Failed Update: Mount of rootfilesystem failed - HELP!

[swaraj]

This is what I get after going through the update from 9.04 to 9.10.

Followed by " A maintenance shell will now be started.."

Its sitting at command line waiting for instructions. Any help/suggestions gratefully received.

I'm a relative novice to Linux so dont know enough to fix this. Also a newcomer to the forum. Have done well just finding somewhere to post !


thanks
Swaraj

And I had just got 9.04 all set up to the way I wanted! Perhaps I should have waited.

[redridernl]

Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

I did the upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10. I let it run overnight and when I got home from work a few minutes ago it prompted me to reboot to complete the installation. When I did I got the splash screen to show that Kubuntu was booting but instead of the bar filling up from left to right it went back and forth a few times and then I got the following: (I am typing the error out so there could be a mistake or two) (the~ before the number sign at the prompt should be higher up like a superscript)

init: sreadahead main process (2635) terminated with status 1
mountall:/proc: unable to mount: Device or resource busy
mountall:/proc/self/mountinfo: No such file or directory
mountall: root filesystem isn't mounted
init: mountall main process (2636) terminated with status 1
General error mounting filesystems.
A maintenance shell will now be started.
CONTROL-D will terminate this shell and re-try
root@ron-desktop:~#



I've been using 9.04 for a while with no real issues but it's the first time I've used Linux so I don't really no my way around it too well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[redridernl]

Re: Failed Update: Mount of rootfilesystem failed - HELP!

This sounds like the same thing that happened to my upgrade. I'm still waiting for some help. Perhaps the threads could be merged?

[redridernl]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

It looks like I should have posted this in the install and boot sub forum. Sorry

It looks like another user is having the same problem. His/her thread title is "Failed Update: Mount of rootfilesystem failed - HELP!" Can a mod merge the threads?

[FordPrefect]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Here is a link, I am working on a solution right now, just down loaded the kubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso and will re-upgrade via CDROM, since obviously something went wrong with synaptic update...let you know in few minutes if it works, since no one here gives a $hit, but they move threads around, for what God only knows. Good thing this software is free, unlike Microsoft which charges for defective software...

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107373.0

[GreyGeek]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Here is a link, I am working on a solution right now, just down loaded the kubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso and will re-upgrade via CDROM, since obviously something went wrong with synaptic update...let you know in few minutes if it works, since no one here gives a $hit,

Perhaps because no one likes to be insulted and then have the insulter turn around and ask for help.

but they move threads around, for what God only knows. Good thing this software is free, unlike Microsoft which charges for defective software...

God isn't the only one who knows why.... moderators do too. We move stuff basically because some folks post questions in a forum not meant for the kind of question they are asking.

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107373.0

Similar to the commands you used in the cited URL, I use

sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

BUT, doing an upgrade is always risky because no one can guarantee the condition that the tartget installation is in. Some folks make a pretty good mess of their installation and expect the upgrade to magically fix things. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

If I upgrade to a new version release I prefer to save my data off to a DVD or to some 16GB memory sticks and then do a clean install with an md5sum checked ISO and the md5sum checked CDROM onto which it was burned as TA at under 10X speed.


BTW, did you hear the story about the guy who was standing near the ticket counter of a train depot? An old man was setting in a rocker as a train pulled up. A passenger got off, approached the old man and asked "What are the people like in this town?" The old man replied, "What were they like in the town you came from?" "Terrible!" replied the passenger. "There's the same here", responded the old man.

A little while later a second train arrived at the depot. Another passenger got off and approached the old man asking "What are the people like in this town?". "What were the people like in the town you came from?" asked the old man. "They were wonderful! I hated to leave but I had to." replied the passenger. "Well", replied the old man, "The people in this town are wonderful too!". "Great", said the passenger, "I am glad I chose to stop here!".

