Grub Rescue

I'm beginning to think that the problem I had with booting to the Kubuntu disc wasn't the disc. I just tried viewing the content of the disc in my file manager, and I had to recycle the tray several times for it to read it. I'm going to connect another optical drive and try it again. Not sure about the overall size of the files and folders on the disc, but when viewing the burned area on the disc itself, it only uses ~5/8". That doesn't look like 700MB+ to me.

Its why I use USB drives, if you need more in the fuuture you can buy morer, these days they can be found real cheap and are a better investment then burning dvd's or CD's

Click to expand...

True enough, but if I keep adding more to my collection, I'll have to start labeling them.

I was a bit concerned when I just booted to Kubuntu a bit ago, because rather than going to desktop, it dropped into a "DOS" mode, but when I decided that I really didn't understand the problem that it squawked about, I just entered the exit command, but instead of it rebooting as expected, it took me directly to the logon screen and then to desktop normally.

It then notified me of the new version available, and I didn't have to use a terminal or any command lines to set it up, because selecting a tray icon opened another logon window and then just clicking the OK button, it took over all by itself. It's still in the process of installing the updates, but at this time I shall assume that it will go alright.

That only leaves one question in my mind, if it matters that the difference in versions on the USB drive the installed versions matters for any reason?

nah, it really doesn't unless you are recovering. and the need to re install is rare
And yeah hiccups happen, Kubuntu can be titchy.

While I think I understand your response, it mingles two terms..."recovering" and "Re installing"in a fashion that leaves a space that doesn't quite answer my question. For me, recovering means repairing an installation already installed, re installing means just that, starting over from the beginning with a new installation.

If the installation on the USB drive is only good for installations, then it would seem that having the current version on it would be the fastest method of doing so. If recovery using the USB drive isn't feasible, then there is no reason to have additional space on it for repetitious installations...is there? I seem to recall you saying that space is useful for it storing changed files, but what files would those be and what good could they do, if it could only start over from scratch?

The live USB is mainly its own separate thing, and yes its mainly good for re installing and not repairing.
But you never really need to re install nor repair an install unless you do something stupid.
But thats why we have the phrase backup now, backup often.
There are ways in linux to make sure your personal data stays safe in case your OS goes down, there are plenty of tools and ways to avoid a disaster.
but learn the system first, right now there is little you can do to totally demolish your system.
Linux isnt that delicate, you just got to know what not to do

I believe it when you say that Linux is reliable in the right hands, but I never discount my own stupidity when it comes to anything to do with computers, whether running Linux or Windows. I'm a slow learner, and it has taken me years to come to the point that I have begun to feel that I am in basic control of Windows. For me to come to that point in Linux, I expect it will take even longer, because of my previous experiences with it. Therefore I tend to think in worst case scenarios.

Well if you need help I am here, and honestly linux isnt that hard.
Something is only as hard as you make it out to be.
Hey some say driving a car is hard, no driving a car is easy.
Its how you drive that matters

You may later regret that offer, but I'll hold you to it.

Well it still stands, I can at lerast point you into a direction if something goes over my head.

A problem that I only touched on lightly earlier, is that it drops out of the boot sequence to the shell. Along with a lot of other data, which I don't think says anything other than possible commands to diagnose the problem, there is also a line that says "Alert! /dev/disk/by -uuid/09937582-7d33-4309-bb1a-c04bb35c7f48 does not exist. dropping to shell." When I exit the shell, it then continues in a normal fashion to the regular desktop. How do I determine what the problem is and what to do about it?

That is odd, how did you partition your drive?
That kind of message sounds like its doing a filesystem check.
How many drives (on your computer) do you have?

I let it automatically use the entire drive. How it did that I'm not sure. I haved 4 internal drives, 1 Linux and 3 Windows. It is odd that I installed Kubuntu with the Windows drives disconnected, so Grub would only see Kubuntu, but Kubuntu produces a boot menu listing all the Windows installations and Kubuntu.

Yes as its boot loader is supposed to install other operating systems so you can have a smooth boot.
In fact that might be the source of your issue, you said you removed the windows drives.
You really didnt have to, Kubuntu would have not touched them unless you wanted it to and it might be picking up the other drives during boot.
This is a normal function, so you can access windows drives in Kubuntu (linux can detect NTFS) and you loading the other hard drives might be giving Kubuntu the hiccups.
It might have not been a good idea to remove the windows drives before installing Kubuntu.
But lets see what we can do to fix this, there is a tool you can install in Kubuntu to make it read the drives and possibly overcome your issue.
Try installing ntfs-config, you read up on software installation in Kubuntu correct?
If not I can give tips.

Going back to your original question, I made a screenshot of the Kubuntu paritions:



I haven't done much of anything yet. Tip away.

