December 2011 - main

Acer Aspire 5520 Linux shutdown problem and random power-offs
by Srdjan Todorovic 21 Dec '11

21 Dec '11

Hi all, I'm looking at my mum's Acer Aspire 5520 laptop with Kubuntu installed that seems to have strange shutdown problems. I can power the laptop on, but at random times (where t is generally < 2 minutes, sometimes up to 10mins, sometimes as little as 5sec) the laptop will power down completely with no user intervention. I've seen this happen while in the Grub boot menu, while Linux KDM login screen is displayed, while it's booting Linux, while it's running memtest and even while in the BIOS setup screens. This happens on the battery only, mains only and on battery and mains power combinations. At other times, it seems the laptop goes into some kind of sleep state where the hard drive, power button LED and power state LED flash at the same time (approx 1s on, 1s off but I've not measured this), and while in this 'state' pressing space bar 3 times toggles the wifi LED so that it flashes in the same manner as the power and HDD LEDs. When Linux does actually boot (rare given the quick power off), it appears to function ok, other than when powering off or restarting, the laptop is not actually powered down, and I can still switch virtual terminals but I cannot type anything in the getty (or whatever ubuntu uses) login processes. Some google results suggest the motherboard needs to be reflowed, and people suggest putting the laptop motherboard into an oven at 200 degrees C for 5 -7 minutes!! :( The CPU fan does come on and spins a lot in the grub menu (when the cpu should not be busy): I cannot tell if the CPU fan exhaust is hotter than normal, but this suggests that perhaps there's an overheating problem and some sort of thermal cut-out is powering down the laptop. I cannot see any abnormal amount of dust in any of the cooling vents, and there's no unusual rattling of the fan. Any suggestions please? Thanks, Srdjan

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Re: [ALUG] Machine won't start
by MJ Ray 21 Dec '11

21 Dec '11

Chris Walker <cdw_alug(a)the-walker-household.co.uk> > It offers a failsafe and another kernel option - 2.6.39 (I think) and > the 2.6 option works which is how I'm writing this. But how can I > faultfind the main kernel non-starting? The above doesn't say what distribution is in use, but generally, if it uses grub, press e to edit the command-line, edit the boot lines to try to disable all graphical splash stuff that hides the debugging output and then b to let it boot. When it fails, note any errors or whatever (maybe use a digital camera?) and then those should help you find help on search engines or forums, if it's not obvious (which it often isn't). Hope that helps, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/

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Machine won't start
by Chris Walker 20 Dec '11

20 Dec '11

My machine has recently performed some updates and now it won't boot. It offers a failsafe and another kernel option - 2.6.39 (I think) and the 2.6 option works which is how I'm writing this. But how can I faultfind the main kernel non-starting? -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

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Need FQDN, I seem to have lost it upgrading from xubuntu 11.04 to xubuntu 11.10
by Chris Green 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

I am trying to tidy up/reconfigure after upgrading from xubuntu 11.04 to 11.10. Most things are working but I'm getting a couple of errors that suggest that I have somehow lost my FQDN setting. Both apache2 and leafnode are complaining:- apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName #012Leafnode must have a fully-qualified and globally unique domain name,#012not just "chris". Now I know I *can* fix apache2 by putting a ServerName directive in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf but I didn't have one before. Also the leafnode configuration is unchanged from 11.04 so why am I now getting the error about FQDN? It's probably something very silly I have forgotten somewhere but I really can't see it at the moment. Has anyone any ideas what might be wrong/missing? Oh, the /etc/hosts file on the system is unchanged from 11.04 to 11.10 and has very little at all in it, the system (which is chris, 192.168.1.4) obtains its network settings by DHCP from the DHCP server at 192.168.1.2 which hasn't changed. -- Chris Green

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Digital Signage
by Stuart Bailey 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

Hello, I've been asked to look into digital signage options for an estate agent, to display photos of properties currently on the market. Obviously I would prefer a Linux OSS solution. Are there any suitable packages, distros or suggestions? A quick google has identified xibo and lintop - although lintop is not OSS. Many thanks Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Managing Director) Linux Specialist & Software Developer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone: (0845) 658 3563 Direct: +44 (0) 1953 878162 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 858583 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.linusoft.co.uk __________ Information from ESET Mail Security, version of virus signature database 6717 (20111216) __________ The message was checked by ESET Mail Security. http://www.eset.com

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Can anyone suggest why a system can't see itself on the network?
by Chris Green 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

