Looooong Horror story, 10.04.4 LTS on an amd turion 64 bit laptop version

Tue Feb 19 02:45:42 UTC 2013

On Monday 18 February 2013 14:48:21 JD did opine:

> On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> > On Monday 18 February 2013 13:19:17 JD did opine:
> > > On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:38 AM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> 
wrote:
> > > > Greetings all;
> > > > 
> > > > Yesterday, I pulled my laptop out of the case for the first time
> > > > in several months. So it was not 'uptodate'.
> > > > 
> > > > As usual, I had a hell of a time making networking work and
> > > > finally in my putzing around I made wlan1 work, which is a usb
> > > > interfaced 802/11 linksys thingy.  With a cat5 plugged directly
> > > > into a hub in the shop (my whole place is wired, plus 2 wireless
> > > > AP's), I could not get an eth0 connection even when doing
> > > > 'static'.  I think it was looking for IPv6 and rejecting IPv4,
> > > > which all of my local 192.168.xx.xx net is. No IPv6 has made it
> > > > to my neighborhood anyway.  FWIW I have had to disable ipv6 stuff
> > > > in 2 of the other 4 machines here in order to make ipv4 usable,
> > > > using the recipe at
> > > > 
> > > > <http://www.webupd8.org/2010/05/how-to-disable-ipv6-in-ubuntu-1004
> > > > .htm l>
> > > > 
> > > > I used a procedure which installed a custom combo of kernel 3.5.7
> > > > + xenomai, which appeared to install without any gotchas.  But
> > > > when I was done, I noted the update-manager had checked & wanted
> > > > to update some stuff, so before rebooting, I let it, 209 packages
> > > > total.
> > > > 
> > > > One of the packages I saw go by was grub.  Since I have 4 other
> > > > machines here running this same install cd, and they aren't having
> > > > any grub problems I didn't think anything of it.
> > > > 
> > > > The update-manager finished, I had it recheck, nothing left to do
> > > > so I rebooted.
> > > > 
> > > > No grub menu, and it tried to boot straight into the new
> > > > 3.5.7+xenomai kernel, doing a kernel panic .6 seconds later when
> > > > it wasn't able to mount sda1 as boot.  NDI why.  Wash with power
> > > > button, rinse and repeat for probably 50 stop-starts on the hard
> > > > drive while looking for the magic keyboard combo to bring up the
> > > > grub menu.  Go on IRC asking, get told quite a few as it seems
> > > > few actually knew, and about an hour later finally hit on left
> > > > shift+ctl, dancing on that at powerup finally gets me the grub
> > > > menu.
> > > > 
> > > > Boot to old kernel, a custom built 2.6.32+RTAI kernel as this
> > > > install cd is a custom spin from the linuxcnc.org site that we
> > > > have been running CNC machining tools with since 10.04 LTS came
> > > > out.  IOW, well tested, rock solid.
> > > > 
> > > > No networking at all, usb detection of my plugging in the radio
> > > > dongle is not recorded in dmesg, not a peep.  This lappy has a
> > > > built in radio, but its a bcm4318, and not even the windows
> > > > drivers have ever been able to make it work reliably.  It is
> > > > disabled in the bios but that didn't stop dmesg from mewling
> > > > about it.
> > > > 
> > > > Its well known that the version of network-manager in 10.04 LTS is
> > > > broken, no support for wpa_supplicant, and despite my requests
> > > > over the last 3 years, no update to that has been done, so it
> > > > usually gets disabled and host file based 'static' is configured
> > > > in
> > > > /etc/network/interfaces.  Even that isn't working now.
> > > > 
> > > > So, I will probably wind up re-installing from that same cd when I
> > > > can find a copy.  Several laying around in the midden heap a
> > > > working machine shop can become but I've not excavated that deep
> > > > yet.
> > > > 
> > > > But what was done to grub that makes it bypass the menu, and what
> > > > was done to the networking or to udev to totally disable it?
> > > > 
> > > > Also, rebooting to test a network config change is a PIMA, so what
> > > > is the ubuntu equivalent of "sudo service network restart"?
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks for any advice here. I'd like to fix it rather than
> > > > re-install. Heck, I might even learn something!
> > > > 
> > > > Cheers, Gene
> > > > --
> > > > 
> > > > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
> > > >  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> > > > 
> > > > -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> > > > My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
> > > > My views
> > > > <http://www.armchairpatriot.com/What%20Has%20America%20Become.shtm
> > > > l> core error - bus dumped
> > > > I was taught to respect my elders, but its getting
> > > > harder and harder to find any...
> > > > 
> > > > --
> > > > ubuntu-users mailing list
> > > > ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> > > > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> > > 
> > > Hi Gene,
> > > Does this special linux spin have all the drivers? i.e. driver
> > > for your eth0 or wlan0 ? If it does then  yout should be able
> > > to run ifconfig eth0
> > > and it should at least output info about it.
> > 
> > Sure, but eth0 has no IP address, only its mac address when I attempt
> > to set it up static style.
> > 
> > > If no info, then no driver!!
> > > If there is info, then attack the NM.
> > > Can you see the NM icon on the graphical desktop?
> > > If yes, right click the icon and select Edit
> > > and take it from there.

