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**analyticalman** · Nov 14, 2006, 03:29 AM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

Well I am sure you are on the right lines. What you have to do is be careful that you are editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst file which is on your kubuntu partion (/dev/hda3 I assume). Not the same file in Knoppix. The way that you describe using Knoppix is a good way to do it but there are others

In a nutshell - ensure that the kubuntu partition is mounted (in Knoppix its often as an icon on your desktop which you have to click to mount it. I didn't know knoppix had a kde desktop - mine is gnome. (Kanotix is the equivalent with KDE desktop) So in a termnal I would type su to get to root, then type nautilus then navigate to the /boot/grub/menu.lst on /dev/hda3 (which could well be under /media and editing the appropriate command at the bottom of the file as you have outlined. Then save and try again.

I have to admit though - I am confused when you talk about entering the password you entered for kubuntu in knoppix - why would you do that?

If this doesn't work for you there is a specific set of command line instructions I can go through to ensure that you are editing the right file. There is also a test we can run to check whether or not this is your exact problem. So try the quick workaround - see if it does the job, if not come back and we can go through it with a bit more rigour

**adder** · Nov 14, 2006, 09:27 AM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

Originally posted by ffff

So after a couple of days of further investigation and thrashing around, I get to the point of running Knoppix, pushing Alt F2, entering "kdesu konqueror", and supplying it with the same password which I typed in twice during the Kubuntu install.

And I get the message, "Incorrect password; please try again."

As I understand it..you insert and run a live Knoppix CD and when you open up Konqueror you type in the Kubuntu password? Why? There must be a password for Knoppix, possibly "root"

**ffff** · Nov 14, 2006, 11:26 PM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

Thanks, people. Last night I came to the realization that Knoppix & Kubuntu might be asking for different passwords, as you say. Obviously I haven't yet got my head around this new environment, & especially the file structures. Anyway, I'll try your suggestions and get back in a couple of days.

**ffff** · Nov 19, 2006, 12:02 AM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

Further information re my problem:

Using password "root" with kdesu konqueror, I get Konquorer, but in German. Anyway from there I can bring up the file media/hda2/boot/grub/menu.lst, and I can edit it using all 3 available text editors but I am still not allowed to save changes.

Re Knoppix icons on the desktop, there are icons labelled Hard Disk [hda1] and Hard Disk [hda2] . There is no hda3 icon. As best as I can determine, the folders under /media do not include any /hda3. When I enter 'su' and then enter 'nautilus' I get the msg "bash: nautilus: command not found".

What I would REALLY like to do is to REINSTALL Kubuntu and this time do it right!

It looks to me like the problem arises in the first place because I let the install process partition the hard disk as it wished to partition it -- with the result that I ended up with an extra partition. Probably it would be a good idea to throw away this extra partition, and following that, the changes to the /boot/grub/menu.lst may not be necessary.

Here is the situation on my hard drive after Kubuntu install:

Partition type size used start end
01 /dev/hda1 ntfs 15.68gb 3.60gb 0.03mb 15.68gb
02 /dev/hda-1 free 7.38mb n/a 15.68gb 15.69gb
03 /dev/hda2/ ext3 Ac 2.78gb 1.73gb15.69gb 18.47gb
04 /dev/hda3 extndd 64.73mb n/a 18.47gb 18.63gb
05 /dev/hda5 swap 164.70mb 0.00 18.47gb 18.63gb

("Ac" = Active)

The 02 partition is useless, right? Also, I should give more space to the Linux partitions, right?

If I could delete the 02 partition, set the upper bound of the Windows partition at around 10.0gb, wipe all the Linux stuff, and then do a reinstall and let Kubuntu decide how it wanted to split up the area above 10.0gb -- that is what I would really like to do.

Any comments or opinions about this idea?

(By the way, I defragmented the hard drive before installing Kubuntu and from the Defragment report chart it appears the upper region of the Windows partition is empty of files. Unfortunately I am unable to get back into Windows at the moment so I can't be more specific right now about where the Windows files end inside the current hda1.)

Anyway, at this point in my Linux career I can't do this sort of serious and scary operations without major help! Also I imagine Linux would want me to have root access before it lets me delete and shrink partitions?

Any further comments, advice, or suggestions would be welcome!

**podunk** · Nov 19, 2006, 07:59 AM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

If you have any important data on your computer now would be a good time to back it up.

To be honest - when I first started out I found the partitioner with the Kubuntu Live Cd confusing. I used the Windows<blush!> disk tools to delete and recreate my partitions for Kubuntu.

Also, the partition tools on the alternate CD are more Windowish and familiar.

I'm pretty sure the "extra" partition you have is an extended partition that holds the swap partition. While in theory you can have 4 primary partitions divided into many extended and logical partitions, most OS's don't like 4 primary partitions.

If you do decide to reinstall from scratch I would suggest going into Windows control panel (classic view) click system then System>Advanced>Performance>Settings button>Advanced>Virtual memory change button and select "No Paging File" click OK 5 billion times and restart your computer.

Then run disk defragmenter several times before you start your install. The partitioner will have a better chance of arraging your partitions properly then.

About your problem editing your files. Did you "mount" your Kubuntu partition first?

