Help with error message: Unable to enable ACPI

[mart915]

ok i have ubuntu install on my Hp 2133, its bios firmware is F.05 i cant install windows xp or run ubuntu because it wont start ACPI. So i thought it might be the bios version but i cant update due to my motherboard saying bios write-protected. any ideas

[mikez]

For Ubuntu, disable use of ACPI on the kernel command line.
The kernel command line parameter is: noacpi

If you are still using the default /boot/grub/menu.lst settings with Ubuntu,
(which include "hidden menu" and "time out 0") you have to be fast hitting
the esc key to bring up the boot menu. You might want to change those to
make using the boot menu a bit easier while working on the machine.

Anyway, somehow you got your fingers moving fast enough to get the grub menu displayed. . .
There are directions on the screen on how to select a stanza to boot and how
to edit the kernel command line of the one you want to boot this time. . .
just add: noacpi to the options on the kernel line, and boot with that -
doing it this way, it is a "this time only" change.

Once Ubuntu finishes booting, bring up a terminal and examine the kernel message file for hints as to what is wrong.
(you can display the current buffer continents by: dmesg | less
you can find the recorded copy as: /var/log/dmesg and use 'less' to scroll through it.)
If not familiar with reading the dmesg file - post on the web somewhere and then
post a link to it in this thread (it is too big to directly include here).

@Warder - is it possible to add-in the paste-box utility to this forum?
Just a thought, it might be convenient for this sort of questions.
Not that I want to devote my life to translating dmesg and Xorg.0.log for people.

[mart915]

hi there i tried what you said i got the command line up by pressind C then in the command line i entered grub> boot noacpi

i got

Error 8: Kernel must be loaded before booting

[mikez]

Well, maybe the on-screen directions where confusing - key-by-key:

As soon as the screen lights up, press escape -

The grub boot menu is displayed, press escape to stop any time out that is running -

Use the "UP" and "DOWN" keys to highlight the entry you want -
(Unless you changed something, the first one is the default boot entry)

With the desired entry highlighted, press 'e' to edit -
Now just the lines of that boot entry are displayed.

Use the "UP" and "DOWN" keys to highlight the line you want to change -
You want to change the one labeled "kernel" - usually the second line.

With the "kernel" line highlighted, press 'e' to edit -
Move cursor to right-hand end of the line, press 'space' to add a space;
type: noacpi
press 'enter'

Now the lines of the boot stanza are once again displayed (including your changes) -
press 'b' to boot the changed boot entry stanza.

- - - -

It is a rather simple text editor, but you will see additional features in the
directions. Take your time and read the directions as you go along.

The file you are editing is the memory image of: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Of course, any changes you make in the file apply every time you boot -
The above only changes the memory image of the file, a "one time, this time" change.

- - - -

Although not part of your reported problem, you may also want to add:
<space>idle=halt
to prevent the distribution kernel from using the monitor/mwait cpu instructions;
the C7-M doesn't do those and they can hang your machine.

Some kernel versions auto-detect the missing monitor/mwait instructions;
others don't. It doesn't hurt to include the option with all versions.

The "<space>" above means enter a single space character.

[mart915]

hi after doing what you adviced i still have no look. I boot up like you said but still it says unable to enable acpi this is what the command line looks like after i edited the kernel.

grub edit> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365 ro quiet splash noacpi

[mikez]

hi after doing what you adviced i still have no look. I boot up like you said but still it says unable to enable acpi this is what the command line looks like after i edited the kernel.

grub edit> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365 ro quiet splash noacpi

What says "unable to enable acpi"? Where do you see that?
In the kernel messages? (dmesg)

In the messages that scroll by as it boots? - No, you can't see those those since you have "splash" and "quiet" specified.

So where are you seeing this message? In a log file?
Kernel 2.6.28 *will not* attempt to us acpi with the option noacpi - hence it will not produce the message you report.

The only immediately visible effect of noacpi on 2.6.28 is the different interrupt assignments -
Which you can see by 'cat'ing /proc/interrupts
cat /proc/interrupts
after the machine boots.

Please give specific details about what/where/when you see this message.

[mart915]

Bassically when you hit enter to boot ubuntu it then goes to a new screen that says

Boot from (hd,0) ext3 8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365
starting up ...

thats when this comes up like this:

Boot from (hd,0) ext3 8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365
starting up ...
[ 1.326853] ACPI: Unable to enable ACPI
[ 19.360048] ata1.00: revalidation failed (errno=-5)
[ 29.728045] ata1.00: revalidation failed (errno=-5)
[ 30.331254] longhaul: APCI detected. Longhaul is currently broken n ths configuration.
Loading, please wait...

then the Ubuntu logo appears trys to loads then goes back to that screen with this under the message above:
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems
-Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; Is /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

IM GONNA RECORD IT AND POST IT ON YOUTUBE FOR YOU TO LOOK AT

[mikez]

Here is your problem:

ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/8a203d6a-aeb5-48de-99ac-5517e3c5b365 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

Now what the cause of the problem is not as easy to see.
Fortunately, your being put into the memory resident bash/ash shell, so;

Q1: Is your hard drive or solid state drive being recognized?
Enter:
cat /proc/partitions

This will list your drive partitions by device name;
Since you mention attempting to install WinXP, whatever you did probably re-partitioned the drive
and now the UUID of your Ubuntu root partition no longer matches the menu entry.

In the list of partitions reported, find the one you put Ubuntu's root on -
you will probably have to go by the size of the various partitions.
Most likely your first internal storage device will be /dev/sda and the first
external storage device will be /dev/sdb.

If neither you nor the WinXP installer changed anything, then the root of the
file system should have been put on the first partition of sda (/dev/sda1) and
the swap partition was put on the second partition (/dev/sda2).

You can also list the partition types of the drives, enter:
fdisk -l /dev/sda
(That is a lower case "Ell" option.)
The Linux partitions will be type 83 and the swap partition(s) type 82 -
but the fdisk list will also describe the type codes for you.

Now that you have located which device (/dev/sdX) and which partition (/dev/sdXY) - edit your kernel command line where it now says:
root=UUID=.....
to read:
root=/dev/sda1 (or whichever device and partition holds your Ubuntu root).

That abreviation is read: sd="scsi device" sd<letter> device: a==first ... sda<number> partition of the device: 1==first ...

Hint:
If you want to dual boot a machine with an MS product - do, in order:
1) Use a general purpose partitioning tool to partition your disk MS / whatever-else.
2) Install the MS product - select the part of the disk you set aside above, not "use whole disk".
3) Install the Linux product - the installer will recognize (and not touch) the MS product partition.

There is probably a way to bring your machine back to life without a complete re-install of both products;
But since you don't say how you screwed it up, I can't say how to un-screw it.

A good, general purpose, partition editor (step 1 above) is gparted -
you can find a compressed image of the "LiveMedia" (1G USB stick) here:
http://forum.netbookuser.com/viewforum.php?id=8
either the gparted image or the SystemRescueCD image (which includes gparted).

So if editing you kernel command line to boot by device name doesn't fix your problem, start over with a complete re-install of both products.
If it does fix your problem, make the same change with a text editor to
the file: /boot/grub/menu.lst