Booting Issues 12.04 LTS

[wisersun]

I have recently encountered an issue when booting from GRUB. As far as I know, I did nothing to spark the issue. :/ I didn't update/upgrade anything and I have had little to no problems with Linux on this machine. I have been running Ubuntu on this laptop for quite a while now and nothing out-of-the-ordinary (like this) ever happened.
The problem: I shut down my computer regularly (by selecting the "shut down" option) and closed the lid (after shutdown was complete). I came back later and turned it on. It started up like normal by taking me to the Toshiba start screen, then it took me to a purple GRUB menu with options:
Ubuntu, with linux 3.22.0-35-generic
Ubuntu, with linux 3.22.0-35-generic recovery
and two other options about memtest. I chose the first thinking nothing was wrong. I waited and nothing happened for about a minute. I restarted it and chose the second option (the recovery). Same result. I restarted the computer, chose the first option, set it down, and started researching the issue on my PC. I came across many articles that didn't really relate to my problem or that i didn't understand. Then, my computer jutted out lines of script. At the end i received this message: Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) or something like that. I waited longer but now all that was happening was my caps-lock key was flashing and the terminal-like underscore was continuously flashing as well. (the underscore that appears when it is waiting for a command) I waited over an hour and that is ALL that went on. Please help.
I still do not understand the issue or the steps needed to fix this. I have a minimal knowledge about this and would like things to be explained without expert terminology or with understood steps. In other words, if you would be so kind as to "spell it out" for me, that would be appreciated. All help and efforts are greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time and consideration!

[wisersun]

If any specs are required, please feel free to ask. Thank you.

[oldfred]

How did you shut down? That often causes more issues.

#From liveCD so everything is unmounted,swap off if necessary, change example shown with partition sdb1 to your partition(s)
#e2fsck is used to check the ext2/ext3/ext4 family of file systems. -p trys fixes where response not required
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/sdb1
#if errors: -y auto answers yes for fixes needing response see man e2fsck
sudo e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sdb1


Holding down Alt and SysRq (which is the Print Screen key) while slowly typing REISUB
R-E-I-S-U-B to force shutdown
A good way to remember it is.
Raising Skinny Elephants Is Utterly Boring ...or
Reboot System Even If Ultimately Broken ...LOL.
http://kember.net/articles/reisub-th...linux-restart/


Then we may be back to your original issue. Was it just running fsck in the background? It usually runs fsck every 40 or 60 reboots, but displays that it is running, but it can take a few minutes if ext4 and a lot longer if ext3.

[wisersun]

I thank you greatly for responding! I shut it down by clicking the Ubuntu symbol in the top-right and selecting shutdown. To me, it seemed to shutdown normally. I understood maybe half of what you said but I understand the REISUB thing now. Thanks for that info! I'm sure it will come in handy when it freezes, but
THATS THE THING: my computer was acting NORMAL, it didn't freeze this time or anything. There was no FORCE shutdown. Then i restarted it and well... Anyways, I would be glad to follow instructions if I knew what they meant... I understand the Livecd but then i continue reading and it looks like this: "LPALELFPELF now hjfdshfjhs to your system and kkjkgjf so that it properly reboots this should solve it" I hope this gave ANY insight whatsoever to what my problems are. Thanks again for replying!

EDIT: clueless about: fsck, ext4, ext3, that whole sentence..., the # steps: "#From liveCD so everything is unmounted,swap off if necessary, change example shown with partition sdb1 to your partition(s)" -- do WHAT from livecd?

EDIT: it still hasn't rebooted, I never successfully booted the system yet: i am still always getting grub screen, then selecting an option, then letting it run, then getting Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

[oldfred]

Can you boot liveCD/DVD/flash drive?

If so from terminal run these:

sudo fdisk -lu
sudo parted -l

Best to copy & paste commands into terminal. the l are el, not 1 or cap i. And sometimes spaces do not look like spaces.

[wisersun]

Thanks! I'll try it and see what happens.

[wisersun]

Sorry for my very late reply, but these last weeks have been devastating. My son just came back from the hospital yesterday after being in about a week and my father-in-law passed away three days before that. I just managed to get to the store and get some writable disks today. I just burned the LiveCd and am just about ready to boot. I will post some updates as soon as i get that working (or not).

[wisersun]

input: sudo fdisk -lu
output: Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000bc819

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 606713855 303355904 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 606715902 625141759 9212929 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 606715904 625141759 9212928 82 Linux swap / Solaris
input: sudo parted -l
output: Model: ATA WDC WD3200BEVS-2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 311GB 311GB primary ext4 boot
2 311GB 320GB 9434MB extended
5 311GB 320GB 9434MB logical linux-swap(v1)


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!
(for clarification)**input= the command i entered output=the information received**
***Read the next post about the actual booting from the disk***

[wisersun]

Booting from the disk: I did NOT re-install Ubuntu..... I simply booted from the disk and chose "try ubuntu," instead of installing it. Please tell me if I need to install it. If so, then is there any way to do so WITHOUT losing all files? I suspect not, however, my lack of knowledge in this area isn't by any standard exceptional, for someone who works with computers. I would love help and suggestions and, as always, anything is always appreciated.


Thank you so much.

[wisersun]

Hello, I am wondering if we can just forget what has been said in the past and focus on the issue. I started this thread to fix my problem not get here and say "Nevermind guys, I think i'll just screw it and completely WASTE you time!" I am back telling you that I am ready to fix it, and I am wondering if you are willing to help....