Ubuntu will not boot

My guess is that the version of the video driver on your install CD is out of date and you might have better luck if you update them online.

When you are booting up, type CTRL-ALT-F1 at the splash screen to watch the progress of the boot. If it switches away from terminal mode, type CTRL-ALT-F1 (or F2 through F6) to get a full-screen text terminal, and login there with your username and password.

Assuming you're connected to the internet, enter these two commands, one after the other, in order, at the command prompt after successful login:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

You will have to re-enter your password at one point because getting updates is an administrative function. Wait for the update command to finish and give you a command prompt before entering the upgrade command. If the upgrade command asks you whether to continue, type "Y" and hit return.

If updating your driver does not work for you, you can try forcing the use of the generic vesa driver. Type the following commands at a text terminal:

       cd /etc/X11
      sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup (may need to enter password again here)
      sudo nano xorg.conf

The nano command opens file in nano text editor -- use the arrow keys to scroll down to the "Device" section, find the line starting with "Driver" and switch it from whatever it is now to:

      Driver "vesa"

Type CTRL-O (that's an "o", not a zero) to write out the new version of the file (pressing the enter key when it shows the path), then type CTRL-X to exit. You should be back at a terminal. Now execute:

      sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart (may need to enter password again here)

or just reboot.

CTRL-ALT-F1 Did nothing. F2 through F6 did nothing. I re-booted a couple
of times and worked these keys at any/every opportunity. Nothing.
The only working cursor I got was inside GRUB.

I don't get it.

Thanks for your help anyway.

K

On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 6:13 PM, FactTech <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> FactTech proposed the following answer:
>
> My guess is that the version of the video driver on your install CD is out
> of date and you might have better luck if you update them online.
>
> When you are booting up, type CTRL-ALT-F1 at the splash screen to watch
> the progress of the boot. If it switches away from terminal mode, type
> CTRL-ALT-F1 (or F2 through F6) to get a full-screen text terminal, and
> login there with your username and password.
>
> Assuming you're connected to the internet, enter these two commands, one
> after the other, in order, at the command prompt after successful login:
>
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get upgrade
>
> You will have to re-enter your password at one point because getting
> updates is an administrative function. Wait for the update command to
> finish and give you a command prompt before entering the upgrade
> command. If the upgrade command asks you whether to continue, type "Y"
> and hit return.
>
> If updating your driver does not work for you, you can try forcing the
> use of the generic vesa driver. Type the following commands at a text
> terminal:
>
> cd /etc/X11
> sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup (may need to enter password again
> here)
> sudo nano xorg.conf
>
> The nano command opens file in nano text editor -- use the arrow keys to
> scroll down to the "Device" section, find the line starting with
> "Driver" and switch it from whatever it is now to:
>
> Driver "vesa"
>
> Type CTRL-O (that's an "o", not a zero) to write out the new version of
> the file (pressing the enter key when it shows the path), then type
> CTRL-X to exit. You should be back at a terminal. Now execute:
>
> sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart (may need to enter password again
> here)
>
> or just reboot.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486/+confirm?answer_id=0
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

To clarify: When you say you get a black screen with a grey cursor, do you mean a graphical mouse-type pointer or an underline terminal-type cursor? And this happens after the ubuntu logo splash screen, after the progress bar completes?

You should be able to switch to the F1 terminal by typing CTRL-ALT-F1 while the progress bar is loading. There you should see numerous text messages as the system boots various modules. This doesn't work for you?

Hi!
First off, thank you for continuing to try to help with this problem. I
really do appreciate it.

Secondly, it's a terminal-type cursor, kind of like in DOS. It's an all
black screen with just a little blinking cursor in the upper left hand
corner. This is very early in the boot up process. At this point there has
been no splash screen or progress bar. We haven't gotten that far in the
process. I get GRUB, the dual boot loader, I select (or just let) the first
default choice and the very next thing that happens is that black
screen/cursor combination, and that's it. No matter which selection I
choose from the boot loader, all I get is a black screen with it's cursor.
 That's it. The progress bar and splash screen are things I would love to
see but just don't get that far.

