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**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 01:34 PM

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

Agggh! ALl I wanted was a Kubuntu formatted USB stick and now my PC wont boot.

what exactly did you do,,,,,,,,and what do you meen by "a Kubuntu formatted USB stick" ,,, were you just formating the USB stick ,or trying to make a live system/install USB stick , or doing a real install to the USB stick

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

It goes into "emergency mode" where I can get a prompt. "Press enter for maintenance or Control D to continue" If I press Control D I get the Kubuntu logo and a system freeze then back to the same prompt.

what is "it" the USB stick or your installed to the PC system ?

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

Ive tried the advanced boot options such as checking the disk for errors etc. Ive also tried an install USB stick to repair the OS which wanted to redo the partitions!

how did the live usb "want to redo the partitions " were you rerunning the installer?

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

I had a lot of trouble partitioning the original USB, So its likely that i have messed up the MBR or boot tables, something along those lines.

If you have any ideas that would be great :-)

again what dose this mean exactly ,,,,,,,if you were making a live USB their was no reason to partition it ,,,,,if installing to the USB then yes .

VINNY

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 01:53 PM

Hi Vinny, thanks for replying and apologies for my poor explanation!

I was trying to make a Linux format USB from an old Fat32 partitioned stick. Just a plain Linux drive, not a boot drive.

The PC now goes into emergency mode when I boot.

The Kubuntu installer wanted to redo the partitions. It was going through a fresh install routine after I booted using a USB formatted with the Kubunto install iso. I was hoping to find some repair tools.

I meant that in my struggles to set up the blank USB stick, I might have messed up the hard drive.

Hopefully that makes things clearer! Sorry for the waffle!

**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

Hi Vinny, thanks for replying and apologies for my poor explanation!

I was trying to make a Linux format USB from an old Fat32 partitioned stick. Just a plain Linux drive, not a boot drive.

The PC now goes into emergency mode when I boot.

The Kubuntu installer wanted to redo the partitions. It was going through a fresh install routine after I booted using a USB formatted with the Kubunto install iso. I was hoping to find some repair tools.

I meant that in my struggles to set up the blank USB stick, I might have messed up the hard drive.

Hopefully that makes things clearer! Sorry for the waffle!

OK we are having terminology problems hear ,,,,,

I was trying to make a Linux format USB from an old Fat32 partitioned stick. Just a plain Linux drive, not a boot drive.

so you were installing kubuntu to the USB ,,,,like you would to a PC's hard drive ,,,,yes/no

I meant that in my struggles to set up the blank USB stick, I might have messed up the hard drive.

explain the process you went through to do this .

and

so you do have a working boot able USB with a Kubuntu live system on it ?

VINNY

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 02:26 PM

No I wasnt trying to install Linux to the USB. I was trying to make a blank, linux partitioned and formatted storage drive from an old windows formatted USB drive.

The process I went through was using the Partitioning software and The Disk utility that comes with Kubuntu Zesty to first partition, then format the USB drive. I had problems and so tried lots of things. Then, on a reboot, I get the boot faliure mentioned above.

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 02:31 PM

I think I may have unmounted the main Linux partition, or something!

**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 02:46 PM

it sounds like you may have partitioned and or formated the wrong device ,,,,,,,, do you have a live USB to boot and then look at the partitions of the PC to see if you destroyed/changed them ?

VINNY

**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

The process I went through was using the Partitioning software and The Disk utility that comes with Kubuntu Zesty to first partition, then format the USB drive. I had problems and so tried lots of things. Then, on a reboot, I get the boot faliure mentioned above.

it may help to know the "lots of things as well

VINNY

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:00 PM

When I boot using my Linux install boot USB, I can see all the partitions at the stage of the install where you can edot/change the partitions. They all look fine.
I have a Windows install on this disk too and that boots ok.

Im thinking the ain Linux partition has been unmounted and needs to be fixed. Does that sounds likely?

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:06 PM

I tried deleting the USB drive partition, then re creating it. I tried un mounting the USB drive, then mounting it. I tried formatting this way, then that way. I tried un mounting it, then partitioning it, then mounting it. I tried the partitioning a few different times. I tried everything to just get a blank USB linux drive that I could think of trying.

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:08 PM

Should teh mountpoint for the main Linux partition be a single forward slash? Currenlty mine seems blank looking at it with the Kubuntu boot install utility for partitioning

**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:08 PM

on a reboot the partitions get re-mounted ,,,so if you unmounted them doing somthing wile playing with the USB drive a reboot would have re mounted it.

re boot the live USB BUT do not start the installer ,,,just boot it to the desktop ,then open a konsole and run

Code:

sudo parted -l

and post the output.

and or use the partition manager on the live system to look at the partitions and see that thay look as you would expect them to and still have "used"space in them ,,,,,,see that thay are not blank as in just formated.

VINNY

VINNY

**vinnywright** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:12 PM

Originally posted by SumBloke View Post

Should teh mountpoint for the main Linux partition be a single forward slash? Currenlty mine seems blank looking at it with the Kubuntu boot install utility for partitioning

yes the main mount point is / ,,,thats root.

but do not use the install utilaty to look at it ,,,,,use the partition manager in Kmenu>system

VINNY

**SumBloke** · Jul 22, 2017, 03:19 PM

Got this error message from a boot utility:

"Mounting failed: Mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on dev/sda5, missing codepage or helper program, or other error."

Not looking good is it?

**SumBloke** · Jul 23, 2017, 04:59 AM

Well, its been a long night...

I didnt know how to get to kmenu so couldnt try that tip. I could see that all the partitions were ok though and was happy with that. It was just the mounting which seemed to be the problem.
So, I let the boot installer go in order to add the / mount point to the main partition, good idea right?
We, I used a slightly different user name. So I now have a working machine but I cant find any of my files from my previous install. There does seem to be a few ghosts of my previous user account, for example there was an executable file, in the Home folder i think it was, in the name of the previous user account. I clicked it and it didnt run, now I cant find it.

A long way to go just to format a USB stick!

If anyone has any ideas on how I can reset all this and get my files back that would be fantastic. Or is it all lost?

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Zesty wont boot after USB stick partition and format

Zesty wont boot after USB stick partition and format

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