less of an idiot (Ubuntu issues)

I finally got Ubuntu 8.10 installed and working. Hurray! On my second try it saw wireless and connected. Hurray! I was able to get video and audio working. Hurray!

Issue: when I hibernated after downloading several files, the monitor went black as usual, but the computer didnt shut off. After about 5 minutes I had no choice but to power off. When I rebooted the files I had downloaded to my desktop were gone. Next time it hibernated OK.

This troubles me. I dont like losing files.

 

You can force an fsck and then test hibernation again. Forcing an fsck at boot will probably give you less of a chance of filesystem corruption like losing files.

To force fsck:

Code:

sudo sh -c ">/forcefsck"

 

Hibernation in linux is a mess. It might be simpler and faster to just shut it down and restart.

 

Yeah, shutting down and rebooting doesnt take very long so thats certainly OK by me.

New question: how can I access my windows drives/files when windows is hibernating? When I try I get error messages about mounting and deleting hibersomethings but I dont fully understand them. I would like to always have them available, and not have to go through an ordeal every time, if possible. My xp installation is on deaths door and takes forever to reboot if its not hibernating...

And: how do I get Ubuntu to quit asking me to login at startup, and for doing every administrative thing I want to do?

Thanks! I'm starting to have a little fun now...

 

I don't know what you mean by access windows while hibernating, that doesn't make sense to me.

auto login: System->Administration->Login Window->Security->Enable Automatic Login, select your username from the dropdown.

You can give yourself more permissions by going to:
System->Administration->Users and Groups->Click to make Changes
Select your username, click Properties, go to the User Privileges tab, and check all the boxes.

To get it to stop asking you for a password for sudo/gksudo you can change your /etc/sudoers file.

Find the line that has your username and change it to read:
username ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

 

I just mean I want to access files on my 2 non-Ubuntu drives. It wont let me do that (unless I follow instructions I dont fully understand) if windows is hibernating, I have to have it completely shut down then those drives are available to me in Ubuntu.

I'll try that process for the permissions, thanks

 

I think I understand, you could probably mount them read only, but you should absolutely not write to a disk that has been hibernated, because it's impossible to tell what'll happen to it when you thaw. It's probably better not to touch it at all, but do it read-only if you are going to force it.

 

So I need to shut down windows completely if I want to use those files. Oh well, thats just another reason to never start it up again...

But I have new, bigger problems. Last time I booted Ubuntu it said "unclean shutdown" and started what I presume was fcsk on its own. Then I got a bunch of messages including

/dev/sda6: Unexpected inconsistencies; run fcsk manually (ie without -a or -p options)

fcsk died with exit status 4

*an automatic file system check of the root file system failed. A manual fsck should be performed in maintenance mode with the root file system in read-only mode.

*the root file system is currently mounted in read only mode. A maintenance shell will now be started. After performing system maintenance press Control-D to terminate the shell and restart

bash: no job control in this shelll
-----------------------------------
not knowing what to do but feeling adventurous, I typed fsck and pushed enter

Twice it said something along the lines of Inode (numbers) is part of orphaned (something). Fix? This sounded innocuous enough so I said yes twice.

Then It asked me a whole bunch of questions about whether to fix or repair this or that, and I lost my sense of adventure and said no to each one. At one point it mentioned one of the files that vanished earlier, and asked "Clear?", to which I said no. When it was done I rebooted and it ran the check again without incident. When I got back to my desktop 2 of the 3 files I had lost were back again. The missing one was the one I said "No" on.
That doesnt bother me, I can download it again, but I obviously have other issues.

Do I need to run fcsk again, and if so, how do I answer questions I dont understand? haha....this is fun, in a terrifying sort of way...but I'd gladly trade the fun for a computer that just works.

 

You don't need to run it again now, generally you can run fsck with the -y flag to answer yes to all... it's usually safe. If you're going to do anything risky you can forcefsck before you do it, and hopefully avoid having to do an fsck by hand, which is usually the worst case.

 

How did you format your ubuntu partition? If it is a non-journaling filesystem like ext2 you will run into more errors like this. If you are running on an ssd, then you should use ext2 anyway. Otherwise give ext3 or ext4 a shot.

Yup, when you hibernate your windows partition you should not try to access it. That would be a bad deal. What you may consider doing is setting up another partition for sharing files between the two operating systems.

 

also, install ntfs-config from the repo....it will automagically set your fstab for you to access your windows drive and any externals.

 

The drive was not formatted before I installed Ubuntu 9.10. I didnt like that installation. I tried to install 8.10 over the top but it asked questions I couldnt answer, so I just deleted the partition 9.10 was in and installed 8.10 in that space. It didnt ask me anything about formatting but it appears to me from df -T that ext3 is the file system. But if I'm not an idiot still I'm only one step away...

 

Explain please?

 

Install ntfs-config from the repo. Then in a terminal, type and run

Code:

sudo ntfs-config

the rest is self explanatory. Also check the box to mount external media.

 

What video card do you have?

 

New issue: my fan ran at high speed quite a bit last night, possibly related to when the computer was inactive for a while and running screensaver.

 

Was it a fancy, graphics intense screen saver? Try just a blank one and see if it happens.

 

Screensavers are usually ridiculously resource heavy. For a laptop, your best bet would be to have the display power down.

 

Screensavers are for literally saving CRT monitor lifetimes, though. Why the hell are they still around?

 

Dont they also help LCDs ?

At least the blank black ones should ?

 

Depends on what you mean by help, but in the sense of a screen saver helping CRT's, no, not really. Since an LCD is using the back-light to display black (it's not a true black like, say, OLED) it's best to just have it power off.

Would you see any difference 2 years down the road from a blank screensaver vs powering down? Probably not, but the only actual way to "extend" the life of your screen is not to use it.

 

Only way they could help is by unstucking a pixel. Otherwise, they are just burning out the backlight.

 

Do LCD lifespans get shortened if the LCD is powered down and up repeatedly several times a day ?

 

I don't think I've yet heard of an LCD panel failing. The backlights are the most susceptible to failure and their life spans are probably shortened by repeated power-ons, but manufacturers are steadily switching to LED backlighting.