[xubuntu-users] Another problem.

[Joshua O'Leary]

On Sat, 7 Jul 2012 22:02:40 +0100
Joshua O'Leary <joshua.oleary at btinternet.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 6 Jul 2012 13:35:25 -0500
> Jack <arkiedriver at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Long story short. Had Ubuntu 9.04 for years. Month ago my old, reliable
> > Bother laser printer crashed, bought a new Brother which could not connect
> > with my computer. Downloaded the correct Brother drivers but could not get
> > it to connect. Brought in a computer repair guy (claimed to have a masters
> > degree in computer tech) who worked for 2 hours, upgraded Ubuntu to 11.10
> > but could not get the printer connection.
> > 
> > 
> >  Told him also of another problem of about 2 years. 2 of 3 times I would
> > boot my machine I would see all the usual visual things on my monitor in
> > the boot process, but the screen would then turn black and I would not see
> > the log in screen. The little red light on the face of the computer box had
> > flashed as normal, indicating it was booting up but all I got was a black
> > screen – no usual desktop log in screen. 1 of 3 times it would boot
> > normally. He took it into his shop.
> > 
> >  Saved all my docs, took the computer to his shop, he wiped the hard drive
> > installed Xubuntu, put all the docs back. Printer works now, but the boot
> > problem still exists. Except now it takes an average of 7 boot/turn off
> > sequences to finally get a log in screen and a working computer. All I get
> > from him now is a blank look.
> > 
> >  Any ideas???
> > 
> >  Thanks.
> > 
> >  JJ
> 
> What hardware do you have? It would be helpful if you could provide more details, please give the output of
> sudo lspci -v
> assuming it is some kind of compatibility issue.
> Also, does the computer completely freeze when this happens (kernel panic) ? Can you do Ctrl+Alt+F1 to change to a TTY for instance. Do the SysRq (key on print screen) shortcuts work (hold down Alt and Sysrq, then press and release the following: R E I S U B). If the system reboots, the freeze can't be too severe.
> 
> You could also try booting with different options (entered by pressing 'e' on grub) - you could try adding 'text' after 'quiet splash', to see if text mode boots ok. Adding 'acpi=off' may also be an option to disable power management.
> 
> Do you have any proprietary graphics drivers (e.g. NVIDIA/ATI) - these may be a possible cause also.
> 
> Hope we can sort this issue out
> Joshua
> 
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This may also be useful in terms of SysRq keys:
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/12/safe-reboot-of-linux-using-magic-sysrq-key/

J