How to Restore Firefox in Browser Linux? (Solved)

Message

julianloui · #1 Post by **julianloui** » Thu 03 Dec 2015, 02:53

2015-12-02

Since I answered a seemingly simple shortcut question from Browser Linux yesterday, I can no longer open Firefox even though its name is listed in the right-click menu. My machine is connected to the Internet according to Simple Network Setup and yet I can't access it.

The Firefox icon is gone from the desktop also. Is there any terminal command I can use to restore or download Firefox.

Thanks very much inin advance.

Julianloui

eric52 · #2 Post by **eric52** » Thu 03 Dec 2015, 19:30

Browser is 4-5 years old, and Firefox updates automatically. Its been over a year since I tried it, and it updated and worked then, but perhaps it can't now without running into dependency issues. This is a guess. I assume you've got a frugal install or you're saving to a live CD/DVD. If the former, you could just delete the save file, but not on disk. In any event, I think the easiest thing to do is start over. If you've got stuff that you need, copy it to HD or pen drive first. With a fresh OS install, try installing Chrome from Google so you have a working browser to help going forward.

julianloui · #3 Post by **julianloui** » Sun 06 Dec 2015, 03:28

eric52,

Thanks for the valuable clue. This is the first time I ran into such a problem since I discovered Browser Linux many years ago. Firefox was always there. I guess BL must have done something to the HD since the live cd is read-only. Do you mean that I should delete lupusave.2fs from the my-documents directory on the HD?

When I fix the problem, I'll post an update. I use BL mostly for troubleshooting WiFi problems.

Julianloui

eric52 · #4 Post by **eric52** » Sun 06 Dec 2015, 04:12

CD/DVD's made in Puppy using pburn can be multi-session, allowing saving, or read-only, depending on how they're burned. On a disk, saves are actually folders named by date. On a frugal there's one folder named with the word save in it. Even without any HD install, temp files can be created on the HD by non-portable apps, but I don't think they get accessed next session. If you're using a read-only disk, boot on it remove and replace with a fresh disk, navigate to the ISO you originally downloaded to the HD, right click it and select burn. Maybe a fresh start is all you need.

julianloui · #5 Post by **julianloui** » Mon 07 Dec 2015, 02:39

eric52,

I've just fixed my problem by deleting my-documents/lupusave.2fs from the hard drive as you suggested.

Once again, BL asked whether I wanted to remove a shortcut when I clicked on the Firefox icon. So I answered 'No' in order not to get trapped again as before.

Now I can browse the Internet again. Thanks very much.

Julianvb

eric52 · #6 Post by **eric52** » Mon 07 Dec 2015, 20:35

Cool. You're welcome. Thanks for posting a detailed solution.

julianloui · #7 Post by **julianloui** » Tue 08 Dec 2015, 01:28

eric52,

Thanks for your feedback. I wrote John Murga a PM a few weeks ago and wonder if there's any way I can get his attention. I think he'll find my topic of interest. As a matter of fact I posted it as a thread before I wrote him.

Julianloui

eric52 · #8 Post by **eric52** » Tue 08 Dec 2015, 01:53

I don't know. If you look at the site listings, he monitors just about everything. With that oversight and a PM, if he's interested, you'll know. However, BL is a bit old, so it might not be deemed relevant. I'm sure as you keep playing with Puppy you'll run into many exciting challenges and discover almost as many satisfying solutions. Enjoy!

julianloui · #9 Post by **julianloui** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 01:13

eric52,

I keep a number of Linux distributions around including Browser Linux, Puppy, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and DSL for various reasons. Although I use Browser Linux (BL) infrequently, I consider it a helpful troubleshooting and educational tool. Precisely because of its utter simplicity, I've been recommending it to fellow seniors.

One of my Linux desktops suddenly stopped booting any live Linux distributions about two months ago. Only Browser Linux gives me any hints as to where it gets stuck during the booting process whereas all the others just halt and quit without displaying any errors.

I am seeking help from this valuable forum chiefly because Puppy is the progenitor of BL, hoping that some Puppy users may be able to analyze my data since BL's booting process shouldn't be vastly different from its parent's. Another reason is that BL is no longer supported.

