antiX installed on HP Omni Book 4150 - Page 3

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 13:59

oldhoghead wrote:I think that Phil is on the right track, when I dl an iso, I check the md5sum and then after burning a cd or dvd I check the md5sum. It will save a lot of grief in the long run. Also, the media that the iso is burned to will impact certain older hardware, I used to use cd-rw, but found that they were very unreliable, they might boot on newer hardware but would fail on my old dell laptop, or if they did work and I manage to do an install, then anomaly's would surface. I now use only quality cd-r or dvd-r. As to the harddrive, you might want to read this post, a short one.

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2795

The op is a long time debian and antiX user who adheres to the KISS philosophy, which I too endorse.

You could spend days trying to figure out what went wrong, but really, double check the md5 sum's', wipe the drive and then reinstall. If you end up in the same boat, well then just chalk it up to experience and move on. The fact that XP worked fine on that laptop, but ran slow is not surprising. XP was very efficient in running on low ram, contrary to what many may think about XP. But, of course you had to deal with BSOD, virus's, spam, etc. and remember the hardware was designed for windows. I have found that where XP ran but was slow, when I installed antiX it really flew. I know from working with older hardware that it is exasperating at times, but a real joy when I did get it working.
I don't know why you got a debain boot screen, but the fact that you can't do anything there is indicative of a failed install, ie bad burn, etc.
Just my 2c

cheers,
ohh

I used the same media (CD) to install antiX on one of my PCs and the installation is done successfully. I have never ever faced any problem with MD5SUM. Always the MD5SUM of the downloaded iso files are equal to the MD5SUM of that distribution.
I know what you mean but if I used the same CD to install antiX successfully on one of my PCs and I used it again to install antiX on the laptop's HDD while it's connected to the same PC where antiX was installed successfully (yes, I unplugged all the internal HDD before I connected the laptop's HDD) which means same CPU, same RAM, same everything except the HDD, the chance of media failure is ZERO in my humble opinion.
You could be right IF and ONLY IF I installed antiX while the HDD of that laptop is inside that laptop which is not what happened in my case.

Allow me to disagree with you and the other user who recommended to check MD5SUM. However, I might re-install again but I'll use this method:
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Installation_Tips"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title= ... ation_Tips"
====================================

I just need to make sure I can do that and the chance is high to get it up and running.

I thought someone could walk me through to fix it and get the GUI instead of CLI.

By the way, I found out that hda1 was not set as bootable. I ran"fdisk -l" and there's no (*) next to hda1. I set it as bootable but that did not change the fact that I'm still getting the same thing.

Before I re-install, I'd like to know:

1- How to check the HDD for error? I tried fschk but it gave me error (bash: command not found).
Is there any way to make sure the HDD is fine and error free?

2- Is there anyway to start the desktop? I mean, another command rather than"startx"? or startx is the only command to start the GUI?

Thank you!

plvera · posted: 2010-11-24 15:10

For what it's worth, I agree with you that the mdsum is not the problem, since you can install it Antix fine in other computers.

As for your other question, I don't think you can (or should) run fschk in a mounted disk. Maybe if the livecd runs ok, run fschk from livecd?? You might also have to be root to run fschk (even in the livecd).

Also, I don't know of any other way of starting X windows than the startx command.

Good luck!

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 15:22

plvera wrote:For what it's worth, I agree with you that the mdsum is not the problem, since you can install it Antix fine in other computers.

As for your other question, I don't think you can (or should) run fschk in a mounted disk. Maybe if the livecd runs ok, run fschk from livecd?? You might also have to be root to run fschk (even in the livecd).

Also, I don't know of any other way of starting X windows than the startx command.

Good luck!

The CD-Drive on that laptop doesn't read any CD, it's dead and that's why I had to connect the HDD of that laptop to my PC and install from there. I just hate to disconnect it again, connected to my PC, etc ... but guess I have no other choice. Even"Boot from iso on hard-disk" method won't work for me.

Is there any other command except"fschk"?

Thank you __{{emoticon}}__

plvera · posted: 2010-11-24 15:28

Sorry, I forgot about your lack of CD.

I don't know of any other command than fschk. Did you try unmounting the drive before running it?

As root:
umount /dev/hda1 (or whatever drive: sda#)
fsck -f /dev/hda1 (or whatever drive)

I hope this helps.

