2013.02 LiveUsb kde and install issues.

[Pussycat]

For reasons that will be the subject of another thread, I decided to upgrade PCLos to 2013.02 32bit on one of my machines.

Downloaded, md5 checked and Unebootin-ed it.

Problem(s) 1:
Boots fine and desktop appears but so does the warning (a vision of a cute ladybird crashing!~)

KDE Daemon - Crash handler

Executable kdeunit4 PID 5513 Signal: Aborted(6)

Later - and this may be related to above - tried to initialise desktop effects with the result

18 Desktop effects could not be loaded

with the comforting additional info

For technical reasons it is not possible to determine all possible cases.

Problem 2:

Decided to install anyway in the hope that these errors would disappear (or could be corrected).  All went well until the very end when (I think a grub error)

Unable to copy files to new root

Checked target partition (sda17 if that's crucial) and it's apparently empty!

[Just17]

Do a search from the main search page (not just the box at the top of the forum page) and use the phrase

Unable to copy files to new root

and 'Match All Words'

and check the hits returned.

There might be an answer there ....  there are some solutions.

This is one such

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,83974.msg696310.html#msg696310

[agmg]

What graphics card do you have?
You first need to configure that card through PCC -> Hardware -> Configure Video Card
(You can find many related threads with search).
Then enable desktop effects and logout/login to make them work

[Old-Polack]

What graphics card do you have?
You first need to configure that card through PCC -> Hardware -> Configure Video Card
(You can find many related threads with search).
Then enable desktop effects and logout/login to make them work

Read the first post again. The OS isn't installing.

[agmg]

Yes, I've read it. This is my answer to problem 1.
If he gets to install the OS using Just17's advice, he might encounter the effects problem again.
So he should know he has to properly configure his graphics card.

Fine Tune your PCLinuxOS Installation

[Pussycat]

Thank you for you input everyone!

One of the joys of PCLos has always been the ease and reliability of installation across all of my machines.  Graphics and effects has never been an issue.

The machine that I'm experimenting with (Toshiba) already has 2009 on it ('cos I prefer kde3!) and 2012.  But, as has been mentioned in response to another post, PCLos is "rolling release", there is little long-term support (repo) so unless I get a version fully up to my needs - in terms of apps -  and remastered (yet to be tried) I must move on!  This would also be a response to another issue (yet another thread) that I'd like to try to progress further with.

So it comes as a surprise to have the effects problem and error messages on the Toshiba and a netbook - though in both cases the resolution is fine and it seems behave properly in other respects - install notwithstanding.  But the crash of Kde Daemon sounds quite serious?

Since the md5 check was fine perhaps I'll try re-doing the usb and/or burning to cd which can also be verified.

As further comment on the install issue, perhaps I should re-emphasise that the target partition is sda17.  Is that a problem as I know some distros can't see beyond sda15?


Edit: Just 17 - the solution in your link is a bit drastic and I've no intention of removing 5 other linux distros for the purpose!

[Just17]

Thank you for you input everyone!

One of the joys of PCLos has always been the ease and reliability of installation across all of my machines.  Graphics and effects has never been an issue.

The machine that I'm experimenting with (Toshiba) already has 2009 on it ('cos I prefer kde3!) and 2012.  But, as has been mentioned in response to another post, PCLos is "rolling release", there is little long-term support (repo) so unless I get a version fully up to my needs - in terms of apps -  and remastered (yet to be tried) I must move on!  This would also be a response to another issue (yet another thread) that I'd like to try to progress further with.

So it comes as a surprise to have the effects problem and error messages on the Toshiba and a netbook - though in both cases the resolution is fine and it seems behave properly in other respects - install notwithstanding.  But the crash of Kde Daemon sounds quite serious?

Since the md5 check was fine perhaps I'll try re-doing the usb and/or burning to cd which can also be verified.

As further comment on the install issue, perhaps I should re-emphasise that the target partition is sda17.  Is that a problem as I know some distros can't see beyond sda15?


Edit: Just 17 - the solution in your link is a bit drastic and I've no intention of removing 5 other linux distros for the purpose!

My advice was to see what other causes and solutions were suggested by doing the search. I gave one example.

But the crash of Kde Daemon sounds quite serious?

Again a search of the forum would point out that when running live this happens, with a clean recovery, and does not happen after install.

18 Desktop effects could not be loaded

This implies that the graphics driver needs to be attended to ....  use one of the proprietary drivers provided to get desktop effects.

Once again there are plenty posts about this on the forum.

Your only real problem from the first post is the problem during installation.

[Pussycat]

First of all, have burned to cd and verified.  Problems unchanged.

I have searched on both issues and could find no definitive/non-drastic answers.

