4 boot entries for ubuntu (as opposed to the usual 4)... and gnome settings manager not starting... all this after failed upgrade to hardy

[abilash0101]

Binary package hint: gnome-settings-daemon

Hi all,
I think this will be a long report in my attempt to be detailed.. pls bear with me :-)
Also I searched for other bugs relating to gnome-settings-daemon not starting, but I felt none of them matched my case exactly… so I thought I’ll file a separate bug for something that looks so technical (at least, to me).

What Happened:
 0. I dual boot Ubuntu Gutsy and Windows XP
 1. I decided to upgrade my gutsy to hardy, fired up the update manager, installed most updates through the Update Manager.
 2. For reasons I don’t know, some (around 3) updates were disabled in the Update Manager … so I couldn’t select them though I could see them listed in the Update manager. So I selected them in Synaptic and updated them by marking them for updates.
 3. One of the disabled updates was linux-backports-modules upgrade to 2.6.22.15. After I installed this update, the boot menu now has 4 options for Ubuntu: 2.6.22.14, 2.6.22.14 (Recovery Mode), 2.6.22.15 and 2.6.22.15 (Recovery mode). My windows options, thankfully, have not been touched.
 4. Anyway, I booted into Gutsy and started the Upgrade to Hardy. The system then started fetching files... during which, it went to sleep a couple of times (due to inactivity) and failed to wake up. I had to use the power button to boot back into gutsy and continue the upgrade process.
 5. After all files were fetched, it started to install them. Unfortunately, when the system was still doing this, some emergency cropped up in my home and I had to switch my system off.. so I clicked on Shut Down.. still here? now this is the important point...
 6. I pulled the battery out of my laptop and in about 1 minute the battery came to near 0% and started beeping and then shut down !!! (I never know my battery had deteriorated to such an extent and that's why I had pulled the plug expecting the system will shut down without worrying abt he battery). I still don't know whether the laptop shut down properly or forcibly because of zero battery :-(
 7. The next day, I started my laptop to log into gutsy and finish the upgrade, expecting the upgrade to continue from where it left off.

Problems:
 1. It takes longer than earlier for the boot menu (where I get to choose between Ubuntu and Windows) to appear.

 2. The boot menu now has 4 options for Ubuntu (instead of my usual 2)

 3. I can't log in properly !! Everytime I enter my username and password and press Enter, the following error message is shown:
     There was an error starting the Gnome Settings Daemon.
     Some things, like themes, sounds, or background settings may not work correctly.
     The last error message was:
     Failed to execute child process ”/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon” (No such file or directory)
     GNOME will still try to restart the Settings Daemon next time you log in.

 4. It logs in after some time after this error is shown, and the system is very slow. The theme is not applied properly. It takes a lot of time to shut down, too.

I suspect that my Ubuntu system is part-gutsy and part-hardy now :-D because of the interrupted upgrade Also, what do I do with the 4 Ubuntu options? Someone please help... and I dont want to touch my Windows install in any way.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs .

[abilash0101 (abilash01)]

thanks for the reply... ya the way i was pleading :-) for help , it might have looked like a question..
i thought it is a bug, but it's ok i'll raise it in the site u gave me..

the reason i said i thought it cud be a bug was that when i shut down/powered down my laptop in the middle of installing the downloaded upgrade files, i expected it to resume the upgrade when i powered it back again.. just my thought though..