[SOLVED] Upgrade to 24.04 failed half way, now won't boot

[SkiDragon]

I was upgrading from 23.10 to 24.04 using the GUI, and the process was maybe 20 minutes through. I then tried to open a Dolphin instance just to look at a picture, but this was a mistake because it somehow caused the PC to crash

Now when I boot I get the error

[FAILED] Failed to start virtualbox.service - LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module.

Is there a good way to recover the OS/kernel so I can boot? I didn't even remember that I had virtual box installed, but I might have. If nothing else I will have to make a backup up my data and reinstall from scratch but that is a huge project that I'd rather not have to do. Is there a simple way I can get to a command line, or use an Live USB image to fix, or anything like that?

Thanks.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Welcome.

Get to the GRUB boot menu and select "Advanced Options" and recovery mode. Then you can get to a root shell (be careful there - you can easily bork your system even more as root!) to fix things - like perhaps purging VirtualBox (apt purge virtualbox) first if you don't need it anyhow… Or to view log files first to find out more.

[jglen490]

The OP could spend a LOT of time trying to stitch together a broken OS. However, there's very little chance that the upgrade could be patched without knowing the exact state of the install and exactly where it failed. Timewise, it would be better to just re-install, and quite frankly a clean/fresh install would be easier. As far as backing up data first, it can be done via a USB live installer session - and that would still be easier than trying to learn/figure out where the install broke.

Hindsight: two things, one, always backup your data constantly, especially before doing any major OS upgrade and, two, never try to use your OS while it's in the middle of an upgrade. We all learn

[SkiDragon]

Welcome.

Get to the GRUB boot menu and select "Advanced Options" and recovery mode. Then you can get to a root shell (be careful there - you can easily bork your system even more as root!) to fix things - like perhaps purging VirtualBox (apt purge virtualbox) first if you don't need it anyhow… Or to view log files first to find out more.

I'm not sure how to even get into the GRUB menu. This is not a dual boot system so I normally do not even see a splash screen for GRUB boot options. I tried holding 'Shift', that did not seem to do anything.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Press [Shift] for a ("legacy") BIOS system, press [Esc] for an UEFI system to get to the GRUB boot menu.

That is why "Steps 4" in Essential and strongly recommended things to do directly after a Kubuntu 24.04 LTS installation and in
Recommended things to do directly after a Kubuntu 23.10 installation
are there.

And jglen490 might be right: it could be easier and quicker to back up your data and then install a fresh 24.04 LTS after all (who knows what has happened during the borked release-upgrade)…

[SkiDragon]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I was able to fix it by pressing "Ctrl + alt + f2" to get to a command line. The first time I tried this button combo, it did not work, so I am not sure what changed. I then used "apt --fix-broken install"
Things seem to be working now, from what I can tell. Minor things which may be from the update itself (e.g. programs moving to Snap) are still acting weird, such as the Firefox window application icon appears to be a white 'W' in an orange circle instead of the normal icon.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Are you using Wayland? Try logging into a X11 session instead, see https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...805#post679805.

[SkiDragon]

Are you using Wayland? Try logging into a X11 session instead, see https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...805#post679805.

I was, which I think was probably the source of the crash in the first place. But it's working now, thanks.