I have just installed a clean (i.e. from scratch onto a clean hard disk) copy of xubuntu 11.10 onto this system. I have installed a few extra basics I need (like mutt and postfix which I am using to send this) and it's all basically working, connected to the internet, etc.) However, it can't see itself on the LAN. I.e. I can ping localhost OK but I can't ping 'chris' or 192.168.1.4. It definitely *is* chris at 192.168.1.4 as that's........ Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!! :-) Although 'chris' is 192.168.1.4 my desktop system that's supposed to be chris is actually 192.168.1.89, not surprisingly it can't talk to chris or 192.168.1.4. I need to tell it that it has a static IP, or tell the DHCP server that this MAC address needs to be assigned to 192.168.1.4. ... another classic case of "explain the problem and you see the solution"! -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back tonight, Monday 19th December, at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://www.pjmcgintys.co.uk/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich. It's directly opposite the town's central library and has a reputation for good Irish beer. We're usually to be found in the lowest section of the bar, near the library entrance to the pub. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. ** Unfortunately, I'm already booked out on a work engagement earlier tonight so I can't guarantee my attendance tonight. :( I wil endeavour to pop by the pub if I finish early, but if you're planning on attending, I'd recommend asking around on the main mailing list or on IRC to ensure there'll be others heading down! ** Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Keyboard puzzle
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 18 Dec '11

18 Dec '11

Greetings Folks. I have been having problems with a couple of old machines, desktop boxes, which both recently (within a few days of each other) went into "won't switch on" mode. One of these is now solved: the internal power push-button (pushed via an external push-button) had slipped its moorings. Now re-moored, with a touch of superglue to inhibit future wanderings. (The other machine turned out to have a blown PSU, with a short somewhere in it, so probably irrecoverable). Anyway: to the Topic Of The Day. When I switch on the "solved" machine, the (external) keyboard works fine, e.g. I can press Delete to enter BIOS setup, and use the keyboard to navigate the BIOS menus. Also, when it does go into its Linux boot sequence, it happily gets as far as the GRUB menu, where I can choose which version of Linux to boot. Again, the keyboard works for this. Then it goes into the full Linux boot, ending up with a login prompt in a text-terminal console (X hasn't started yet). But, at this stage, the keyboard has no effect. If I enter a userid, nothing changes on screen. No keyboard press produces any effect. So it seems that, somewhere along the line of the boot sequence, it has lost track of the keyboard. No problem, however, with remote access via ethernet from another machine. Two questions: [A] Does anyone have any ideas about the possible source of this glitch, and how to set about fixing it? If relevent, the Linux version is SuSE 7,2 from 2001, with kernal 2.4.4. [B] Normally, there should be no problem using this machine, since I normally access it remotely anyway. However, every so often it will, during boot, decide that a hard drive has beeen unmounted too often without a file system check. So I will need to be able to use the keyboard for this (unless it works through it without problems, needing no intervention). In any case, if there is a power cut (as happens from time to time round here), then I will definitely need the keyboard during the fsck because the file systems will have been "not cleanly unmounted". Also, this state will have been reached before it sets about activating the ethernet ports, so in principle remote access will not be available. So: Is there some way of working round this so as to achieve remote access? With thanks, Ted. ---------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 18-Dec-2011 Time: 16:57:55 This message was sent by XFMail ----------------------------------

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How to remove password having got root access to a system?
by Chris Green 17 Dec '11

17 Dec '11

Well, after a fair amount of hassle, I've worked out how to get root access to the hard disk on the system I have installed xubuntu 11.10 but the main account password is broken. You boot the "Live CD" system and you can then mount the disk and use sudo to become root. So, I can edit /etc/passwd and I can edit /etc/shadow but removing the password field from my main/default user in the /etc/shadow file *still* doesn't allow me to login. Grrrrr!!! What are the requisites for a login to have no password? I thought it was a 'x' in the password field in /etc/passwd and nothing in the password field in /etc/shadow but that seems not to work. -- Chris Green

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Can't get Grub menu to appear, nor the boot sequence text
by Chris Green 17 Dec '11

17 Dec '11

Sort of going on from investigating my boot times I've just realised I seem to be unable to see/start the grub menu on my system. All I see is the BIOS boot sequence, finishing with the SATA drives being detected, then there is a blank screen (though the monitor indicates it is being driven) for several seconds followed finally by the login screen. I have just changed /etc/default/grub to:- GRUB_DEFAULT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian` GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT= GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" ... and I still see absolutely nothing between BIOS and login screen. Any ideas as to what I can do to see the grub screen? Apart from anything else if I have some sort of catastrophe it's going to be a bit difficult to get into single user/command line mode. -- Chris Green

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