"could not start kdeinit4" error, fresh install 11.1

1st - Linux newbie ;), but have run several versions of Linux over the years, keep going back to M$.

Fresh install of 11.1, just downloaded Monday night, i586 DVD, did MD5 and data verification b4 install. Getting “could not start kdeinit4. check your installation” error.

Installed after Vista Home Premium, fresh install as well (last night). Using 30 gig partition for Suse.

Installed fine, when it went to the login screen for the first run, I got the error in the gray box.

Installed both KDE4 (4.13?) and Gnome.

KDE crashes.
Gnome and Metacity loop back to the login screen.
Don’t know how to use Ice or TWM, but they load.
Don’t know Yast well enough to update the kernel, but I can get Yast through failsafe/su.

Specs:
Gateway GT5648E (got it cheaper than building my own this Spring)
Vista Home Premium SP1
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+
3 gig ram (PC2-5300)
ECS MCP61P-AM motherboard (nVidia chipset?)
AC’97 ALC888 7.1 Audio
MARVELL 88E8056 10/100 Ethernet
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H652D (Samsung?)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 6150SE (on MOBO)
320gb Seagate Barracuda 7200 ST3320820AS SATAII

Drive is currently 10 gig recovery, 29 gig unallocated (for OS X or Linux), and 258 gig for Vista.

I have 3 additional drives installed, which I’ve disconnected for safety - 2 WD WD1600JD 160 gig SATA’s (used to run Raid 0 on XP) and 1 WD WD1600JB 160 gig IDE so they’re irrelevant.

Vista is still fine, posting with now.

Thanks!

Anyone?

I like the looks of the new Suse and would prefer to get it running.

I don’t think re-installing will fix the issue (could be wrong), but I’d like to move away from Windows and may be forced to go with Mint6 or Ubuntu.

Thanks!

You could try a repair with the dvd

/Geoff

I could try that, but I’m wondering if there’s an issue with the new kernel and something on my PC’s hardware.

Ubuntu/Mint use Gnome, so installing them doesn’t solve anything.

I did just download Fedora 10 which I believe uses the same KDE Kernel as Suse 11.1?

I’m going to try different flavors of Linux and see what happens. I do use Acronis True Image 10 so I’m not worried about corrupting anything.

If you boot to runlevel3 login and then go su

do:

rpmdb --rebuilddb

zypper refresh
zypper up

now do this:

mv /home/*your username/.kde4 .kde4old

(put your login username in *)

reboot
Try and login

Thanks for the advice!

I did this and it didn’t help, then I decided to use zypper for a distribution upgrade, updated 42 files but still didn’t work. :’(

Currently posting from Fedora 10, both Gnome and KDE4 work fine, but I still would like to use Suse! It seems to have a nicer looking interface, and the installer didn’t give me the fits that Fedora did with Grub! But hey, I learned how to use nano grub.conf today!

With KDE4 working in Fedora, it would seem as though there’s an issue with Suse? But aren’t they using the same kernels?

Here’s an update:

I’m posting this from Suse 11.1 KDE4 loaded from the Live CD. Strange, huh? Must have been an error in the original install.

The difference is that my original install was from the 32 bit platform, and I’m running the 64 bit version right now. I never mentioned a version before but it shouldn’t matter, right?

I’ll probably install from the live CD instead of the DVD and update/add from there.

I wiped the Fedora 10 install yesterday and restored my PC with Acronis True Image.

Fedora was S-L-O-W (updates)! I didn’t like the feel of the system, either in Gnome or KDE4. It wasn’t ready out of the box for multimedia and I got so sick of waiting for the system to update that I removed it. I also had an issue that as soon as I enabled desktop effects, in both KDE and Gnome, it screwed up the desktop to the point that I couldn’t use it. Only way I could find to fix it was to log in under a different account, delete the original, and then re-create it. What a pain!

I did throw in a Live CD of Mint6, not bad. It does work out of the box as stated.

