"booting kernel" then nothing. Sort of works after rebooting from Windows

gosport1 · 10-04-2006, 02:05 PM

I have an older SONY VAIO Notebook with a 750MHz Pentium III and 382 MB RAM. Kernel = 2.6.15-27-386

The live CD worked great until I did a HD install (Now The Live CD doesn't work either).

I partitioned the drive and have Windows ME also loaded.

The first time I booted up the computer I booted to Windows then I restarted the computer and booted to UBUNTU. Everything worked great! Next I restarted the computer and booted to UBUNTU and the last thing I see is something like "decompressing Linux OK... Loading Kernel" then nothing happens or I get a blank or blue screen.

The really weird thing is that if I boot to Windows first then reboot to UNBUNTU it loads fine but the screen is so messed up that it is almost impossible to do anything.

This is the second time that installed UBUNTU but before I was able to reinstall it I had to reinstall Windows first!! All I want to do is get rid of Windows!

Thanks for any Ideas. I'm a newbie so please keep your answers very detailed.

Michael

m_yates · 10-05-2006, 07:59 AM

Did you try booting in "recovery mode"? Look to see what messages are on the screen.

What happens when you boot with the live CD? The hard drive installation should not affect the working of the live CD.

Does the laptop also work every time you boot up in Windows? I'm just wondering if it is possible that there is a hardware problem.

You have my sympathies with Windows ME. That was the version that led me to quit Windows years ago.

gosport1 · 10-05-2006, 10:36 AM

Thanks for the sympathies.
In recovery mode, I can't read everything as it all goes by so fast, the only thing I notice is "ACPI: Looking for DSDT ... not found!"

The strangest thing is that the Live CD no longer works after I do the HD install unless I first boot to Windows ME then insert the Live CD and select Restart from the Windows shut down menu. And yes Windows boots up every time, no problems.

Michael

m_yates · 10-05-2006, 11:25 AM

You can fix the hanging problem at boot up by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to give the booot command "acpi=off".

To do that, use the live CD to boot, then chroot to the root partition (the one that contains /boot directory) of your Ubuntu installation. This will depend on where you installed linux on the hard drive. For example, if it is /dev/hda2, do:

Code:

mkdir /mnt/hda2
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
chroot /mnt/hda2

Now you will be running as root inside the ubuntu install on the hard disk. Issue the command:

Code:

nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

Scrool down to your kernel entry that looks like:

Code:

kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash

and edit it to add "acpt=off":

Code:

kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash acpi=off

Save your changes and logout. Now when you boot into Ubuntu, it should not hang. However, you will be crippling your power control for the laptop and will probably have a shorter battery life. This is probably a bug. I just searched and found a similar open bug for Ubuntu on launchpad: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....15/+bug/22148

gosport1 · 10-05-2006, 12:22 PM

Sounds great but how do I "use the Live CD to chroot to the root partition"?

I can get to the UBUNTU Live CD menu with options like Start or Install UBUNTU, Start UBUNTU in Safe Graphics Mode, Check CD for Defects, Memory Test, and boot From First Hard disk. There is also the option of using some of the "F" keys for things like Help, Languages, Keymap, VGA, Accessability, and Other Options.

Where do I go from here to enter the code you suggested?

Sorry for my complete ignorance,

Michael

m_yates · 10-05-2006, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Sorry for my complete ignorance,

No need to apologize. It isn't exactly striaghtforward if you haven't seen it before. And, to be honest, I haven't used the Ubuntu Live CD. I've always used Knoppix for Live CD stuff, and have used chroot with Knoppix to fix things, but you should be able to do the same thing with Ubuntu. What you need to do is edit the text file located in the directory /boot/grub/menu.lst located on the hard drive directory where Ubuntu is installed. Chroot allows you to "move" from the live CD to the hard drive installation without booting the hard drive installation. It is useful for cases where things are screwed up and you can't boot the hard drive installation.

First, boot the live CD (or "start Ubuntu" from the menu). When it gets finished loading, you will have a desktop environment running from the CD. Now, in the upper left corner, click on Applications>Accessories>Terminal You can then enter the commands from the terminal application. You will need to become root first using su ("superuser"):

Code:

sudo su
mkdir /mnt/hda2
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
chroot /mnt/hda2
nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

The first command makes you "superuser" The second command makes a directory /mnt/hda The next command mounts the second primary partition of the master IDE hard drive to the newly created directory. The next command (chroot) makes you root in the install located in the second partition of the primary hard drive. Any commands now issued or changes you make will affect the hard disk installation, rather than commands in the Live CD environment. The last command will allow you to edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst using the program "nano". Edit things, then save changes with ctrl+O and exit nano with ctrl+X

This assumes that you installed Ubuntu in /dev/hda2 (the second primary partition of the master hard drive). If it is a different partition, it would be a different number, like /dev/hda5, etc. If you use SATA or SCSI drives instead of IDE drives, it would be /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/hda2. If it is a slave drive instead of the master, it would be /dev/hdb2 instead of /dev/hda2

Hope that all makes sense

gosport1 · 10-06-2006, 10:29 AM

Thanks for the info. I can't wait to give it a try when I get home. It is strange, though, that there is a bug that makes it necessary to log into Windows before I can get the Live CD to boot so that I can fix Linux.

I think that, once I figure all this out, I'll once again try to completely eliminate Windows but I'll only have one chance to do it!

gosport1 · 11-16-2006, 10:43 AM

I have since reinstalled UBUNTU as the only operating system and have gotten rid of the partitions in the drive. I have found that UBUNTU boots and runs great if I first boot from the Knoppix live CD then restart the computer and then let UBUNTU boot up from the hard drive.

I was unable to modify the menu.1st file per the instructions (using hda1 after the re install) because the file seemed to have no contents. However, I was finally able to modify the file by typing “sudo nautilus” in the terminal then graphically navigating to the menu.1st file.

I have now modified the menu.1st file by adding the acpi=off and UBUNTU still doesn’t work. It still hangs in the same place, unless I boot to Knoppix first. Any more ideas??

m_yates · 11-16-2006, 01:20 PM

The file is named "menu.lst" not "menu.1st". You must also make sure that you are modifying it as root ("super user" or administrator) , otherwise, your changes won't take effect.

If that was done correctly, I don't know what else to suggest, sorry.

gosport1 · 11-19-2006, 12:37 PM

You were right; I inserted the code in the wrong spot. Everything worked great until I downloaded and installed all the new updates. Now nothing works again. I used Knoppix and could see that the menu.lst file had been replaced without the acpi=off code. When I follow your original instructions (using hda1) the file looks blank or it isn't opening it, I can't tell. Do you have some more suggestions to help me use Knoppix to correct the problem?

Thanks,
Michael

novaraz · 12-01-2006, 07:25 PM

m_yates, I made an account just to thank you for your posts in this thread! I was having the same problem with the Ubuntu 6.06 Live CD on my new ThinkPad. I was able to get the CD to boot by adding "acpi=ht noapic nolapic", but I forgot to add this to the installed boot loader too.

Is the above command different that "acpi=off"?

Thanks again

m_yates · 12-02-2006, 10:38 AM

Here is a useful page about acpi related kernel parameters:

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Kernel_Pa..._for_ACPI/APIC

Glad to here that my comments above worked.