Botting up Support Options

[Clayman1000x]

I am still new to Ubuntu but I am having a problem when booting into Ubuntu 10.10. When I turn on the computer, after a few screens go by I see a boot manager giving me the option of:

1: Earlier Versions of Windows
2: Windows 7
3: Ubuntu

All OSes are working with no trouble. But when I try to boot into Ubuntu, I get another boot screen that states:

1: Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.35-28-generic
2: Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.35-28-generic (recovery mode)
3: Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.35-22-generic
4: Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)
5: Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda2)

When I choose 1 or 3, quite often it doesn't load up the startup GUI, it loads up some command line crap that I don't understand yet, where I type in reboot until I finally get Ubuntu loaded, this happens several times then finally works to the point I can log in. What could be going on, my install is inside Windows 7, not a full install if that matters.
What is the difference between line 1 and 3?

OS: Windows XP Pro triple boot with Win 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 10.10

Update: I tried booting up Ubuntu using line 1 three times and finally went to line 3 twice and Ubuntu finally booted.

[michaelk]

The difference between line 1 and 3 is the kernel version 2.6.35-28 vs 2.6.35-22. You can go kernel.org to see what changes have been made. It is typical for upgrades to keep earlier versions just in case something goes wrong during the process.

Something (maybe graphics adapter) is not automatically being detected correctly when the x server starts (part of the GUI) and so ubuntu is dropping you into the command line shell. You can log in with your regular username and try using the command
startx

Post the errors.

[Clayman1000x]

I just tried to login to Ubuntu again and ran into this snag again, I hit Enter for Ubuntu then Enter for 2.6.35-28, it takes forever to load then when it does I get this, or something close:

- Boot Args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- check rootdelay= (did system wait long enough)
- check root (did system wait for right device)
- missing modules (cat /proc/modules; 1s /dev
ALERT! /dev/sda6 does not exist drop to a shell

then it goes on to say something about Busybox v1.15.3, then a command type line saying:
(initramfs)_

All I can do at this point is type help or reboot and try to get into Ubuntu again. This time I was able to see the GUI after the second attempt. I am logged into Ubuntu now. But why does it take anywhere from 2 to 5 boot times to get the GUI loaded?
Now that i am loaded I went to terminal and typed startx enter, I get:
X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.

[michaelk]

No idea at the moment.
post the output of the command
sudo fdisk -l (that is a small L)

[Clayman1000x]

I ran that "sudo fdisk -l" and got a lot of stuff, mostly it looks like hdd's but nothing stood out as bad, if you really need it I could write it down but it was a lot of info, I was able to upgrade to 11.04 through command line. But now I can't get into the gui at all. I get command line and thats it.

[michaelk]

Ok,
What happens when you try running the command:
startx

Post the output of the command
sudo lspci | grep Graphics

[Clayman1000x]

Ok,
What happens when you try running the command:
startx

Post the output of the command
sudo lspci | grep Graphics

I went ahead and uninstalled Ubuntu and cleaned up and reinstalled it, so far no problems, but only have it working for an hour. But I now have a weird looking boot page instead of Win7's boot-loader that showed my XP install. Still under construction I guess. Haven't tried a lot of things yet.

[michaelk]

The windows bootloader is replaced by the linux bootloader called grub. Nothing to worry about unless you reinstall windows and then its bootloader will overwrite grub.

[Clayman1000x]

The windows bootloader is replaced by the linux bootloader called grub. Nothing to worry about unless you reinstall windows and then its bootloader will overwrite grub.

That is what I thought, it just gives me an extra step in booting XP or 7. Ubuntu seems to be loading up now, but I am on 10.10 still, afraid to go to 11.04.