I'd like to give it a swift Boot to the Asus
August 12, 2010 8:04 PM Subscribe
What's the simplest way to start up my computer and format it correctly?
I have an Asus EEE PC 901 notebook with EEEbuntu loaded up on it. Just after it initiates the GRUB it jumps to a blue screen with an error notice telling me I have no space left on the device. Should I or do I need some kind of bootloader program to get in there and format this puppy or what?
The specific error reads:
Next notice pops up:
After that a black screen with about ten executables
*Starting blah blah blah [OK]
When I initially cleared and loaded this OS I don't think I formatted the drive correctly and or left a large partition full of used data sitting there (or I don't know). I didn't keep up with the current distros on it because it's my casual screw around PC and I just never got around to figuring out how the hell it was lacking enough memory to simply download and upgrade the OS. Quite possibly it may have had some kind of memory leakage. So what the hell do I need to do here?
The specific error reads:
GDM could not write a new authorization entry to disk. Possiblyand an OK prompt
out of diskspace. Error: No space left on device
Next notice pops up:
Could not start the Xand an OK prompt again.
server (your graphical environment)
due to some internal error.
Please contact your system admi
or check your syslog to diagnose.
In the meantime this disaly will be
disabled. Please restart GDM when
the problem is corrected.
After that a black screen with about ten executables
*Starting blah blah blah [OK]
When I initially cleared and loaded this OS I don't think I formatted the drive correctly and or left a large partition full of used data sitting there (or I don't know). I didn't keep up with the current distros on it because it's my casual screw around PC and I just never got around to figuring out how the hell it was lacking enough memory to simply download and upgrade the OS. Quite possibly it may have had some kind of memory leakage. So what the hell do I need to do here?
(on second though, F1 might be the OK OK OK screen. Try Ctrl-Alt-F2, F3, F4, etc... they're all different virtual terminals)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:09 PM on August 12, 2010
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:09 PM on August 12, 2010
Response by poster: Ctrl-Alt-F2 kicks me over, but I suppose I should know how to log in? I can't remember if or how I set the login or password.
posted by P.o.B. at 8:15 PM on August 12, 2010
posted by P.o.B. at 8:15 PM on August 12, 2010
Okay, so assuming there is no space left on the drive, and you haven't been saving up zillions of 4MB files, one likely culprit is the log files. Switch to a console like the folks above have said, and check out
But, on the other hand, it's entirely possible that you've just fucked up your filesystem in some other way. For instance, is it being mounted read-only for some reason? Is there a filesystem error registered (and logged?) beforehand? In other words, the "no space left on device" might be a red herring: the error code returned by failed new-file and write operations is, in many cases, indistinguishable from there being no more space on the disk. The hacker who wrote that error message may just have assumed the most likely cause of failure on a properly configured system would be that the disk filled up.
posted by Netzapper at 8:22 PM on August 12, 2010
/var/log. Do a little ls -lh action up in there. What're the sizes like on the files ending in .old? Are they big? If they are, get crazy and go all sudo rm motherfucker.*.log.old on that shit.But, on the other hand, it's entirely possible that you've just fucked up your filesystem in some other way. For instance, is it being mounted read-only for some reason? Is there a filesystem error registered (and logged?) beforehand? In other words, the "no space left on device" might be a red herring: the error code returned by failed new-file and write operations is, in many cases, indistinguishable from there being no more space on the disk. The hacker who wrote that error message may just have assumed the most likely cause of failure on a properly configured system would be that the disk filled up.
posted by Netzapper at 8:22 PM on August 12, 2010
If you don't know the password, reboot in single-user mode. Restart the computer, catch the machine at the grub prompt, and edit the boot line. Add a space and the word "single" to the end of the boot line. So, it'll look like "arcane #+system junk -blah=221 single".
Yay! No password. Wander into /var/log or /home and start deleting. Look up "change password single user mode", and you'll probably find a guide to changing the root (or user) password(s) in single-user mode so it's easier to do this next time.
posted by Netzapper at 8:26 PM on August 12, 2010
Yay! No password. Wander into /var/log or /home and start deleting. Look up "change password single user mode", and you'll probably find a guide to changing the root (or user) password(s) in single-user mode so it's easier to do this next time.
posted by Netzapper at 8:26 PM on August 12, 2010
Can you download a live cd of whatever distro you want, load it onto a usb stick and boot off that? That will have an installer, and, if you don't care what's on your hard disk, just wipe everything and let it do an auto-partition, installing everything fresh.
This has the added advantage that if you're loading a live image, you know that there are no problems with the graphical system or computer itself, there is just something wrong with the current install.
Ubuntu Live CDhttp://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
that page also gives instructions on how to make a bootable usb stick.
posted by defcom1 at 8:31 PM on August 12, 2010
This has the added advantage that if you're loading a live image, you know that there are no problems with the graphical system or computer itself, there is just something wrong with the current install.
Ubuntu Live CDhttp://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
that page also gives instructions on how to make a bootable usb stick.
posted by defcom1 at 8:31 PM on August 12, 2010
Response by poster: How would you suggest catching it at the grub prompt? I can get into the BIOS Setup easily enough.
Thanks for all the answers so far! I feel like my thirteen year old self who didn't read the directions properly and learn to do this right before promptly breaking my new toy.
posted by P.o.B. at 8:43 PM on August 12, 2010
Thanks for all the answers so far! I feel like my thirteen year old self who didn't read the directions properly and learn to do this right before promptly breaking my new toy.
posted by P.o.B. at 8:43 PM on August 12, 2010
Hold the tab key while the computer is booting to force grub to display a menu. If you need to type in grub commands, 'c' will get you there from the grub menu. 'e' will let you edit the currently selected entry.
All that said, if there's nothing you care about on the disk, defcom1's 'make a usb stick and blow it all away' advice wins the thread.
posted by wierdo at 10:05 PM on August 12, 2010
All that said, if there's nothing you care about on the disk, defcom1's 'make a usb stick and blow it all away' advice wins the thread.
posted by wierdo at 10:05 PM on August 12, 2010
Keep in mind that if you have the best buy eee pc that it only comes with a 4 gig flash drive.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:25 AM on August 13, 2010
posted by majortom1981 at 4:25 AM on August 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:07 PM on August 12, 2010