Thank you again for your efforts.

You know, I remember loving DOS and trying with all I had to avoid Windows
when it came out, but I had to give in as it is what everyone else was using
and I had to be able to operate in that environment. These days it's
developing enough that Linux, and especially Ubuntu, are freeing us up
from dependency from proprietary technologies. That is something
I truly want to get back to. Remember the good old days when you could do
whatever you wanted to with your own computer? Windows and Mac don't allow
that and try to suck you in to their own little universes like razor blade
companies. I can't stand the ethics of these corporations. Ubuntu is
freedom as far as I can tell and it seems to be the most popular
distribution out there and I would really like to be able to get switched
over to freedom on my machine.

Thanks again for all your help. Man or woman I tell you if I can get
switched over, I'll become a real advocate for the OS.

Sincerely,

Kevin Reynolds

On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 8:57 PM, FactTech <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> FactTech requested for more information:
>
> To clarify: When you say you get a black screen with a grey cursor, do
> you mean a graphical mouse-type pointer or an underline terminal-type
> cursor? And this happens after the ubuntu logo splash screen, after the
> progress bar completes?
>
> You should be able to switch to the F1 terminal by typing CTRL-ALT-F1
> while the progress bar is loading. There you should see numerous text
> messages as the system boots various modules. This doesn't work for you?
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Kevin,

No need to thank me -- just do what you can to help others when the time comes. I got started with Ubuntu for the same reasons and now use it almost exclusively.

Let me apologize for getting you off on the wrong foot. I thought you were experiencing a different problem, so my previous advice has not been helpful. I'm not quite sure what's going on with your situation, but it should be interesting to try to solve it. :)

If you see the GRUB menu, that means the MBR of your hard drive has been configured properly and the menu is loading correctly. When you select one of the menu options, parameters are passed to GRUB that tell it how to hand off control to the OS. You probably already know this, but I'm just going over what's working right. I assume that you are still able to boot to your original OS without trouble.

It's very unusual to have GRUB halt without even displaying an error. I wonder if you are having a display issue that is preventing GRUB errors from being displayed. I have usually had good experiences with Dells, so hopefully this is just a temporary glitch.

If you can boot from the LiveCD and got through the install, clearly your system is compatible with Ubuntu. It looks like something went wrong with the automatic configuration. Let me ask you a few questions to fish for possible causes:

1) Where is the /boot partition (or / [aka root] partition if you did not set up a separate /boot partition)? I ask because on some machines there are problems if the boot files are not located within the first 2GB of the drive. This may or may not be affecting you.

2) You said you selected only a /boot partition on your last reinstall. I wouldn't even expect this to be legal. You should have to install two partitions at a minimum, a / (root) partition and a swap partition. In addition, you have the option of breaking out the /boot or /home directories into separate partitions. I generally don't separate /boot and do separate /home, but this is a matter of preference. You MUST have a / partition when you do an install. Reinstall, use manual partitioning, and delete all previous Ubuntu partitions before setting up new ones if you think you might not.

3) If you boot from a LiveCD, can you access the F1-F6 terminals (by pressing CTRL-ALT-F#)? If these do not display correctly, you may need to pass an explicit VGA boot parameter. As a test, you can select the Ubuntu boot option in GRUB, but instead of hitting return, hit 'e'. This will let you edit the boot parameters for this boot only. Find the line that starts with "kernel", hit 'e' again, go to the end and enter " vga=771", hit return, then 'b' to boot. This may enable some error messages to be displayed that are currently hidden when you try to boot from your hard drive.

4) Did you download the 64-bit version or the 32-bit version of Ubuntu? If it was 64-bit, you might try the 32-bit instead.

FYI -- you're not the only one who has had issues with a Dell Optiplex 320, but most seem to have made it eventually. Sorry your first install is going poorly; don't give up yet.

Another thing to check: Is there a BIOS update available for your machine?

