An early [unfixed] problem causes days of problems with update to 16.04

[byron2495]

Gentlemen, can you help an old newbie,please?


I have two problems; a simple item of bad configuration; and a 'failed' update.


I installed kubuntu a couple of years ago, ver: 14 something. Every time I booted, I got an error about a disk drive that is not available (I tried to make the drive encrypted when I first loaded kubuntu, but was unsuccessful. It continued to boot and kubuntu seemed to run OK, so – because I had spent many days getting to this point – I let sleeping dogs lie and it (the PC) has done what I wanted since.


However, now it is biting back. On cold boot one morning, I got a strange message 'there's a new version of kubuntu 16.04 – shall we update now?' I said yes, and have hit a**** load of trouble since.


Plan: Fix the bad configuration first,ie. The missing /crypt file thing. For some reason I can't access the disk0 with XP. It can see it, but it is not mounted or accessible. I interrupt the boot getting GNU GRUB, and select 'Advanced options for Ubuntu'., and Ubuntu with linux 4.4.034 generic recovery mode.


After much green OK and a red flash, Iget the recovery menu file system read only.


Time out waiting for devicedev-sda5.device
DEPEND dependancy failed forcryptography setup for cryptswap1
ditto failed for encrypted volumes
ditto failed for/dev/mapper/cryptswap1
ditto failed for Swap


So I must fix the original bad configuration file with the dodgy crypt stuff – using only the console commands in 'linux /ubuntu speak'.


My guess is that I can edit the script that is used when booting by remarking out the lines that cause the problem. I drop to root, enter su and password, but I can't find the damn thing.


I have spent about 2 weeks reading various threads, but the dev sda5 problem interrupts the most promising lines of attack.


David


HP desktop pavillion: Intel Pentium Dcpu 2x3000 MHz: 1.99GB ram Graphics: Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipsetfamily: 2 HD; HDT22516DLAT80, and Hitachi HD572161PLA380


2 OS's: Disk 1 Windows XP; 149 GB NTFS.Disk 0: 2 partitions; 92GB with kubuntu; and 60GB (attemptedfreeBSD).


GNU GRUB ver 2.02 beta2-36 ubuntu3.2

[byron2495]

OK. I have obviously done something wrong to get the cold shoulder. Sorry. But I do need help.

I turn on the machine. It goes through a kubuntu boot sequence and comes to the login window. I enter username and password. It then clears the login window away and leaves me with the kubuntu blue and rose pink screen. After some disk activity, it remains like that until I turn the power off. (tens of minutes later).

I can: turn on machine; interrupt the boot sequence, and choose the other disk that contains XP, from which XP works normally.

I have tried to diagnose the problem by interrupting the boot, and using 'advanced options'. I see many errors. They go past too quickly. I don't understand them.

Can someone offer help - please.

[MoonRise]

Sorry no one has replied. That isn't typical.

I'm not too sure myself, but you do mention errors being seen. On boot it is generally hard, at least for me, to get those properly. What I've resorted to in the past has been to use a camera. Is that possible for you to do? When uploading here, make sure the JPG is of the appropriate size.

Hopefully someone here will respond with something more helpful.

[byron2495]

Thank you - I'll try.

[TWPonKubuntu]

byron2495: You don't state specifically, so I assume you need to recover data from your Kubuntu partitions?

If NOT, then a re-install may be the simplest and quickest fix.

Assuming you DON"T need to recover data, my personal recommendation is to use Kubuntu 14.04 (NOT release 16.04), reformatting your Kubuntu partition without encryption.

If you spend any time on these fora, you will see that 16.04 works for some people and not for others (my older system does not like it much).

If you must recover data, then booting into recovery mode (you state you have done this) is another option.

Again, if you must recover data, have you tried booting from a live CD/USB? Running a partition manager from the live CD/USB may give you access, but the encryption is still a blockage. I don't know how to remove encryption using command line, or if it is even possible (that would seem to be a security hole which ought not exist). Perhaps others on these fora can help there.

My suggestion is to go back to Kubuntu 14.04, get your system stable and backed up and then, optionally, do a NEW install of Kubuntu 16.04 (not an upgrade, do a full reinstall from CD or USB). The upgrade process seems to cause more problems than you will want.

[GreyGeek]

Ah, the old conundrum of "should I update or reinstall?". The choice is a mixed bag. Some report no problems just updating their system from 14.04 to 16.04. Personally, I've rarely had a successful update. Because of that I always reinstall, after backing up my important data to removable storage. One problem, I think, may be because new versions of programs want to install new versions of config files. If you've customized a config file and say NO to updating the config file you may be headed for a can of worms. That's my experience, anyway. It looks like your mileage didn't vary from mine.

Now, as to returning to 14.04, as TWPonKubuntu counsels, or installing 16.04 .... first note that 14.04 has the same EOL as 16.04, which is April, 2019. (16.04 is a 3 year LTS). Secondly, your 14.04 is already trashed. Installing either 14.04 or 16.04 would take about the same amount of time. While the first release of 16.04 was rather buggy the first update, 16.04.1 has done a remarkable job of stabilizing things. With a nit or two 16.04 is the fastest OS I have ever run on this laptop, and I've tried several since 2010 when I bought it. Apps like Steam's Universe Sandbox^2, which was laggy in 14.04, runs at vsync speed on 16.04. Smooth as silk for all simulations. I could never run all the simulations on 14.04. Stellarium is 60 fps too. (My video is an Intel integrated chip - medium to low speed GPU).

