Kubuntu 14.04 System wrecked by latest large Kubuntu update

[frankus333]

G'day folks


I am hoping there is some way to undo the damage done to my main desktop machine by the recent large update, and avoid having to do a fresh re-install.


So far I have had no replies, and am therefore reposting in the hope of attracting some attention. If this is the wrong place to post, or there is some other problem with my request, please let me know. I am hoping there is some way to undo this mess and get my system back.


System Information as requested of posters to this forum:


Dell Dimension 4600i desktop dual booting WinXP and Kubuntu 14.04, KDE 4.13.0, 320GB internal HDD, comprising WinXP 30GB, Data 239GB (both NTFS), 22GB ext4 Kubuntu 14.04, 3GB Linux swap. CPU Intel 2.6GHz P4 with hyperthreading (makes it look dual core in System Monitors, but I doubt it), 32 bit, 1.5GB RAM, 2 x optical drives.


On date 18/06/2014 I accepted the latest updates as usual, (noting it was a large one listing lots of system software) and tried to get system to restart as indicated, but the screen brightness reduced, and nothing further happened. I tried the Restart, Logout and Shutdown options from the main Leave list, but same stalled result. I brought up a tty and rebooted that way, and now system won't get past the first screen with glowing kubuntu logo.


I can get into the ttys, and have tried snowhog's suggestions from a recent thread: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...kernel-upgrade


sudo apt-get install -f
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade


and also ran sudo apt-get autoremove as suggested during above correction attempts.


Also tried booting into the recovery options from the initial grub screen, and tried fsck and dpkg. Tried earlier kernal options, but they also stall at same pre-login point..


Although packages seemed to be updated, removed and/or installed during above corrective attempts, problem still the same.


During the initial update session, I noticed that the update listed lots of software, and in the System Updates list at the end, only some of the software was ticked for installation (although lots seemed to be listed). This differs from the same update presented to my eeePC, which had all the System Updates software ticked. (I was holding off accepting the updates on the eeePC until the cause and solution to this problem on my desktop is clear, but as of 20/06/2014, I have accepted them, and thankfully they installed OK. On 23/06/2014 the Ubuntu with kubuntu-desktop partition on this same eeePC also accepted these updates without a problem.)


Also noticed that during the initial (desktop) updates, lots of software was noted as "removing/ed", and lots of things noted as "preparing" or "preparing to configure", but no mentions of "installing". Noticed during 23/06/2014 update there was no mention of "Removing or Uninstalling, as I think I had seen on the problematic desktop installation. Also noticed mentions of "configuring", but did not notice much if any of the word "installing". Does this mean the "removing" step I noticed is where things went wrong in the desktop update?


Today I tried the offending update on my HP Compaq nx5000 laptop, on which I am trialing the “forcepae” option to get Kubuntu 14.04 to install despite the processor being a pentium m 1.5GHz single core supposedly without pae. Kubuntu 14.04 installed and seemed to be running normally, but the update did not complete, and seemed to fail on upgrading the kernal. On reboot, it came up again, but took much longer to reach the full desktop screen, and the touchpad mouse no longer works (movement or buttons). Fortunately, plugging in a normal USB mouse does work.


System info says kernal is 3.13.0-24-generic (not -29). Input Devices - Touchpd has a note that Synaptic driver is not installed (or is not used), and Desktop Effects - Advanced now shows Compositing type as XRender ( initially Open GL 2) and Qt Graphics system as Native (previously something else with Qt4 in it I think).


I guess this is likely a different problem, related to “kernal taint” as warned by Linux mint when attempting forcepae, but I mention it in case relevant.


Apologies for a long post, but don't know enough to know what is redundant. Hoping someone has a solution to this mess.


Cheers

[ronw]

Is the apt-get dist-upgrade showing any errors?

Anything interesting in Xorg log, via for example $ grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log?

[frankus333]

Is the apt-get dist-upgrade showing any errors?

Anything interesting in Xorg log, via for example [CONSOLE]$ grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log[CONSOLE]?

Thanks for reply ronw.

I don't remember seeing any errors dist upgrade, and none occur now.

