Serious Linux problem

[catgate]

I know this not exactly the right place for linux questions but.....

This problem is on my main machine, the one in constant use.

I had started downloading a video from Youtube, but there was no sound. (This has happened once or twice just recently) So I stopped the video and exited Youtube.

I got a message saying that Firefox was still running, which appeared to be incorrect, (although it might have been running "blind").

What was going on was a 'lock up'. Nothing would happen. So I pushed the reset button and the whole thing rebooted....but in non graphic mode, just text black and white. It allowed me to log in, and then sat there waiting for me to give it a command, but that is where I am stuck. I am not sure where to go nor what command to give it to put it back into GUI mode. Nor how to ensure it stays there.

I am now running from a live CD and hoping that some kind soul will be able to help me please.

[Boris]

Alan2273 will sort you out when he logs in :)

[catgate]

I hope so, Boris, It has me puzzled as to what has happened. I'm out of my depth with this.

[Boris]

I'm out of my depth with this.

So am I !

[Alan2273]

I am assuming you are using Ubuntu Catgate, the command you need is startx

Type sudo / enter password / type startx

You can also try this key combination. Ctrl-Alt-F7.

[AlanHo]

Do you not have an Acronis back-up on an external Drive to restore from.....?

[Alan2273]

Acronis software for Linux is a different product to the Windows one Alan, mainly used for backing up servers.

For future reference try Sbackup.

http://www.debianadmin.com/backup-and-rest...ng-sbackup.html

[AlanHo]

Acronis software for Linux is a different product to the Windows one Alan, mainly used for backing up servers.

For future reference try Sbackup.

http://www.debianadmin.com/backup-and-rest...ng-sbackup.html

Good point - I know very little about Linux and overlooked the fact that us Windows users are catered for so well by software utilities such as Acronis which do not work with Linux.

However - whichever OS you use - it is prudent to have a system back-up in some form.

[catgate]

I am assuming you are using Ubuntu Catgate, the command you need is startx

Type sudo / enter password / type startx

You can also try this key combination. Ctrl-Alt-F7.

Thanks for the reply, Alan2273.

Yes, I am using Ubuntu 8.04

startx gave me:-

/etc/X11/X is not executable

giving up

xinit: No such file or directory (errno2): unable to connect to X server

xinit: No such process (errno3): server error

Ctrl-Alt-F7 gave me a black screen with a flashing curser in the top left corner of it.

Ubuntu has really done me proud up to now, having started off on 6. , then upgraded to 7., when that came along, and finally upgraded to 8.. I have had no trouble really, other than a missing printer driver for a combined thing that prints, scans, copies, faxes, and brews tea (but not all at once).

As I lay pondering in my cot last night I remembered that at one point, and it might have been immediately after it locked up, but before I hit the restart button, I did Ctrl,Alt, Backspace, having recently seen that suggested as a restart method somewhere. Might this be connected.

[catgate]

The problem seems to have been cured by running apt-get install xorg in a terminal.

Sadly the cause remains a mystery and only time will tell how long lasting the cure will be.

Still, I seem to have gathered some more information to forget, along with all the rest that seems to have gone somewhere else when it is needed most.

[Alan2273]

That was just the solution that works most times.

The next part was an edit of the xorg.conf file. sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

But you have sorted it out by running apt-get install xorg, so pat yourself on the back.

Ctrl/Alt/Backspace is not for rebooting it just kills the X server, ie. it logs you out of the session you are using so to carry on you have to log back in.

If you want a quick way to shut down your session, open a terminal and type sudo shutdown -r now

For future reference if you ever have this problem again and want to reset your XServer type sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg this will allow you set up you X11/Xorg file from scratch.

Another way to stop a frozen program is to call up the terminal and type killall (program name ).

[catgate]

Thanks for your additional words of wisdom Alan. I have filled then away in my "Computy" folder.

I just hope I never need them.

I have been rather complacent really about backing up, because I was under the impression that it was possible to reinstall the OS without affecting the Home folder. Udates and upgrades seem to do it without much trouble.

[Alan2273]

Yes you can update without affecting the /home folder.

You can also upgrade, to do this, do not format the /home folder when doing the install.

[Seshomaru Samma]

just like windows it is advisable to make a back up of linux

you can do it the command line way - like this , if the system doesn't boot you can use a live cd to restore the back up.

there are also graphic tools that would do that like sbackup or pybackpack

[catgate]

Thank you both. Notes made.