Ubuntu Linux help in >> this thread <<

[xpod]

Originally Posted by CHiLL

I have just installed Linux Mint 8, which I believe is a variation of Ubuntu...however my Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio wont output sound. The drivers are wrong. Is there any way to fix this? (I'm a complete novice)

Never used the things myself but you could look through
here for some pointers.

Originally Posted by grandmaster

Since a few weeks ago ,I have struggled with wireless on my Acer Aspire one A0A150.
I now cannot connect to my WPA encrypted linksys.
I know its not the linksys as my iphone and windows machine connect.
(and my wifes Dell ubuntu netbook)
I have installed a clean ubuntu 9.10 (and 10.04 beta) and can only connect when encryption is switched off.
I have tried mad wifi drivers but im still struggling, I have asked on the ubuntu forums but so far not had a response..

I think it must be one of the kernel updates but im not sure how to go back and find older kernels..

Im back to using windows now (which I dont mind) but i like ubuntu and was happy with it...

If anyone can help I would appreciate it....

Although i`ve never had problems with Gnomes network manager since the static ip debacle 2 or 3 versions back i still prefer to use wicd on the laptops. We all use it here on our laptops & netbooks in fact. Perhaps you could have tried that instead.
I still actually use the /etc/network/interfaces file for the 2 network cards on my Desktop. A throwback to the static ip issue and of course the lack of issues with the 2 or 3 upgrades the Desktops went through since then.

Originally Posted by Hiroki

My ubuntu dual boot crashed earlier when I connected a external drive and now it's stuck at the black grub screen....any ideas anyone?

Possibly a silly question but have you tried the obvious step of removing of the external drive and rebooting?
When you say it crashed though what exactly happened? Did it just freeze the whole Desktop when you connected the external drive or did it give some kind of error message about not being able to mount the thing?
we`ve got umpteen external drives here for one thing or another but we`ve never had any problems with any of them on *buntu. In fact, i just plug any 2.5" Sata drive into one or two external enclosures i use just for that job.

[admars]

to add to the above about external hard drive, what file system is it? If it's Fat or NTFS you may need to boot to a MS OS and then do a chkdsk on it.

[grandmaster]

Originally Posted by xpod

Although i`ve never had problems with Gnomes network manager since the static ip debacle 2 or 3 versions back i still prefer to use wicd on the laptops. We all use it here on our laptops & netbooks in fact. Perhaps you could have tried that instead.
I still actually use the /etc/network/interfaces file for the 2 network cards on my Desktop. A throwback to the static ip issue and of course the lack of issues with the 2 or 3 upgrades the Desktops went through since then.
.

Thanks for the reply!.

Yeah I have tried WICD and static addresses, the thing is whenever i speicfy a static address IFCONFIG shows said address with netmask and gw but I cannot ping my router or an address on the net, I have checked DNS but since I cant ping my router internally then dns is not the issue.
IWCONFIG shows my association with the router as well.

I even added a route but for some reason it still fails...

I'm going to re-install it again tonight so I have a clean slate to work from but any other ideas are welcome, since it must be something I have missed

[Hiroki]

Originally Posted by xpod

Possibly a silly question but have you tried the obvious step of removing of the external drive and rebooting?
When you say it crashed though what exactly happened? Did it just freeze the whole Desktop when you connected the external drive or did it give some kind of error message about not being able to mount the thing?
we`ve got umpteen external drives here for one thing or another but we`ve never had any problems with any of them on *buntu. In fact, i just plug any 2.5" Sata drive into one or two external enclosures i use just for that job.

At the time the screen just froze and I had to hold the power button to force it to shut down and I then removed the drive and restarted the pc, tried again and it just went to the grub screen.

Originally Posted by admars

to add to the above about external hard drive, what file system is it? If it's Fat or NTFS you may need to boot to a MS OS and then do a chkdsk on it.

NTFS which had just been error checked in windows7 and was fine. I was going to use it in ubuntu as an external drive for that

[grandmaster]

Ok, fresh install ready for tonights battle with wireless...

Bring it on lol

[xpod]

Originally Posted by grandmaster

Ok, fresh install ready for tonights battle with wireless...

Bring it on lol

Oh well, hopefully that will clear things up for you.
I would have asked if the machine works fine with a wired connection or if you had another router you could try it with. Certainly seems strange but after the few months i`ve had with Routers nothing would surprise me.

My own router issues these last few months were nothing to do with security or connecting and more to do with them just dying completely.
One of our own and one of Virgins i`ve had die on me this year. Better yet was the the new Dlink Virgin sent me a week or so ago being completely dead when it arrived.....even with a replacement power supply. I would have sworn there was some kind router curse put on me at that point, if i was that way inclined..
That Dlink asides though i had thought my lads PS3 was causing the problems we first started having but it turned out that the 2 Routers in question were on their way out regardless. Everythings fine now of course and i even have a new Netgear from Virgin lying there if i ever need it. Now plugging that power supply unit in for the first time was far more interesting than it should have been.