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 15:40

plvera wrote:Sorry, I forgot about your lack of CD.

I don't know of any other command than fschk. Did you try unmounting the drive before running it?

As root:
umount /dev/hda1 (or whatever drive: sda#)
fsck -f /dev/hda1 (or whatever drive)

I hope this helps.

It's ok, never mind __{{emoticon}}__

I tried:

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umount /dev/hda1

Then it said: umount: /dev/hda1: not mounted

When I type:

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fsck -f /dev/hda1

It says /dev/hda1 is mounted and if I'll continue, my system files could be damaged.

An off-topic note: Why every time I click anything here, it kicks me out and I have to login again? __{{emoticon}}__ I have to login every time I need to check new post or reply.

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 17:14

Guys,

Guess what just happened?

Remember when I have to enter"root" as a password in order to access the CLI? or press Ctrl + D to continue?
It's the stage after I edit the boot option and write: /dev/hda1 instead of /dev/sda1.

Ok, I feel really so bad because this is the first time in my entire life. Good news is, I finally got the login screen and password to login to antiX desktop (GUI) after pressing Ctrl+D. WORSE NEWS EVER: I forgot the user name and password __{{emoticon}}__
I swear this is the first time and I feel so stupid. I usually use something I could remember but not sure what happened this time.

Is there any command or anyway to fix that? at least to know the user name? I know the name of the machine but that's not enough.
However, the weird thing is ... when I write one of the user names I usually use with"root" as a password, it says that I exceeded the number of attempts, turn to CLI and show the login box again. It does that even if it's the first attempt. I don't know why"root" as a password doesn't work with certain user name I perhaps used?

So, please, is there any way to get out of this silly hole? after weeks of trying so hard, I got the GUI but can't login __{{emoticon}}__
I want to shoot myself now.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2010-11-24 18:25

I think that in /home you should have a folder set up with the name of your user account. I can't help you with the password.

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 18:38

dolphin_oracle wrote:I think that in /home you should have a folder set up with the name of your user account. I can't help you with the password.

Yes, but I didn't let me access /home for some reason __{{emoticon}}__

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2010-11-24 18:46

Ok, if you can get to /etc, you can look in /etc/group (its a text file) and you'll see different groups and the users in each one. Your user name should appear in there somewhere.

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$ nano /etc/group

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 19:04

dolphin_oracle wrote:Ok, if you can get to /etc, you can look in /etc/group (its a text file) and you'll see different groups and the users in each one. Your user name should appear in there somewhere.
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$ nano /etc/group 

That was VERY MUCH helpful, thanks a lot __{{emoticon}}__
Now, I have to figure out what was the password.

If I failed to login, I have to format and install again.

anticapitalista · posted: 2010-11-24 19:25

Best to create a new user and login to that.

When booting, type the number 3 at the grub prompt, login as root, then

adduser (choose your name)

You'll be prompted for a password and then reboot and boot as normal. You might need to make some changes if you manage to get into a gui.

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 19:39

anticapitalista wrote:Best to create a new user and login to that.

When booting, type the number 3 at the grub prompt, login as root, then

adduser (choose your name)

You'll be prompted for a password and then reboot and boot as normal. You might need to make some changes if you manage to get into a gui.

I was waiting for you __{{emoticon}}__

Yes, definitely that's the best option.
Just one silly questions. How do I get into"grub prompt"? can I do that while I'm at:
root@MYPCNAME:#
or that's not possible?

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 19:54

I managed to get the"grub prompt" but whenever I type 3, I got error message (unrecognized command).
When I type"Help", there is no command has"3" or"adduser". All what I got is: boot, reboot, hide, halt, find, etc.

The only way I managed so far to get to root since I started this thread until now is when I type"root" as a password after I edit the boot option to /dev/hda1.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2010-11-24 20:09

you add the"3" to the end of the boot option line

TheForsaken · posted: 2010-11-24 20:15

dolphin_oracle wrote:you add the"3" to the end of the boot option line

The boot option line in my laptop is:

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root=/dev/sda1 nomce quiet nosplash vga=791

I need to change sda1 to hda1. When I add 3 after 791, nothing happened. I got error message after I provide the root's password and type: adduser MYUSERNAME.
It says:
Bash: adduser: command not found