telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd

[Kalman Reti]

If you issue "sudo telinit 1" or "sudo init 1" in a live session, you briefly see the console
dialog which asks you what to do (and from which in Jaunty you could select drop into
a root command prompt), but it is immediately replaced by a non-functional gui, i.e. you
see the desktop background but neither the keyboard nor mouse work (except for
ctl-alt-delete which restarts).

I can't capture the dmesg output because nothing seems to work, but as it scrolled by
I saw a bunch of messages indicating various processes respawning.

I tried this with the beta karmic desktop livecd on three machines; only on one of them
did I get a glimpse of the console menu selector. Looking at the various consoles, there
was a line on one of them which indicated that the system was going into single user mode.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 2687 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xb0000000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC883'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0883,1025009f,00100002 HDA:14f12c06,1025009f,00100000'
   Controls : 23
   Simple ctrls : 13
Date: Thu Oct 8 10:48:04 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Beta amd64 (20090929.2)
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 5986:0100 Acer, Inc Orbicam
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: Acer Aspire 5100
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-11-generic 2.6.31-11.36
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-11-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.19
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 03/21/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V2.83
dmi.board.name: Navarro
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV2.83:bd03/21/2007:svnAcer:pnAspire5100:pvrV2.83:rvnAcer:rnNavarro:rvrN/A:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Aspire 5100
dmi.product.version: V2.83
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

[Marcel de Vries (carresmd-deactivatedaccount)]

I too have problems switching to runlevel 1 using '$ sudo telinit 1' from the gnome desktop on karmic (final (non LiveCD)). It does quit the desktop but it just hangs at the xsplash screen. This happens on my laptop and desktop. My desktop is using the proprietary ATI video driver and my laptop uses the open source ATI video driver. But I don't think it has to do with that though.

[Marcel de Vries (carresmd-deactivatedaccount)]

I believe this doesn't have anything to do with the kernel

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

If the UI is appearing, then that's a gdm bug

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could you try if that's still an issue in lucid?

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
> could you try if that's still an issue in lucid?

Yes, "sudo telinit 1" still doesn't get you to a single-user command
prompt from the livecd. The messages displayed (without CR preceding
some lines so they are indented) on the (completely nonfunctional)
console are:

Skip stopping firewall: ufw (not enabled)
* PulseAudio configured for per-user sessions
* Disabling power management... [ OK ]
* Stopping rsync daemon rsync [ OK ]
* Speech-dispatcher configured for user sessions
* Stopping Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
* Asking all remaining processes to terminate...
init: upstart-udev-bridge main process ended, respawning
init: udev main process ended, respawning
init: plymouth post-start process (4246) killed by TERM signal
init: Disconnected from system bus
init: rsyslog main process ended, respawning

At this point, we have a dead doornail, i.e. console switching doesn't
work and there is no tracking of the mouse cursor.

ctrl-alt-delete DOES eject the CD, so it must have taken it as a sign
to restart, but there are no additional console messages

>
> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> --
> telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/446225
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 7:09 AM, Kalman Reti <email address hidden> wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
>> could you try if that's still an issue in lucid?
>
> Yes, "sudo telinit 1" still doesn't get you to a single-user command
> prompt from the livecd. The messages displayed (without CR preceding
> some lines so they are indented) on the (completely nonfunctional)
> console are:
>
> Skip stopping firewall: ufw (not enabled)
> * PulseAudio configured for per-user sessions
> * Disabling power management... [ OK ]
> * Stopping rsync daemon rsync [ OK ]
> * Speech-dispatcher configured for user sessions
> * Stopping Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
> * Asking all remaining processes to terminate...
> init: upstart-udev-bridge main process ended, respawning
> init: udev main process ended, respawning
> init: plymouth post-start process (4246) killed by TERM signal
> init: Disconnected from system bus
> init: rsyslog main process ended, respawning
>
> At this point, we have a dead doornail, i.e. console switching doesn't
> work and there is no tracking of the mouse cursor.

I just tried it again after having booted with vga=<mode>. My
intention was just to see if I would get more messages to the console,
but it made it work!

My guess (as yet unconfirmed) is that it was really waiting for the
response to the menu asking what to do, just not displaying it
correctly. Is there perhaps some locking on console switching causing
a deadlock?

I also think that the priority should be higher, since there are many
times when x wedges in such a way that I need to get into single user
mode. This worked correctly up through jaunty and has prevented me
from upgrading my machines past jaunty.