Julianloui

eric52 · #10 Post by **eric52** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 03:16

julianloui,

If the problem machine boots off a hard drive, USB drive, floppy drive, network, etc. then the optical drive is probably at fault. Assuming it's an older IDE drive, check the ribbon cable at the drive and motherboard and any heated kinks between. If you have 2 optical drives, change the connector pin settings to make the other one master, or if on cable select, at the end of the ribbon cable. If you have spare parts, replace the drive and/or ribbon cable. Another thing to check would be the BIOS (but it sounds like the BL disk is trying to boot). During the startup POST, press the F2 or whatever key to enter setup and see how the optical drive is recognized and listed in the boot sequence. If you've tried multiple disks, make sure they're not all CD-R or DVD+R. If they're all the same, try burning an ISO onto a -/+ alternative. It really sounds like a hardware issue. - eric

julianloui · #11 Post by **julianloui** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 06:21

eric52,

Although my desktop is a 2004 machine, its cd and dvd drives are only two years oldThe HD and RAM modules have repeatedly passed various memory tests. None of my live Linux disks except one known as Sugar Desktop can boot up the computer, on either the cd drive or dvd drive. Recently I burned a Plop Boot Manager live dvd and have been able to use it boot a live Ubuntu USB.

I agree with you that there is a hardware problem some where but both the cd and dvd drives work well in all other applications. I am just curios about it. At least now lop Boot Manager offers me a way out in case I need to re-install Linux Mint, the machine's current OS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Partial Screen Recording of Successful Browser Linux Boot-up Process:

Loading drivers needed to access disk drivers.........
Searching for Puppy files in computer disk drivers.....
loading personal file /lupusave.2fs (sda1)...
Loading the 'lupu-510.sfs' main file ... copying to ram....
Setting up the layered filesystem...
Performing a 'switch_root' to the lauered filesystem ....
Making the filesytem usable...
Updating...
Loading kernel modules...
Loading swap partition /dev/sda5...
Waiting for modules to complete loading ... pcmia ...usb
...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Browser Linux fails to boot on this particular desktop, it invariably stops right after
'Performing a 'switch_root' to the layered filesystem' and then next declares
'Kernel Panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! '

Thanks very much for your good advice.

Julianloui

eric52 · #12 Post by **eric52** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 10:30

Translation:

Kernel panic = impossible to continue (as bad as it gets)
not syncing = won't physically write to HD in background (probably good)
[something] attempted to kill init! = the primary boot process is dead (why it's all over)

The line before this is the killer and means that control cannot be be transferred to the newly loaded OS file system in RAM.

This usually means there is a RAM defect/weakness/incompatibility, and often swapping the RAM stick(s) solves the problem. If you have two, try switching position. Remember, Puppy and other live CD's depend entirely on RAM - there's no second chance to access the HD and the boot process can't backtrack.

Alternatively. reset memory settings in BIOS to defaults and disable any caching of video and BIOS to RAM.

You're right, there's nothing wrong with the optical disk drive. I hadn't realized you were getting anywhere in booting from it. MemTest is quite rigorous but geared to normal RAM use. The problem could be physical. I have also had this problem occur when a HD install crashes and I'm attempting to recover with a soft reboot - RAM is holding linked junk in the way. In this case, shutting the machine off resolves the problem.

julianloui · #13 Post by **julianloui** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 22:25

eric52,

Alternatively. reset memory settings in BIOS to defaults and disable any caching of video and BIOS to RAM.

You're right, there's nothing wrong with the optical disk drive. I hadn't realized you were getting anywhere in booting from it. MemTest is quite rigorous but geared to normal RAM use. The problem could be physical. I have also had this problem occur when a HD install crashes and I'm attempting to recover with a soft reboot - RAM is holding linked junk in the way. In this case, shutting the machine off resolves the problem.

Thanks very much for explaining the BL boot-up errors. I've done a number of RAM matching and swapping experiments as suggested by you.

My desktop's Pheonix AwardBIOS is very simple and has only one line related to system configuration 'Reset Configuration Data'. So I changed the setting from [no] to [yes] before undertaking the following experiments.

(1) Exchanging positions of current 1GB modules. Result: No improvement.

(2) Using matched pair of 256MB modules instead. Result: No improvement.

(3) Using pair of recently purchased 1GB Crucial modules instead. Result: No improvement.

(4) Exchanging positions of 1GB Crucial modules. Result: No improvement.

