Updating Kubuntu 8.1 (SOLVED)

[justinforasec]

Hi everyone, I'm new to Linux/ kubuntu in general but I'm fairly computer savvy and I've figured alot of stuff out, one thing I can't figure out is a problem that happens when I try to get all the updates after a fresh Kubuntu 8.1 install with Wubi. It works perfectly after install, but when I restart after getting all the latest updates the thing won't let me log on anymore. It loads up to the log on screen, but i type my stuff in and hit go or enter and nothing happens. When this happened the first time I wasn't too worried, I simply reinstalled the thing and tried updating once more... but it happened again. could not log on after fully updating. Should I do certain updates after others? Before? What is it? Has the problem already been reported? I would love some help with this, I really want to get Kubuntu working right so I can explore the option of making it my permanent OS.

Thanks,
Justin

[lmilano]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

First things first, Welcome to the Club :-)

Have you tried not installing any update, just rebooting after the install a couple times and see if you can still log in?

The issue you are having seems isolated, people have not been reporting anything like this consistently with Kubuntu 8.10

If you get stuck again, here go two tips:

* [ctrl][alt][bkspc] should kill the windowing system and restart it, offering you the login window.
* besides KDE, you can login in a fail-safe, have you tried this, so at least we can see if this is a KDE specific error?
* Software upgrades are really smart in linux, if you got all the updates, everything should be in sync.
* there is an option for a safe boot when you start Kubuntu (or recovery, can't remember the name), you can try that, there is a menu that offers some alternatives for fixing the system, like fiixing broken packages, etc, you may wanna try that

Best luck!

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Thanks for the welcome

I have tried rebooting a few times, and it lets me in so we know it's not that.
The fail- safe thing does not work, it said it wasn't there like 'couldn't find emulator' or something like that.
I havent tried applying the updates yet, but I think I'll go ahead and do it now before I run off to class, wish me luck.

-Justin

[lmilano]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

mmm ... this is a bit weird! You mean you tried that option at login time? Have you tried, at _boot_ time, choosing other boot options? (like the recovery boot, or whateer the name) I am wondering whether Wubi set up the bootloader correctly ...

I don't think running the updates will help too much! It may be a good idea to install xubuntu-desktop or ubuntu-desktop for now, so you'll have other login session options besides KDE (just in case KDE is borked)

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

The other boot options work, failsafe is the only one that doesn't. here's exactly what it says when i try failsafe:

xsession: unable to launch failsafe x session --- x-terminal-emulator not found; aborting.

[lmilano]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

ok, can you install icewm? I think it's a light download, don;t update anything, see if you can login using ICEWM as a windowmanager ... you can search for it in adept to install ... if that works, then I would try an update. If you can't log into KDE, you may be able to log into icewm and fix things from there. But one step at a time. First see if icewm works _now_ ...

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Hey thanks for your help, just to let you know I couldn't find icewm on adept, but no problems. I went ahead and updated anyways, and everything is working fine. I have no idea why it worked this time and not last but it does. Again, thank you so much for seeing this thing out with me.

- Justin

[lmilano]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Ah, you may need to add extra repositories. See here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Kubuntu

I'd still install icewm (or similar) It's very useful to have a lightweight option for login, in case things break.

Also, I prefer Synaptic than Adept. You can install it and try. The interface is much cleaner IMHO.

One more thing, to be able to use mp3 and windows media formats, you'll need the kubuntu-restricted-extras package.

Cheers!

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Thanks again

-Justin

[Snowhog]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

See also HOWTO: Add the Medibunti Repository and PGP Key

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

what will that do?

-Justin

[Snowhog]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Adds the medibuntu repository and the required gpg key.

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons (copyright, license, patent, etc).

[justinforasec]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Thanks, I followed the instruction, though it didn't take very long. Do I have to do something in adept now or is it all done?

-Justin

[Snowhog]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

Open a console and type:

sudo apt-get update

This will update the package cache based on the updated sources.list entries. You can then open Adept Manager (or Synaptic if you have it installed) and search on packages. With the medibuntu repository added, there will be more packages available.

[lmilano]

Re: Updating Kubuntu 8.1

True. BTW, both Synaptic and Adept allow you to refresh the lisst of packages (same as running "sudo apt-get update" in the command line)