Another thing to consider is that while 14.04 uses Upstart/SysVInit as the initialization and service control system, 16.04 is mainly systemd, systemctl and journalctl, adjunct binaries. At first I hated systemd (I'm 75 and hate learning new stuff because of my QRS syndrome) but the more I studied it the more I liked it. It is a one-stop shop-all init system, or will be after the /etc/init.d/ directory gets cleaned out. I attempted to convert my 16.04 back to only Upstart but found it was impossible, so I reinstalled 16.04 and decided to get with the program. Nearly EVERY major distro now uses systemd, with the exceptions of Slackware and PCLinuxOS, and they will probably switch sooner or later.

What you do is, of course, entirely up to you, and you've already got experience with 14.04. The good thing is that it really doesn't matter which version you install. IMO, they are both great. On my system 16.04 is stable as a rock. I rarely have a program crash and the kernel never has. I would switch to Neon and play with it BUT, their repository has a limited selection, and I wasn't successful running Neon on top of 16.04. But, VINNY and others have been. Probably the machine being used plays an important part.

But, come April 2019 we'll both be upgrading again.

[oshunluvr]

If you're correct that editing a file that exists on the hard drive will solve your problem, then make a live USB or CD and boot to it, manually mount the filesystem in question, edit the file, save and reboot.

Not to pile on, but since you're a self-professed noob, it should be pointed out that upgrading a system with problems isn't really a good choice. One should solve those problem first hand. This also illustrates the value of another procedure that many of us do (me included), which is rather than doing an upgrade that jumps several versions (14.something to 16.04), do a parallel install. In other words, dual boot to a new install of 16.04 instead of upgrading at all. This avoids the potential problems like you're now having and leaves you with the option of returning to your previous install because you left it untouched. Of course, you have to re-configure everything in the new install, but that rarely takes as long a fixing a broken system does. Hind-sight is always 20/20 though, right?

[byron2495]

Thank you gentlemen.

I do need to keep data that was recorded in 14.04 (mail, some documents, photos, music scores etc.). I expect that I can copy this stuff onto a usb pen, and reload it later once I have recovered a working system. Er? that means I must have a bootable pen drive that will allow me to do this (?) . . . right.

I am not wedded to 16.04 except that I naturally go toward the new version . So I will try to make a pair of usb's from which I can try a full install of both options. I'll try 16 first, and if this works then I'll go back to my normal life (I'm an amateur musician) and forget the machine until the next crisis. If 16 doesn't, then I'll try to make a full install of 14. etc.

Thank you for responding. This will take me a while to figure out (buy pen drives etc) and now its 8.0 in the evening in the UK. I'll write again over the weekend.

[TWPonKubuntu]

FYI you'll need at least 2GB USB harddrive, the size of the ISO for both 14.04 and 16.04 are over 1GB.

Do you have a way to write a bootable USB flash drive, perhaps from your windows installation?

Write when you find time

[oshunluvr]

FYI you'll need at least 2GB USB harddrive, the size of the ISO for both 14.04 and 16.04 are over 1GB.

Do they still make or sell thumb drives smaller than 4GB

[Snowhog]

Do they still make or sell thumb drives smaller than 4GB

Yes (check out Amazon.com), but with the exception of one Verbatim 2GB stick, the others are companies I've never heard of, and so, would stay away from.

[oshunluvr]

Weird. My last thumb drive purchase was a 64GB that's the size of my thumbnail for about $25. It stays in my work laptop and my software backs up my files to it hourly.

I can't imagine wanting one less than 8gb. I did look at Amazon. 10 pack of Chinese usbs @ 1gb for $22. I guess if you're distributing something (promo product, etc.) there's a market for those.

[GreyGeek]

And just 10-12 years ago a 1GB HD was a barn!

[byron2495]

amazing - it works - nearly

I went out and bought 3 pendrives, 1 for 16.04, 1 for 14. whatever, and the third for data backup.
I downloaded the iso's 16 and 14, and created bootable pendrives.
I used gparted to create 3 partitions: sda1,2,and 3 for swap.
I installed 16 onto sda1 - and it ran - and had all the data that I thought I had lost Big grin. But . .
it steadfastly refused to 'hardware detect' my usb wifi adaptor.
So I installed 16 onto sda2, and it ran, and found the wifi adaptor - but no data.

I then realised that I needed some help finding the adaptor or in moving the data, as I had no luck in either task (why??)

I also realised that the 16 was the original 16.04, not the enhanced 16.04.01, so I went back and downloaded the iso for 16.04.01, remade the pendrive, I've just finished archiving all my data onto sda2, and am starting to install 16.04.01 onto sda1.

when its done, I'll report back again - although st the moment it looks good. the boot from pen 16.04.01 HAS found the wifi. Lets hope that after installation it will also find my data.

Talk again soon. And many thanks for your encouragement.