The results tend to suggest that grub or the BIOS might have been altered somehow.

Julianvb

eric52 · #14 Post by **eric52** » Wed 09 Dec 2015, 22:42

Booting live from the DVD drive should ignore anything in any grub on the HD. On the other hand, your live BL will look for BL files to load on the HD, where I think you have it installed. Seeing as you obviously know what you're doing, what happens if you unplug the hard drive and boot from disk?

julianloui · #15 Post by **julianloui** » Thu 10 Dec 2015, 01:53

when I booted with the live BL CD in either the CD drive or DVD drive while the HD was disabled in the BIOS boot list, I got the same "Attempted to kill init" error.

However, when I replaced the BL disk with the Plop Linux live DVD, everything worked fine whether the HD was disabled in the boot list or not. The Plop Linux live DVD consists of Plop Linux and also Plop Boot Manager. After Plop Linux booted up, I was able to explore all its contents. I am writing this message to you from Plop Linux on my problematic desktop. I can't help feeling that it could have been designed with my particular type of problem in mind? It boots up successfully every time.

In the future I wouldn't mind making it a companion Linux OS. I hope you find Plop Linux interesting also. Thanks again.

Julianloui

eric52 · #16 Post by **eric52** » Thu 10 Dec 2015, 02:11

You're way ahead of me, Julian, Plop will boot without BIOS support. I'm just about to start messing with it, prompted by a Dell e521 athlon x2 3800+ wreck I found in a puddle at the dump. No HD but a working DVD-RW and a semi-working DVD-ROM. I threw 3GB RAM into it and figured to use a USB drive. No BIOS support for this baby, even though it says it's supported and recognizes the drive just fine. Per the Web, it's hopeless. Thanks for the pointer!

julianloui · #17 Post by **julianloui** » Thu 10 Dec 2015, 05:21

Eric,

You're most welcome. Once in a while we do discover a gem. I'm finally selling a hopeless Toshiba laptop I revived for my daughter in 2009. It lasted for 3 years before its hardware started misbehaving, most likely a bad dvd drive or cpu. Today I advertised it for sale as a source of computer parts in order to spend my time on more productive projects.

Elmar Hanlhofer, creator of Plop Linux and Plop Boot Manager, is a very friendly and helpful guy.

Thanks very much for your help.

Julian

eric52 · #18 Post by **eric52** » Fri 11 Dec 2015, 00:57

FYI, Julian - Plop works great on everything I have except that Dell e521. It will find and boot the DVD-ROM, but no dice on any USB drive. I guess that's why Dell replaced MB's for this model. The BIOS is OK, it seems; the hardware has a hurdle it can't jump. USB drives read/write fine from any OS, but I'm afraid there's no way to boot one.

julianloui · #19 Post by **julianloui** » Fri 11 Dec 2015, 06:28

FYI, Julian - Plop works great on everything I have except that Dell e521. It will find and boot the DVD-ROM, but no dice on any USB drive. I guess that's why Dell replaced MB's for this model. The BIOS is OK, it seems; the hardware has a hurdle it can't jump. USB drives read/write fine from any OS, but I'm afraid there's no way to boot one.

________________
Eric,

I happen to have been concentrating my testing of Plop Boot Manager on only one machine, a 2002 Dell Dimension 2400. I assign first boot priority to CD-DVD. After Plop's boot-option list appears, I select Plop Boot Manager, then USB on the following screen. After some delay, my UNetbootin-created Ubuntu live USB boots up each time. However, I don't get a chance to test Plop on my 2013 Dell Latitude laptop which boots a live USB as soon as it sees it at startup. However, I don't have the same luck with my Linux-Mint HP desktop where Plop can boot a live CD or DVD but not USB.

It'll be interesting for us to ask Elmar Hanlhofer for some clues. Good luck.

Julian

[/quote]

julianloui · #20 Post by **julianloui** » Fri 11 Dec 2015, 17:07

Eric,

I've just received the following advice from Elmar Hanlhofer and tried out PlopKexec Boot Manager on my HP desktop. It booted a live USB there instantly. It's a miracle. Please let me hear whether it works for you.

use PlopKexec https://www.plop.at/en/plopkexec.html#download

Julian

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How to Restore Firefox in Browser Linux? (Solved)

How to Restore Firefox in Browser Linux? (Solved)