>
> ctrl-alt-delete DOES eject the CD, so it must have taken it as a sign
> to restart, but there are no additional console messages
>
>>
>> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
>> Importance: Undecided => Low
>>
>> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
>> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>>
>> --
>> telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/446225
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of the bug.
>>
>

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Kalman Reti <email address hidden> wrote:
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 7:09 AM, Kalman Reti <email address hidden> wrote:
>> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
>>> could you try if that's still an issue in lucid?
>>
>> Yes, "sudo telinit 1" still doesn't get you to a single-user command
>> prompt from the livecd. The messages displayed (without CR preceding
>> some lines so they are indented) on the (completely nonfunctional)
>> console are:
>>

> I just tried it again after having booted with vga=<mode>. My
> intention was just to see if I would get more messages to the console,
> but it made it work!
>
> My guess (as yet unconfirmed) is that it was really waiting for the
> response to the menu asking what to do, just not displaying it
> correctly. Is there perhaps some locking on console switching causing
> a deadlock?

Indeed, if I blindly type the right number of downarrows (6) to get to
the non-networking root prompt option of the menu, then blindly type
/sbin/shutdown -r now, it reboots.

So it is the display that's the problem, not getting into single user
mode. Perhaps the kernel IS involved?

>
> I also think that the priority should be higher, since there are many
> times when x wedges in such a way that I need to get into single user
> mode. This worked correctly up through jaunty and has prevented me
> from upgrading my machines past jaunty.
>
>>
>> ctrl-alt-delete DOES eject the CD, so it must have taken it as a sign
>> to restart, but there are no additional console messages
>>
>>>
>>> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
>>> Importance: Undecided => Low
>>>
>>> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
>>> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>>>
>>> --
>>> telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/446225
>>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>>> of the bug.
>>>
>>
>

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

changing to new in case somebody would want to look to the issue, seeing the number of gdm bugs and the lack of people interested by doing actual work on it it's likely that this one will not be worked any time soon, especially that changing init level is not something normal users would know how to do so it's only an issue for technical users who feel the need to do this which is a limited number

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
> changing to new in case somebody would want to look to the issue, seeing
> the number of gdm bugs and the lack of people interested by doing actual
> work on it it's likely that this one will not be worked any time soon,
> especially that changing init level is not something normal users would
> know how to do so it's only an issue for technical users who feel the
> need to do this which is a limited number

Can we change the title to something like "frame buffer switching
doesn't work while attempting to get into single user mode"?

This might widen the interest, since frame buffer switching happens in
a much larger number of contexts than just going into single user
mode.

>
> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => New
>
> --
> telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/446225
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Kalman Reti <email address hidden> wrote:
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> wrote:
>> changing to new in case somebody would want to look to the issue, seeing
>> the number of gdm bugs and the lack of people interested by doing actual
>> work on it it's likely that this one will not be worked any time soon,
>> especially that changing init level is not something normal users would
>> know how to do so it's only an issue for technical users who feel the
>> need to do this which is a limited number
>
> Can we change the title to something like "frame buffer switching
> doesn't work while attempting to get into single user mode"?
>
> This might widen the interest, since frame buffer switching happens in
> a much larger number of contexts than just going into single user
> mode.
>

Actually, I spoke too soon. It works to go to single use mode; it
doesn't work to go back.
It hangs in "Checking battery state".

It is frustrating that this all just worked in older versions of Ubuntu.

Another reason that I need to go to single user mode, is that at work
I'm not allowed to connect
any machine to the network unless it provides the "right" hostname to
DHCP. In older versions of Ubuntu
I could just boot the livecd in single user mode, edit /etc/hostname
and /etc/hosts, and continue
booting.

In more recent versions, networking is started up (with the wrong
name) as part of the startup scripts,
so I would have to boot disconnected, take it down to single user mode
without networking, edit those
files and then bring it back up. After that I could connect the network.

That was a great deal more inconvenient than before, but at least it was doable.

Now I can't figure out a way to do this at all.

>>
>> ** Changed in: gdm (Ubuntu)
>> Status: Incomplete => New
>>
>> --
>> telinit 1 (or init 1) doesn't work in karmic beta livecd
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/446225
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of the bug.
>>
>

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, it has been some time without any response or feedback in this bug report and we are wondering if this is still an issue for you with the latest release of Ubuntu the Natty Narwhal, May you please test with that version and comment back if you're still having or not the issue? Please have a look at http://www.ubuntu.com/download to know how to install that version.Thanks in advance.

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

Yes, it does still happen in the Natty livecd.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gdm (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[ingo (rum-topf)]

doesn't work in a new install (32-bit) with 12.04 either :(