GRUB2 ok, but Lucid doesn't boot

[Guest]

Duh. Got myself a conundrum...

Since late 2003, I have a Dell Optiplex GX270 (Pentium 4 hyperthreaded, 2.4GHz, Intel graphics card). Over time it evolved somewhat: it has now 1GB of RAM, and, more recently, 500GB (PATA) harddisk, replacing the original 80GB. With XP on it, of course (it was provided by my previous employer...)

Equally over time, Linux "got" me. I settled on Kubuntu. I dual-boot now: Kubuntu 10.04 and XP SP3. I used JFS as the file system. (I felt unsure about EXT4. Thought JFS was a solid/ripened alternative.) And yes, I'm dreaming aloud of dumping the less inspiring OS. With that in mind, only last week (Lucid running & updating happily for the last 3 months), I installed Thunderbird on Lucid & crossed my mail over to it. One step closer to "never looking back". T-bird worked happily for a few days, not a single hitch really, thank you.

Until.

Monday, Kubuntu didn't boot. I got the GRUB2 screen, selected Kubuntu, pressed ENTER, and I got an endless black screen. After the 3-finger salute, I selected XP: booted no problem. After restarting, I selected Kubuntu "safe mode", and after passing through a low resulution text screen, the resolution changed (to 1280x1024, I guess), and it stopped, showing the following text (retyped from a photo of the screen - doublechecked for errors... Shows my level of education, I'm afraid.) (/media/Home & /media/Data are my ntfs partitions, /dev/sda9 has /, and /dev/sda10 has /home.):

"
fsck from uti1-1inux-ng 2.17.2
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.17.2
fsck.jfs version 1.1.12, 24-Aug-2007
processing started: 6/28/2010 14.39.7
The current device is: /dev/sda10
Block size in bytes: 4096
Filesystem size in b1ocks: 97064722
**Phase 0 - Replay Journal Log
Filesystem is clean.
fsck.jfs version 1.1.12, 24-Aug-2007
processing started: 6/28/2010 14.39.8
The current device is: /dev/sda9
Block size in bytes: 4096
Filesystem size in blocks: 5000223
**Phase 0 - Replay JournaI Log
Fllesystem Is clean.
init: Failed to spawn ufw pre-start process: unable to execute: No such file or directory
init: Failed to spawn ufw post-stop process: unable to execute: No such file or directory
init: Failed to spawn ufw pre-start process: unable to execute: No such file or directory
init: Failed to spawn ufw post-stop process: unable to execute: No such file or directory
init: mounted-tmp main pro~cesS (576) terminated with status 2
mountall: Event failed
fuse: failed to create temporary directory
mountall: mount /media/Home [590] terminated with status 21
mountall: Filesystem could not be mounted: /media/Home
fuse: failed to create temporary directory
mountall: mount /media/Data [663] terminated with status 21
mountall: Filesystem could not be mounted: /media/Data
_ (<-- blinking cursor)
"

(I've been googling around, I've been looking through the forum, but if one doesn't really know what terms to look for, everything seems just slightly off-topic...)

Can anyone make anything out of that screenshot? I'm lost actually. Would like to resurrect that Kubuntu system, though, if only to learn something... Any info, pointers, corrections, evident overlooks, ... are most welcome!

Thanks.

[askrieger]

Re: GRUB2 ok, but Lucid doesn't boot

I assume You've seen this post from our sister forum. If not, it basically says to do a reinstall.

I'm sure you will be delighted to learn that this is a known bug with importance:high, status:confirmed, which has NOT BEEN ASSIGNED to anybody. This indicates the dire need for more people willing and able to stomp bugs in the *buntu community

You may (or may not) be aware that the "ufw" that is failing to start is the "uncomplicated firewall" package, which is installed by default in all (*)buntu distros. IF (and that's a very big "if") you are already behind a firewall (a home router would probably suffice), you could try removing the ufw package. I have not tried this, myself; I have no intention of trying it myself; and I claim no responsibility if your computer is instantly enlisted in numerous botnets within five minutes of removing the ufw package.

Personally, I'd try the reinstall.

[Guest]

Re: GRUB2 ok, but Lucid doesn't boot

Thanks for the reply; I was indeed starting to get the irk I'ld have to reinstall... But (although I have very little experience with Linux in general, the*buntu's specifically, and none at all with programming - and even though I have little time...), I *would* rather prefer to help out, or at least to get somewhat deeper. Problem is: I don't know how to get access to the system: If I use a live CD (I have an Ubuntu live DVD), I'm definetily not the user that set up my Kubuntu install, and when I use Puppy, there's no reading JFS partitions...

What could I do/use to start snooping (safely) around my own er... ruin :P ?

[askrieger]

Re: GRUB2 ok, but Lucid doesn't boot

I would use the live CD to copy all my personal "stuff" e.g. EVERYTHING in my /home/<yourname>/ directory tree (including all the "hidden" directories and files whose names start with the character '.' ) to a removable medium such as a USB thumb drive. Those "hidden" files include virtually all of your personal customizations and personal data.

I would then use the live DVD to reformat my *buntu partition(s) as ext4. As far as my experience goes, the ext4 file system, is usable and reliable. Moreover, just about all Linux distributions can read ext4 volumes, so that if you decide to stay with Puppy, or switch to another distro, you would retain your personal tweaks. I would then reinstall Kubuntu and restore my personal "stuff" from the thumb drive.

With regard to helping out, the first thing you could do is to hang around this site for a while, learning as much as you can, and passing on what you've learned to those people who haven't learned it yet. Eventually, if you choose to do so, you could move on to more sophisticated contributions like bug triage (which requires a "throw away" computer, like an ancient laptop).