Hello! I'm a fairly recent Linux convert and have been running KnoppMyth R5B7 for the past few months without any issue until recently when I ran an apt-get to install MozillaFirefox. It appears that during the process my xserver was somehow uninstalled and now I have no access to the system.

I've search this forum looking for a way to fix this issue and found out that others with similar issues resolved them by reinstalling their entire system. I'm pretty sure that my wife would kill me if I lost all her shows, so I'm here begging for help in recovering the system before my untimely demise...

I guess what I'm looking for is a way to boot the system to a command prompt so that I can run an apt-get to reinstall the xserver. I tried several key combinations during the boot process to get a command prompt but all of them failed. Remember I'm a noob to Linux so go easy on me... However all input is welcome, thanks!

Alex

Hi,
No problem with being new to linux, guess what.. most have had to learn somewhere along the way.

The apt-get install firefox should not have broken your KM machine. Question is what occurred before the apt-get and what sort of error messages are you seeing at this point?

Those on the forum that maybe able to assist can't read minds nor see the display or log messages, so you have to provide the information and be the eyes.

Assuming you have a windows box, maybe have already gotten or will get real soon PuTTY. It is a very valuable tool to use to look inside your KM box. Your xserver failure may not be related to firefox but just a coincidence.

Beginning questions.
What occurred just before failure?
Does it boot ?
If so, to what point?
Can you ssh into the KM box using putty? (hint login as mythtv)
df -h will show space available
tail -100 /var/log/messages will show the last hundred entries

You got to give the folks some information before any help can even be offered.
Mike

Volunteer some hardware information also

Mike is right in looking for more information, but actually it is quite likely that you hosed your box by apt-getting firefox. Others have had the same experience. The problem is that many packages (often including xserver) are erroneously uninstalled during an apt-get installation. Remember the point where it said 'I want to do this...' and you pressed 'Y"? That was a good point to stop and read what it wanted to do. Unfortunately that is not very newbie friendly if you don't appreciate what its asking. There is a wiki entry on minimising the hazard by changing your apt-get sources.

Furthermore, AFAIK there isnt an easy way to recover the box that I've heard of. Reinstalling or upgrading is recommended. You can keep the actual data files for shows you've recorded, but its likley you'll lose the database that tells you whats in each one. There is a script to pull these data files back into your system after an upgrade if you don't have a database backup, but it will only be able to recover the times and channel details, not program name or description. If you backup the /myth/tv and /myth/pretty directories then you may be to recover the info you need but its laborious.

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

You might find this useful:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9299

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

Hi,

nickread is also correct, however I am an optimist and until I have more facts, the jury will stay out. It is a 50/50 .

Mike

Thanks for asking those clarifying questions, I’ll explain a little further and check out that link Nick provided.

Regarding Hardware: I’m running a 1GHz P3 with 512 RAM, NVIDIA 64 MB video and Hauppauge 250. I’m using an IR blaster to talk to a Panasonic VCR that’s connected to digital cable via coaxial and the Hauppauge via RCA.

Regarding recent changes: I was running KnoppMyth using only the default OOB software when I added VNCServer so I could remote control the console. I got that running successfully when I decided to install Mozilla as well. I ran the “apt-get install mozilla” to start the install when about half-way through I got a warning message saying:

“Debian Configuration
Configuring x11-common

Major possible upgrade issues

Some users have reported that upon upgrade to the current package set, their xserver package was no longer installed. Because there is no easy way around this problem, you should be sure to check that the xserver-xorg package is installed after upgrade. If it is not installed and you require it, it is recommended that you install the xorg package to make sure you have a fully functional X setup.”

Here’s a link to a screenshot I snagged through UltraVNC: http://my.starstream.net/ajharris/pics/SnapShot178.jpg

At this point I figured I didn’t want to risk loosing the Xserver so I tried to cancel the Mozilla installation but apparently I was not successful.

So now when the system starts it goes through POST and LILO starts running but the screen immediately goes blank and gives me no options. I know most of the other processes eventually come online because I’ve got an XBOX running XBMC with the MythTV script that can still connect over the network to the backend and view programs and update recording schedules.

I found a reference to this issue in Debian’s wiki, but it only provides proactive steps to avoid the situation, not recover from it. http://wiki.debian.org/Xorg69To7#head-7 ... aacc273f97

I tried SSH’ing to it with a program called Tera Term but was disconnected. When I get back home I’ll download Putty and try again. If Putty doesn’t work then I'll still need to find a way to get LILO to boot to a CMD line so I can try to reinstall the xserver.

Do you think that upgrading from R5B7 to R5C7 will resolve the xserver issue and still retain my existing configurations and files?

Hi QuillerWRX,

Doesn't sound good. IF you have done a recent backup you will retain most of the "stuff" with an auto upgrade or manual install. Look around for some wise words of wisdom from tjc about backup. Lots of good tips, of course, you need to get to a console or a terminal some how.

Curious, once the box is up and running, have you tried a ctl + alt + F2 ? or an alt + F2 ? Maybe someone has some additional tips on how to pull a rescue. The odds are going downward

Mike

I don't think your odds of a rescue are bad at all, compared to say, a database crash. You've shown that the box is still running just fine as a backend, so all your important files are there. I believe that installing R5C7 would cure your problem, because it wipes out the root partition and reinstalls all the apps fresh, including the Xserver. (BTW, I think a cause of your problem was that Knoppmyth uses XFree86 and Debian now uses Xorg, and so some dependencies can't get resolved properly using only the Debian repositories.) As mjl pointed out, you will have to get a commandline somehow, either from a remote shell or locally. From there you can run Knoppmyth's backup, /usr/local/bin/mythbackup (at least, I assume its called that in R5B7, I'm going from my R5C7 disk). That will backup your database, your /home and your /etc, so all your config files will be saved to your /myth partition (it is a separate partion, right?). The config files for your Xserver are sure to still be around, apt never deletes configuration files unless specifically ordered to. From there, an auto upgrade to R5C7 should get you back in business. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.

Hi,

If he uses tjc's backup tool carefully, then it will backup config files. I make a directory in /myth/tools and copy the files I want to protect there and also dump them to a memory stick as insurance.

Besure to check the wiki for some great information. As a tid-bit, I always use mozilla and never have any issues.

Mike

Just to followup on this topic, I was able to SSH into the device using Putty, but I could not figure out how to reinstall xserver. So I ran mythbackup and saved the files to another PC before attempting the upgrade from R5B7 to R5C7. Following the upgrade, I was able to get into the gui again and found my backup already restored along with most of my previous functionality! I've got another issue now, but I'll post a separate thread since its unrelated to the orginal problem.

Thanks helping me out with this!

Alex