I don't know where to start with this one.....
Thread Starter
last evening I installed Fotoxx application to my Linux Mint desktop machine, using the software installer provided in the Mint install. It installed the Fotoxx and I used it to look at and tweak a few photos and also did some web browsing using Firefox, everything seemed to be working properly. So far, so good.
At the end of the evening I went to shut down the machine in the usual way and it opened the shutting down options box (restart, change user, switch off etc) but I noticed that the text in the options box was corrupted, all of the letters were displayed as small rectangles. Not a problem, I know that the last click box is for switching the machine off so I clicked that and the machine switched off.
This morning I switched the machine on in the normal way, it booted up to the log in screen, I logged in and then it seemed to just stop with a totally black screen except for the mouse pointer white arrow. The usual desktop didn't appear. The machine is not dead, the mouse pointer still moves but it doesn't find anything to select (so I know it isn't just doing everything as black on black). Oh.
So I powered off and removed the hard disk which I replaced with another (same size, same OS) and rebooted the machine. This also got through logging in and stalled at a black screen with the mouse pointer.
Now I am totally baffled. I swapped out the second hard disk for one with WinXP and the machine booted up and ran my CAD package OK.
So, it boots into WinXP OK, it fails to fully boot up into Linux Mint, on two different hard drives which were never in the system at the same time.
I can't get my mind around something that can have become changed in the bios/system hardware that would afflict Linux but not matter to WinXP.
To further complicate the picture, I tried to re-install Linux Mint over the second hard disk after booting up from the install/live CD. This trundles through the installation just so far and then it crashes the machine. The properties for the hard disk show that it is creating a bigger "used" area on the hard disk with each attempt. I don't know how to wipe the hard drive and get a proper clean install onto it.
Further, I succeeded in deleting all of the visible (and possibly some of the hidden) files and directories from the hard disk and then installed from the Mint CD. The installation ran through to completion but the machine still failed to reboot at the end.
This suggests to me that the installation on both of my hard disks may be OK but something else in the machine has been changed by the Fotoxx programme, something that stays when the power is off. Can this happen?
Lastly, this request for help via pprune has been done on the machine whilst running Linux Mint and Firefox from the Live CD, thus showing that the machine can run normally once booted up into Mint.
Anyone? Please!
Rans6................
At the end of the evening I went to shut down the machine in the usual way and it opened the shutting down options box (restart, change user, switch off etc) but I noticed that the text in the options box was corrupted, all of the letters were displayed as small rectangles. Not a problem, I know that the last click box is for switching the machine off so I clicked that and the machine switched off.
This morning I switched the machine on in the normal way, it booted up to the log in screen, I logged in and then it seemed to just stop with a totally black screen except for the mouse pointer white arrow. The usual desktop didn't appear. The machine is not dead, the mouse pointer still moves but it doesn't find anything to select (so I know it isn't just doing everything as black on black). Oh.
So I powered off and removed the hard disk which I replaced with another (same size, same OS) and rebooted the machine. This also got through logging in and stalled at a black screen with the mouse pointer.
Now I am totally baffled. I swapped out the second hard disk for one with WinXP and the machine booted up and ran my CAD package OK.
So, it boots into WinXP OK, it fails to fully boot up into Linux Mint, on two different hard drives which were never in the system at the same time.
I can't get my mind around something that can have become changed in the bios/system hardware that would afflict Linux but not matter to WinXP.
To further complicate the picture, I tried to re-install Linux Mint over the second hard disk after booting up from the install/live CD. This trundles through the installation just so far and then it crashes the machine. The properties for the hard disk show that it is creating a bigger "used" area on the hard disk with each attempt. I don't know how to wipe the hard drive and get a proper clean install onto it.
Further, I succeeded in deleting all of the visible (and possibly some of the hidden) files and directories from the hard disk and then installed from the Mint CD. The installation ran through to completion but the machine still failed to reboot at the end.
This suggests to me that the installation on both of my hard disks may be OK but something else in the machine has been changed by the Fotoxx programme, something that stays when the power is off. Can this happen?
Lastly, this request for help via pprune has been done on the machine whilst running Linux Mint and Firefox from the Live CD, thus showing that the machine can run normally once booted up into Mint.
Anyone? Please!
Rans6................
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Delete Photoxx. Over the years, I've read on here so many stories/software problems. What I have learnt, the more mash downloaded the more problems.
Keep it simple, download what you need and forget 'things this new software may advance my needs' Keep it simple, as to your needs. More crap programmes downloaded, the more crap on your HD the more problems of smooth running of the system.
