[SOLVED] Solving boot to commandline problem

bosth · 12-29-2011, 10:48 AM

Hello,
I'm a Slackware user, but I installed Ubuntu on my father's netbook and he's been using it fairly happily for the last year or so.

He's currently on vacation and says he "gets an error message" when he tries to boot into Ubuntu. It turns out that the message is just the command prompt:

Code:

$USER@$COMPUTER $

There is nothing else on screen and let's assume he didn't or can't catch the messages during booting, and let's assume he "changed nothing" which caused it to break. And he's probably running whatever version of Ubuntu came out "about a year ago".

I figure I could probably muddle my way through and fix it ... if I had the computer in front of me.

I've asked if he's booting into a recovery mode (Ubuntu has that as a boot option, right?), but I doubt he's making that simple of a mistake.

Coming from a Slackware background and only slightly familiar with Ubuntu my first thought was to get him to try:

Code:

sudo init 4

and see what happens, but it'll get tedious quickly to get him to try things and then have him transcribe the error messages by hand into another computer just to email it back to me. I'm looking for any suggestions on how to proceed.

Thanks!

eSelix · 12-29-2011, 11:01 AM

"init 4" will not help, as Ubuntu will not use runlevels (but of course it can be configured). You should check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for errors after trying to start "service gdm start".

I suspect that you need to recompile video drivers. If you used proprietary then just download and run installer as root in the console. But it can be anything, you need to check log, also /var/log/syslog.

bosth · 12-29-2011, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eSelix

"init 4" will not help, as Ubuntu will not use runlevels (but of course it can be configured). You should check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for errors after trying to start "service gdm start".

I suspect that you need to recompile video drivers. If you used proprietary then just download and run installer as root in the console. But it can be anything, you need to check log, also /var/log/syslog.

Right, so init won't get me anywhere on Ubuntu... If I had the computer myself, I'd be going through the logs, but I'm not going to get him to do that. I just want a few things for him to try, to see if we can get it going. I assume you'll need a sudo in front of any service commands, right?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

273 · 12-29-2011, 11:21 AM

<aside>
One thing to try is to simply type:
sudo startx
It may work and, if not, could give some clues as to what is not working.
</aside>

bosth · 12-29-2011, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

<aside>
One thing to try is to simply type:
sudo startx
It may work and, if not, could give some clues as to what is not working.
</aside>

Wouldn't it just be

Code:

startx

since he doesn't want to have a root session?

273 · 12-29-2011, 11:35 AM

Very probably. I don't think that's ever worked for me though -- I don't seem to have permission to do so.
Edit: When running Ubuntu and Debian whenever I've been dropped into the shell on startup the way I've started X is by sudoing it as it doesn't work without.
I know it's different but I tried to run:
startx -- :1 vt8
Just now and the result was:
X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.

inspiron_Droid · 12-29-2011, 11:36 AM

Code:

sudo tellinit:3:

or edit /etc/initab

Code:

defaultrunlevel
:3:

widget · 12-29-2011, 12:58 PM

With out more info it is hard to say what the problem is.

Ubuntu takes you to a # (root) prompt in recovery mode so that does seem to say he is not booting that way.

Code:

startx

is the way to go. If that does not work it will give some clues. Make sure he gets the messages from the screen if it fails.

Adding sudo to it would indeed, if it worked, put him in as root and this could only make things worse.

bosth · 12-29-2011, 01:37 PM

Ok thanks for the answers. I've just heard back and startx reports (in his words) something like:

Code:

You do not have access to program or feature X

I assume this is actually the message

Code:

X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.

reported by 273 above.

As I said, I'd be digging through the X.org logs, but I'd rather not have him do that... though maybe

Code:

grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

would be produce reasonably short output. Before I do that though, any other suggestions?

eSelix · 12-29-2011, 01:56 PM

Better using context feature

Code:

grep -C 3 EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Even more better would be if he can take a photo of screen and paste it here, for example last lines:

Code:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

bosth · 12-29-2011, 04:28 PM

Photos are a good idea... results pending.

bosth · 01-08-2012, 01:51 PM

Ok, finally heard back with the attached jpg, but as you can see the grep command was typed incorrectly so not much to go on. Could a full disk or /tmp partition be behind this I wonder?

eSelix · 01-09-2012, 02:27 PM

1. startx will not work without root privilages. Anyway, in Ubuntu to start X with normal login window, is command

Code:

sudo service gdm start

or in older versions

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

2. IO Error relates to X, so I don't think it has something common with disk, but this cannot be excluded, so check

Code:

df -h

3. Log is necessary, do it again

Code:

grep   -C   5   EE   /var/log/Xorg.0.log

bosth · 01-09-2012, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eSelix

1. startx will not work without root privilages. Anyway, in Ubuntu to start X with normal login window, is command...

Interesting (from a Slackware perspective). I only use X by running startx as user.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eSelix

2. IO Error relates to X, so I don't think it has something common with disk, but this cannot be excluded, so check

Code:

df -h

3. Log is necessary, do it again

Code:

grep   -C   5   EE   /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Yes I'm waiting for the results of the commands typed correctly. I thought of the disk space problem since I've seen X perform very strangely when it can't write to /tmp.

I think in the end, I will probably end up fixing this when he has returned and I have it my own hands!

eSelix · 01-10-2012, 04:09 AM

Quote:

I only use X by running startx as user.

Sorry, I just checked and I was in mistake. You can also run startx as usual user in Ubuntu.