# [SOLVED] Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen



## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

I Just got a Acer Aspire One 8.9 Netbook. Im a complete newb, as have been using macs for the last 5 years.

I was reading a post that told me how to change display settings, download games etc. so i followed all the steps and everything was perfect.... until i restarted....

The computer boots up fine, but there is no home-screen now!
This means I can access anything!!!

There is a picture of a house in the bottom left, and when i click it, the following message comes up 

Could not command :xfdesktop2--gohome:failed to execute child process"xfdesktop2" (no such file or directory)

Tried all the alt + F10/F09 etc. but nothing is working.

Any help would be great!!!!

Thanks,
James


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Hi,

Welcome to TSF!!

I will have to do a little looking about this one. If you could supply the link for the post that you read that would be great. If you don't remember it that is ok too. I would also like you to try alt with all the "F" keys and see if you can get to a terminal login?

Cheers!


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Hi there, thanks for your fast reply. This is the text I followed, fro the following website...:upset:

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/category/guides/

It's difficult to write about the Aspire One from Acer without gushing.
Out of the box, this mini-notebook is the perfect traveling companion for anyone who simply needs to surf the Web, send e-mail and perform typical office tasks such as typing up documents, working on spreadsheets or giving a presentation.
Its compact size—6.7″x9.8″ and less than an inch thick—and weight—less than a kilo—make the Aspire One extremely easy to bring along anywhere. The netbook is slightly longer than the pioneering Asus Eee PC, but Acer has put that extra space to good use by building in a larger keyboard that most touch typists will appreciate (about 85 percent of a full-sized one) and a glossy black frame around the LCD screen that makes it look brighter.
“Like the Eee PC, the Aspire One doesn’t make this easy to the casual user. In fact, the default launcher doesn’t even have an icon for installing or removing software.
Fortunately, Laptop Magazine details how to do this:
1) Open a terminal by going to My Documents in the Files group. Then choose File > Terminal.
2) Type “xfce-setting-show” (without the quotation marks) and hit Enter.
3) In the Settings Manager window that appears, select the Desktop icon. In the Behavior tab, check the box that says “Show desktop menu on right click.” Now you have access to the system’s advanced menu by right-clicking on a blank area of the desktop.
4) Open a terminal and type “sudo -su” and hit Enter. Type “password” and Enter. Type in a new root password. The password cannot be a dictionary word but a combination of letters and numbers. Retype the password.
5) Right-click on the desktop and choose System > Add/Remove Software. Enter the root password you set and use the Package Manager to install the programs you want.

Tried all the F keys, and nothings happening. I go through all the intro screens, and I CAN press f2 and f12 to get to the "system??" screen where you can change settings....:4-dontkno

Thanks


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Does right-clicking still bring up the XFCE menu?

Also, try using <CTRL>+<ALT>+<F2>, instead of just ALT and F# key. This should drop you to a prompt asking for login information. Please confirm that by posting back and we can go from there.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

No. Right clicking does nothing.... neither does <CTRL>+<ALT>+<F2>....


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

I still have the white bar going along the bottom (where the picture of a house is), and the white search bar at the top. I can still search for things, change the keyboard, check battery, change volume/contrast etc. My screensaver even comes up, with pictures that I put on....


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

The problem seems to be simple (at first glance, anyway), in that you're missing a file ( xfdesktop2 ), which you may actually have a backup of already in your system. Without having access to a terminal, it's extremely difficult to do any real troubleshooting / repair. The terminal is more or less your life line. 

I hate to suggest a system recovery or fresh install, but you may think about it. You should have a recovery DVD which will reinstall the system back to default or, you may want to look at downloading Ubuntu netbook instead of. Ubuntu's as user friendly as linpus, but still gives you the option to get your hands dirty where Linpus seems to make that a challenge.

Lastly, without any guarantee, you may want to try downloading an Ubuntu live CD and see if you can't access your system that way. That would involve downloading Ubuntu, burning it, then booting from it. If you reach the desktop and have access to a terminal, there would be honest hope for a fix.

I've never used Linpus Lite, so it's rather difficult to help without personal experience. It's not your typical linux distro.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Ok. Thanks for all your help. Unfortunately, i got the netbook from gumtree, where i swapped it, so didnt get any discs or anything, so that would mean i have to download it to my mac, then burn it, then buy a cd drive for the netbook....no?..... sounds tricky to me!!!
Is there no way of doing some sort of a major restart without the disc? I dont care if I loose all my information.....If there is anything you can suggest, it would be great. If not, then thanks again for all your help.

James


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

I suppose that might be somewhat difficult, yes? :doh:

Try booting the Acer but pressing the <TAB> key repeatedly before Linpus begins to load. Does that take you to a GRUB menu?