Ps. Don't mention Wxp he might be reading posts.
Keep it simple, download what you need and forget 'things this new software may advance my needs' Keep it simple, as to your needs. More crap programmes downloaded, the more crap on your HD the more problems of smooth running of the system.
Ps. Don't mention Wxp he might be reading posts.
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You've done it now Henry
I fear the dragons heat maybe upon us. Run to the hills...... Some say he could rip the tape off an 1969 IBM computer spool and read it with his eyes.
Having said that...Kudos, he knows what he talks about.
I fear the dragons heat maybe upon us. Run to the hills...... Some say he could rip the tape off an 1969 IBM computer spool and read it with his eyes.Having said that...Kudos, he knows what he talks about.
Thread Starter
after cogitating for some time I still can't get my head around how two Linux Mint installations, each on it's own hard disk, not in the system at the same time, can have become corrupted in the same way.
Perhaps the disks are not corrupted. I have re-installed Linux Mint to one of them and it is no different.
Starting from this position I have tried to isolate what else in the system could have become US. What I don't know is whether anything a Linux Mint OS does or it's application programmes do can have caused a configuration change to other parts of the system, ie does the graphics card retain set up info during power off situations? Does the BIOS get changed while the machine runs?
So I have swapped graphics cards, no change. I have tried removing each memory module and running up the system on one at a time, no change.
As the machine is as good as useless I decided to go the whole hog and replaced the mother board and CPU with some faster parts I bought a while ago but never got around to fitting. So, here I am, booted up from the Linux Live CD, everything doing what it is supposed to do except that it won't fully boot up from the same S/W installed on the hard disk drive(s) from the same Live CD. It just fails to do it at 3.3GHz instead of 2.4GHz.
It still boots into WinXP from another hard disk and runs my application programmes.
To re-cap. From the Linux Mint installed drives the system boots normally up to the entry of user name and password, which it accepts, and then it progresses nearly to the desktop display, stalling with the mouse pointer working on an otherwise totally black screen. The system has not crashed. When the power button is pressed momentarily a small amount of text appears at the top of the screen prompting for login and showing the volume name on the hard disk and then it writes shutting down info and then the power supply switches off. The behaviour is identical for each hard disk, one of which has much application software and data and one which has just a new Linux install on. The hard disks are all in trays and can be put in or removed easily.
More confused than ever......
Rans6.......
Perhaps the disks are not corrupted. I have re-installed Linux Mint to one of them and it is no different.
Starting from this position I have tried to isolate what else in the system could have become US. What I don't know is whether anything a Linux Mint OS does or it's application programmes do can have caused a configuration change to other parts of the system, ie does the graphics card retain set up info during power off situations? Does the BIOS get changed while the machine runs?
So I have swapped graphics cards, no change. I have tried removing each memory module and running up the system on one at a time, no change.
As the machine is as good as useless I decided to go the whole hog and replaced the mother board and CPU with some faster parts I bought a while ago but never got around to fitting. So, here I am, booted up from the Linux Live CD, everything doing what it is supposed to do except that it won't fully boot up from the same S/W installed on the hard disk drive(s) from the same Live CD. It just fails to do it at 3.3GHz instead of 2.4GHz.
It still boots into WinXP from another hard disk and runs my application programmes.
To re-cap. From the Linux Mint installed drives the system boots normally up to the entry of user name and password, which it accepts, and then it progresses nearly to the desktop display, stalling with the mouse pointer working on an otherwise totally black screen. The system has not crashed. When the power button is pressed momentarily a small amount of text appears at the top of the screen prompting for login and showing the volume name on the hard disk and then it writes shutting down info and then the power supply switches off. The behaviour is identical for each hard disk, one of which has much application software and data and one which has just a new Linux install on. The hard disks are all in trays and can be put in or removed easily.
More confused than ever......
Rans6.......
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This may not be your problem.
When you install mint and it gets to the partitioning page, make sure you are installing it to the hard disc rather than the USB stick (or dvd drive).
Sometimes the default option is not what you want.
Another problem that can arise is with the default settings for Grub (Grub2 for newer versions) - check that Grub is being installed to the correct drive.
It helps if the hard disc is partitioned as ext4.
In the BIOS make sure your hard discs are ACHI (or something like that). XP doesn't like ACHI if I remember.
If for any reason that setting has changed mint may not boot.
I have never previously heard of a linux system being corrupted by a software install but someone will probably come along and tell me I am wrong.
Having reread your post.
When you reinstall and get to the bit where it talks about partitioning, delete all the partitions and reformat as one ext4 partition.
