11.04 random problems

[larzconwell]

Okay a couple days after i installed my Ubuntu the boot screen was starting to mess up, the images weren't showing up, the boot stuff doesnt have any effects its just the Ubuntu in monospaced text and 4 dots under it, and it isnt centered anymore, its off centered to the top left. and has random text after it. how do i fix that? and Grub 2 only decides to show every once and a while. Also when i booted up today, metacity decided not to run, so i put a command in the start up application to just run metacity, and the wireless manager is running but it isnt starting the connection.

When i booted and metacity & the wireless manager wasnt working i opended up gconf and went to /desktop/applications/window_manager and then i had to reset the Compiz name, and value. and i had to reset the current and default settings. also the number of workspaces was reset, and now when i switch to a different desktop the changer isnt the same. whats going on? and what else could be wrong! this is the only machine i have and i really need it working correctly i dont really need to be worrying about it randomly not booting up correctly one day, im a web developer and i need to work! please help me fix this stuff..

[Copper Bezel]

I can't really help with the grub2-related items, but Compiz replaces Metacity, so the settings are separate and you only need one of them running. If you set the default to compiz in gconf but have "metacity --replace" in your startup applications, you're probably running Metacity now, which is why the desktop switcher looks different. Since you now have the default WM set to compiz, you can probably remove the startup entry for Metacity (or at the very least, switch it to compiz --replace).

As for the network manager applet, is it running but just not connecting automatically? If it's not connecting at all, does restarting the applet help (by running killall nm-applet; nm-applet)?

If it's just not connecting automatically, check "Edit Connections" in its menu and make sure that "Connect Automatically" is checked at the top of the properties window for the connection in question.

Another thing you can try is creating a new user account and seeing if these problems persist there. That way, we can identify whether they're specific to your settings, or if the software is broken.

[larzconwell]

Thanks for the reply!

I didnt know Compiz replaced it Metacity, so i changed the gconf entry's back to compiz and replaced metacity with compiz at startup.

i dont know what was happening with network manager, but its working correctly now!

[Copper Bezel]

Very cool. I guess that just leaves the grub2 problems, then?

[pierreyy]

maybe if you update the grub menu it might work...


sudo update-grub

good luck!

[larzconwell]

yeah but the grub is a big deal, it boots everytime. lol thanks though! and ive tried update-grub.

[pierreyy]

haha , i assume that it didnt work then... try to refresh the grub


sudo grub-install /dev/sda

" Where: /dev/sda is the disk you wish to install GRUB to, (boot.img to first hard disk MBR), otherwise use '/dev/sdb' for second hard disk or '/dev/sdc' for third hard disk. "

i got the command from " http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GRUB2%20Bash%20Commands.html#grub-install (http://members.iinet.net/%7Eherman546/p20/GRUB2%20Bash%20Commands.html#grub-install) "

check it out if u arent sure about the command

let me know if it works out

[Copper Bezel]

If he's seeing it at all, it's there. I don't really understand how it's possible that the menu would display sometimes, but not always.

More specifics might help. I'm assuming that if you need to see the Grub menu, it's a dual-boot machine?

Does holding Shift on boot force the menu to display?

And I guess I oversimplified earlier in saying that the Grub problems were the only thing left - ideally, if someone has any advice on getting the Plymouth splash screen (for the boot sequence) to stop being ugly, that'd be cool, too. = D (I haven't had that problem myself, and I wouldn't know where to start in troubleshooting Plymouth.)

[larzconwell]

Sorry for the late reply. And i figured out what the problem was, it wasnt Grub itself the just Plymouth boot in Ubuntu apparently it doesnt work for a lot of people after you install the proprietary drivers, from ATI, etc. but I found out how to fix the problem, i followed the instructions here http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Fix-the-Big-and-Ugly-Plymouth-Logo-in-Ubuntu-10-04-140810.shtml

Now it shows the splash everytime it boots.

[pierreyy]

great! Dont forget to mark as solved!

[pierreyy]

great! Dont forget to mark as solved!