mount: / is busy and system hangs without shutting down

[oshunluvr]

I've never heard of an SSD causing this, but you never know. Makes me think it's ACPI/BIOS related.

[Frank616]

How would changing to an SSD interact with the BIOS or ACPI? Would it be worth trying different ACPI boot settings? I know that ACPI used to be an issue years ago.

It is interesting that 14.04 hung on the installation off the DVD. I had to manually power off after the installation running from the installer DVD. THe DVD ejected, but it didn't reboot.

[oshunluvr]

Dang, you got issues! lol

With older computers, the SSD might be partially incompatible. Do you have the ability in your BIOS to select drive protocol? Mine has either IDE or AHCI, of which AHCI is the recommended for newer drives. Worth looking at...

[Frank616]

Dang, you got issues! lol

Don't I know it!!

You may be on to something here. Yes, the BIOS has an advanced setting, and allows AHCI.

I installed Linux Mint 17.3, and again it failed to boot after the DVD installation finished. I then powered down manually, rebooted, and edited the BIOS settings. Linux Mint came up, AND THEN IT SHUT DOWN CLEANLY!!

I tried Mint because it is SO similar to Kubuntu. I just wanted to know if minor differences were the culprit. Seems not.

I will now reinstall Kubuntu 14.04, and see if the ACPI setting in the BIOS has solved everything.

Stay tuned.

[Frank616]

OK, Linux Mint 17.3 works with the disk set to AHCI. Kubuntu 14.10 does not. It still hangs on shutdown. I guess Mint stays on that machine.

So, part of the problem is resolved.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Frank.

[oshunluvr]

I wouldn't call that resolution, rather - just avoiding the issue.

Seems to me that the Mint install has something the Kubuntu install does not. Either setting or driver-wise. Be interesting to know what the diff is, but I expect you've had a snoot-ful of this problem by now...

[Frank616]

oshunluvr:

I'm still willing to sleuth it with help. Mint uses an older kernel IIRC. I am wondering if that is an issue. I can give a small notebook to my wife for the time being. So, if you would like to get to the bottom of it, I am willing to carry on. However, I was wondering if you had a snoot-full at this point as well.

Frank.

[oshunluvr]

Very well could be a kernel issue. Did you have the shutdown problem from Kubuntu 14.04 LiveUSB and did you try Kubuntu 16.04?

[Frank616]

I installed from a DVD drive as this old Core-2 machine will not boot from USB. I have not tried any other version. Shall it give 16.04 a shot just to see what happens? I will need to upgrade one of these days anyway, though I am not fond of Plasma 5.

Frank.

[Frank616]

oshunluvr:

OK, just to put an end to this, I guess I am going to throw in the towel and call it 'unresolved'. Mint 17.3 works on the Core-2 Duo, and I've been looking for an excuse to try Mint again anyway. 14.04 is nearing the end of its life, so I think I will let it die a peaceful death. My curiosity is not as great as my sloth.

Thank you for helping me with this. I have learned a lot that will stand me in good stead later on. I have taken notes, and will be resetting a lot of my WD drives in my 3 desktop machines. The other 3 laptops don't use WD drives.

I don't see any way to mark this thread as 'abandoned' or 'unresolved'. The only option that appears is to mark it 'resolved', which it isn't. Is the ability to change the title of the thread open to me, or only to the sysops?

Frank.

[Snowhog]

Return to post #1, click on Edit Post and then click on Go Advanced. You can then edit the Title.

[jlittle]

...14.04 is nearing the end of its life...

LTS releases are supported for 5 years; 14.04 is less than half way through its life, IIUC.

[Frank616]

You are technically correct. Things move so quickly, however, that even if it is supported, new products and new software make an older version look REALLY old very fast.

Frank.