ubuntu acting suspicious...

[waba]

been happening for a few days now... i try and switch it on, the screen loads up to the purple back drop, then just starts flashing and doesnt boot up properly...basically freezes, mouse stops working etc. on restart it usually works. never had this problem before, im guessing its the upgrade, damn 11.04 (or whatever number it is on...)

anyone experienced this?

[andyn]

During the boot process you should be able to hit shift+F1 and see the console, which should hopefully give you some idea what's failing.

[Plan9]

Sounds to me more like it's a problem loading his Xsession rather than with one of the init.d daemons (as you wouldn't have mouse input at that stage). So the console might not be much good.

@waba: Do you auto-login or are you given change to choose your user name / password?

[waba]

auto login, thanks for your help guys. maybe i can get aprintout of thebootup somehow? it doesnt happen all the time time,but more times than i would care for...

[Plan9]

when your system does start up, have a look in what's autoloaded as part of your xsession (easy to find in GNOME, but i haven't a clue where'd check in Unity)

[waba]

ok thanks, il have a look round for it, im guessing its an output somewhere

[Plan9]

ok thanks, il have a look round for it, im guessing its an output somewhere

It will be a configuration applet (or whatever Ubuntu names it's equivalent of Windows Control Panel applets) rather than a random setting / output

[waba]

hmmm computer has frozen twic in thelast two days (invluding just now) so i thought i would have another look at it. Do you mean startup applications when you were talking about what is autoloaded by xsession? Sorry, am not really linux literate, have tried googling it but dont really know what im looking for. in the startup application preferences bit in the system settings, there is a list of programs at startup.

[Plan9]

hmmm computer has frozen twic in thelast two days (invluding just now) so i thought i would have another look at it. Do you mean startup applications when you were talking about what is autoloaded by xsession? Sorry, am not really linux literate, have tried googling it but dont really know what im looking for. in the startup application preferences bit in the system settings, there is a list of programs at startup.

that's the one.

What loads?

[waba]

Long List here:
Avant Window Navigator
bluetooth manager
calibre
certificate and key storage
check for new hardware drivers
disk notifications
emerald
evolution alarm notify
gsettings data conversion
netmonitorscreenlet
network manager
personal file sharing (I had a problem with samba a few weeks back ever since i installed the new version of ubuntu, it kept blocking all installations of anything, so i had to uninstall it i think...)
policykit authentication agent
power manager
print queue applet
pulseaudio sound system
pulseaudio sound system KDE routing policy (eh?!)
Quitcount (thought i uninstalled this...)
Remote Desktop
Screenlets Daemon
Secret Storage Service
SSH Key Agent
Transmission
Ubuntu One
Update Notifier
User Folders update
Visual Assistance
Zeitgeist Datahub


Never realised so many things loaded before....

[Plan9]

bluetooth manager (if you don't have bluetooth chip / dongle)
check for new hardware drivers
personal file sharing
Quitcount

Untick the above (taking into account the comment left about bluetooth) so they don't get auto-loaded, then see if you system continues to hang:)

[waba]

thanks! iv done that now, will see over the next few days how it works...it wasnt hanging on every start up. i dont understand why something like quitcount would still be in the startup list if it has been properly uninstalled off the computer...

[Plan9]

thanks! iv done that now, will see over the next few days how it works...it wasnt hanging on every start up. i dont understand why something like quitcount would still be in the startup list if it has been properly uninstalled off the computer...

please let us know how you get on.

I suspect the problem would be more network services trying to start up before the network has started - though this is a stab in the dark. So in an ideal world I'd have disabled the other network services. However that would have been potentially more annoying for you (in terms of usability) than the original fault.

[waba]

thanks for your help, will give it a few days and see if any problems arise before posting up here - so far it hasnt frozen once (since yesterday...). i dont know if im just imagining it, but this version of ubuntu boots up a lot slower than previous versions, and things like the unity toolbar sometimes has thick whgite lines through some of the words when i search in it, etc. am not liking this upgrade so much!!

[waba]

hmmm, seemed to work fine the last few days....then froze on startup just now :( got asfar as loading the mouse pointer, blank backround, but then froze. after restart,everything loaded up fine...

