I've got a dedicated Linux box: P4/2.0Ghz, 256 megs RAM, cable internet networked to my primary Win2k box and it has been exhibiting very strange behavior.

For example: although I can log in as root to perform admin tasks, occasionally, it will reject my password to log in as root at the konsole. It isn't that I don't know what the pw is or I'm inputting it incorrectly. It just won't accept it. Says "try again."

Also, even though I have disabled the firewall -Guarddog- (this is problematic unto itself and the subject matter of another thread) I can't get internet connectivity. I open up Konqueror and try to use the Google field and it locks up. I have to right click on the task bar and wait for the terminate box to appear in order to exit out of the browser.

BTW, initial installation went flawlessly. Internet connectivity worked like a charm without having to do any kind of configuring. The problems didn't start until I downloaded Guarddog and Samba and set up Samba shares.
Also, with regard to the Samba shares on the Win2k box, sometimes the shares will accept my login/password for access, and sometimes it won't.
It's sporadic, at best.

Lastly, although I can hear sounds in the sound test, Kubu won't play mp3s at all in Amarok or Kaffeine. Does the sound card need to be configured or something?

My question is basically, where do I even begin to troubleshoot all these problems? Do I start from step 1 and just reinstall the OS? Would that even fix it?

Did the simple fact of downloading Guarddog and then disabling cause the problems? Or did downloading Samba and enabling shares cause it? Or should I have completely wiped clean the HDD of the previous OS before I installed Kubu? What I did was just install Kubu over it. I enabled Kubu to provision the HDD instead of doing it manually, but it was, in effect, just an install of an OS on top of another OS. Could that be the source of these issues?

Another thing you should probably know, but I don't know how it would interfere with anything else beyond the display, which BTW, is also acting strangely. I'm using a IOGEAR brand KVM switch (keybd - video- mouse) to share a single CRT monitor/keybd/mouse between the two boxes. It works like a charm except when I power on the Kubu box (I don't keep it running but I do keep the Win2k box running 24x7) the Kubu box has a tendency to not default to the screen resolution it's supposed to.

For e.g. the Win2k box has a screen resolution of 800x600 and the Kubu box has a resolution of 1024x768. Although the KVM switch isn't supposed to have a problem with two different boxes enabling two different screen resolutions, Kubu takes on the Win2k box resolution every time I have to restart the computer in order for changes to take effect. But this is a separate issue.

I just want to know why Konqueror locks up, why I can't get internet connectivity anymore, why the SMB shares sporadically accept the login credentials, and why the konsole no longer accepts my password. One more thing - in system settings, in the "about me" section, it no longer allows me to change the image for the user. Generates an error that the admin has disabled that feature. But aren't I the admin when I log in as root?? I have no idea how to tell it I'm root in order to change the about me section, but this is really a low priority concern. I'd like to know why this box is behaving so erratically. I am unable to find definitive answers after having sifted through countless Linux FAQs and forums.

Not too sure about the network stuff, but for playing mp3 you will need to install some extra packages since ubuntu doesn't ship with mp3 support setup because of licensing issues. this should be able get things working I think. It includes a bunch of other codecs that you might need also.