Ubuntu
yelp package

Grub boots to the ubuntu icon but hangs and I cannot log in.

Asked by jbowen7

I installed karmic on a computer with a pentium 4 2.0 processor with 256 mb of ram. I freed up some ram by removing some start up apps.. but it was late and I was extremely tired, and the computer seemed to be hung. So I pulled the power cord..
This morning the computer won't boot past grub, or at least it hangs while trying to boot the kernel.

I set up a manual partition: 1 gb linux swap at sda1
                                               7 gb ext4 / at sda2
                                              15gb ext4 /home at sda3

all of these partitions are primary, and the remaining space left on the 30gb hard drive is reserved for later.

I get the grub options when I turn on the computer, I noticed there is two kernels, could this be an issue?

I tried this:

run recovery mode
sudo fdisk /dev/sda

it said "The number of cyclinders for this disk is set to 3649. There is nothing wrong with that , but this is larger than 1024, and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS fdisk, OS/2 fdisk

then I did this:

sudo swapoff /dev/sda1
sudo mkswap /dev/sda1
sudo update-initramfs -u

to no avail.

any suggestions?

thanks johnny

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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Use bootoptions to disable the splash so you can see the boot messages:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

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jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#2

which one of those options disables splash, vga?

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jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#3

well i think i figured it out, at least disabling the splash anyway..

everything seemed in order except some rendering errors..
but at:

Begin: Running /scripts/casper-bottom... ...
Opening pipe: No such file or directory
[45.040071] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 2

it just stops after that...

Revision history for this message
jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#4

I can no longer use recovery mode..
as soon as it loads and I click the down arrow to get into root terminal, the screen goes nuts..
I think I'll just reinstall soon, but I'm going to trouble shoot a little longer. I'd like to know what the problem is.

Also, another question for you:

dell support told me that the computer can only support 1 gb ram,

but the output of lshw suggests that it is 2 gb capable,
who's correct, dell or ubuntu?

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Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#5

Maybe you'd like to try Xubuntu.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingCasper
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

I suggest you try adding the boot option to disable ACPI, it may help. Sounds like the USB device is getting bored and turning off.

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jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#7

I've already done a reinstall; I can only get to the login screen about 1 in 15 times I reboot.

I'll try disabling ACPI and give you a report.

I'm leaning towards hardware problem.

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jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#8

So i've turned off acpi and edited the boot options (erased "splash quiet") via the live cd, and now the splash is stopping at

Begin: Running /scripts/casper-bottom ...
Opening Pipe: No such file or directory.

This is a fresh install.

Revision history for this message
jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#9

I reinstalled yet again with another copy of ubuntu 9.10, i checked the integrity of the disk and it's fine. I finished the install, and have done nothing else to the system.

Now, It will not boot to the OS unless while booting:
1) I hold shift to get to grub menu
2) press "e" to edit boot comands
3) delete "splash quiet"
4) then control x to resume boot with those commands.

I don't see any errors when I do this and it boots right into the OS every time I try this method!!

Any suggestions or clues to why this might be happening?

Thanks, johnny

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#10

> it boots right into the OS

Fine.
Now you may just delete "quiet splash" in /etc/default/grub.
Please backup the file before editing.
e.g.
sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.backup

e.g. lines:
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_HIDDEN_MENU_QUIET=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT="10"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" "

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2#grub%20%28/etc/default/grub%29

## In case acpi=off is necessary and helps (because it can lead to kernel panic also)
the line would look like this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="acpi=off"

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jbowen7 (jbowen7) said : 		#11

Thanks Sam I was just about to write that I had solved the problem by editing /etc/default/grub, though I'm not sure what the real problem was.

Are you suggesting that I add "acpi=off" or that I remove it if it is there?

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#12

> Are you suggesting that I add "acpi=off" or that I remove it if it is there?

Depends, as I said, if it helps or not.
If you've added it and booting is fine, then just keep it.
If you didn't add it and booting is fine, then leave it.

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