[waba]

arg happened again jut now, 1 day later :/

[Plan9]

You may just have to disable each one at a time to see which (if any) are hanging. It's a painful process I know, but sometimes it's the only way (just don't do any system updates in the mean time otherwise you'll have no idea if the update fixed it or if it's something you disabled)

It also might be worth going through the last few entries in every file in your /var/logs/ directory after the next crash.

[waba]

do you think it would just be better to upgrade to the new version of ubuntu. this one sucks imo. chromium, totem and evolution crash unexpectedly. all tthese problems seemed to come about after the last upgrade...might it be better to do a fresh install?

[Plan9]

do you think it would just be better to upgrade to the new version of ubuntu. this one sucks imo. chromium, totem and evolution crash unexpectedly. all tthese problems seemed to come about after the last upgrade...might it be better to do a fresh install?

I reckon so.

In fact now might be a good time to experiment. I've heard good things about Linux Mint (http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1760) (as in it's supposed to be a more mature -for want a better term- version of Ubuntu. Though I've not used it myself, plenty on here have sung it's praises.

So perhaps give that a go for a few days and if you don't like it, you can always fall back on Ubuntu again :)

[waba]

i am tempted, but do not like to change so much. one of the biggest problems is my gf (ha!) it has taken her a long time to get used to ubuntu, she is not the type who likes fiddling around with computers - i know it takes a while to get used to a new program/os and her opinion would be 'if i dont have to, why should i?'

also my big concern would be reinstalling all the programs i have in ubunut, moving the saved passwords, bookmarks, evolution messages, etc over...i dont know of any easy way to do that. i guess i want the easy life too!

i have heard mint is good, but i also heard ubuntu is for first time switchers - the easiest to use and with the most functionality (number of programs etc) - i would probably class myself and my gf in there! i know the livecds etc give yuou a chance to try it out, but it doesnt show you everything, i guess it is finding the time (maybe this weekend) to get it all working - new version of ubuntu, or mint?? hmm. im guessin if it was ubuntu, i really should go for a fresh install...

Added after 4 minutes:

also i use the pae version of ubuntu to utilise the extra ram i have...dunno how that would work in mint :/

[Plan9]

i am tempted, but do not like to change so much. one of the biggest problems is my gf (ha!) it has taken her a long time to get used to ubuntu, she is not the type who likes fiddling around with computers - i know it takes a while to get used to a new program/os and her opinion would be 'if i dont have to, why should i?'

also my big concern would be reinstalling all the programs i have in ubunut, moving the saved passwords, bookmarks, evolution messages, etc over...i dont know of any easy way to do that. i guess i want the easy life too!

i have heard mint is good, but I also heard ubuntu is for first time switchers - the easiest to use and with the most functionality (number of programs etc) - i would probably class myself and my gf in there! i know the livecds etc give yuou a chance to try it out, but it doesnt show you everything, i guess it is finding the time (maybe this weekend) to get it all working - new version of ubuntu, or mint?? hmm. im guessin if it was ubuntu, i really should go for a fresh install...

Added after 4 minutes:

also i use the pae version of ubuntu to utilise the extra ram i have...dunno how that would work in mint :/
Ahh, I think I know your problem. I've heard about pae kernels causing problems before.
You're probably better off with a standard 64 bit kernel


Sorry, should have asked the following rather than making assumptions:
are you running 64bit Linux, a 64 bit CPU and how much RAM have you got installed?

[waba]

ahhh! been running the pae kernel since i started running linux about 2 years back. my cpu is amd athlonx2 6000+ (64), 8gb ram, ubunutu release 11.04, kernel linux 2.6.38-11-generic-pae, GNOME 2.32.1

the reason i chose pae a while ago was because a lot of people told me there wasnt much functionality on the 64 bit ubuntu...

[Lorem-Ipsum]

64 bit linux is now just as good, if not better than 32 bit. It just took a while to get going.

[Plan9]

64 bit linux is now just as good, if not better than 32 bit. It just took a while to get going.
indeed - just like most OSs unfortunately

ahhh! been running the pae kernel since i started running linux about 2 years back. my cpu is amd athlonx2 6000+ (64), 8gb ram, ubunutu release 11.04, kernel linux 2.6.38-11-generic-pae, GNOME 2.32.1

the reason i chose pae a while ago was because a lot of people told me there wasnt much functionality on the 64 bit ubuntu...

I think that might be the issue then.
I don't know if it easy to upgrade from 32bit to 64bit though - can't say I've ever wanted to try - but I think you might be better off doing a clean install.