Refresh (or something similar) and then make sure your installation is to the correct disc.
It may help to install with only the target disc in the machine - just remove the data cable to the other hard discs for the time being.
Which version of mint are you trying to install?
When you install mint and it gets to the partitioning page, make sure you are installing it to the hard disc rather than the USB stick (or dvd drive).
Sometimes the default option is not what you want.
Another problem that can arise is with the default settings for Grub (Grub2 for newer versions) - check that Grub is being installed to the correct drive.
It helps if the hard disc is partitioned as ext4.
In the BIOS make sure your hard discs are ACHI (or something like that). XP doesn't like ACHI if I remember.
If for any reason that setting has changed mint may not boot.
I have never previously heard of a linux system being corrupted by a software install but someone will probably come along and tell me I am wrong.
Having reread your post.
When you reinstall and get to the bit where it talks about partitioning, delete all the partitions and reformat as one ext4 partition.
Refresh (or something similar) and then make sure your installation is to the correct disc.
It may help to install with only the target disc in the machine - just remove the data cable to the other hard discs for the time being.
Which version of mint are you trying to install?
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Tried googling your original problem and a suggestion is
ctrl-alt-f1
Which should take you into terminal.
Then
sudo apt-get install gnome shell and press enter.
Several posts mention your problem and, from reading them, most people give up and reinstall mint.
It has not happened to me, so far!!!
ctrl-alt-f1
Which should take you into terminal.
Then
sudo apt-get install gnome shell and press enter.
Several posts mention your problem and, from reading them, most people give up and reinstall mint.
It has not happened to me, so far!!!
Thread Starter
I have re-installed Mint and seemed to be up and running. I copied all of my data/downloads/FF profile and all the other stuff I can find from one of the poorly HDDs to the newly installed HDD.
Everything is hunky dory except when I play movies from youtoob or some other sources the system crashes big time. Not always instantly, sometimes it plays OK for a minute or two but then, without warning, it just powers off and reboots.
It may just be it doesn't like my choice of music
but it is a pain all the same.
Rans6......
Everything is hunky dory except when I play movies from youtoob or some other sources the system crashes big time. Not always instantly, sometimes it plays OK for a minute or two but then, without warning, it just powers off and reboots.
It may just be it doesn't like my choice of music
but it is a pain all the same.Rans6......
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Rans6,
I am glad you seem to have this sorted.
This sounds like the Fotoxx corrupted some of your system font files. FYI unlike windows linux can run in a number of different modes called run levels. Normally you will be running in run level 5 (graphical multi user). In this normal startup sequence the system will boot into a command line run level to load all the system components (usually hidden by a splash screen) and then at the end load the graphical display manager which runs the desktop. It sounds that this is part loading but possibly hanging because it cant access the corrupted font files.
The small text is a run level 3 or 1 (ie command line) login screen, which it is falling back into to carry out the shut down sequence.
one of the advantages of linux is that it produces extensive easily available log files to tell you what it is doing. The exact location may vary, but a good place to start is:
/var/log
/var/log/boot.log might be a good place to start. General system messages are logged in:
var/log/messages
Depending on which display manager you are using it will have its own logs.
These should give you a clue as to what is happening. The other useful tool to use from a command prompt is dmesg. By executing the dmesg command, you can view the hardware that is detected during bootup process and it’s configuration details. There is lot of useful information displayed by dmesg. You might find it helpful for troubleshooting, when you encounter an issue.
WRT to video you might consider VLC player which should be available through your software package installer.
HTH
EG
I am glad you seem to have this sorted.
At the end of the evening I went to shut down the machine in the usual way and it opened the shutting down options box (restart, change user, switch off etc) but I noticed that the text in the options box was corrupted, all of the letters were displayed as small rectangles. Not a problem, I know that the last click box is for switching the machine off so I clicked that and the machine switched off.
This morning I switched the machine on in the normal way, it booted up to the log in screen, I logged in and then it seemed to just stop with a totally black screen except for the mouse pointer white arrow. The usual desktop didn't appear. The machine is not dead, the mouse pointer still moves but it doesn't find anything to select (so I know it isn't just doing everything as black on black). Oh.
This morning I switched the machine on in the normal way, it booted up to the log in screen, I logged in and then it seemed to just stop with a totally black screen except for the mouse pointer white arrow. The usual desktop didn't appear. The machine is not dead, the mouse pointer still moves but it doesn't find anything to select (so I know it isn't just doing everything as black on black). Oh.