Suse 11.1 has a great look and feel, even from the Live CD!

Nice. Thanks for updating us on this.

Fedora is slow with packaging/updates

And Mint I too found works out of the box.

What should I do for a re-install, basically I’m curious as to whether the developers with Suse pay attention to these forums?

If no one is concerned with the possibility of an issue in the 32 bit install on a dual core Athlon with my hardware, I’ll just continue with the 64 bit Live CD.

Or, should I download the 64 bit DVD, try again with the original 32 bit DVD that I have, and if I run into the same issues, immediately follow with the 64 bit DVD to see if it rectifies the issue?

I did the parity check of the DVD image before burning and did have Suse’s installer check the media so I don’t believe that’s the issue.

Do developers frequent the forum? Yes.
If you consider you have a bug to report then do so at: https://bugzilla.novell.com/index.cgi

As to re-install.
First consider. There should be NO issue installing 32 bit on _64. Indeed, considering you only have 3GB of RAM. There is little advantage in using _64, in fact, possibly more disadvantage.

Certainly the DVD is my recommendation for installs - but not essential.
Try again with the 32bit DVD

Thanks for the response!

I’ll try the 32 bit DVD that I initially used this last weekend, and if I continue to have issues I’ll go to the 64 bit DVD, then to the 64 bit Live CD if needed. I have all four versions of 11.1 downloaded and burned.

I won’t have another chance to do this until this coming weekend, along with my results I’ll post a potential bug if needed.

Remember to run the media check option from the dvd or cd to verify the media is ok

As of now, everything is running!

Installed from the same 32 bit DVD that I had issues with before, only difference is that I didn’t configure additional packages, i.e. Gnome, when installing.

Now the fun starts! Display is first issue as it’s off to the left and I need to get it centered.

Thanks for all the help!

Install was short lived >:(

Let Yast do some updates, and when I rebooted, I was greeted with a BCD error from Vista’s bootloader.

It was a dual boot, and I had re-booted multiple times before the error.

I’ll search the forums for info, but my desire to install Suse has been substantially diminished.

Look in
/boot/grub/menu.lst

see if there is a : menu.lst.old

It may help isolate the problem

But the Vista thing makes me think something you have done has written grub to a different location. But updates would not do that. Are you sure you have not been in and maybe set Vista priority to default boot in the bootloader of Yast??

Check here for Vista help

Winhoes no longer likes to boot after fresh install - Page 4 - openSUSE Forums

After thinking about it, I’m going to give Suse one more shot.

It was late, like 2:30 in the morning, and I believe I may have caused the issue.

While updating, I decided to modify the boot loader from within Suse.


Original Suse boot config:

OpenSuse 11.1 (default)
Windows 1 (Gateway recovery partition)
Windows 2 (Vista)


I made the following changes:
Renamed Windows 1 to Gateway Recovery, renamed Windows 2 to Vista, re-orded placing Vista first, and set Vista as the default OS:

Vista (default)
OpenSuse 11.1
Gateway Recovery


Could this have corrupted Vista’s BDC?

Sounds like you answered my question.

I restored my configuration so there’s no log files, I can do this with Acronis in 14 minutes :).

I’ll have to research the best/safest way to mod Vista’s boot loader (EasyBCD/etc.) as my wife wouldn’t know what to do after a power outage/reboot and being confronted with a Linux screen.

Thanks for the reply!

Could this have corrupted Vista’s BDC?

YES!

Others have done this too. The bootloader has changed the grub location and seems to have damaged Vista.

You can repair the Vista BCD. It might be worth a PM to Mingus in that thread I gave you earlier. He is da man with this.

Found my answer here:
Is it EZ to corrupt Vista’s BCD modding boot options w/11.1? - openSUSE Forums

Apparently, this is a common issue that I wasn’t aware of.

Reinstalled, configured boot loader during install, and we’re back in business.

I’m sure I’ll be posting again soon :’(

Thanks!