Ubuntu 8.04LTS -> 10.4 Upgrade hung, now system unbootable

[javierrivera]

The fstab file on sda1 seems to be trying to mount the same partition twice, by uuid as / and by /dev/sda1 as /home/xgen...

But I don't really expect this to be the problem.

[kansasnoob]

The fstab file on sda1 seems to be trying to mount the same partition twice, by uuid as / and by /dev/sda1 as /home/xgen...

But I don't really expect this to be the problem.

Actually I think that might be the problem!

I see nothing wrong in the menu.lst, but that fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/hda1
UUID=0b32a2cf-dbf9-4fa5-94ce-1e6f0aa4a456 /               ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/hda5
UUID=eb4317b5-79ba-47a5-be8d-46fbcedba752 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/hdd        /media/cdrom1   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
UUID=9eaed51b-0147-42b2-8f98-df253b61f783	/home/xgen/Group_Files	ext3	defaults	0	0
/dev/sda1	/home/xgen/TB_drive	ext2	defaults	0	0

I'd bet that's causing a kernel panic. This is a very basic Lucid fstab from a testing install with a separate /home:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
/dev/sda18      /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/sda19      /home           ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda11 during installation
UUID=bf502251-6ccd-4b66-8f9a-458603a6d2f2 none            swap    sw              0       0

You'll notice that CD/DVD drives are no longer mounted in fstab, I believe mountall takes care of that earlier in the boot process now.

So I'd edit that fstab by commenting out that:

/dev/sda1	/home/xgen/TB_drive	ext2	defaults	0	0

and also the cdrom mounts like this (edits in red):

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/hda1
UUID=0b32a2cf-dbf9-4fa5-94ce-1e6f0aa4a456 /               ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/hda5
UUID=eb4317b5-79ba-47a5-be8d-46fbcedba752 none            swap    sw              0       0
#/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
#/dev/hdd        /media/cdrom1   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
UUID=9eaed51b-0147-42b2-8f98-df253b61f783	/home/xgen/Group_Files	ext3	defaults	0	0
#/dev/sda1	/home/xgen/TB_drive	ext2	defaults	0	0

I'd do it by using nano in a chroot like this:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt && sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev && sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc && sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys && sudo mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts && sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf && sudo chroot /mnt

nano /etc/fstab

Then comment out the aforementioned lines, save the changes, double check with:

cat /etc/fstab

Then exit the chroot and unmount:

exit

sudo umount /mnt/dev/pts && sudo umount /mnt/sys && sudo umount /mnt/proc && sudo umount /mnt/dev && sudo umount /mnt

But nano can seem complicated if you've never used it before:

http://www.debianadmin.com/nano-edit...s.html#more-73

[chejrw]

Thanks for the input guys.

I changed root=UID=(the UID of my drive) to root=/dev/sda1 in the boot line and I got a heck of a lot further in the boot process.

Still hangs during boot, but it seems we're making progress. Now I'm getting the following errors on boot now (see attached image)

I'll try the fstab changes suggested by kansasnoob and report back.

I really appreciate the help.

[chejrw]

After making the changes suggested, I was able to boot into recovery mode. I ran dpkg to finish the upgrade that failed initially.

The system then failed to boot because of a graphics card issue - booted into Command Line mode and installed new nVidia drivers.

Then apt threw a hissy fit because of the well documented problem with the flashplugin-nonfree package.

Finally got that resolved too.

I still have a few bugs to work out but at least the system boots again.

I'm really glad I only do the LTS release upgrades so I don't have to deal with this every 6 months.