The WICD icon was there, but now seems to have gone missing.

> > NM is helpless as I stated above, no support for modern WPA/PSK
> > encryption or long pass phrases in the version supplied with 10.04.4
> > LTS.
> > 
> > For that, NM needs to be 1.61 or newer, and its 1.58 IIRC.  I even
> > tried to build the later versions, did build wpa_supplicant ok, but
> > some header was missing that the current NM needs to build, and which
> > was not locatable in a 10.04 compatible version on the internet. 
> > However, when wlan1 connects, that driver does support the newer
> > security models internally and the connection is bullet proof.  But
> > after installing the newer kernel, then doing the update-manager
> > thing to bring its 10.04.4 LTS install up to date, then neither
> > interface is noticed enough to be mentioned in dmesg, when booted to
> > the old kernel.  Previously I often had to boot, unplug the dongle
> > and replug it, at which point it was reported in dmesg, about 15
> > lines worth IIRC, and the secure negotiation with the AP was then
> > successful and I had a dhcp negotiated connection about 20 seconds
> > later..
> > 
> > Or I could plug in a cable and that worked also.  Now, booted to that
> > same older kernel, either networking is fubar, or udev.  So my
> > tendency is to point at something the update-manager helpfully
> > updated.
> > 
> > I don't even have it (NM) installed on the other 3 machines because
> > they are desk or tower machines and are all setup with static
> > connections that Just Work(TM).
> > 
> > So I am going to take printouts of the interfaces and syscnf files
> > from this machine out to it and see if I can at least get eth0 to
> > work.  If that fails, then I'll do a reinstall and start all over,
> > but not before I hear
> > back from you folks in case someone else has hit this.  I'll make the 
> > dongle work, and then see if the update-manager destroys it again.
> > 
> > Thanks.
> > Cheers, Gene
> 
> Hi Gene,
> Since you have decided to copy the sysconf files from the other working
> machine to the non-working one, how about simply connecting the drive
> of the non-working machine to one of the working machines,
> mount the drive as a secondary drive on the working machine,
> and back up the non-working drive first,
> then unmount  it, and mkfs it, remount it, and the cd to root of working
> drive and run
> tar cf - . | (tar -C /{non-working-drive's-mount-point} -xpf -

Nice idea, if it was at all handy to take that drive out.  But its EIDE, 
where all the other stuff here is sata, and taking the lappy apart to get 
it is also a chore.  The dvd drive failed in warranty, and the tech used a 
a dull 20 penny nail as a phillips driver to change it, so the screws are 
AFU now. A circuit city tech, what can I say.

> When that is finished, cd back into the non-working drive
> and at lease change things like the host name and any static
> ip addresses in the sysconf../network..../ifcfg....   etc.
> Be sure to also change the wpa_supplcant.conf file, if any.
> 
> Hope this helps.

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that, but its likely the only machine here with 
wpa_supplicant even installed.  But I see I do have that here, so I just 
added that to the stack on the lasers output tray.

Thanks

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
My views 
<http://www.armchairpatriot.com/What%20Has%20America%20Become.shtml>
"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a 
simple
system that worked."
		-- John Gall, _Systemantics_
I was taught to respect my elders, but its getting 
harder and harder to find any...