Locked up in boot process.

[Steven Vollom]

Trim
>
> 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.

I have tried the f8 repetitive pressing many many times.  I just can't seem to 
stop it.  I don't want to try the down arrow quite yet, because everytime I 
boot, I loose the emails since opening with the live CD.  But when I am able, 
I will try the down arrow repetitive pressing too.  I hope it will work, but I 
don't think it will, because when I open the /boot directory to find a Grub 
directory, grub does not exist.  If grub doesn't exist, can stopping the Boot 
provide any useful information?
>
> > 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.

That wasn't the exact wording, just from memory.
>
> I really don't know what this means. Looks like a bios thingy.

I did remember that i was advised to mention this to the Linux developers and 
to complain to the BIOS authors as well.  I can't find the note I made on that 
right now, but I copied it all by hand.  I also posted it to one of the 
helpers.
>
> > 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?

I can get into kate easily, alt f2, command line, or a shell from when I am in 
the live CD, but since the grub directory and the menu.lst file do not exist, 
it opens to a blank page in kate when I type in kdesudo kate 
/boot/grub/menu.lst.  same if I just go to the /grub.  There is nothing but an 
empty page.
>
> > <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.

Like I said Kate opens but the page is blank.
>
> That's what we are saying all along. You can't use kate at a command
> prompt.
I did, and it opened in a gui, but the page was blank.
>
> > 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.

Quite the contrary, it was never a factor in this problem.  pci=nomsi had been 
included in the kernel over a month ago.  The computer worked great.  This 
happened precisely at the time the Xine problem happened.  It was working just 
before the xine problem,  Next time I tried to boot, grub (and its contents)2 
was missing.
> 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.

I tried to, but when I opened kate, it did not show hidden files, so I opened a 
konsole and typed in sudo kate /etc/fstab.  It flashed an error, but came with 
the following:

aufs / aufs rw 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
/dev/sdb1 swap swap defaults 0 

I don't understand this stuff, so I hope it is useful, but I think maybe I am 
not getting into kate like I thought, at least not in sudo.
>
> > 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.

You have me laughing.  I really want to do that.  But I need this computer 
working first.  I have an old box with 2300mhz P4 that I want to put karmic in.

I just don't think anyone believes I haven't been playing around and gotten in 
trouble.  That is not true in this case.  No problems for a month.  First 
problem created when failing the installation of xine,   Using KpackageKit.  
How could I have screwed that up?
>
> > 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.

I may have to reread what I have said, but I could not be more grateful to him 
and all of you.  You are all like my brothers and sisters.  You are patient 
and kind and thoughtful and faithful and well just plain perfect.  If I am 
showing a little frustration, it is because I have started to learn and become 
very comfortable with many tasks.  I know the vast amount I have to learn, but 
I believe I am getting the semantics a little better and am explaining my 
situation accurately.  I guess, I think you all take what I say with a grain 
of salt, and I am starting to become a little chunk of salt.  My descriptions 
are getting quite accurate and I am always telling you the truth.  Shoot, Hein 
has called me long distance a couple of times and helped me work through 
problems where we could actually talk without waiting for an email response.  
We talked for hours.  I love the guy and his entire family.

Perhaps you could answer this question?  When installing Xine, it stopped the 
installation mid process.  It gave me the message that I did not have proper 
permissions to continue.  That is where my options were taken from me.  I 
could only close the program out.  And, immediately I lost Konqueror, Dolphin 
and any konsole or shell.  There was nothing left to consider other than 
restarting the computer.  And that is precisely when all these problems 
occurred.

Regards to your fantastic family, my friend.

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