Okay thats good, standard Kubuntu partition scheme so your issue is not from that.
So the culprit is probably you not having your windows drives not connected during the Kubuntu install, like I said most likely Kubuntu is trying to load your windows drives during boot.
In any case here is how to (possibly) fix your issue, first read up on how to use Muon, spelled out in great detail here:
Link Removed

and here is another article covering Muon and its parts:
http://netrunner-mag.com/?p=1167

This guide is mainly for netrunner a linux distro based on Kubuntu but its all practically the same (though the screnshots have a different menu setup then the one in Kubuntu, in Kubuntu you have a handy search tool in the menu and in there to search for Muon if you cant find it off the bat, also it gives detail to install chromium... you dont have to its just giving an example of how you normally install apps using Muon)
Muons pretty easy to use in any case, with that tool you can install ntfs-config.

after installing just follow this guide on using ntfs-config:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/automount_ntfs.html

Note: that was dated back in 2008 but the tool has changed just a little but nothing confusing should come up, ignore its instructions on installing as if you followed the muon guide you wont need to re install it.
And also note there is a bug in some version of ntfs-config, the primary program window where you select the drives wont close after hitting the "apply" button
just switch to its secondary window (it opens two windows) and select what you want there, hit "apply" and close both off.

I'm not really very good about reading articles like that, but after scanning over the first one, I ran Muon and searched for ntfs-config, and it listed the 3 items shown in the screenshot:



However, before doing any kind of installations, I have a couple of questions about installations in general. Earlier, I attempted to install Opera 12.16, which may or may not have installed properly. A few moments after using it, the install wizard announced that it was finished, apparently without any problems, but Opera doesn't appear in the start menu anywhere. Does that mean that I'm going to have to do a manual search of the file system for an executable every time that I install anything?

Another related question. When I downloaded Opera, I selected the download directory of Home/Desktop, thinking that it would appear on the desktop, like it would in Windows, but it doesn't. I had to navigate to the Desktop folder to find it.

Kubuntu is so much easier than other distros that I have used in the past, that I had hoped that they would have simplified functions like this also.

EDIT: Back to ntfs-config...should I install all 3 packages listed in the screenshot? If so, does the sequence of their installation matter?

First to answer your main question the first package (ntfs-config) is the one you want to install, any other packages it pulls up are other suggestions and you may not want them.
Sure during your install of the ntfs-config tool it may ask to install other packages but if it does so just confirm and it should be fine, but some applications need other packages to function, these are called dependencies and they are extra packages you need to install along side your main one.
I will explain dependencies some other time but you should not need the other packages listed in your search.
They are suggestions probably, as there are other tools in the repositories (something else I will explain later) that do similar jobs but are not what you are looking for.

As for opera, no you should not have to create a new link manually to each app you install.
Opera can be a bit flaky sometimes and I have not seen it create menu entries once in a while.

As for where your files download to I can help you there too, its advisable that whatever browser you are using (konky is the default one in Kubuntu) that you point it to your /home/downloads folder
The KDE desktop does not really behave like a normal desktop by default, it has something called plasma its own little interface and there is a way to use it like a normal windows desktop and I can teach you that.
One thing at a time though, lets see if you can install that ntfs-config thing and if you have extra steps just inquire.
Usually those extra steps are dependencies but like I said i will get to that when you are ready to install.

Okay, but while awaiting your response, Kubuntu alerted me to some security updates, which I atempted to install. On the first attempt it said...contrary to the alert, that everything was up to date. I ran it again, and it then produced a short list of files to update, so I okayed the installtion, which at first seemed to proceed normally. I think that it downloaded the files, but whether it installed them, I'm not sure, because it the progress indicator kept running continously, with something about a software update list. After a long wait, I attempted to cancel the operation and close the window, but it wouldn't close. I then selected the minimize button, and it totally disappeared, without anything on the taskbar indicating that it was still running (this is a problem with everything else that I have tried, like minimizing Firefox).
Later I tried to restart, but instantly Kubuntu popped a message that the logout was canceled by Muon Updater. The same thing occurred when trying the shutdown command. I finally did a forced restart.

Before trying anything more with Muon, I feel that I need to better understand the issues that I described and how to deal with them. Also I need an understanding of why minimized apps don't appear on the Taskbar?

Minimized apps should appear on the taskbar, thats how its supposed to work.
You may have to reset your kde config, something we will also worry about later as I am more concerned about your aborting the update.
Also updating can hang, its not a good idea to force restart when installing updates and you may face an issue.
I can solve your slow updating issue, but first I have to see if you can do anything at all with updating, if you have any errors while installing something for example.
after booting, just try to install a package in muon and see if it coughs up an error (again aborting an update can cause issues)
try installing something simple like chromium and if it installs fine then you can just remove it but I have to see if any errors crop up first.