cant boot pclos [resolved]

[phantom16]

so i just installed PSLOS on my new laptop a few days ago, have gone through a few kinks, but by the large everything seemed to be working correctly. however i turned off my computer last night, and then today when i turned it on, i just cant get pclos to boot. when i get to the grub loader, i click pclos, and it goes about halfway through the loading bar over the course of 2-3 minutes, and then just crashes to a black screen with text, pretty much like a terminal display stating:

PCLinuxOS release 2011 (PCLinuxOS) for i586
Kernel 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs on an 8-processor i686 / tty1
localhost login:

so i log in, and then i am at a terminal window. i tried running firefox, but it gives the message:

Error: no display specified

So i tried running R (a program that works in terminal) and that worked.
but after that i cant figure much else out because im not too fmailiar with linux commands, so i type "shutdown now" as root, and it starts flying through some code, and then gets so a page that says:

Telling INIT to go to single user mode.
INIT: Going single user
sh-4.1#

and then it seems to accept terminal commands, so i try typing "shutdown now" again, and it goes through some code and brings me right back to the INIT error message over and over so i hive to hit the power button to turn off my computer.

so after doing that a few times i tried safe mode, that goes through some code, says something briefly all on its own saying:

cannot open file delete

and then sits at a page for it seems 5-10 minutes saying:

Kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe....

(the ... signify it goes on, but by the time i decided to actually start writing it down on paper it went away, ill go back and get it all if necessary)
and then after it sits there it will either restart the system, or go to the same INIT error message i mentioned above.

I have tried restarting several times, and everytime it seems to be the same, so now i have just logged into my windows partition so i can type this to you guys.

But like i said, this is a new install, i had to mess with graphics setting a little, and i did reload, and mark all upgrades and apply in the package manager, so i should be totally up to date. The only most recent thing i can think of that MIGHT have caused a problem is when i installed R (r-base in repositories). i cant recall if i ever restarted since i installed that or not, so that COULD be the only thing that comes to my mind that could be a problem. but not sure, so if anyone has any ideas, i would appreciate it

[Rudge]

so i just installed PSLOS on my new laptop a few days ago, have gone through a few kinks, but by the large everything seemed to be working correctly. however i turned off my computer last night, and then today when i turned it on, i just cant get pclos to boot. when i get to the grub loader, i click pclos, and it goes about halfway through the loading bar over the course of 2-3 minutes, and then just crashes to a black screen with text, pretty much like a terminal display stating:

PCLinuxOS release 2011 (PCLinuxOS) for i586
Kernel 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs on an 8-processor i686 / tty1
localhost login:

so i log in, and then i am at a terminal window. i tried running firefox, but it gives the message:

Error: no display specified

So i tried running R (a program that works in terminal) and that worked.
but after that i cant figure much else out because im not too fmailiar with linux commands, so i type "shutdown now" as root, and it starts flying through some code, and then gets so a page that says:

Telling INIT to go to single user mode.
INIT: Going single user
sh-4.1#

and then it seems to accept terminal commands, so i try typing "shutdown now" again, and it goes through some code and brings me right back to the INIT error message over and over so i hive to hit the power button to turn off my computer.

so after doing that a few times i tried safe mode, that goes through some code, says something briefly all on its own saying:

cannot open file delete

and then sits at a page for it seems 5-10 minutes saying:

Kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe....

(the ... signify it goes on, but by the time i decided to actually start writing it down on paper it went away, ill go back and get it all if necessary)
and then after it sits there it will either restart the system, or go to the same INIT error message i mentioned above.

I have tried restarting several times, and everytime it seems to be the same, so now i have just logged into my windows partition so i can type this to you guys.

But like i said, this is a new install, i had to mess with graphics setting a little, and i did reload, and mark all upgrades and apply in the package manager, so i should be totally up to date. The only most recent thing i can think of that MIGHT have caused a problem is when i installed R (r-base in repositories). i cant recall if i ever restarted since i installed that or not, so that COULD be the only thing that comes to my mind that could be a problem. but not sure, so if anyone has any ideas, i would appreciate it

First things first. We must assume that you used a current .ISO for the instal and did a full update.. Immediately after the instal?

Neither of these most important bits of information was provided.  

[AS]

Hi phantom16,

I do believe that your issue is strictly related to the Optimus feature of your laptop.
Your system actually provide two GPU, (Nvidia + Intel) each one can be connected to the video output, depending on a software switch.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,96021.msg810839.html#msg810839

I think that PCLinuxOS actually lack of support for this feature (the software switch of the GPU), of course I can be wrong here, but you need to clarify this firstly.