As previously intimated, I've installed various incarnations of PCLos over the years across 5 machines and graphics has never been an issue (perhaps occasionally using proprietary drivers).  But, to my knowledge, there are no proprietary drivers for Intel?  Anyway, other issues

Warning

This program has exited abnormally

when launching "Configure Video Card" from "Configure Printer..." from CC is not very encouraging (again never previously been an issue)!

Also from search, it would seem that partitions above sda15 (an old scsii limitation) are not, per ce, a problem.  Anyway, I'm reluctant to trash a stable distro in a lower partition, just to find out if the kde and other warnings disappear. 

I wonder if the 64bit edition, albeit at RC stage would be more promising...

[Old-Polack]

Maybe if you told us exactly which model Toshiba you were trying to install on, we might be able to offer better help.

Saying that video has never been a problem before, means nothing, if the card involved is no longer supported by the manufacturer's drivers. We have no way of knowing that if we don't know what the specifics are.

As far as the 64 bit RC1 is concerned, it again depends on the hardware involved. Odds are that much the same problems will occur.

[Pussycat]

OK - heres the situation having now tested on all machines

Machine               Graphics

1> Toshiba Satellite L350 - Intel Mobile 4 GMA 4500M

2> Packard Bell Netbook -     ATI Radeon x1200

3> PC1 -             ATI Radeon 9250

4> PC2 -             ATI Radeon 9550

5> PC3 -             SIS 761

Symptoms (so far)

"KDE Daemon crash"  - <1> and <2>

"This program has exited abnormally" (from hardware section of PCC) - all but <4>  which makes graphics tweaking impossible!

"Graphics effects could not be installed" - all

In all cases the screen resolution is fine.

I would find it extraordinary if the graphics of any are no longer supported let alone all of them!  A strength of linux has always been its ability to support older hardware yet I don't think any of the above are "old" enough to drop off the back.  Indeed, conversely, a weakness can be lack of support for newer hardware because it has its hands tied due to lack of out-of-thebox drivers.

[Edit: Sorry - layout goes wrong after posting!]

[Old-Polack]

OK - heres the situation having now tested on all machines

Machine               Graphics

1> Toshiba Satellite L350 - Intel Mobile 4 GMA 4500M

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng

2> Packard Bell Netbook -     ATI Radeon x1200

3> PC1 -             ATI Radeon 9250

4> PC2 -             ATI Radeon 9550

From the AMD/ATI site, concerning all of the above cards.

"The Linux ATI Catalyst™ driver will only be supported in Linux distributions prior to February 2009 for the legacy products listed above."

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Legacy/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx

5> PC3 -             SIS 761

See this site for the long list about what's wrong with SIS chips and Linux.

http://www.winischhofer.net/linuxsispart1.shtml#13

Symptoms (so far)

"KDE Daemon crash"  - <1> and <2>

"This program has exited abnormally" (from hardware section of PCC) - all but <4>  which makes graphics tweaking impossible!

"Graphics effects could not be installed" - all

In all cases the screen resolution is fine.

I would find it extraordinary if the graphics of any are no longer supported let alone all of them!  A strength of linux has always been its ability to support older hardware yet I don't think any of the above are "old" enough to drop off the back.  Indeed, conversely, a weakness can be lack of support for newer hardware because it has its hands tied due to lack of out-of-thebox drivers.

[Edit: Sorry - layout goes wrong after posting!]

There being no kind way to put this, all of these graphic cards are basically junk. They are, for the most part, bottom of the line cards/GPUs to start with, are old, and have been abandoned, or never been properly supported, by their makers, so whatever current support their is, is with open source drivers. Open source drivers may get you a usable screen, but not much more. As you've already discovered, effects are not going to be available.

[sling-shot]

It is possible that inspite of the message suggesting lack of effects, there may still be some. I get a similar message but I have some basic effects functional.

Another option could be to use the single user mode and run XFdrake in that mode.

Also many of the PCC modules can be started from commandline as root and give more information there.

[Pussycat]

From post #7

Warning

This program has exited abnormally

when launching "Configure Video Card" and "Configure Printer..." from CC is not very encouraging (again never previously been an issue)!

I don't believe that this has anything to do with the graphics - but makes trying to resolve issues via CC somewhat difficult!

My lowly "junk" graphic cards have always served my purposes (I'm not a gamer) and am certainly not going to the expense of upgrading them (impossible on the laptop and netbook) just accommodate PCLos!

Nor am I going to remove partitions - which seems to be the favoured solution from searching -  in an attempt to solve the PCLos grub problem.

Whilst appreciating your attempts to assist, feel that PCLos (all 1.4Gb of it) has abandoned me, so I shall abandon it in disillusionment.  The current PCLos partitions can be used - perhaps a little further testing to destruction but don't care any more - then investigate alternatives.

Sorry but this may be goodbye