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I'm running Kubuntu 10.04 on an x86 machine, most updates applied. I need to get into single-user mode to install the latest nvidia drivers to support my new dual-display graphics card, but nothing seems to work.

  • If I run sudo telinit 1 it starts the reboot, gets to the point where the splash screen is counting down (cycling through the five dots) and then just hangs.
  • If I press {Shift} during boot-up, I (usually, but not always) get to the Grub menu (v1.9-ish), select the recovery mode option with the latest kernel, and then see the screen with all the options but my keyboard is inoperative: no arrow keys work, for example, so I cannot select the option I want. The only thing that works is {Ctrl-Alt-Delete} to reboot.

I am considering going into /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf and setting the DEFAULT-RUNLEVEL to S but am hoping there is a nicer way to clean up whatever is going on.

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Grub: Ctrl-P for up and Ctrl-N for down. – Rinzwind Nov 23 '12 at 15:10
Thanks; I'll give that a try as soon as I can get the Grub menu back again. I see the "Grub loading." message but then no menu. – JESii Nov 23 '12 at 15:54
OK; reset GRUB_HIDDEN* options to see the menu, but Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N do not work. – JESii Nov 23 '12 at 16:01
Tried a new keyboard direct to the computer (without going through KVM and/or USB hub) and still no up/down working. – JESii Nov 23 '12 at 18:23
Very strange... I found that if I quickly typed a character key twice (such as 'n') that it would take me to the 'network boot' option, so I was finally able to get into single-user mode and install the nvidia drivers. Go figure. – JESii Nov 25 '12 at 15:49

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