AS

[kjpetrie]

Can't speak for Nvidia + Intel, but pclos certainly lacks support for ATI + Intel, as I found with my own laptop. I had to compile my own kernel from kernel.org sources, as pclos sourced kernels just wouldn't work on the hardware even if I turned on the necessary compile options. It happens to work for now on my hardware, but that's different from yours and there's no guarantee it will continue to work on mine, as I have a non-standard kernel (from pclos viewpoint - more standard from Linux viewpoint!) We might need to request a kernel with the KMS enabled for all graphics combinations, as dual graphics card with software power switching are becoming the norm for laptops, and pclos rarely needs the high-power graphics option, but you need KMS to turn it off.

As it did work, however, I wouldn't give up. The first thing is to boot from a livecd and use fsck -fy on all your unmounted Linux partitions to clean up after the unclean shutdowns. Accept the default answer for any questions you get, unless you see a warning about a partition being mounted in which case you will have to unmount the partition before trying again.

Then boot from the HD and log in to the text terminal and type "startx" to see what error messages you get. These might give someone a clue as to why the graphics won't start.

The command to shutdown is "shutdown -h now". You can also use telinit 0 or just init 0 as well. Init 1 is single user, as you have already discovered.

It might help to search the forum for skinny elephants to learn how to do a clean shutdown/reboot even when the machine seems unresponsive.

[phantom16]

@rudge, yea i should have been more specific, but yes, its the absolute newest version afaik, i just downloaded it like 4 days ago. 2011.6 i beleive

@as, i owuldnt be surprised if the 2 graphics cards had anything to do with it, they have been giving me problem, but i have sucessfully restarted multiple times, why would it do it now? and how would i go about confirming that it is in fact the problem?

@kjpetrie how do i use that command on my unmounted partitions? i cant seem to figure out how to change my directory to the partitions, and i dont even think you could if they are unmounted, and if i type that code in it doesnt ask me what partition i want to do aor anything, it just gives back:

fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18

but i do think you might be onto something, because when it was loading the booting screen i hit ESC, and i did see something about it taking sda7 forever to load, and it mentioned something about it not being shutdown correctly, which is weird because last time i shut down i clicked shut down button like i always do and it shut down fine, but first i need to learn how to correctly use that code you gave to me.

[kjpetrie]

From the livecd, open a terminal, type su to become root (you will be prompted for root's password) then type "fsck -fy /dev/sda7". Repeat for each of your pclos partitions. If you don't know which they are, use "fdisk -l" (that's a lower-case 'L') to view the partition table.

[phantom16]

ok thanks, i new i had to do something related to the path, just didnt know what path. so im still in the middle of doing it, but im just going to post the output i did get incase we need to look back on it.

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x70004695

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    31459327    15728640   27  Unknown
/dev/sda2   *    31459328    31664127      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3        31664128   533165219   250750546    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4       533165220  1250258624   358546702+   5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       533165283   558355139    12594928+  83  Linux
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda6       558355203   566532224     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 6 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda7       566532288  1250258624   341863168+  83  Linux
[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda5

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda6
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda6
[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda7
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Unattached zero-length inode 10035230.  Clear? yes

Unattached zero-length inode 10035231.  Clear? yes

Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Block bitmap differences:  -3252785 +3252881 -40161280 -40161282
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #1225 (29559, counted=29561).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong (83135470, counted=83135472).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong for group #1225 (8159, counted=8157).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong (21244989, counted=21244987).
Fix? yes


/dev/sda7: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda7: 127941/21372928 files (0.7% non-contiguous), 2330320/85465792 blocks

now going to restart and type in startx and see what happens, and i have the raising skinny elephants written down, thanks :-) because i hate hitting the power button, that was i can at least some what safely shut it down when it get locked up again

ok so i did that (types in startx as the command), it put out a lot of code that too me didn't look too important, but i wrote down the what looked to me important stuff, and here it is:

/home/bridger/.serverauth.3737 does not exist

current version of pixman: 0.22.0

parse error on line 140 of section monitor

file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Mode Line VTotal expected

(EE) problem parsing the config file
(EE) Error parsing the config file

Fatal server errors:
no screens found

check log file at: /var/log/xorg.0.log

Xinit: giving up
Xinit:unable to connect to Xserver: Connection refused
Xinit: Server error

so yea that was the main things that looked to me like they might lead to solving this mystery, and the log file at the specified location says:

[    45.077]
X.Org X Server 1.10.3
Release Date: 2011-07-08
[    45.101] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[    45.101] Build Operating System: Linux_2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs PCLinuxOS
[    45.101] Current Operating System: Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jun 4 04:13:21 CDT 2011 i686
[    45.101] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=20777f8b-63cc-4b32-a2d4-562d05560af5 quiet vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=UUID=4e14fd19-04a6-4819-8877-b03eab7e1ad6 splash=silent vga=788
[    45.101] Build Date: 09 July 2011  05:58:14AM
[    45.101] 
[    45.101] Current version of pixman: 0.22.0
[    45.101]    Before reporting problems, check http://pclinuxos.com
   to make sure that you have the latest version.
[    45.101] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
   (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
   (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    45.101] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Thu Aug 25 14:38:38 2011
[    45.213] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[    45.213] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[    45.215] Parse error on line 140 of section Monitor in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
   ModeLine VTotal expected
[    45.215] (EE) Problem parsing the config file
[    45.215] (EE) Error parsing the config file
[    45.215]
Fatal server error:
[    45.215] no screens found
[    45.215]
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
    at http://pclinuxos.com
 for help.
[    45.215] Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[    45.215]

or basically the exact same thing i saw at the screen, and just typed in the box above the last one. lol what a waste of time writing that and typing that down when it was all right in the log file. but anyways, so what do we understand from that? because it sure means nothing to me specifically, other than the obvious its not finding my screens, and something definitely seems to be wrong with some config file

so a little googling got me to this page: http://forum.sabayon.org/viewtopic.php?t=24617 but that option wasnt there. but my output says theres an issue with line 140, which is the very last line in the file, so ill post that and the previous few for kicks:

x360_100" 23.84 480 504 552 624 360 361 364 382 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine "480x360_85" 19.59 480 496 544 608 360 361 364 379 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine "480x360_75" 16.74 480 488 536 592 360 361 364 377 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine "480x360_60" 12.89 480 480 528 576 360 361 364 373 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine "480x360_50" 10.39 480 472 520 560 360 361 3

it looks like the last one just cuts off, maybe that the problem...in fact, looking at the xorg.conf.backup file, line 140 is only about halfway through, there's still a ton of stuff after that. so the question now is how do i fix that? the backup file has a bunch of # signs, which iirc makes it so its a comment, so i would have to remove all those? unless theres an easier fix to repair my now half of a xorg.conf file?

and while on the topic, how did this happen? did i do something wrong? how can i prevent this from happening again?

[luikki]

Error: no display specified

looks like time to run as root XFdrake...

[AS]

ok thanks, i new i had to do something related to the path, just didnt know what path. so im still in the middle of doing it, but im just going to post the output i did get incase we need to look back on it.

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x70004695

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    31459327    15728640   27  Unknown
/dev/sda2   *    31459328    31664127      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3        31664128   533165219   250750546    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4       533165220  1250258624   358546702+   5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       533165283   558355139    12594928+  83  Linux
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda6       558355203   566532224     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 6 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda7       566532288  1250258624   341863168+  83  Linux
[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda5

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda6
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
fsck: fsck.swap: not found
fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda6
[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda7
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Unattached zero-length inode 10035230.  Clear? yes

Unattached zero-length inode 10035231.  Clear? yes

Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Block bitmap differences:  -3252785 +3252881 -40161280 -40161282
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #1225 (29559, counted=29561).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong (83135470, counted=83135472).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong for group #1225 (8159, counted=8157).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong (21244989, counted=21244987).
Fix? yes


/dev/sda7: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda7: 127941/21372928 files (0.7% non-contiguous), 2330320/85465792 blocks

now going to restart and type in startx and see what happens, and i have the raising skinny elephants written down, thanks :-) because i hate hitting the power button, that was i can at least some what safely shut it down when it get locked up again

phantom16,

please note that actually the filesystem on /dev/sda5 has not been processed/fixed from fsck,
as stated in the error, you need to specify an alternate superblock to check/correct the filesystem:

see this post for further info about alternate superblocks:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,95913.msg809701.html#msg809701.

the first alternate superblock usually is 32768 (4Kb blocks filesystem), then from liveCD run a command like:
fsck -f -y -b 32768 /dev/sda5

if fsck continue to refuse to run, try a different alternate superblock, until the filesystem get fixed.

