

Somebody here, probably QQMike, has written a Grub HowTo. Please check it out.