From the Linux Mint installed drives the system boots normally up to the entry of user name and password, which it accepts, and then it progresses nearly to the desktop display, stalling with the mouse pointer working on an otherwise totally black screen. The system has not crashed. When the power button is pressed momentarily a small amount of text appears at the top of the screen prompting for login and showing the volume name on the hard disk and then it writes shutting down info and then the power supply switches off.
one of the advantages of linux is that it produces extensive easily available log files to tell you what it is doing. The exact location may vary, but a good place to start is:
/var/log
/var/log/boot.log might be a good place to start. General system messages are logged in:
var/log/messages
Depending on which display manager you are using it will have its own logs.
These should give you a clue as to what is happening. The other useful tool to use from a command prompt is dmesg. By executing the dmesg command, you can view the hardware that is detected during bootup process and it’s configuration details. There is lot of useful information displayed by dmesg. You might find it helpful for troubleshooting, when you encounter an issue.
WRT to video you might consider VLC player which should be available through your software package installer.
HTH
EG
Thread Starter
while testing/installing stuff over the weekend and playing some music videos in the background the machine spontaneously rebooted. As it came back up the bios reported that the crash was due to "overclocking" errors. Well, the motherboard in the machine is not new in "calendar" terms but it was sealed in it's manufacturers antistatic bag in an un opened box until the moment I built up the machine last week. I have not upgraded the bios or messed with any of the settings so the "overclocking" error, which only shows when some videos are played, seems to be due to the bios not getting it right when interrogating the hardware status. I slowed down the clocks and rebooted and the machine has behaved perfectly all day today.
Time to learn a bit about overclocking, me thinks. I will get it stable and fast, eventually.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this issue.
Rans6......
Time to learn a bit about overclocking, me thinks. I will get it stable and fast, eventually.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this issue.
Rans6......
Thread Starter
I looked up some helpful stuff on over-clocking computers and used the suggested BIOS option settings to compare my own "auto/default" set up. It is quite enlightening. My BIOS auto-detects the wrong settings for my DRAM.
My Corsair ram modules are labelled 1600MHz, 8-8-8-24 1.6 volts. The BIOS insists on setting them to 1066MHz, 8-8-8-20 and sets less than 1.5 volts. Clearly the "20" can't be right. A visit to the data sheet gave further info, at 1.5 volts expect 9-9-9-24 and 1333MHz but at 1.65 volts expect 8-8-8-24 and 1600MHz.
After a reboot when playing videos I went into the bios and it reported "reboot caused by over-clocking or voltage errors", and went on to say some settings my be different to those displayed on the screen! It offered a "safe settings" option which set 8-8-8-20 for the ram and set the CPU to 2GHz. Not what you really want when the ram and cpu are both specced to go much faster but it did stop the crashing/re-booting for a day or two.
I note that there is a couple of later bios revisions available, the reasons for the up issue do not mention ram or cpu timing but do say there is an error in the QPI speed. Time for a re-flash, I think.
Rans6andrew.
My Corsair ram modules are labelled 1600MHz, 8-8-8-24 1.6 volts. The BIOS insists on setting them to 1066MHz, 8-8-8-20 and sets less than 1.5 volts. Clearly the "20" can't be right. A visit to the data sheet gave further info, at 1.5 volts expect 9-9-9-24 and 1333MHz but at 1.65 volts expect 8-8-8-24 and 1600MHz.
After a reboot when playing videos I went into the bios and it reported "reboot caused by over-clocking or voltage errors", and went on to say some settings my be different to those displayed on the screen! It offered a "safe settings" option which set 8-8-8-20 for the ram and set the CPU to 2GHz. Not what you really want when the ram and cpu are both specced to go much faster but it did stop the crashing/re-booting for a day or two.
I note that there is a couple of later bios revisions available, the reasons for the up issue do not mention ram or cpu timing but do say there is an error in the QPI speed. Time for a re-flash, I think.
Rans6andrew.
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I don't know where to start with this one.....
Its for your own good. Just do it.
As for the rest, well, you seem to have cleaned up your own mess far as I can tell from your ramblings.
That is all.
The Stig.
P.S. Thank you dazdaz1, you've earnt yourself a sheep **** sized brownie point.
Thread Starter
I don't often use XP, 99% of the time I run Linux Mint. For the small time I need Windies for EasyPC I have a drive which only has XP, EasyPC and not much else. When running XP the wifi doesn't connect so the lack of security and support doesn't bother me.
The bios issues I have are more of a concern at present.
Rans6.........
The bios issues I have are more of a concern at present.
Rans6.........
