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I am having problems with Ubuntu booting all the time.
A little background, I just setup my first Linux box. This is my first ever experience with Linux. The computer is a Dell 2350 with a P4 2.2 ghz, 512 ram, 100 gb ATA hard drive, some no name CD and DVD drives. I configured the system as a dual boot with XP both are taking up roughly 50% minus the swap partition. I tried installing Xp first and Ubuntu first with no luck, I even installed just Ubuntu with the same result.
The problem that I'm having is sometimes when I start the computer it doesn't always boot. Grub always loads but when it starts the kernel it must panic. I have no clue as to what's actually going on because it shows a black screen the whole time. Is there a way for me to boot from the live cd to see whats going on? And if so how do I do that and what commands? If I run the "recovery mode" option in Grub it looks like it gives some feedback then it display half a dozen options, I usually select continue with normal boot and it boots almost all the time doing that.
Oh and another thing, I can always boot XP with no problems so that must mean it's not hardware right?
Would that cause it to boot some times and not others??
Is there a way I can get verification of this. I would like to be able to see where it is hanging.
There's no harm in trying the graphics fix. At this stage it could be something as simple as that. Also check the /var/log/Xorg.0.log for any graphics errors.
Ok... So I tried the xfix and that did nothing. When I selected the xfix option it only took maybe 15 seconds to run and I got this message "xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting posibly customized configuration file: backup in /etc/x11/xorg.conf.20090107222319" so I assume it ran and ubdated properly? I ran it multiple times with no resolution.
I typed dmesg in the terminal and I could see no video issues though I did see something reguarding the system clock?????
And I saw something reguarding a checksum with the CPU in the Xorg.O.log
I wish I could boot back into Linux to get the exact problems but it won't let me right now.
When it DOES let me everything is fine and works perfect sound and all!!!
Maybe something else that might help. I select a splash screen instead of just the blank one. When it hangs it looks like it stops at the "desktop manager".
Ok... So I tried the xfix and that did nothing. When I selected the xfix option it only took maybe 15 seconds to run and I got this message "xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting posibly customized configuration file: backup in /etc/x11/xorg.conf.20090107222319" so I assume it ran and ubdated properly? I ran it multiple times with no resolution.
What do you mean?
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I typed dmesg in the terminal and I could see no video issues though I did see something reguarding the system clock?????
And that something was??
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And I saw something reguarding a checksum with the CPU in the Xorg.O.log
Again, what was it that you saw?
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I wish I could boot back into Linux to get the exact problems but it won't let me right now.
I'm guessing you mean the desktop?
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When it DOES let me everything is fine and works perfect sound and all!!!
Maybe you should make a copy of your logs and examine them indepth on another machine.
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...I select a splash screen instead of just the blank one. When it hangs it looks like it stops at the "desktop manager"...
Where do you do this?
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And another update. I have tried three different Distro's Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu 8.10 and Mythbuntu 8.10...[snip] ...All three of these give me the same problem. Not booting all the time.
On this machine?
We cannot see what you see. To be of any help to you, full descriptions of any error messages need to be posted. Full descriptions of any actions you take should also be posted. Links pointing to screen captures can also be useful.
I just meant I ran the xfix multiple times and it didn't seem to work.
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And that something was??
I will have to tried to boot again tonight to get a copy of the error logs for you. Do I post the whole thing or just the part of interest?
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I'm guessing you mean the desktop?
Yep thats what I meant.
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Maybe you should make a copy of your logs and examine them in depth on another machine.
When I can get it to load I will email the logs to my other computer.
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Where do you do this?
There is a icon in the settings tab for the splash screen in Mythbuntu it was set to black by default.
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On this machine?
Yes on the same machine I wanted to verify that it wasn't a hardware issue.
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We cannot see what you see. To be of any help to you, full descriptions of any error messages need to be posted. Full descriptions of any actions you take should also be posted. Links pointing to screen captures can also be useful.
Sorry I did't have a lot of time earlier, I will try to be more though.
I do not think that GRUB causes kernel panics just because of some graphics issue. What puzzles me is the lack of consistency. It should either work all the time or not at all, anything in between can be extremely complex.
I know that the kind of behaviour you describe can occur if your computer has hard drives connected to multiple controllers but that does not appear to be the case. It sounds like this is going to take some troubleshooting. Just to give us something to work from, I would suggest that you open a terminal, enter the command sudo fdisk -l and post the output here; that should show whether anything went wrong during the partitioning stage.
I do not think that GRUB causes kernel panics just because of some graphics issue. What puzzles me is the lack of consistency. It should either work all the time or not at all, anything in between can be extremely complex.
I know that the kind of behaviour you describe can occur if your computer has hard drives connected to multiple controllers but that does not appear to be the case. It sounds like this is going to take some troubleshooting. Just to give us something to work from, I would suggest that you open a terminal, enter the command sudo fdisk -l and post the output here; that should show whether anything went wrong during the partitioning stage.
From what I have found and read I agree.
Here is the output from that command.
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x31853184
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9561 76798701 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 9562 9623 498015 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 9624 19457 78991605 83 Linux
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