Ubuntu

Can't boot after installing Ubuntu 9.10

Asked by michaelgreco

I just upgraded Ubuntu from 9.4 to 9.10

When I go to reboot the computer (Dell inspiron E1505) the screen remains black and the OS never loads

When I start the computer under Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode), I get this:

Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ...
Done.
Begin: Waiting for root file system... ...
Done.
Gave up waitign for root device

ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/5a5cffb7-0540-404a-af0d-62bd184ff974 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v.1.13.3 built in shell?

Has anyone ever seen this? Know how to recove from it using the shell? Thanls

Regards from Mike Greco

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wojox (wojox) said : 		#1

The UUID in menu.lst propablly doesn't match the one in fstab.

See here:

http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=813090

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michaelgreco (michaelgreco) said : 		#2

Thank you wojox

Unfortunately from the busybox shell, I can not see the contents of fstab.

From busybox, I cd to /dev/disk/by-uuid, and do ls -l, and I get this 0be53965-1d2b-4e1f-a3f4-b1f4f4e18413 -> ../../sda5

so I boot grub and choose Ubuntu 9.10, kernel2.5.31-14-generic (recovery-mode) and edit the commands before booting

sure enough, on the second command down (kernel), I see this bogus 5a5cffb7-0540-404a-af0d-62bd184ff974 UUID, so I change the command to say

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.5.31-14-generic root=UUID=0be53965-1d2b-4e1f-a3f4-b1f4f4e18413 ro single

I continue with the boot and get this error:

mounting /dev/disk/by-uuid/0be53965-1d2b-4e1f-a3f4-b1f4f4e18413 on root failed: No such device

I then try entering this command from grub

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.5.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro single

and get this message

mount: mounting /dev/sda5 on /root failed: No such device

So I'm still out of luck.

Revision history for this message
michaelgreco (michaelgreco) said : 		#3

I managed to boot Mandriva by:

Booting grub, choose Ubuntu 9.10, kernel2.5.31-14-generic (recovery-mode) and edit the commands before booting

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.5.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single

Thanks again wojox for getting me this far

Revision history for this message
michaelgreco (michaelgreco) said : 		#4

to fix this problem once and for all, I edited the /boot/grub/menu.lst file, changing this line:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=0be53965-1d2b-4e1f-a3f4-b1f4f4e18413 ro quiet splash

to

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash

And I don't know where the freudian slip with "mandriva" above came from, I meant to say, "I managed to boot Ubuntu by...."

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jdaviescoates (josef-uniteddiversity) said : 		#5

I had this same problem with my Dell Inspiron 6400 (which I think is basically the same as E1505)

The above solution solved the problem, but I had to work out a few things to implement it, which I'll share here.

To edit and boot from edited grub
* press esc when booting
* press e to edit
* use arrow keys to scroll to relevant line
* press e to edit again
* make the change, hit enter
* hit b to boot

To make the change permanent you need to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file once you've logged in and save the change, otherwise grub will revert to its previous state once you reboot.

To do this, once you've booted up and logged in:
* open a terminal
* type: sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst
* page down until you see ## ## End Default Options ##
* edit the relevant line beginning with: kernel
* ctrl+X then y then enter to save

From more detail see about editing grub file see http://grumpymole.blogspot.com/2007/05/ubuntu-how-to-edit-grub-boot-parameters.html