OK, some actual research on your model shows that basically standard GRUB does not work on an Optiplex 320. It looks like you have to do some manual steps to install and configure either GRUB2 or LILO, which other users have gotten to work.

I suggest you pause here for a second and consider just how much you want to learn at this point. :) If you want to go whole hog, there are some instructions here that might be helpful:

   https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DellOptiplex320

If you go this route, my suggestion is to use GRUB2. I have no experience with this but will do what I can to help if you need assistance.

However, if you are willing to put up with some vestiges of Windows in your system, I would suggest you make use of the WUBI install option for now. With a WUBI install, Ubuntu is booted from a virtual filesystem in Windows (residing on a big file on your Windows drive), and retains the Windows bootloader. It is still 100% Ubuntu once you boot, there is just a very slight performance penalty for using the virtual filesystem. This is NOT the same as running a virtual machine.

With the latest WUBI installer, you don't even need a CD to install. See:

  http://wubi-installer.org/

It may be too late for you to take this option, but if you do, you will probably want to:

  1) boot from LiveCD and use gparted to delete all Ubuntu file partitions, and possibly resize your Windows partitions to make use of the freed space again.

  2) figure out how to restore your Windows MBR so you don't even see GRUB. Otherwise, you'll have to use GRUB to boot the Windows bootloader, then use the Windows bootloader to boot Ubuntu.

Um, this might take a couple of days.
I will let you know.

Thanks for the info.

Kevin

On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 3:12 PM, FactTech <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Needs information => Answered
>
> FactTech proposed the following answer:
>
> OK, some actual research on your model shows that basically standard GRUB
> does not work on an Optiplex 320. It looks like you have to do some manual
> steps to install and configure either GRUB2 or LILO, which other users have
> gotten to work.
>
> I suggest you pause here for a second and consider just how much you
> want to learn at this point. :) If you want to go whole hog, there are
> some instructions here that might be helpful:
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DellOptiplex320
>
> If you go this route, my suggestion is to use GRUB2. I have no
> experience with this but will do what I can to help if you need
> assistance.
>
> However, if you are willing to put up with some vestiges of Windows in
> your system, I would suggest you make use of the WUBI install option for
> now. With a WUBI install, Ubuntu is booted from a virtual filesystem in
> Windows (residing on a big file on your Windows drive), and retains the
> Windows bootloader. It is still 100% Ubuntu once you boot, there is just
> a very slight performance penalty for using the virtual filesystem. This
> is NOT the same as running a virtual machine.
>
> With the latest WUBI installer, you don't even need a CD to install.
> See:
>
> http://wubi-installer.org/
>
> It may be too late for you to take this option, but if you do, you will
> probably want to:
>
> 1) boot from LiveCD and use gparted to delete all Ubuntu file
> partitions, and possibly resize your Windows partitions to make use of
> the freed space again.
>
> 2) figure out how to restore your Windows MBR so you don't even see
> GRUB. Otherwise, you'll have to use GRUB to boot the Windows bootloader,
> then use the Windows bootloader to boot Ubuntu.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486/+confirm?answer_id=6
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

FYI -- I found this forum post with what looks like a fairly easy way to restore your MBR:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=622828

Hello.
Well, I guess I'm just out of luck. I guess I'm just one of those unlucky
few who has *the* machine on which Linux (Ubuntu) won't run.

I keep looking over all the info you sent me (thank you by the way, you have
been very responsive to my requests) and it just keeps looking to me that
there are way too many ways things can go wrong. Maybe, if I were
more familiar with the Ubuntu system I might be able to perform these
functions but, with the experiences I have had so far, well, like I said, I
guess I'm just out of luck.

Thanks for all your help.

Maybe some day.

Unresolved and closed out.

Kevin

On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 5:08 PM, FactTech <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> FactTech proposed the following answer:
>
> FYI -- I found this forum post with what looks like a fairly easy way to
> restore your MBR:
>
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=622828
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486/+confirm?answer_id=8
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Hello.

