Tag Archives: fix
Resetting the Gnome panel
May 1st, 2009. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Had a heck of a time fighting with xorg.conf on Ubuntu 9.04 this week. When I finally got the resolution set correctly, the Gnome panels were messed up. The trash icon was in the middle of the bottom panel and the user/power section was in the middle of the top panel. After Googling for the answer, I came across this post that explained how to reset the Gnome panel. Here are the basic steps:
- Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get a console
- Log in from the console
- Type “rm -rf .gnome”
- Type “rm -rf .gconf”
I restarted after this and my panels were indeed reset when I logged in (including the theme, fonts, etc), and the panels were behaving normally again.
Google Desktop broken in Ubuntu Hardy Heron
July 7th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Here is a thread that helped me solve the issue I was having with Google Desktop not working in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron).
The solution is to edit the erroneous path to the Firefox executable in Preferred Applications. See the third post by BlackSir in this thread.
Bad USB cable knocks out other USB devices
July 3rd, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Here’s a lesson learned that took a few hours. Just last week, someone asked me to help them with their iPhone suddenly not synching their Outlook info. I confirmed this was actually working previously. When plugging in the iPhone, Windows XP gives the standard “USB Device not recognized” error message balloon. Hmm, ok, let’s begin troubleshooting.
I install iTunes and restart. No go. I uninstall iTunes, restart, reinstall iTunes, restart. No go.
Someone else has an iPhone in the office, so let’s see if the first iPhone works with the other computer. Yes, it does, so the iPhone is OK. Let’s try this other person’s iPhone USB cable on the computer giving the error. No, it doesn’t work either, so the USB cable is OK.
Its starting to look like a USB issue, so I pull out my Cruzer Titanium USB thumb drive. Ah ha! The thumb drive fails, so there is definitely a USB issue here. I try the thumb drive and the iPhone in different USB ports. No go. I download the latest Intel chipset drivers, pull out all USB connections (there was also an HP LaserJet 3050 All-in-one plugged in), and restart. After logging in, I plug in the iPhone. It’s recognized – bingo! I plug in my thumb drive and it is also recognized. OK, at this point I’m thinking there was a corrupted USB driver and the issue is gone. I plug in the USB cable for the HP LaserJet 3050 again and send a test print. Test print works.
OK, let’s restart one more time to make sure everything is going to work after I walk away. Unplug the iPhone and put my thumb drive back in my pocket. Restart. Plug in iPhone. USB device not recognized. What? But it all just worked fine?!??!
Try my thumb drive again. No go. Send a test print. Test print comes out fine, so the printer is still working. What the heck is going on here? I’m two hours into this by now (iTunes installs were slow and restart and logging in isn’t the fastest thing either), and I’m still scratching my head. I unplug the printer again, and the iPhone and thumb drive work! I plug in the printer again and the test print works, but the iPhone and thumb drive do not.
Then I notice the USB cable for the LaserJet was rather stretched, since the printer was somewhat far from the comptuer. The cable didn’t touch the floor anywhere, so coming out of the computer the cable was bent about 90 degrees. Could it be a bad cable? I grab another USB cable and swap. Test page prints fine AND the iPhone and thumb drive work as well! Bingo. This is the first time I have ever seen a bad USB cable actually work for the perhiperal it is plugged into but make all other USB devices on the computer fail.
I just hope this post saves someone else from 2.5 hours of frustration.
Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron update manager freezes issue
June 27th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
I may be a Windows pro, but I am an amateur in every extent of the word when it comes to Ubuntu Linux. I’ve installed 7.10 twice and upgraded once to 8.04, which I run on one of the computers at my desk. I tinker with it much less than I intended to. However, I have searched posts and Googled some to solve (read: find solutions posted by others) a few Ubuntu problems here and there.
One such issue was with the Update Manager on Ubuntu 8.04, otherwise known as Hardy Heron. After upgrading 7.10 to 8.04, the Update Manager failed to work. It would appear to freeze up at the point where you would expect the password box to appear.
So digging into the forums, I found a thread that led me to the /etc/hosts file. The beginning of my hosts file read as such:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 PCNAME.NETWORKNAME
To fix the issue with the Update Manager, all I had to do was remove the “.NETWORKNAME” part. It is also worth noting the third octet of the second IP address is a “1″, not a “0″.
The thread on the Ubuntu Forums where I detail this (user: brown705) is here. In the thread, specifically post #6, is where I reference the original source of the solution.
UPDATE: This is also the same fix for the sudo “unable to resolve host” error.
10 things you can *try* when Windows XP will not boot
June 26th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
This article, on TechRepublic, is called “10 things you can do when Windows XP won’t boot”, but I think my title is more accurate. Many, many things can cause Windows XP to not boot, so this list is most certainly not a definitive list that will make XP boot once again. But, it does cover the basics, and there is a decent chance on of these will fix things. It is worth noting that number ten, “Perform an in-place upgrade”, will cause a lot of extra work, in that you’ll have to reinstall most of your apps, since a fresh new registry is written to the disk. More importantly, if I remember correctly (its been a while since I’ve done this myself), it also overwrites the “Documents and Settings” folder on the system drive, which would wipe out all user profiles (read: wipe out your My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, etc). Usually not the best option. Oh, you say you don’t have a backup of your data? Tsk, tsk.
I would add a section in number ten and first recover data. Here are three ways to first recover data:
- Remove the drive and set it as a slave in another computer. This would allow you to copy data over using the other computer’s OS. You then burn to disc or copy to USB drive or whatever.
- Remove the drive and put it in an external enclosure that will allow you to plug the drive into another computer. Same result as the first option, where you can burn or copy the data using the other computer. Or better yet, just buy a new hard drive for your computer, install Windows (or another OS), reinstall all your apps, then use the old hard drive in the external enclosure to copy over your data to your new hard drive. Then wipe the old hard drive clean and use this old hard drive and external enclosure to regularly backup your data, as you should have been in the first place.
- Use an “OS on a CD” solution, such as the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, or a Linux Live CD, or the like. The UBCD for Win is great. I keep one in my briefcase at all times. Anyway, boot your computer to the UBCD4Win disk, which is loaded with diagnostic tools and stuff. If these don’t work, at least you should be able to recover data from this environment using your burner or USB drive.