Ubuntu Tips

System Services

Ubuntu uses a package called 'upstart' to manage services. See http://www.linux.com/feature/125977?theme=print for more information.

/etc/event.d/rc-default determines which run-level should be used. The default is run-level 2 unless another is defined in /etc/inittab. To change the default to run-level 3, create an /etc/inittab files, e.g.

# cat <<EOF>>/etc/inittab
:id:3:initdefault:
EOF

Trouble Shooting

Graphics Display Manager Fails to Start

The symptoms of this problem is that a blank screen is displayed on startup. Pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1 fails to display the tty screen.

We fix this by stopping 'gdm', the Gnome Display Manager, from starting.

  1. Reboot into rescue mode. You will need the root password to do this.
  2. chmod -x /etc/init.d/gdm
  3. reboot normally
  4. You may be prompted to select country and region settings
  5. Not sure if you actually need to enter any of the country settings, but...
  6. Use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to get a terminal windows
  7. Login as root
  8. chmod +x /etc/init.d/gdm
  9. Reboot again

I don't know what causes this problem, but the above seems to rectify it.

Related Topics: LinuxSound

-- Frank Dean - 19 Mar 2009