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HP Compaq 6910p builtin 3G modem driver for Ubuntu

August 12, 2012/0 Comments/in Hardware, Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

From Ubuntu 11.04 and onward there is no need for a driver to use the builtin 3G (WWAN) modem in the HP Compaq 6910p laptop computer. But by default the modem is soft blocked even though the radio lamp is on. The rfkill utility can be used to enable it:

$ rfkill list 0: hci0: Bluetooth Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 1: phy0: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 2: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 3: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 4: hp-wwan: Wireless WAN Soft blocked: yes Hard blocked: no

Enable it with rfkill unblock 4

$ rfkill unblock 4 $ rfkill list 0: hci0: Bluetooth Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 1: phy0: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 2: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 3: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 4: hp-wwan: Wireless WAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no

Now click on the network manager icon in the top right bar of the screen and Activate mobile broadband and off you go!

Ubuntu boot hangs with black screen and blinking cursor

July 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

If this happens, check your BIOS setup device boot order. It is possible that some device has been listed before your real boot device.

In my case, my boot SSD drives had been moved below ALL PCI SCSI and there are other drives in the machine which are not bootable causing this problem for me.

Ubuntu boot hangs with black screen after GRUB

July 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

It might actually not be hanged, but instead but you might have been kicked into an initramfs shell but it is not displaying on the screen.

Try to boot in recovery mode or boot on a install CD or USB stick in rescue mode. Edit /etc/default/grub:

vi /etc/default/grub

Set the following:

GRUB_TERMINAL=console GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

If the GRUB timeout is very short it might be a good idea to set it a bit higher so you have a chance to make a selection:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

Save and then execute:

update-grub

Then reboot the machine and now you may see the emergency shell you are kicked into. Now you can investigate your boot problems further.

Ubuntu 9.10 package mysql-server-5.1 5.1.37-1ubuntu5.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

October 7, 2011/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

When trying to do an apt-get upgrade the MySQL package failed with the error message:

package mysql-server-5.1 5.1.37-1ubuntu5.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

The problem is that the start / stop script for MySQL fails to stop the running MySQL server before upgrade.

Solution:

apt-get update
ps ax | grep mysql

Now kill each process that has to do with MySQL.

apt-get upgrade

Voila – now it works and MySQL gets upgraded.

How to find out what Ubuntu version a system is running

February 5, 2010/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

There are two ways:

# cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 9.10 \n \l

or

# lsb_release -a
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 9.10
Release:    9.10
Codename:    karmic

The latter is slower but gives more information.

Ubuntu eee: Intermittent DNS problems with Windows Vista Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

April 18, 2009/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD, Windows/by Stefan Helander

When connecting an Asus EeePC 900/901 running Ubuntu eee 8.04 (‘Easy Peasy‘) to the Internet through a Windows Vista machine running Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and you are experiencing intermittent DNS-problems, the problem can be related to IPv6 being enabled but there is no IPv6 Internet connection (only IPv4). In Firefox there is a DNS-error displayed, but hitting reload one or more times will bring up the desired web page. Internet access can also be experienced as slow or sluggish.

The problem can be that IPv6 is enabled in both the Windows Vista and the Ubuntu machine but there is no IPv6 Internet connection. The problem can be resolved by disabling IPv6 in Windows Vista running ICS. You can of course solve it by disabling IPv6 in the Ubuntu machine but then you have to disable it in every client inte network using the ICS, so it is more efficient to disable it in the Windows Vista running the ICS.

Instructions how to disable IPv6 in Windows Vista is found here. Don’t forget to enable it once you hook up your Windows Vista machine into an IPv6 enabled Internet connection

Ubuntu eee: Youtube video problem

April 17, 2009/0 Comments/in Linux/FreeBSD/by Stefan Helander

In Ubuntu eee 8.04 for Asus EeePC 900/901 (‘Easy Peasy‘) there is a problem when trying to look at Youtube videos. Almost all videos gives a message saying that it is not currently available.

The problem is the flash player included in the Ubuntu eee installation. To resolve the problem:

Try do uninstall ‘flashplugin-nonfreebeta’ using the Synaptics package manager.
Go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer, download and install the latest flash player for Ubuntu 8.04.
Restart Firefox.

Ubuntu eee: Asus EeePC 900/901 WLAN against DLINK DI-624+ router problem

April 4, 2009/0 Comments/in Hardware/by Stefan Helander

When using Ubuntu eee 8.04 (‘Easy Peasy‘) on an ASUS Eee PC 900/901 and you try to connect to a DLINK DI-624+ wireless broadband router with WEP security enabled, the network manager in Ubuntu eee keeps displaying a dialog asking for the WEP pass phrase, even though is entered correctly.

The problem is the “Super G mode” in the DLINK DI-624+. Just disable it and the EeePC will be able to connect.

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