It's interesting. I did a WUBI install and, it worked. I can tell it's
slower than it would be if it were a true install, a pure install, rather
than a windows application install, but it does work. I am in fact writing
this in Ubuntu now.

Funny though. When I boot up I get my Grub loader, I select my windows
installation, then I get another boot loader with the Ubuntu option. Next
I'll have to see if I can get that one partition merged back with my D drive
so I can have more space. D drive which the regular file manager doesn't
see (I suppose this is because that's the drive on which I installed
Ubuntu).

Thanks for all your help on this. You guys are really persistent with these
things. Thanks for not letting it just fall away.

Kevin

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 1:14 PM, FactTech <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> FactTech proposed the following answer:
>
> Kevin,
>
> It's been a while since you posted this, but for your benefit, and for
> the benefit of anyone who comes across this thread, I just want to
> stress that your situation is relatively rare. GRUB is unfortunately one
> of the most critical parts of the boot process, and it is usually very
> reliable. Prior to your report, I had never heard of a situation where
> it simply wouldn't work.
>
> On the other hand, while GRUB is important to the boot process, it is
> NOT critical to run Ubuntu. As I mentioned, a WUBI install would
> probably work perfectly in your situation, as it uses the Windows boot
> loader instead of GRUB. It is unfortunate that you attempted a non-WUBI
> install first, leaving your system in a problematic state.
>
> To anyone else using a Dell Optiplex 320 that wishes to retain a dual-
> boot configuration, I *strongly* recommend that you simply insert a
> working LiveCD into your computer *while Windows is booted*. This will
> present a menu to perform a WUBI install, and should bypass the problems
> described above.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486/+confirm?answer_id=10
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

It's interesting. I did a WUBI install and, it worked. I can tell it's slower than it would be if it were a true install, a pure install, rather than a windows application install, but it does work. I am in fact writing this in Ubuntu now.

Funny though. When I boot up I get my Grub loader, I select my windows installation, then I get another boot loader with the Ubuntu option. Next I'll have to see if I can get that one partition merged back with my D drive so I can have more space. D drive which the regular file manager doesn't see (I suppose this is because that's the drive on which I installed Ubuntu).

Thanks for all your help on this. You guys are really persistent with these things. Thanks for not letting it just fall away.

Update:
Well, it's not good news. After working with things a bit yesterday, this
morning I have no access to Ubuntu.

Yesterday, I booted into both windows and Ubuntu a couple of times just to
be sure that everything worked OK. Two things happened to my windows system
yesterday. One is that all my Google desktop gadgets disappeared. Not a
big deal but still odd. The other was that chkdsk (saying my disk was bad)
ran and deleted two entries in an index file. Still, I got back into
windows OK and (for the last time yesterday) got back into Ubuntu OK as
well.

However, this morning, attempting to boot into Ubuntu, I got bad graphics.
 Both my boot loaders worked alright but then I got five columns of
alternating black and white horizontal bars across my screen. Up at the top
of my screen I saw little dark orange (Ubuntu color) squares of funny
looking images looking like cartoon faces, maybe 50 of them in a row across
the top of my screen. At that point, it all froze.

I killed the power and re-booted four times with the same result. No
access.

Goodness. I don't know what can be done.

Thanks again for all your help.

Kevin

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 10:03 AM, reykev <<email address hidden>
> wrote:

> Your question #73486 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/73486
>
> Status: Open => Solved
>
> You confirmed that the question is solved:
> It's interesting. I did a WUBI install and, it worked. I can tell it's
> slower than it would be if it were a true install, a pure install,
> rather than a windows application install, but it does work. I am in
> fact writing this in Ubuntu now.
>
> Funny though. When I boot up I get my Grub loader, I select my windows
> installation, then I get another boot loader with the Ubuntu option.
> Next I'll have to see if I can get that one partition merged back with
> my D drive so I can have more space. D drive which the regular file
> manager doesn't see (I suppose this is because that's the drive on which
> I installed Ubuntu).
>
> Thanks for all your help on this. You guys are really persistent with
> these things. Thanks for not letting it just fall away.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>