Just get yourself a USB stick, a copy of Unetbootin and just find the distro that works best on that machine. You could try Lucid if you want to stick with the *buntu setup. It`s obviously not out for a couple of weeks yet but i`ve never let that stop me.

Originally Posted by Hiroki

At the time the screen just froze and I had to hold the power button to force it to shut down and I then removed the drive and restarted the pc, tried again and it just went to the grub screen.


NTFS which had just been error checked in windows7 and was fine. I was going to use it in ubuntu as an external drive for that

Is it the actual Grub screen it`s now sticking(?) at, the one with the available boot options or is it a prompt of some sort? If you do have a prompt you can type at what does it say? it might be your username or "grub-rescue>" or just "grub>" even.

It could be the grub that`s corrupt although that usually spits back some kind of error at you....re-installing it might help but that`s a little more convoluted with Grub2 nowadays than it used to be with the original Grub re-installation.
The User Errors section in here explains how though.
Not something i`ve ever had to do thankfully....yet anyway.

Perhaps the Grandmaster approach might have proved even quicker by now, if you didn`t have tooo much to back up of course..

2 strange seeming problems guys but mabey the OP or someone might be able to help were i obviously cant.

[grandmaster]

Thanks for the reply,

Its deffo not the router as I said my iphone, wifes ubuntu dell,this dual boot laptop all connect fine, im using ubuntu with a wired connection but its not ideal.. Even lucid is the same.

Damn thing

[Hiroki]

Originally Posted by xpod

Is it the actual Grub screen it`s now sticking(?) at, the one with the available boot options or is it a prompt of some sort? If you do have a prompt you can type at what does it say? it might be your username or "grub-rescue>" or just "grub>" even.

It could be the grub that`s corrupt although that usually spits back some kind of error at you....re-installing it might help but that`s a little more convoluted with Grub2 nowadays than it used to be with the original Grub re-installation.
The User Errors section in here explains how though.
Not something i`ve ever had to do thankfully....yet anyway.

Perhaps the Grandmaster approach might have proved even quicker by now, if you didn`t have tooo much to back up of course..

2 strange seeming problems guys but mabey the OP or someone might be able to help were i obviously cant.

I gave up trying to fix it and re-installed and it seems to be running fine this time.

The external drive is working too but only if I plug it in after ubuntu has loaded up.

[grandmaster]

Originally Posted by Hiroki

I gave up trying to fix it and re-installed and it seems to be running fine this time.

The external drive is working too but only if I plug it in after ubuntu has loaded up.

That could be your bios trying to boot from that device first.

I tried WICD again last night but still Zip....Still no answer/help from ubuntu forums either.
Is it me or does there seem to be endless why did you leave windows polls. or why is windows so bad polls etc

Ah well,

Ill go on a Ath5k quest I think and see if its that although im not holding my breath.

[xpod]

Originally Posted by Hiroki

I gave up trying to fix it and re-installed and it seems to be running fine this time.

The external drive is working too but only if I plug it in after ubuntu has loaded up.

I usually dont have much need for the NTFS filesystem round here so most of our external drives are all formatted with either ext3/4... with the odd Fat32/WBFS flung in for good measure.
Even the ones i do use for the computers are usually just plugged in as and when needed. I do have bootable usb/flash drives but i`ve never installed anything to an external usb/sata drive that required it plugged in at boot time.

If your desperate to have it mounted at bootup though you could try sticking an entry for it in your fstab.
The "Mounting NTFS Partitions (with read/write privileges)" section in the 9.10 guide will explain how.

Originally Posted by grandmaster

That could be your bios trying to boot from that device first.

I tried WICD again last night but still Zip....Still no answer/help from ubuntu forums either.
Is it me or does there seem to be endless why did you leave windows polls. or why is windows so bad polls etc

Ah well,

Ill go on a Ath5k quest I think and see if its that although im not holding my breath.

Probably another silly question but i`ve made the oversight myself with WICD......when your trying to connect with it are you first making sure that whatever your wireless card is listed in ifconfig as is also what it`s listed in WICD`s preferences as.

Your right about the UF poll thing btw, the young bucks over there especially...they love a bit of hating to themselves.
Good luck with your next quest regardless.
You could always admit defeat and just stick Windows on the thing..

[grandmaster]

Defeat.....NEVER... well almost never...

WICD can see the card and shows me the network but just refuses to connect like gnome manger.

GM

[xpod]

Originally Posted by grandmaster

Defeat.....NEVER... well almost never...

WICD can see the card and shows me the network but just refuses to connect like gnome manger.

GM

Ahhhh....a stubborn git like myself then,
I had a sneaking suspicion the admitting defeat suggestion would receive the kind of response it did......Good stuff.

[Richard M]

Try restarting the network manager:

sudo restart network-manager

It plays up from time to time with me too and a restart fixes it.

[xpod]

You`ve probably covered many of the steps in there already but you should also take a look through the WifiDocsWirelessTroubleShootingGuide. Paying particular attention to section 4.4 if your still not able to connect to the router at all.

[Hiroki]

Changed my external to fat32 and have no problems now booting up with it connected

Loving Ubuntu and I only pop back into my windows7 partition to rip cd's and use Adobe Audition.