Last Update Deadly (SOLVED except for sound problem)

[rbrown3rd]

I just logged on to my wife's desktop, it was a dual boot WinXP/Kubuntu 8.04. I took the latest updates which was an update to the kernel. I am on the machine now running this with an old Live CD because I cannot get the machine to boot normally now. Grub no longer shows her WinXP boot option. If I select any version of Linux from the Grub menu the system starts to boot and then goes black. She is going to be very unhappy when I tell her that I toasted her machine. Any chance of recovery?

I didn't write down the last version that was in the update. Also, I may have done the damage by uninstalling something called busybox.

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Not sure about the black screen yet.

For now, use the Live CD to edit (as root) menu.lst to include a boot entry for Windows XP:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


I'm assuming XP is on (hd0,0)

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
Edit menu.lst:
--- HOW To: Change the Default Operating System (Also: Changing the timeout, boot menu, and other tips) Reply #1
The main how-to shows how to do it from Live CD, too.

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Ok, using Kongueror to find the file.

I just tried booting again after editing the boot entry from the Grub menu. I turned off quiet mode and the following are the lines that are on the screen when it stops. This time no black screen:

running /scripts/init=bottom
done
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init
Busybox V.1.13 (Debian 1:1, 1.3- ubuntu/2)
built in shell (ssn_
enter help for list of commands
(initramfs)

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

That was booting into linux?
at the initramfs prompt, try typing
exit
and Enter
See if that gets you past it.

There was a post recently (past few weeks) about this and different ways to get past busybox. Same as here--problems caused after an update.
Try a search here in the forum.

Busybox can mean anything -- any type of problem.
Yours:
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init
and I'm not sure how to fix that ...


What about booting into XP?

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

These are the drives that show up when I do fdisk -lu
Which one is Windows?

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders, total 156250000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

  Device Boot   Start     End   Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1       63    64259    32098+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2  *    64260  73609829  36772785  7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3    148890420  156232124   3670852+ db CP/M / CTOS / ...
/dev/sda4    73609830  148890419  37640295  5 Extended
/dev/sda5    73609893  145709549  36049828+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6    145709613  148890419   1590403+ 82 Linux swap /

Solaris

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Yes, that was booting into Linux. Exit and enter brings me back to the same prompt.

Target system does not have /sbin/init/

That was booting into linux?
at the initramfs prompt, try typing
exit
and Enter
See if that gets you past it.

There was a post recently (past few weeks) about this and different ways to get past busybox. Same as here--problems caused after an update.
Try a search here in the forum.

Busybox can mean anything -- any type of problem.
Yours:
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init
and I'm not sure how to fix that ...


What about booting into XP?

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 64259 32098+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 64260 73609829 36772785 7 HPFS/NTFS

Looks like Xp is on the second partition:
sda2 = (hd0,1)

So
title Windows XP
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1


And looks like /sbin/init/ got borked in Linux.
But XP should be OK.

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

This was already at the end of menu.lst . But the XP option does not show up. Is there still a way to boot into XP or is that toast too?

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title		Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root		(hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

See my entire menu.lst after the default options below:

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-22-generic
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-22-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-22-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-22-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-22-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-22-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-21-generic
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-21-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-21-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-21-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-21-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-21-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
root		(hd0,4)
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title		Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root		(hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

but you don't see that when you boot up on the boot menu?

If not, when you see the boot menu,
quickly
press "c" key
and type it in, line by line, ending with boot:

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

and it should boot into XP

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

for Linux, you could try selecting the previous kernel to boot into, and see if that works.

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Rght. I don't see it on boot. I will try booting into XP with the method you describe.
i

but you don't see that when you boot up on the boot menu?

If not, when you see the boot menu,
quickly
press "c" key
and type it in, line by line, ending with boot:

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

and it should boot into XP

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Tried that with no luck.

for Linux, you could try selecting the previous kernel to boot into, and see if that works.

[rbrown3rd]

Re: Last Update Deadly

Ok, I can boot into XP. That is good news for me. My wife will be able to play her Windows games. Any ideas as to why that option does not show up at the boot prompt even though it is in the menu.lst file? Could it be because there are so many OS options for Linux? How does one manage all of those options and kernels?

but you don't see that when you boot up on the boot menu?

If not, when you see the boot menu,
quickly
press "c" key
and type it in, line by line, ending with boot:

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

and it should boot into XP

[Qqmike]

Re: Last Update Deadly

You can try "commenting-out" some of those Linux entries, like this: (use the # sign in front of each line):

#title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
#root (hd0,4)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=a74b3a9d-19e5-487b-86ee-594ffbccb86b ro quiet splash
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
#quiet

and they won't show up.

Rog131 has a How-To under Documentation > How To
about removing unwanted boot entries (not just removing it in menu.lst. but removing it from the system). BUT, for now, I'd just use the # sign to comment-out unwanted lines and that way you still have the full menu.lst in case you need it (which you won't).

Let's see if that shows the XP entry, for now.


There's methods to repair that init business, but I'm not the expert. I don't know if mesing with initramfs (reinstalling it) will fix this one you got. But I'm hesitant to go into that tonight because we don't want to make things worse. (I've written that up somewhere, but it's really a crap shoot tonight to even go that way). Another member, toad, may have seen this issue you have.

So, XP is OK.
Can you boot into a previous kernel?