Fedora Blues - Grub, Sudo, Root and Software Update issues.

[GroogFish]

Grub-

I've got a laptop that has vista on it and I wanted to install ubuntu so I could use some programs that vista doesn't support (like gtkRadiant). So I installed ubuntu 9.10 with the disc I had, updated it to 10.4 and unfortunately now I can't log into vista at all! So I tried to reinstall 9.10 (but without the update so I could at least get back on vista) but my disk drive ate the disk! But the damage was already done because now I've intalled fedora with it's grub and I cannot get on vista. I get a black screen with something that says "Grub error" or something and then another line like- "grub rescue> " where I can type. I've tried things like root, find, setup, quit, reboot, boot and of the sort but it just says "unknown command". How can I get my other OS back?

Sudo-

Right now I'm using fedora and I was going to try to edit the grub.conf and menu.lst but I don't have sudo privilages for the user I created on fedora. And it's a reoccuring problem because I just reinstalled it to see if I could fix it. My default user is not a sudoer and I cannot access the sudoer file unless I am a sudoer!! So that brings me to my "root user" issue

Root-

Since I was unable to use sudo with my default user I tried to login as root (username: root, password: ********) but it says "authentication faliure" even though it is the correct password. If I can't login as root and the default user can't sudo then I'm royally screwed. I need advice because this is an $800 laptop and it's not mine!

Software Update-

As a side note I thought I would try to update Fedora with the "Software Update" utility but I'm getting this error 30 seconds into the installation-

Error Type: <class 'yum.Errors.RepoError'>
Error Value: Error getting repository data for installed, repository not found
File : /usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py, line 3125, in <module>
main()
File : /usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py, line 3122, in main
backend.dispatcher(sys.argv[1:])
File : /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/packagekit/backend.py, line 699, in dispatcher
self.dispatch_command(args[0], args[1:])
File : /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/packagekit/backend.py, line 657, in dispatch_command
self.update_packages(only_trusted, package_ids)
File : /usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py, line 1948, in update_packages
signed = self._is_package_repo_signed(pkg)
File : /usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py, line 1437, in _is_package_repo_signed
repo = self.yumbase.repos.getRepo(pkg.repoid)
File : /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/repos.py, line 121, in getRepo
'Error getting repository data for $s, repository not found' $ (repoid)

I really need help. Like I said, this isn't even my laptop.

[glennzo]

1. Probably trying to boot Vista from the wrong partition. Grub Windows section may need to read root (hd0,0) or if that's not working then root(hd0,1).
2. Need to research resetting root password before you can add yourself to the sudoers list.
3. See #2.
4. See #2. Once you have the root password you can open a terminal and type

yum clean all
yum update

[devils casper]

I get a black screen with something that says "Grub error" or something and then another line like- "grub rescue> " where I can type. I've tried things like root, find, setup, quit, reboot, boot and of the sort but it just says "unknown command". How can I get my other OS back?

Hi and Welcome !

Boot up from LiveCD of any Linux distro, mount / partition of Fedora and post the contents of its /boot/grub/grub.conf file here. Post the output of fdisk -l command too.

Right now I'm using fedora and I was going to try to edit the grub.conf and menu.lst but I don't have sudo privilages for the user I created on fedora. And it's a reoccuring problem because I just reinstalled it to see if I could fix it. My default user is not a sudoer and I cannot access the sudoer file unless I am a sudoer!! So that brings me to my "root user" issue

By default, sudo is configured in Fedora but you can gain root privileges using su command easily.

su -
<execute commands>
exit

Since I was unable to use sudo with my default user I tried to login as root (username: root, password: ********) but it says "authentication faliure" even though it is the correct password. If I can't login as root and the default user can't sudo then I'm royally screwed. I need advice because this is an $800 laptop and it's not mine!

root login is disabled in Fedora. Have you tried su - command as Regular use to gain root privileges?
You can reset root password easily. Just boot up in Single User Mode and passwd command. Type new password for root. It won't ask for existing password.


Follow glennzo's instruction for yum problem.

[VirtualLinuxUser]

Grub-

Sudo-

Right now I'm using fedora and I was going to try to edit the grub.conf and menu.lst but I don't have sudo privilages for the user I created on fedora. And it's a reoccuring problem because I just reinstalled it to see if I could fix it. My default user is not a sudoer and I cannot access the sudoer file unless I am a sudoer!! So that brings me to my "root user" issue

Root-

Since I was unable to use sudo with my default user I tried to login as root (username: root, password: ********) but it says "authentication faliure" even though it is the correct password. If I can't login as root and the default user can't sudo then I'm royally screwed. I need advice because this is an $800 laptop and it's not mine!


I really need help. Like I said, this isn't even my laptop.

I'm having the same problem with Fedora 13 (boots to graphical mode by default).

See here :
"{this site's domain}/forum/redhat-fedora-linux-help/166549-sudo-not-working-correctly.html" and here "{this site's domain}//forum/redhat-fedora-linux-help/167006-fedora-13-add-user-sudoers.html"" {won't allow me to make URLs links!}

EDIT : The answer to this question/ problem is partially in the post above this one, although it doesn't solve the problem of adding users to sudoers.

>> Hi and Welcome !

>>Boot up from LiveCD of any Linux distro, mount / partition of Fedora and post the contents of its /boot/grub/grub.conf file here. Post the output of fdisk -l command too.

>> Quote:
>> Originally Posted by GroogFish
>>>> Right now I'm using fedora and I was going to try to edit the grub.conf and menu.lst but I don't have sudo privilages for the user I created on fedora. And it's a reoccuring problem because I just reinstalled it to see if I could fix it. My default user is not a sudoer and I cannot access the sudoer file unless I am a sudoer!! So that brings me to my "root user" issue

>> By default, sudo is configured in Fedora but you can gain root privileges using su command easily.

>> Code:
>> su -
<execute commands>
>> exit

>> Quote:
>> Originally Posted by GroogFish

>>>> Since I was unable to use sudo with my default user I tried to login as root (username: root, password: ********) but it says "authentication faliure" even though it is the correct password. If I can't login as root and the default user can't sudo then I'm royally screwed. I need advice because this is an $800 laptop and it's not mine!

>> root login is disabled in Fedora. Have you tried su - command as Regular use to gain root privileges?
You can reset root password easily. Just boot up in Single User Mode and passwd command. Type new password for root. It won't ask for existing password.