Doctor, It Hurts When I Boot My Linux

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Matt Arnold
October 13, 2005

The hard drive on my Linux computer is 2.7 gigabytes. And yet when I upgraded from Kubuntu Breezy Badger Beta to the official release of Breezy Badger, it reported that it couldn't finish the process because the hard drive is full. I checked the properties panel for the hard drive and indeed, it was full.

My problem today is that when I type in my password (which I know is correct) to log into the computer, the monitor clicks as if changing resolution, the screen goes black, then grey with a grainy clock mouse cursor, and then back to the log in screen again.

Comments


zifferent on Oct. 13, 2005 12:32 AM

Hit and login at the prompt with your login name and password.

type:

df

and copy and paste the results here.

To conserve some space you might want to clear your apt-get cache by typing:

apt-get clean

Try df again and see if you've cleared out some space.


matt-arnold on Oct. 13, 2005 2:15 AM

If only I could copy the results from the Linux command line output and paste them into Livejournal... But I will type it. The output is:

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 2949028 2914060 0 100% /
tmpfs 63500 0 63500 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 63500 12572 50928 20% /lib/modules/2.6.12-8-6/volatile

I tried apt-get clean and it told me I didn't have permission. Then I heard a voice in my head, either yours or 's or Aaron's or that of , saying "Use the sudo, Luke. Cease all thought. Search out with your feelings. May the sudo be with you, always." So I typed sudo apt-get clean and it worked! See, I'm getting the hang of this.

Now the new output is:

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 2949028 2377632 421592 85% /
tmpfs 63500 0 63500 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 63500 12572 50928 20% /lib/modules/2.6.12-8-6/volatile

What should I do now?


mjwise on Oct. 13, 2005 12:33 AM

Hm, Random Guess: The new install got to install perhaps a new version of X and some new startup scripts that call a particular new or update window manager or desktop environment, but the install ran out of space before it got to install said new or updated window managers. As a result, attempting to login tries to start a window manager that isn't there to be started, and thus the startup fails back to the login screen.

I haven't used linux regularly for about 5 years now though, so I wouldn't be sure how to fix it, especially on today's new-fangled distributions. (Back in my day, we had RedHat Linux 4.0 and we liked it! ;) )


zifferent on Oct. 13, 2005 12:36 AM

that should say ctrl + alt + f1. I used greater than and less than symbols and, lj thinks it's html.


matt-arnold on Oct. 13, 2005 3:55 AM

Thanks for the help. I used sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get dist-upgrade like you said. I restarted it and it's getting past the login screen now, but all it runs is Konsole.


zifferent on Oct. 13, 2005 12:48 PM

Goody! Do the update. And then dist-upgrade till it reports 0 updates/installs, and then reboot.

If you're getting errors upon dist-upgrading, you may need hands-on technician type help.

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