If not, do you have a USB drive/stick available? You can install Ubuntu on either which would be the same as booting from a live CD.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

YES!!!! Im on the GNU GRUB version 0.97.

I dont know what it is, but its something new!!!!

Any idea what to do now?


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

It says...

Use the up and down keys to select which entry is highlighted.
Press enter to boot the selected OS, "e" to edit the commands before booting, "a" to modify the kernel arguments before booting, or "c" for a command line.

the only thing in the box is Linpus Linux RCD.


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

That's certainly a start.

There should be at least one entry on the menu; Linpus Lite ----. The very first (top) entry. If you would select that entry if it's not already selected and press 'e'. This should bring you to a new screen showing the entry in detail. Find the 'kernel' line, select it, and press 'e' once more. At the very end of the line, add a space (just one space) and the word 'single'. Then press <ENTER> and 'b' to boot. Linpus will then begin to load in text mode (single user mode). When it's done, you should be sitting at a prompt.

Run the following command and post or at least, report the output if you would.

```
[color=red]ls -la /usr/bin | grep xfdesktop[/color]
```
#Note: that's Ls -La in lowercase letters.

Specifically, you're looking for the file xfdesktop2.bak.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Did everything you said, but after i pressed b to boot, it just went back to the empty homepage....


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

After i press e on the kernel line, the screen changes and the last line says


<h=silent loglevel=1 console=tty1 quiet nolapic_timer

Then I put 1 space, and the word "single", then enter, then boot and it just goes back to the homepage.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

After I press enter, should i press b to boot on the kennel line or the rootnoverify(hd0) line?
or the initrd/boot/initrd-splash.img line?
lol

Sorry for the shpeil.


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

It doesn't matter where you press 'b', so that's not the trouble. I guess it won't accept the 'single' argument, so instead, try using the letter 'S' in the same way. One space, then 'S'.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Nope. Just goes back to the empty homescreen.


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Lastly, you can try adding a '1' instead of s or single, but somehow I'm guessing it will have the same result.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Ok. Now the WHOLE screen is black, and instead of the normal cursor, it has been replace by a cross..... like so .. X..... i cant do anything except move the cross around. ..


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

<CTRL>+<ALT>+<F1> has no results?


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

nothing...


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

tried all the f's....nothing


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## Rome5 (Nov 25, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

I looked at the GRUB manual just to see if there was another route and I didn't find anything useful. Those are the only ways I know to enter runlevel 1 (single user mode); which is meant for maintenance = exactly what you need. 

The USB device would work to either re-install the OS or another OS, or access your system files. Without that and seemingly no way to get to a console/terminal; not sure what else you can do. It looks like the only AA1's that have built-in recovery features are the ones with WinXP. 

Perhaps someone else can add more info; otherwise I'll see what else I can come up with in the meantime. Surely there's a way around it.


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## malfection (Sep 20, 2009)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

lol. I hope so!!!
Thanks so much for your help. Ur knowledge is mind-blowing!
James


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## Raez (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Hi.

Im kind of a newbie on linux aswell and I have the same problem, it's a death-trap following that guide. Anyhow, I think I found a solution. I have the same black homescreen and I cant open a terminal by R.click or any keycombination. Still, I was enable to get to terminal through the activitybar. This is what you need to do.

Rightclick on you connection, witch still shows and select about. The networkmanager Applet should appeir. Now click on "NetWorkmanager Website" -> your online. 

Download any file and from there you can reach your files from when you R.click and selecting the show containing folder option. Rightclick somewhere between your files and choose "Open Terminal here". 

Now you change everything back to the code it was before, Im doing it from Acer Aspire One User Forum • View topic - Get the Linux desktop you always wanted in 10 easy steps!

This will prob. work. Im going to test it now. 

Good Luck!


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## Raez (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*



Raez said:


> Hi.
> 
> Im kind of a newbie on linux aswell and I have the same problem, it's a death-trap following that guide. Anyhow, I think I found a solution. I have the same black homescreen and I cant open a terminal by R.click or any keycombination. Still, I was enable to get to terminal through the activitybar. This is what you need to do.
> 
> ...



It worked 
I think i found the problem aswell. Instead of typing 

/usr/bin/xfdesktop-xfce & >/dev/null 2>&1

I wrote # infront of the code, with means that we dont have any xfdesktop at all, could all you people out there with the same problem done the exact thing?

Hope i saved alot of lives, I sure saved my own ***. The spelling aint the best, please excuse me for that, Im from Sweden. If anything is unclear. Ask and i can explain.

Newbs CAN TO! ray:


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

*Re: Acer Aspire One Limpus Lite - No Homescreen*

Glad you were able to fix it on your own. Please try if you have a question to create a new thread, and link to an old thread if you need to.

Cheers!


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