<Solved>System lock-up

[gezza]

Hi   to all,
I have just had a system-lockup.
I was trying to read a floppy disk in the usb port.
I allowed me to eject the floppy but then locked up..SOLID.
I had to resort to the power switch.
Now some files do not work anymore.
Synaptic being one. I had installed 'restore my desktop' but it does nothing. I do have the .kde4.bak system.
Do you think a reinstall is required?
I  have had similar problems in the past but never lost my desktop before, I do not know what happened there.
The task bar is not all there and trying to install a new task bar does not cure the problem.
The desktop is now just a folder on the top lhs of the screen
The 'desktop setting' now only shows--View and Mouse actions. nothing else.
you thoughts on this matter gratefully received.
Gezza

[bicol_willem]

Doesn't sound good.
But to try to get your Desktop back (and maybe more control) you could try to re-install kde4-config (maybe?)

[gezza]

Hi bicol_willem,
Well I reinstalled 2012.02 but got the same results, ie incorrect task bar and no icons.
I the rsynced my email to a second partition that was the .kde4/share.
renamed the .kde4 to .kde4.old, logged out end then back in again, still the same problem.
This time I reformatted /home and / during a complete reinstall then upgraded rebooted and had a proper  screen when logged in. Also my home partition changed from ext4 to ext2, how I do not know. the reformat set thing to right again.
It does appear that some things, not in .kde4, can really queer this up. It took a complete reformat of the system to get back to square one.
The emails look just fine but only time will tell.
I will have to set up a backup system to make sure that this cannot happen again.
Thans for your reply.
Gezza

[kjpetrie]

Sounds as if it's too late to recover from this as you've re-installed and reformatted.

However, for next time:

1. If the system locks up, use the SysRq (Alt+PrtScr) R-E-I-S-U-B to reboot if possible. This will save your filesystem from damage. Use Google to find out what that does.

2. If the filesystem is damaged, or you really couldn't avoid a hard reset, always boot into another system  (a livecd or liveusb is the usual suggestion but any other modern linux install should also work) and run fsck -f as root on the unmounted partitions of the affected system. This is an essential clean up step before booting the affected system again. (Never run fsck on a mounted partition - you will get a drastic warning if you try, but it will let you ignore that if you insist. Never continue if you see that. Stop and unmount [with umount /dev/sd<x><n>]. Then try again.)

[CJ]

From your description, it sounds to me like your kde went from Folder View to Plasma.
I had the same happening to one of my machines after the latest kde upgrades. I had a backup of the .kde folder, so that solved my issue.

Something tells me it should be easy to go from Folder view again, but I must admit I don't know off hand how. I am sure someone here does, though.

Cheers!
CJ