When I type above command (between the two [CONSOLE]s) it says no such file or directory, with or without sudo. Navigating to /var/logs lists 4 Xorg logs [.0.log(.old), .1.log(.old)]. Don't know how to see them or export them.

[ronw]

I fixed the tag, so it's clearer that's a zero. You want the first one in that directory -- the Xorg dot zero dot log file. That's what Xorg logged on the most recent attempt to start the graphical environment.

[frankus333]

I fixed the tag, so it's clearer that's a zero. You want the first one in that directory -- the Xorg dot zero dot log file. That's what Xorg logged on the most recent attempt to start the graphical environment.

Thanks ronw; sorry I should have noticed that.

All 4 logs have 2 lines saying Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)

[ronw]

That's not necessarily a problem. I have the same lines, but since I use the nouveau drivers it doesn't matter that Xorg can't find the nvidia module.

You've got a 22GB partition, but check free space with $ df or similar.

Post your graphic card info here, $ lspci | grep VGA, and whether you are using an Nvidia driver, and the version if you know it and someone else may be able to help.

Veering slightly off topic, but this is one of the reasons you will see many here say they only do updates in konsole. It's possible the original dist-upgrade (or apt full-upgrade or aptitude full-upgrade) would have shown you messages providing clues about what happened.

[frankus333]

Thanks ronw

Partition looks only 50% used.

VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MM 400] (rev a1). (Old 32MB AGP card.)

I don't think I have an nVidia driver; I certainly didn't install one separately. lspci -v lists kernal driver as nouveau.

Muon package manager seems to have allowed me to fix the laptop I mentioned, getting me back to -24 kernal. I wonder if using that via a tty would work? I would have no idea how, or how to interpret it. I guess I am hoping for some automatic fix of whatever broken packages there are.

[GreyGeek]

Have you tried
sudo dpkg --configure -a


Also, try re-installing kubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kubuntu-desktop
It will pick up missing dependencies and config files.

[oshunluvr]

disregard

[frankus333]

Have you tried
sudo dpkg --configure -a


Also, try re-installing kubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kubuntu-desktop
It will pick up missing dependencies and config files.

Thanks GreyGeek

sudo dpkg --configure -a produced no output, which I presume means it found nothing to fix.

However, it led me to explore the manual, which led to playing with sudo dpkg --reconfigure -a Stepping through this ultimately indicated initramfs-tools was broken or not installed, but I could not get it to repair or reinstall it.

So I rebooted and ran the desktop reinstallation as suggested, rebooted again, and the system came back apparently normally. Many thanks for the suggestion.

However, I now don't have digiKam installed, although the .db file is still in my Photos folder in the data partition. I wondered if digiKam had anything to do with the problem, but left that out of my re-post of the original question. The below paragraph was in the first post:

[Also possibly meaningless, but I was adjusting [reinstalling] digiKam the day before the initial update attempt, and deleted the database file from my Photos folder, so it would re-build it with the new installation (seemed to work OK), and I noticed that digiKam is one of the packages in the update. (?)]

Is it possible that could have caused so much havoc with the update? I will have to be very careful with re-installing digiKam. Is installing software from within an everyday user account instead of an administrator account problematic for *buntu Linux?

[GreyGeek]

The "initramfs" (Initial RAM FileSystem) is a key component during the reboot. It is possible that the update installed a replacement that was corrupted during the download or during the install. Can't say which. Just re-install DigiKam.

[frankus333]

Thanks GreyGeek

I ran update, upgrade and dist-upgrade via tty1, after ronw comments, and system now fully up to date.

I also re-installed digiKam via Muon Package Manager, and it seems to be working, after a couple of hiccups which I think relate to my Photos folder being on the data drive, and me working in a user account and not an administrator account.

I need to find and digest info on user accounts, permissions, sudo, kdesudo, gksu etc; any pointers from anyone would be much appreciated.

[GreyGeek]

Kubuntu's website is here.

It leads to documentation here and here.

For the Ubuntu portion of the system information can be found here

[GreyGeek]

So I rebooted and ran the desktop reinstallation as suggested, rebooted again, and the system came back apparently normally. Many thanks for the suggestion.

If it has remained solved then please mark the thread as solved so that others who may have the problem you experienced can find the solution. 4
Thank!