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View Full Version : New Knoppix 5.3.1 Issues



rvijay
04-12-2008, 04:53 PM
I got the Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD
How can I catch the modprobe errors slowly after login ? They all scrollby so fast during boot. Same doesn't happen during the Live CD use.
So, I tried the comand: #cat /proc/kmseg to get everything that happens at boot and post here. Unfortunately, that doesn't do anything and just stays there.

During HD Install, I was asked and set a root passwd. This works ok from the command prompt. However, it is no good to run sound config etc., from the icons on the desktop bar. This is confusing apart from being wrong security.

Also, I have Knoppix DVD installed to HD on another PC. This is an older version. Network card config and other desktop bar items in it take the password. However, they don't save it. So, I need to configure network card each time I login. This is a pain.

Thank You.

Vijay

rvijay
04-12-2008, 09:00 PM
I also verified that from the command prompt I am able to use my root password properly to login as root. So, there is nothing wrong with my root password.

johnrw
04-13-2008, 07:50 PM
Maybe you could post some more details.

cat /proc/cmdline
Here's mine...(grub4dos style, may have errors like BOOT_IMAGE= may not even need to be there)

title Knoppix 5.3.1 0wn
root (hd1,7)
kernel /vmlinuz init=/etc/init root=/dev/hdb8 ramdisk_size=100000 knoppix lang=us apm=power-off nomce ide1=reset quiet dma libata.atapi=1 SELINUX_INIT=NO nmi_watchdog=0 vga=791 BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix 2

Which installer did you use? You could try using Ctrl-S to stop the eaarly spew... and use Ctrl-Q to let it scroll again. I'm not sure if it works in that context.

If you open a root console, and type passwd knoppix, you will set the knoppix passwd. This should be system wide.
You can change root's password that way as well... with just passwd.

I have better luck running alsaconf as root to setup the sound hardware. If you are running sndconfig, Klaus has a script which is called soundcardconfig that might help.

rvijay
04-14-2008, 04:50 AM
A. cat /proc/cmdline
Vijay@box:~$ cat /proc/cmdline
root=/dev/sda6 rw ramdisk_size=100000 lang=us apm=power-off nomce vga=791

root@box:/home/Vijay# cat /proc/kmseg
cat: /proc/kmseg: No such file or directory

B. Passowrd solution didn't help, Issue still persists
Vijay@box:~$ su
Password:
root@box:/home/Vijay# passwd knoppix
passwd: unknown user knoppix
root@box:/home/Vijay# passwd
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
root@box:/home/Vijay# exit
exit

C. For insttallation, I used knoppix-installer

johnrw
04-14-2008, 05:36 AM
New in 5.3.1 is Klaus taking charge of the Knoppix installing in a set of scripts called 0wn... and yes, that's a zero.
It stands for Zero Work Needed. I would try that. On your installation you already have... it doesnt look like there is a knoppix user.
No problem... you can add that, right?

If you try out 0wn, before you do, try and set up the root passwd and the knoppix user passwd. It will get carried into the new installation, although
it may ask for a root passwd. I'd also recommend doing it from a clean boot on dvd media.

In 0wn, there are 3 choices of the type of installation... and I picked the one that indicated it would preserve as much Knoppix as possible.
I did not let it write to my mbr though. It will leave a menu.lst or a grub.conf you can use to setup your boot loader... if you already have one.
But the kernel params are important. Before you scrub your installation... try adding those params to your kernel cmdline to see if it improves something.

rvijay
04-14-2008, 07:47 AM
Thank you for your response. I would appreciate some clarifications.
What are these kernel cmdline parameters ? How can I add them ?

Inorder to try Own, do I have to remove my present install ?

Thank You.

Vijay

johnrw
04-14-2008, 07:27 PM
Your questions expose more questions... :)
If you have setup a single partition too install knoppix to, then yes, you would need to empty that partition somehow.
I am not going to claim to be a 0wn expert... except that I did use it... carefully.

Do you have a windows installation in the same pc, you would like to protect? If so, and since you are not familiar with kernel parameters... might I suggest a better way to run knoppix? That would be to run Knoppix using nothing more than the iso file you downloaded. If you would like an unbreakable and just as fast Knoppix, run with the persistent home you may get more mileage out if your install efforts. It is my suggestion for newer users.

Can you post a, fdisk -l /dev/hdx for every hard disk in your pc? x being the number of the drive beginning at 1.

If you'd like to see if you can use grub4dos in tandem with the Windows boot loader... where you add an entry to your C:\boot.ini to tell windows to load something else than NTLDR, this requires you to add a few lines to your C:\Boot.ini

[operating systems]
C:\GRLDR="Knoppix"

and download grldr and save it to C:\GRLDR

You can get grldr here. (Right click... Save As)
http://home.comcast.net/~johnrw/grldr

This will just be a test... and if you remove the grldr line from boot.ini and delete grldr it is removed. Since you won't have a c:\menu.lst yet... grldr will error if you select "Knoppix", but that's okay... just reboot.

Now if you already have grub or lilo showing a menu at startup... then it's too late for that.

So... how is your computer being started? If it already has the real grub or lilo... then it is already using files stored on your knoppix installation... so you should not mess with it until you restore Windows' control of the startup process.

If so, we would need to put the standard windows boot loader code back into your first hard disk's 1st sector.
Since I have found website's that actually publish that code... it is a small thing to do... but should be done correctly. Actually it is only the first 446 bytes of the first sector... but it is always the same on English versions.

:)

johnrw
04-14-2008, 07:39 PM
If you boot your knoppix, and then do
dd of=./mbrcode.bin if=/dev/hda bs=1 count=446 that will give us an idea of who is booting your pc. (To restore the Windows code you just write a file back to the first 446 bytes.)

You can upload the mbrcode.bin file at http://filebin.ca/ and paste the link they give you back here.

rvijay
04-15-2008, 05:55 AM
I have multiple partitions setup. Moreover, my first partition is Windows XP. I have set Grub as the boot loader and it is installed to the MBR. I will reflect on all your suggestions.

Perhaps the simple solution to my problem is to just use the commandline if I need to configure sound card etc., in the future. From the console, when I go root, everything seems to work fine. I only have problems when I use the Knoppix interface to do these things.

Vijay

johnrw
04-15-2008, 07:13 AM
Well since you know what bootloader you have...

Remember... when you break it... and we all have had our share of broken installs, to try and run it from the iso.
I will not be on these forums as much as I'd like... in the near future... so if and when you want to run it from an iso file, look up Gilles Van Ruymbeke on this forum. He is the best one to get you running from iso. He started the thread that has been viewed more than 400k times, and knows. He makes the minirt that makes it possible to do so from an ntfs partition... which is required to hold a whole dvd file for windows, on every Knoppix release.

You might want to try the 0wn installer... but I remember it has a requirement... 1 GB of swap space. I don't know the exact space requirements in MB for the fdisk program... so I gave in and setup a 1100 MB swap partition before I did the install, the second time. If you don't like it... then you can just reinstall the knoppix-installer version.

regards