Help! a Gnome has screwed my laptop!

[aa00]

Hi, I'm utterly at a loss... I installed and ran gnome in order to test a tablet bug. Everything ran fine, did my test then switched back to kde and removed gnome. Now my laptop won't boot. Just hangs with a blank screen not getting to kdm.

Something with the gnome installation screwed with the boot process and I can't find what is wrong. I've reinstalled every package I can think of using apt-get install --reinstall but nothing has an effect. I've tried removing and reinstalling kubuntu-desktop, the x-server, kdm etc. I've manually removed bits left over from the gnome installation from /etc/alternatives and /etc/init. I've poured over the logs but can't see anything wrong.

I can run in recovery mode and manually launch kdm and things sort of work, but I can't get full screen resolution, networking, and there seem to be things missing in /dev. I'm assuming all these latter problems are because I'm running in some cut-back recovery mode.

I really don't want to have to wipe the disk and start again ... surely there must be a better way?

[sithlord48]

boot to recovery mode (hold **** while grub is starting up ) use a root terminal and then the command

apt-get isntall kubuntu-desktop

that should dl and install the packages you need to have stock kubuntu back. if you use wifi you need to plug in for internet to do this.

[aa00]

Already tried that. No go.

I can bring up a network in recovery mode using ifconfig and route, and I've tried reinstalling various packages.

It's something early on in the process though, as my laptop never gets to kdm. I know that gnome messes around right down to the grub loader because the splash screen got changed on grub. Frankly I find that invasive and rude.

Something in the boot sequence from grub to kdm got changed or is missing.

[aa00]

Fixed it finally. Had to install xdm, do a purge of kdm, kubuntu-desktop and wicd, then reinstall them. Not sure what the problem was, there was at least one segfault mentioned in the logs with kded4 and solid_wicd.so but that may have been unrelated.

Now to get rid that grub splash screen...

[SteveRiley]

Now to get rid that grub splash screen...


See Plymouth is for Pilgrims, not PCs (http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3118352.0a).

[aa00]

ahh, spoke too soon. I can reboot but my network is slow as molasses, I've lost the use of touchpad, can't put the laptop into sleep, it's running much hotter than it used to, power management doesn't work ...

wow, all that from a simple desktop change. Reason enough not to touch Gnome with a barge pole.

Before giving up and wiping the disk and starting again I'll give debugging another go.

kded4 dies with a segmentation fault. This at least seems to be responsible for some of the power management and other features. If I run it on the console I get:


`--> kded4
Failed to read classid file: Object not found
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
kded(6645): device list missing for company ID: "08ca"
kded(6645): device list missing for company ID: "17ef"
kded(6645): device list missing for company ID: "1b96"
kded(6645): mapTabletToScreen :: can't parse ScreenSpace entry => device: "Wacom ISDv4 E3 Pen stylus"
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path "/modules/muon-notifier"
kded(6645): The kded module name ' "muon-notifier" ' is invalid!
kded(6645)/kmix sink_input_cb: Ignoring sink-input due to it being designated as an event and thus handled by the Event slider
QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::deviceFound(Device*) to BlueDevilDaemon::deviceFound(Device*)
QObject::connect: Cannot connect QTimer::timeout() to (null)::stopDiscovery()
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/bin/kded4 from kdeinit
sock_file=/home/alexei/.kde/socket-entropy/kdeinit4__0
Warning: connect() failed: : No such file or directory
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/bin/kded4 directly
KCrash: Application 'kded4' crashing...
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/drkonqi from kdeinit
sock_file=/home/alexei/.kde/socket-entropy/kdeinit4__0
Warning: connect() failed: : No such file or directory
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/drkonqi directly
kded(6644): Communication problem with "kded" , it probably crashed.
Error message was: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply" : " "Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)" "

Failed to read classid file: Object not found
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
kded(6696): device list missing for company ID: "08ca"
kded(6696): device list missing for company ID: "17ef"
kded(6696): device list missing for company ID: "1b96"
kded(6696): mapTabletToScreen :: can't parse ScreenSpace entry => device: "Wacom ISDv4 E3 Pen stylus"
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path "/modules/muon-notifier"
kded(6696): The kded module name ' "muon-notifier" ' is invalid!
kded(6696)/kmix sink_input_cb: Ignoring sink-input due to it being designated as an event and thus handled by the Event slider
QObject::connect: Cannot connect (null)::deviceFound(Device*) to BlueDevilDaemon::deviceFound(Device*)
QObject::connect: Cannot connect QTimer::timeout() to (null)::stopDiscovery()
kded(6694): Communication problem with "kded" , it probably crashed.
Error message was: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply" : " "Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)" "

QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 14 and type 'Read', disabling...


Any ideas?

[aa00]

Thanks Steve, I fully agree with your sentiment about Plymouth. At this stage it looks like I'm heading for a much more radical solution by ditching kubuntu entirely. Long backup in progress...

[Teunis]

Another lesson why it's beneficial to have a separate /home partition.

[aa00]

Nicely called Teunis! I was feeling ashamed over that ;) I got lazy since I always misjudge the sizes.

Since I'm wiping the system I decided to go elsewhere than ubuntu. I've been exclusively on linux for a couple of decades and on kubuntu for about 5 years. At first it was good but in the last couple of years kubuntu has grow steadily more unstable and now each so called upgrade brings new regressions in hardware support and I'm sick of continually trying to fix my wireless, or sound, or graphics card, or tablet, or hibernation, or just to get the damn thing to boot.

Kubuntu would be sooooo much better if the devs concentrated more one stability and less on gloss.