AS

[phantom16]

ok, so i tried every combo that old polack had tried, all to no avail, and i tried running the e2fsck that the command tells me every time, and nothing, heres the last 2 attempts

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -f -b 11239424 -y /dev/sda5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
fsck.ext2: Invalid argument while trying to open /dev/sda5

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

[root@localhost ~]# e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/sda5
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda5

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

so i guess the file system in sda5 is just gone then? so i need to replace that i guess? is it possible that it is in fact a swap partition? i dont really know what the means but i had it on my old desktop for some reason, dunno why, and i might recall having seen that here, but not sure. i dont even know why there is 3 linux partitions, i only created the one when i installed it, but it seems to have made a couple others for itself, and i really have no clue what they are there for. but if not, then i guess i need to replace the file system?

and still fix my xorg.conf file i would imagine?

[AS]

so i guess the file system in sda5 is just gone then? so i need to replace that i guess? is it possible that it is in fact a swap partition? i dont really know what the means but i had it on my old desktop for some reason, dunno why, and i might recall having seen that here, but not sure. i dont even know why there is 3 linux partitions, i only created the one when i installed it, but it seems to have made a couple others for itself, and i really have no clue what they are there for. but if not, then i guess i need to replace the file system?

and still fix my xorg.conf file i would imagine?

wait a moment before to do anything ... so we will clarify the whole thing

[AS]

this is you partition table:

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    31459327    15728640   27  Unknown
/dev/sda2   *    31459328    31664127      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3        31664128   533165219   250750546    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4       533165220  1250258624   358546702+   5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       533165283   558355139    12594928+  83  Linux
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda6       558355203   566532224     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 6 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda7       566532288  1250258624   341863168+  83  Linux

/dev/sda1 is stated as type 27 unknown, I suspect it's some "factory restore" partition
/dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 are Windows partitions, probably you have a windows installation
/dev/sda4 is the extended partition (it's a container of the subsequent logical partitions)
/dev/sda5 look like a linux partition 12.5 Gb
/dev/sda6 is the swap area 4 Gb
/dev/sda7 is a linux partitions 340 Gb.

PCLinuxOS generally create the last 3 partitions, the first is the '/' filesystem, the last is usually mounted as /home.
Can you confirm ?

Although with errors, you are still able to boot into PCLinuxOS, right ?

[phantom16]

ok, so while on the live cd, if i look in dolphin at the list of drives on the left, i see:
326.0 GiB Hard Drive
SYSTEM RESERVED
PQSERVICE
ACER

the first one is my sda7, my main linux partition
the last 3 are all the windows partitions, sda1-3 i think

so im not seeing the corresponding drives for sda5 or 6. If i go into the PCC and to manage disk partitions, i can see them all there though. and if i load, yes i seem to be able to get into PCLOS, but only at a terminal screen, the entire screen is literally a terminal screen, so i can only do terminal commands. so what would i need to type in terminal to figure out?

but on another note, in the manage disk partitions, it even says that sda6 is a swap, like you said, and sda5 is a linux native type. so i guess that does mean that there is an error and the file system is gone?

[AS]

ok, so while on the live cd, if i look in dolphin at the list of drives on the left, i see:
326.0 GiB Hard Drive
SYSTEM RESERVED
PQSERVICE
ACER

the first one is my sda7, my main linux partition
the last 3 are all the windows partitions, sda1-3 i think

so im not seeing the corresponding drives for sda5 or 6. If i go into the PCC and to manage disk partitions, i can see them all there though. and if i load, yes i seem to be able to get into PCLOS, but only at a terminal screen, the entire screen is literally a terminal screen, so i can only do terminal commands. so what would i need to type in terminal to figure out?

but on another note, in the manage disk partitions, it even says that sda6 is a swap, like you said, and sda5 is a linux native type. so i guess that does mean that there is an error and the file system is gone?

Will see, booting in terminal is enough to find a few info and answers: boot from your installed system, log in as root user, type in your root password, and at prompt type the following command:

df -T

report back the results, to turn off the machine type the command:

shutdown -h now

[phantom16]

df -T gets me:

Filesystem  type  size     used  avail  use%  mounted on
/dev/sda7   ext2  321G  3.8G  310G  2%       /

thanks for your help. and now i have to go to work for a few hours, so ill continue trying more in a few hours :-)