Ubuntu
ubiquity package

installed Oneric instable release: what happened to the notebook???!!

Asked by vfmla

Hello everyone,

it started on holiday like before. I had windows installed back then and due to some vibration somewhere along the travel, the computer had booting problems, black screens at start and booting starting only too late or after tens of restarts. the problem had proven to be the damaged HDD. shortly after the HDD was replaced I switched to Ubuntu. this was more than half a year ago, and I use Ubuntu since.

now the same thing happened a month or so ago, again during a visit, don't know whether the same thing happened again. but this time it happened only for once and until last saturday never happened again.

on saturday at start booting took 5-6 restarts, but then the PC was on for 8-9 hours. during this time, I let update manager run the updates (I hadn't used this computer for weeks, which I thought was the reason that the update manager took so long to finish). I was asked to do a partial upgrade, but, as this almost killed my data last time, I avoided it and just ran the other updates. I also restarted the download of Fuduntu from my browser, which had begun last time, but was stopped due to lack of time to wait for the slow download to be completed.

I write these down in detail because I don't know what caused the notebook to be in the state it is now. anyway, when I did all these and wanted to do a restart before shutting down, only because of the notice that a restart was required to complete the updates, the notebook restarted and froze at the login screen.

this is what happens since then. I restart it, it comes until the login screen (blue background, white login box, white taskbar with only day and hour on the right)

I read of some solutions like booting from usb and opening a terminal from desktop, and implementing the referred commands for which other people were glad that it solved the same problem with their PCs.

but I couldn't work the usb, either. once came a recovery options window, where I selected the linux generic version without recovery, and after a few seconds of cursor blinking, it disappeared to leave a black blank screen with no sign of motion on it.

In the following trials to start from usb (or, as it was referred to, livecd), the initial menu of ubuntu appeared ( try without installing, install ubuntu and others..) I selected 'try without installing' several times, but the clicks didn't work. and choosing 'install ubuntu' led to the same cursor disappearing after a few blinks, to leave the same black screen.

 so by pressing esc from ubuntu install menu, I got to some command line editor with the line starting with 'boot:'

here I tried to implement the commands in the referred solutions, but always got some message like 'no kernel found for x'..I don't remember clearly, but only that whatever command I wrote was returned as lacking some relation with the kernel.

frozen login screen may be looking exactly the same as other people have described them in their own experiences, but the solutions referred there didn't seem to work, how can I get out of this kind of thing?

could you please help me with this?

so many thanks!

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Chris
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Revision history for this message
Chris (fabricator4) said : 		#1

If you can no longer boot off the LiveUSB and you could before, then either the USB is broken or the computer is. If the USB is OK (you could try booting another computer with it) then something is wrong with the computer.

If you're handy with a screwdriver you could try cleaning and re-seating the RAM. This is normally access through a cover on the bottom of the machine. When handling RAM you need to be careful to avoid static which can damage the memory modules permanently.

A clean soft pencil eraser can be used to clean the contact strip on the memory module if it looks tarnished. There's a good chance this will fix your computer.

Apart from that, other culprits can be a dislodged cable, chip or similar. If you've never been into the guts of a laptop before you might want to put it in for a service at a reputable shop.

Chris

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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#2

Thank you so much Chris!!! this really makes sense. one thing that happened on last saturday was that the notebook didn't boot at multiple restarts, as it was resting on the table. as soon as I restarted and at the same time lifted it up from there, it booted for the first time, as if something at the bottom of the notebook was moved by the action. though when I fumbled around the bottom surface for any looseness, I received no sign of it, that is, the computer ran further without interruption.

and yes, I never been to the guts of the device yet, and will definitely prefer to have someone on my side while doing it..:)
thanks a lot again, and enjoy a sunny weekend!

Revision history for this message
vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#3

I took out the memory pieces with the help of a friend, and cleaned them.

When we started the laptop after that, nothing happened in the first 5-6 trials. like I wrote above, it booted when I lifted it up from the table again! but the booting ended, and it froze again at the same login screen.

I cleaned with an eraser and puffed onto the memory pieces, and everything seemed in place as seen from that opening at the bottom.

might you have any suggestions? also as to how I can at least 'evacuate' the data on my hard disk at this stage,

thank you so much again!

Revision history for this message
vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#4

I mean with 'nothing happened' that the device didn't boot, the screen was pure black as if the computer was turned off.

:)

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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#5

the reason for the login and other problems has been cleared meanwhile.

I made a mistake and installed Oneric, the upcoming release of Ubuntu. which is in development and is developer-only at the moment.

So I was advised to save my hard drive on an external disk and reinstall Ubuntu. the guy who said that was probably going to do it from the terminal..the problem is, he is not there now and I myself do not know how I can access my hard drive. because;

I cannot boot from usb. the screen remains blue with a graphic error before going any further.

when I do grub and select previous linux versions ubuntu login screen comes, I login, but a black screen with a mouse cursor remains and goes no further. when I select linux generic with or without recovery also black screens..
when I boot from a CD -which is Ubuntu 10.04, the only one I could find- I select 'try without installing' and I get to the desktop environment of CD. Here I see the home folder of my original hard drive, but I have no permission to access it (and I cannot find the long password that I received back when I was installing ubuntu). like I said above, the same guy said that it was still possible to save the hard drive on an external disk..it is just that I do not know how to do it..

could you maybe help me out with this?

many thanks!!!

Revision history for this message
Best Chris (fabricator4) said : 		#6

Yes. Boot off the 10.04 LiveCD. If you can see your home directory you can copy it, your just need to get root privileges to do so.

Open Nautilus with root privileges:

Press: <alt><F2> to get the run dialog
Type "gksudo nautilus" to open nautilus with root privileges
Navigate to your old home folder
Press <ctrl><h> (this will show all hidden config files, allowing you to copy those as well).
Press <F3> to open the second pane
Navigate the second pane to your backup drive and directory
Drag everything from the first pane into the second pane
Wait for the copy to complete and you're done.

Note that this uses nautilus to do the same thing as your friend was going to with command line, but in this cases it's a bit easier to describe since it doesn't have to deal with what the partitions are called and where they are mounted, since you can just select it within nautilus.

If your backup drive is formatted FAT32 then the files will lose all owner and permissions restrictions, which will make restoring the files that much easier. I think the same can be said for NTFS as well, but I'm not certain.

Chris

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vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#7

thank you so much Chris!!! I applied exactly as you advised and copied all my files!!!

meanwhile I had received help from some tech-savvy guy to retrieve all my files and copy them on an external drive. after doing so, they were still not accessible there.
then, using 10.04 live CD, I installed ubuntu alongside the existing troubled system, as a partition. after installation I upgraded this one to Maverick (as I always wanted to - carelessly selecting Oneric was only a hasty trial to change from Natty - sorry, just that I am not for movable system trays, and plain tidy visible desktop menus of Maverick was for me! :)))..
there fitted in your solution like a glove to a hand. I moved all my files to the new desktop!!

so the problem is over, everything's back!!

thanks a heap again for all your support!!

Revision history for this message
vfmla (bernuce) said : 		#8

Thanks Chris, that solved my question.