RESOLVED Unable to write to /run/udev/ THANKS ALL

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Your need for help/assistance is what we are here for. As for me, I'm currently on vacation, and so, yes, a night-owl. I'm in California at this time.

You are not abusing the support that is being made available to you here, even if what has been offered so far has not lead to a favorable resolution. Don't give up - we won't.

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Thank you for your continued kindness, and patience, and willingness to help. I am 2400 miles from my children and grandchildren who live in San Diego, so needless to say, you are where my computer takes me, when it is working. Have a wonderful time; wish I were there.

Apparently there are still options to make things work again.

Does, "mmm... Have you fired up your third pipe yet?", mean something like getting a "third wind" in a long race? If so, I am kind of like the guy that started the marathon in Greece. He ran until it killed him. It does feel a bit like I am hitting that wall, though,perhaps looking for my third wind.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

....I believe the comment was humorous, and I didn't understand. ....

Yes, it was! Snowhog has an avatar which is Tux dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. His previous quotation was from a Sherlock Holmes movie in which Sherlock remarks to Watson that "this is a 3 pipe problem"..., meaning that it is more difficult that the typical problems we encounter. I was asking Sherlock, humorously, if he thought your problem was a "3 pipe" problem.

Snowhog is a lot sharper with Linux than I am. If he can't solve it then my chances are even less likely.
But, I am confident he will.

It is beyond my greatest dreams to have gotten to this level of lack of understanding. It actually seems like I may be gaining some ground,...

You are gaining ground, and it is because of your love for "this stuff" That's what drives me, as well.
People that ride the Tux are soul-mates!

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

[quote=GreyGeek ]

....I believe the comment was humorous, and I didn't understand. ....

Yes, it was! Snowhog has an avatar which is Tux dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. His previous quotation was from a Sherlock Holmes movie in which Sherlock remarks to Watson that "this is a 3 pipe problem"..., meaning that it is more difficult that the typical problems we encounter. I was asking Sherlock, humorously, if he thought your problem was a "3 pipe" problem. Are you two fortunate enough to see eachother in person? I crave having friends like the two of you. I have no one here that is close enough for real friendship, so without my computer, it is like I am totally alone. There is a man and his wife that were helping me with my dual monitor problem that have an icon like yours. You all look so friendly and kind. I feel very fortunate to be helped by you all.

Snowhog is a lot sharper with Linux than I am. If he can't solve it then my chances are even less likely.
But, I am confident he will. Being a sleuth is kind of fitting for him. Sherlock would have been a great pseudonym. Ferret Sleuth of the most difficult problems.

It is beyond my greatest dreams to have gotten to this level of lack of understanding. It actually seems like I may be gaining some ground,...

You are gaining ground, and it is because of your love for "this stuff" That's what drives me, as well.
People that ride the Tux are soul-mates!

What amazes me most is how faithful to Windows people are. I mean no abuse to Windows, it is just sometimes I get to use a Windows computer or help someone with one. It gets so frustrating with the constant interruptions for security updates and adware and spyware, etc. and increased expense for upgrades and defragging and the like. When I tell of the benefits, it still is hard to get through. Nonetheless, I could never go back to Windows unless they upped their quality a lot, even if Linux became more commercial. I never thought of it, but I guess I am a soul-mate to Linux users. Anyway I am soul-mate to people like you.
[/quote]

An acquaintance from the church that provided me with a copy of SuperGrub2, just called to see if the application worked. When I answered, he inquired about the problem. He is not an avid Linux user, but apparently has looked at it. His first suggestion to me was it sounded like an HDD or HDD controller problem, but before I purchase another HDD, I will wait to see if any new ideas surface, unless you and SnowHog think it is the right thing to do. I am a retired fine-artist and live on a spartan fixed income, so I am a bit more frugal than most people. Not cheap, just careful. Thanks for the latest, friend.

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

To SnowHog or GreyGeek,

Are you comfortable that my problem is NOT in the grub? In the first entry of this Help the New Guy forum, I was looking through the wonderful help for newbies and found this:

Restore GRUB quite simple in Ubuntu, instead going through all the "gain root access" and play with shell commands, you can use the Ubuntu installation CD to restore it without going through all kinds of hassles.
Here are the steps:
1. Boot your computer up with Ubunto CD
2. Go through all the process until you reech "[!!!] Disk Partition"
3. Select Manual Partition
4. Mount your appropriate linux partions
/
/boot
swap
.....
5. DO NOT FORMAT THEM.
6. Finish the manual partition
7. Say "Yes" when it asks you to save the changes
8. It will give you errors saying that "the system couldn't install ....." after that
9. Ignore them, keep select "continue" until you get back to the Ubuntu installation menu
10. Jump to "Install Grub ...."
11. Once it is finished, just restart your computerRestore GRUB quite simple in Ubuntu, instead going through all the "gain root access" and play with shell commands, you can use the Ubuntu installation CD to restore it without going through all kinds of hassles.