I'd strongly recommend running a vanilla 64bit Ubuntu kernel

[waba]

whats a vanilla ubuntu kernel? is there a way i can get a list of my programs installedand easily transfer over things like saved passwords in chromium, evolution settings etc to the fresh install?

[Plan9]

whats a vanilla ubuntu kernel? is there a way i can get a list of my programs installedand easily transfer over things like saved passwords in chromium, evolution settings etc to the fresh install?

copying your home directory (making sure you grab all the hidden, ".*", files) should grab all your preferences.

When I say "vanillia ubuntu kernel" I just mean the default one that ships with the default 64bit desktop distro.

[waba]

thanks, iv downloaded the 64 bit new version of ubuntu and will install tomo, will post up how it goes. would have liked to try mint, but just dont have the time at the moment to fiddle with a new distro....or show the gf either!

[waba]

installed 11.10! so far, working fine... am following this at the moment installing things
http://blog.sudobits.com/2011/09/08/10-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-11-10/

anything to add to it? dont really understand the difference between unity and gnome 3...

they seem to have thunderbird rather than evolution this time round...should i install evolution so i can iport all my old folders, or is that possible to import into thunderbird? also, chromium made me setup a default keyring...now it seems it wants me to login to that every time i start up ubuntu. i wonder if it is because i have synced my chrome accoounts, but its a bit annoying!

Added after 8 minutes:

oh dear. and the ati display drivers cant seem to dual screen :/ havnt used them for well over a year because of that problem iirc...keeps coming up with resolution problems.

[waba]

display error is:
The selected configuration for displays could not be applied
required virtual size does not fit available size: requested=(2946, 1050), minimum=(320, 200), maximum=(1680, 1680)

[waba]

grrr, tried the ati drivers but the amd catalyst just dissapears when i click on applpy, to switch on the two screens :(

[kleonard]

I have recently updated as well and it seems to be still very buggy. I am actually now thinking of reverting back to a more stable release, though it comes with shelling out a new version, that the implementation is not on its optimum yet.

I have almost lost my notebook to one of its errors earlier again. Makes me think of putting back my old computer as some sort of guinea computer just to be extra sure before using it on one of my main computers.

[waba]

there are some nice features but unity seems unresponsive.im tempted to do the same and revert back

[Lorem-Ipsum]

Just to remind you guys, ubuntu is not the only Linux OS out there.

If you want somthing similar, that is more stable, try Debian.

Its what Ubuntu is based on and even the Debian Unstable version is more stable than ubuntu:

http://www.debian.org/

[Plan9]

Just to remind you guys, ubuntu is not the only Linux OS out there.

If you want somthing similar, that is more stable, try Debian.

Its what Ubuntu is based on and even the Debian Unstable version is more stable than ubuntu:

http://www.debian.org/

I've already recommended another distro in this thread and he's given his reasons for sticking with Ubuntu

[waba]

I've already recommended another distro in this thread and he's given his reasons for sticking with Ubuntu

one day i will change :D but it does take time to get used to new things... thanks for being patient with my ubuntu woes everyone

[Lorem-Ipsum]

I've already recommended another distro in this thread and he's given his reasons for sticking with Ubuntu

Whoops, reading fail


one day i will change :D but it does take time to get used to new things... thanks for being patient with my ubuntu woes everyone

The day I stopped using ubuntu was the day I stopped having problems with linux XD

[waba]

i always thought that being the most popular(is it?) linux OS, it would have greatest support for hardware, most compatible programs, etc...

[Lorem-Ipsum]

Its the kernel that has the drivers and that is standard across all Linux OS's. In fact the newer the kernel the better the driver support so some obscure bleeding edge distros probably have better hardware support.

The software on Linux depends on what repositories you use and IMO ubuntu has a pretty small selection.

Ubuntu is technically known as the most popular Linux distro, probably helped by them using scripts to bump up their ratings on distrowatch.

[Plan9]

as above. Ubuntu's repositories are pretty bad in my opinion. The few stuff they do have is usually well out of date (Eclipse, for example).