After the 2nd passenger rode off toward town guy who watched all this asked the old man why he told the first passenger the people in this town were terrible and the 2nd passenger the people in this town were wonderful. The olld man replied, "Because people tend to mirror the attitude they see. If you are hostile to them they will be hostile to you. If you are friendly to them they will be friendly to you!"

It make sense, doesn't it?

[fermier]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Hey GreyGeek, go slowly with that sharp tongue of yours on the young one's, they mean no harm. It is just hormones you know. You and I have forgotten how it was to be young and hot-blooded... ;-)

You are 200% correct in avoiding the update facility. As I wrote somewhere else, I never trust it. No matter how pristine my previous installation is. As a small suggestion, I have stopped writing CD's/DVD's for the upgrade purposes. There are two advantages (actually three), 1. I avoid making frisbees and boy-o-boy, I should be the international champion in frisbee judging from the number I have produced. 2. It is environmentally friendly and lastly, I miserly save some cents in my pocket. So what do I use? I download the iso and then it must be checked as you said. Hey young boys, list to the old men they know to play safe and be boring. ;-) From there on the choice is yours. I like to use Unetbootin (or the built-in boot usb key program) to produce a bootable USB key with a capacity of more than 1GB. I received a free 2 GB key last year and it has been most useful for upgrades. Of course, the key option only works if your PC can boot from a USB source. The installation from a USB key is rather quick as well. The other way is to install from the iso directly, which is more complicated, but there are nice recipes available in the Ubuntu faq's to help you along.

Ah the ease of a modern install.... It brings back fond memories of my first Linux installs way back in the early 90's. Back then the install was done off 10 stiffies, 14 if you wanted X. Can you imagine a whole complete system on just 14 1.4 MB stiffies? :-)

[GreyGeek]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

You and I have forgotten how it was to be young and hot-blooded... ;-)

Sex?

What is sex?

I used to know, but I've forgotten...

[bserviss]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

I had a similar problem with a bombed install.

After crashing in the middle of the upgrade and on reboot saw a message:

One or more of the mounts listed in /etc/fstab cannot yet be mounted:

I found a solution here:

http://old.nabble.com/URGENT:-Proble...d26125463.html

basically in the maintenance shell:

mount -n -o remount,rw /
update-grub
sudo dpkg --configure -a

May not be a complete solution as you won't have network support in the maintenance or recovery shell
but it worked well enough for me.

Should I do the dpgk command again now that I have a working system?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Do the command.

And, if your console has a network connection, do

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[redridernl]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Hey guys. It's my thread and I never insulted anyone. :P

Anyway, I tried the things you've mentioned last night and they didn't work and since I'm not exactly patient I decided to download the iso, format and start over. I lost some pictures but not much else so it wasn't the end of the world. Lesson learned... Next time I'll put my data on another drive and do a fresh install.

Since it was brought up... My bios sees usb devices that are plugged in but it doesn't give me the option to boot from them so I guess I won't be able to use a flash drive when I want to do a fresh install again?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Hey guys. It's my thread and I never insulted anyone. :P

I know, redridernl, I was just responding to someone who appeared to be trying to turn your thread into an anti-Kubuntu rant.

..
Since it was brought up... My bios sees usb devices that are plugged in but it doesn't give me the option to boot from them so I guess I won't be able to use a flash drive when I want to do a fresh install again?

How old is your machine? Did it have a "boot from external device" option?

[redridernl]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

It's a P4 ghz and it's 4 or 5 years old. I'm pretty sure that you could only choose between hard disk, cd/dvd or floppy but I'll have another look to be sure. It would certainly be more convenient to use a flash drive.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

Yup, booting from USBs didn't start on commodity machines until two or three years ago.

[Snowhog]

Re: Upgrade to 9.10 failed - Help

It looks like I should have posted this in the install and boot sub forum. Sorry

It looks like another user is having the same problem. His/her thread title is "Failed Update: Mount of rootfilesystem failed - HELP!" Can a mod merge the threads?

Done.