Locked up in boot process.

[Goh Lip]

Steven Vollom wrote:
> Trim

> His instruction says to boot to where the list of kernels shows up.  He is 
> running Ubuntu 8.04, I am running jaunty kde4.2.2.  I never have seen that 
> screen since Jaunty installation.  I haven't been able to enter the boot menu, 
> it goes by too fast to enter.  Before this problem, I was able to edit the 
> menu.lst in grub using kate, but it no longer shows in the boot folder.
> 

We don't know who and what instructions,(so we don't know what you are 
talking about) but we can assume he is well intentioned and good. But if 
I were to give a wrong instruction (and it will happen) on the list 
here, others would have said so and it is good not only for you but for 
me as well. But never mind, as soon as you turn on the computer, as it 
is fast, keep pressing 'esc' (F8, you say?) continually to make sure you 
can arrest the grub menu. Come to think of it, press the 'down arrow' 
continually. Just make sure you stop at the grub menu.

> The screen the computer stops at says that the language is not readable by the 
> computer when APCI _PSS is entered.  I can't find that either.
> 

I really don't know what this means. Looks like a bios thingy.

> The Grub folder is no longer in the Boot folder.

I am not sure if we can ascertain that from this alone, but Gene's 
message makes good sense.

> When I run a find, it says to look in /home/ubuntu.  It is not there.
> I opened Kate and opened boot, but grub was not in the folder.

'find' is a more powerful search than 'locate', but grub is not in 
/home/, it is in /root/. And I asked how could you use kate when you 
cannot get into gui mode? I am still puzzled. Please explain so we can 
understand. If you can get into kate, it should mean you are in a 
graphics mode already. So what's the problem? Are you booting using an 
older kernel as Jonas suggested? So grub is not empty?

> <snip>, 
> it is the grub folder.  It doesn't seem to exist anymore.  How can I generate 
> a Grub and enter it into the Boot Directory?



> 
> I am confident that if you type in /root/boot/grub/menu.lst, kate opens showing 
> the file.  It doesn't in my computer anymore.  It is apparently the problem.  

That's what we are saying all along. You can't use kate at a command prompt.

> And I assure you that I did not remove or edit out the Grub or menu.lst from 
> the computer.  They were missing after a routine GUI installation of Xine that 
> failed for whatever reason.

I don't think installing Xine  or the failure to install Xine is the 
cause of the problem. (Why you need to install this is another matter.)

> I am perhaps being redundant, but I want you to understand that I most 
> probably am not misunderstanding and failing to attempt the instructions in 
> error.  If pci=nomsi is the problem, it is the problem because the folder it 
> is supposed to be in is missing.  I do not have a clue how that happened.

Neither do we actually, Steven.  We can surmise that ....
o When you tried to add pci=nomsi in your menu.lst, you accidentally 
   delete it.
o When you tried a linux command...
o or ten other reasons
But it is okay, no need to tear our hair out if cannot identify the cause.

> I have reread this and I can't see anything that required checking my notes.  
> How can the Grub folder be removed by an application like Xine?  How is grub 
> made in the first place?  How can I make it again?  How can I create the data 
> that would be in the menu.lst file so that I can put it in a grub folder once 
> recreated?

Can you really go into kate and say print out /etc/fstab? (careful..) If 
you can, there is hope. Let us know, please.

> If I can't fix this problem without reinstalling, I don't want to use Jaunty 
> anymore.  Since I can't get my computer to run it previous versions, I will 
> have to install Karamic.  It can't be any worse than this.

Steven, we know you long enough....relax.
> 
> I have loved the jaunty version, but it breaks without reason anymore.  

There sure is a reason, we just don't know what that is.

> This stuff must have been fixed in Karmic.  I am not sure that the updates are not 
> causing the new problems too.  I really think I understand the cause, and it 
> is not my misuse of the computer.  I seem to hear you use Karmic.  Is it far 
> enough along for me to use?  Thanks for the help my friend.

I have said before, I am reluctant to tell you what you should use. I 
could say stick with Jaunty, don't touch kde 4.3 now any you 'could' be 
thinking 'Why are you using Karmic yourself?'. If I say 'Go, get 
Karmic!', I am 98.89% sure you will run into problems, and you 'could' 
think I am misleading you. Heck, I get into problems all the time in 
Karmic, why do you think I am keeping Hardy? It helps in debugging my 
Karmic! Why do I get Karmic then? I got into problems when converted to 
kde 4.3 beta in Jaunty. Thought of reinstalling when I thought I try 
Karmic first before reinstalling Jaunty. Since I have Hardy, thought I 
just 'played' with Karmic. (And yes, I am having fun). Do you really 
want to do that? Then, go ahead.

> I have about 30 emails from my friend Hein in South Africa about entering the 
> boot and adding pci=nomsi.  No matter how close we have become, I don't think 
> he believes me about the boot menu either.  I see the word boot, but the 
> screen lasts no longer than a nanosecond before continuing with the boot.  You 
> just can not time the pressing of f8 to enter it.

Steven, I think you should just be happy you have a friend from South 
Africa who wants to help you, just like you should be happy that there's 
so many of us here who wants to help you.
Whether we can or not is immaterial. At least we all tried.

Take care, be happy. (I need to take my beauty sleep now. Catch up with 
you later.)

Regards,
Goh Lip