One of the reasons I'm such an ArchLinux fanboy is not only because the packages toe a nice line between bleeding edge and stable, but also because anything that's not in the official repositories are almost always found in AUR - which means it can be compiled from source via pre-defined package scripts (particularly good when used in conjunction with tools like yaourt which downloads all the sources automatically for you so it behaves just like any other package manager (or Gentoo portage / FreeBSD ports, for those that know)

I'm yet to find an application that hasn't been available for Arch

[waba]

so how would it compare to say mint? I heard you mentioning it is debian based...so different (better) repositories? is that the main difference? i see they use the gnome desktop so am assuming the layout is pretty much the same as ubuntu. i would definatly prefer stable to bleeding edge!

[Plan9]

so how would it compare to say mint? I heard you mentioning it is debian based...so different (better) repositories? is that the main difference? i see they use the gnome desktop so am assuming the layout is pretty much the same as ubuntu. i would definatly prefer stable to bleeding edge!

Debian is essentially the Godfather to Ubuntu and Mint. Basically Ubuntu was forked from Debian to be more user friendly and then Mint was forked from Ubuntu for the same reasons again. So they all share a common architecture.

As for which is better / has better repositories, I've not used either of them (well, aside Ubuntu to see what all the fuss was about) so I can't answer that question. Sorry.
I am planning on using trialling Mint on a new media centre I'm planning on building though. So I'll be interested to read what others think

[waba]

ahhh right so mint isnt any closer to debian than ubnutu! confusing stuff :D i might just use the standard drivers for my screen and not bother with 3d effects, its not like they are particulary useful when using ubuntu anyway. i may fiddle about with thunderbird too, see if i can get evolution stuff over to it.

[waba]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/42976/freeze-when-moving-mouse-to-bottom-right-corner-of-screen-since-ati-catalyst-11

t (http://askubuntu.com/questions/42976/freeze-when-moving-mouse-to-bottom-right-corner-of-screen-since-ati-catalyst-11)his has been happening to me!! thought it was a rubbish mouse. those catalyst drivers really do seem rubbish, am definatly going to get rid of them. no 3d unity for me....

im guessing these problems will pop up in all linux OS's as you guys said the drivers are in the kernels, work the same way against all distros :(

this will affect any games i play in ubuntu im guessing, no real support for my gfx card?

[Plan9]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/42976/freeze-when-moving-mouse-to-bottom-right-corner-of-screen-since-ati-catalyst-11

t (http://askubuntu.com/questions/42976/freeze-when-moving-mouse-to-bottom-right-corner-of-screen-since-ati-catalyst-11)his has been happening to me!! thought it was a rubbish mouse. those catalyst drivers really do seem rubbish, am definatly going to get rid of them. no 3d unity for me....

im guessing these problems will pop up in all linux OS's as you guys said the drivers are in the kernels, work the same way against all distros :(

this will affect any games i play in ubuntu im guessing, no real support for my gfx card?

I just use the open source ATI drivers and never had a problem. Unfortunately proprietary graphics drivers have been a known sore point for Linux for a long time now.

[waba]

hah yes, i rembered why i wasnt using the propreietary drivers all those years ago - it was for this very reason (and no dual screen). really suprisingly poor support from Ati.

[waba]

arg, new problem :( tried switching back to the open drivers for the gfx card, but didnt seem to work, so uninstalled the propriety stuff by using:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver
t (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver)he bit under Problem: Need to purge -fglrx
now im getting this problem:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11384667#post11384667

a (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11384667#post11384667)s can see, iv already posted there for help, but if anyone knows anything about it here, i would appreciate it! i cant open programs on the computer as it only has the top bar, so no where to choose the program (or restart!)

[waba]

found this page

http://askubuntu.com/questions/66576/unity-disappeared-after-installing-ati-driver

f (http://askubuntu.com/questions/66576/unity-disappeared-after-installing-ati-driver)ollowed the link, but still stuck...

[waba]

tried post 2, then post 4 in
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1856053

n (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1856053)ow trying 2 again, but it has got stuck on Setting Update "run_key"

:( am fed up, going to bed!

seems to be a problem here https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+question/169962

w (https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+question/169962)ill try this tomo

http://www.tuxgarage.com/2011/04/missing-top-and-side-panels-in-unity.html

[Plan9]

I know this comment wont be very helpful, but with the time you're sending trying to fix Ubuntu, you'd be better off installing Mint or Debian.

[waba]

hah, excellent, ok i will do. which one you think, mint? i want something reasonably polished and easy to use...i do like the new ubuntu software centre for example, really easy to find programs, recommended stuff etc. and surely the ati drivers would have the same problem on it?