Live CD's build a virtual harddrive in your computers memory. It has exactly the same file structure as what exists on your hard drive. However many of the files will *not* be able to be edited - menu.list is one of them.:-) When using the CD menu.list is burned to the cd and you can't change it.

You will need to use a text editor to edit the file /etc/fstab (and this is one of the ones you can change) then mount the Kubuntu partition to edit files on your real hard drive.

A good howto for that is here:
http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountlinux

That whole site is a very good site to learn from when you're new. It's a quick read, the page on planing partitions is excellent.

**analyticalman** · Nov 19, 2006, 01:09 PM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

Agree with Podunk on pretty much all that was said. As I understand it though, you can't get into Windows. But thats OK because you have the knoppix disc. This is even better because you aren't working on the partitions whilst the disc is mounted. Whilst there may well be a way of rescuing your current installation, it probably is better for you to get your partitions right. So - in Knoppix, click on the K button in the bottom bar, go to "System" then "QTparted" this is a graphical partitioner (its not the one I would choose but its better than nothing) Delete everything except Hda1 (your windows) then create a 1gb swap (Hda2) then a partition for the rest of the space formatted as Ext3 (Hda3) Then save your changes and download and burn the alternate installer (unless you already have that) and then try again. Ensuring that you set your / mountpoint as your newly created ext3 partition (Hda3 in the example above)

The most important thing Podunk said was "back up your data" Do it before you touch your partitions with QTparted. You can do this from within Knoppix by getting all your important files off Hda1 and onto a USB thumb drive if you haven't already done so, or burning them onto a CD

**ffff** · Nov 19, 2006, 11:59 PM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

I'm almost there, but still struggling. Here is what I learned today (not necessarily in order).

I can reset the Windows partition to active but cannot return to Windows because GRUB is installed as the boot loader and it hangs. Unfortunately -- and something I need to figure out what to do about it -- this is a used PC and it came with no Windows XP cd, just a pretty certificate on the bottom. So at this moment I have no way to re-boot Windows.

(Also I should say that my Windows Administrator functions allow me to change the active partition but not to create or delete partitions. Apparently I need to install something else to do that -- something which apparently I don't have. Another thing to worry about later...)

Re the issue about whether /dev/hda2 is mounted when I try to edit and save.... On the Knoppix desktop I right-click on the hda2 icon. I click the 'mount' option. At this point I know it is mounted because I can go into QTparted and try to delete /dev/hda2 and I get the message that it is mounted. So then I go back to Konqueror and click on folder icons until I get to the menu.lst file, make my changes as previously discussed, and try to save them. Same result: not allowed to save.

So I try to get at it thru the Shell-Konsole. First I go to the Penguin icon at the bottom of the screen, then pick configure, pick Set password for root. Put in some password. Then I start the Konsole. Type in kdesu kate file:///media/hda2/boot/grub/menu.lst. Then I get a box asking for password, which I supply. Then I arrive in the edit screen, where I make my changes and try to save them. Same result, only everything is in German.

So why can't I do a save? What silly little thing am I overlooking?

Next chapter, making sure ext3 will be mounted. First of all, editing the etc/fstab file shows the following entry:
# /dev/hda2
UUID=d306383f..... / ext3 defaults, errors=remount-ro 0 1

That means the ext3 partition would be mounted at the time of Kubuntu startup, doesn't it? I did have a look at that http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountlinux
page and that was my understanding after reading it -- but I am still not quite 100% clear about this mounting business... The / means the mount point is in the root directory?

/dev/hda2 = ext3, by the way, according to the qtparted utility, if I didn't say that already.

Final chapter, deleting partitions.... Looks like I would be allowed to delete the ext3 partition in qtparted, no problem, so long as ext3 is unmounted -- which I can do now. But it looks to me like Knoppix uses the swap partition. Anyway, I couldn't delete it because it was mounted, according to the message.

So next I tried to umount the swap partition in various ways so I would be allowed to delete it, no luck. The final attempt was to go into Konsole and type su -c umount hda5 and su -c umount /dev/hda5 and so on. And finally su -c umount help, or something like that.

So now at least I know there is a whole alphabet soup after 'umount'! Which I suppose that eventually I can figure out, but I wonder, first of all, am I getting anywhere? And secondly, is there a better way to be going about this whole thing? Am I overlooking something simple and obvious?

Anyway, that's all for today. I'm wearing out.

**analyticalman** · Nov 20, 2006, 12:56 AM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

When you say the bootloader "hangs" booting windows, what exactly happens - where does it get to? Any error messages?

Anyway, you don't need to delete your swap partition - you should be able to just delete everything else except Windows and shove this partition to just after the windows partition (You may do that by setting the "free space before" to 0 - but don't quote me on that) Its also maybe a little small so you might want to double the size - its not vital.

If you do want to delete the swap or you have any more trouble with qtparted - you should be abe to go back into knoppix, point your browser here

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=173828

Download the Gparted live CD. Burn the iso with K3B and boot your computer with that. This should give you complete control over the partitioning process.

**ffff** · Dec 16, 2006, 09:33 PM

Re: HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

For the record, my disk drive turned out to be defective. After it was replaced, Kubuntu loaded perfectly and it continues to work just fine. Thanks again to everyone for their helpful suggestions.

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HELP !! I can't start my new Kubuntu !!

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