I do not remember the "Install Grub" in the installation CD, however, I guess it never seemed necessary before. Is this something that I should try?

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

I know that this is taking a while to resolve (I'm believing that there is a resolution; we just haven't discovered it yet), and your patience is admirable.

From one of my earlier posts: "Should have asked earlier, and maybe you already have provided, but what are the specifications of your PC? Make/model; CPU make (Intel, AMD) - it is 64-bit, yes?; number of HDDs; number of optical drives."

Need this information, especially the number of HDD in your PC and the number of optical drives (CD/DVD drives).

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

I built my computer at home.
AMD Phenom quad core 2300mhz Black Edition
Motherboard ASUS M3N H-T Deluxe Mempipe
4gb AXIOM ECC DDR2 SDRAM 667mhz
GPU GeForce GTX 460 1024GB GDDR5 PC-E 2.0
2ea DVDRW 24X (Only one seems to be mounted)
Maxtor 1TB SATA 3GBs HDD (200gb used??)
Maxtor 500 SATA 3GBs HDD (400gb used)
800W Power Supply
22" ACER Monitor
27" ViewSonic Monitor

I may not have included it. I apologize. I usually copy/paste it to all posts, however, LiveCD does not permit. As far as my patience is concerned, I have plenty, I have been concerned you may not be able to spend so much time on a single problem.

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

As far as my patience is concerned, I have plenty, I have been concerned you may not be able to spend so much time on a single problem.

Not to worry. I've spent much more time on other problems.

On which HDD did you install Kubuntu - the 1TB or the 500GB? And which one is drive 0 (the first connected HDD)?

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Kubuntu was installed on the first portion of the 1TB drive, I believe as 1. Is there an easy way to confirm that.
I just opened the partition manager and it gave me lots of info. If /sda1 would be the '0' drive, then the 500gb drive is '0', the boot partition is /sdb1. I don't yet remember how to find that info.

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Boot from the LiveCD. Do not use the option to install. When on the desktop, open a console and type:

sudo fdisk -l

You should be able to connect to the Internet from the LiveCD if you are connected by wire, or wirelessly if your chip is recognized. If so, then copy and paste the output into your reply. If you can't do that, then carefuly record the output and then provide the information in your reply.

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Boot from the LiveCD. Do not use the option to install. When on the desktop, open a console and type:

sudo fdisk -l

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000cee28

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 13 60802 488283160 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1 13 101377 5 Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 * 1 1 0 0 Empty
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda4 * 1 1 0 0 Empty
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5 1 13 101376 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000a81aa

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 1945 15623181 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1946 4377 19535040 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3 4378 65165 488279610 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 65166 121602 453322753 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 65166 70809 45331456 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 70809 77183 51200000 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 77184 121602 356789248 83 Linux
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount sdb1 /mnt
mount: special device sdb1 does not exist
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount sdb /mnt
mount: special device sdb does not exist
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


You should be able to connect to the Internet from the LiveCD if you are connected by wire, or wirelessly if your chip is recognized. If so, then copy and paste the output into your reply. If you can't do that, then carefuly record the output and then provide the information in your reply.

Hope I did not error. sda was stored material easily recognized that is on the 500gb HDD. Since sdb1 is the boot partition, I tried it first, however as you can see it says it does not exist. I then tried sdb thinking perhaps the combined partition and whole drive may be represented by sdb and got the same negative result.

Here is how they appear when the system is working properly:

sdb1 /
sdb2 Linux Swap
sdb3 /home
sdb5 /VB1
sdb6 /VB2
sdb7 /svpersonal

sda1 /SG1

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

You did good. The info provided is useful.

From the running LiveCD, and from the Desktop, open a console and type:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/sdb1 /dev/sdb

This will install Grub2 to the MBR of the 1TB HDD.

Close the console and shutdown the LiveCD and reboot. I hope that this actually allows you to boot into your Kubuntu on the HDD.

Note: As the 500GB drive is identified as the first drive in your PC, you should enter the BIOS during bootup and change the boot drive order so that the 1TB HDD is the first HDD seen for boot purposes. Save the BIOS changes and continue to boot.

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

I was successful getting to a grub prompt. Here is the language:

GNU Grub version 1.99-4ubuntu2

minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completion. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions.

GRUB>_

Am I wrong in concluding if I booted with the shift key depressed, this would come on-screen?

After quite some time it was wonderful to see something else on the screen, nonetheless, same error messages and stopped on the Login page with no keyboard or mouse.

Should I attempt an fresh install of Kubuntu Natty 11.04 to see if after restart it completes the Open of my computer?

[Snowhog]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

At this point, reboot with the Grub2 LiveCD and see if it will boot your Kubuntu for you. Reinstall is far down on the list of things to go through.

[Shabakthanai]

Re: Unable to write to /run/udev/ Emergency for me.

Stopped at the Login screen again, with inactive mouse and keyboard.

Two choices for boot, I chose first option.