Ubuntu 14.04 not booting (Alert, dropping to shell (initramfs))

[Bucky Ball]

Even though I'm accessing a terminal in a LiveDVD?

What if I tried those commands in the GRUB shell? (I think that's what comes up when it tries to boot normally)

Yea, right. Forgot ... again! Yes, boot normally to the grub shell and try it.

[captaingraviton]

Okay, right. No, I see, that doesn't work either.

Oh hello Square One old friend...

[captaingraviton]

In my desperation, I'm looking at this page Linux: How to Rescue a Non-booting GRUB2 On Linux

It suggests trying the following code (in the GRUB shell) and it returns the following result:

grub> ls
(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos1)

So then I try:

grub> ls (hd0)
error: disk 'hd0' not found

Balls! So then I try..

grub> ls (hd0,msdos5)
partition hdo,msdos5: No known filesystem detected - Partition start at 71656448KiB - Total size 8386560KiB

Oh? Sort of bad news, but then again, it's reading something there, isn't it? Let's try:

grub> ls (hd0,msdos1)
partition hdo,msdos: Filesystem type ext* - Last modification time 2014-06-08 08:45:14 Sunday, UUID efe24220-9569-4e7b-8f0f-ce6e0342a1be - Partition start at 1024KiB - Total size 71654400KiB

So, does that tell us anything helpful?

***********************
Two other questions:

1. Could my problem be related to this bug in grub?
2. In your opinion(s) do you think that Boot-Repair will be worth trying?

[Bucky Ball]

[*]In your opinion(s) do you think that Boot-Repair will be worth trying? [/LIST]

I was just about to suggest it, but see here first:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bo...ng_Boot-Repair

There are two ways of going about it. If you can get an internet connection when booting from the LiveDVD/USB then you can install it and run it there rather than having to create a Boot Repair CD.

[Bashing-om]

captaingraviton; Yukkie some more.

It is good to see that you are doing your homework.

Well, there is "something" there, but from the indications so far - not enough to work with. It is my thought that trying to repair the file system will only compound the problem.
If there is data to be salvaged it is now time for 'testdisk':
From the liveDVD ( that will not survive a reboot ):

sudo apt-get install testdisk

A better option might be to down load and burn the testdisk CD:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

Loads of tutorials on how to apply 'testdisk' - Google search term "testfisk ubuntu". I have had no complaints from these tutorials:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_Analyse

A "somewhat" similar situation for reference:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2112112

Else: Well, if the data is not worth the trouble to try and save. Start all over from scratch and format the hard drive. Install ubuntu and be done with it.

if when you do not succeed

try something else

[captaingraviton]

*salutes*

Leave it with me, I'll report back tomorrow.
(and THANKS!)

[captaingraviton]

So, we are due an update, although I'm not finished, this is Part One:

So I made myself a Boot-Recovery LiveCD and booted that, just to look at it before I did the testdisk thing (which will be Part Two). I had a little click around and made a report on my drive. It told me to post this link:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/7648256

Interesting in that it seems to see my devices and partitions? WHen I clicked back to the desktop, the program had vanished, so I looked for it from the "start" menu, found it, but also noted there was a copy of gparted on it too, so I fired that sucker up and, surprisingly, I saw my devices and partitions. I took a photo with my phone (see attachment).

I've left it at that and I'm making a BootMed LiveCD (I've used BootMed before and it's on the list you recommended as having testdisk facility on it) so testdisk is next.

Just keeping you updated.

[Bashing-om]

captaingraviton; Hey, Hey ...

That last outputs are encouraging ! ..
Bet now ( change in heart ) that 'testdisk' can recover the partitions...
Might also be quicker and easier to take a look and see what the "backup" partition tables look like .. and perhaps - if they look good - roll one of the backups into place [superblock that is ] (??).
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2177756
That link, as there is no point in re-inventing the wheel and slickymaster has done a good job of it.

a better light shines

[Bucky Ball]

Please attach large pics rather than inserting them in the body of your post (see post #27 for example). This can be done using 'Adv Reply' and then the paperclip icon. Thanks.

[captaingraviton]

Update Part Two:


I'll spare you exactly all of the gory details because, frankly, yesterday I went down a lot of cul-de-sacs, but I've ended up booting into a Debian Rescue Disk (Debian Wheezy?). For one reason or another, the solution I was going for ended up fruitless again, but I did check the terminal and tried all the previous tricks like before (all to no avail). I then thought I'd have a look for gparted to see if it could see any goodies, but this distro doesn't have it, it has "Disk Utility" and in it, it sees all!


Now at this point I should have made a post, but I took a gamble and used the ap to mount my drive, then I tried those recommended commands in a terminal again. Look what happened!

user@debian:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 82.0 GB, 81964302336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders, total 160086528 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: 0x000112f4

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   143310847    71654400   83  Linux
/dev/sda2       143312894   160086015     8386561    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       143312896   160086015     8386560   82  Linux swap / Solaris
user@debian:~$ sudo parted -l
sudo: parted: command not found
user@debian:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="efe24220-9569-4e7b-8f0f-ce6e0342a1be" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="026b3f08-6d17-4249-9d32-26fa84b940c1" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sr0: LABEL="Debian wheezy 20140505-04:14" TYPE="iso9660" 
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" 
user@debian:~$

I'm on a roll! Straight to tesdisk. I have to install it. Then I realise I have to use it as root (and I saw a 'root terminal' as an option in the applications menu) lo and behold, it shows my Hard Disk sda! So I run a deep scan and this is what it tells me...

Disk /dev/sda - 81 GB / 76 GiB - CHS 9965 255 63

     Partition                  Start        End    Size in sectors

 1 * Linux                    0  32 33  8920 175 23  143308800
 2 P Linux Swap            8920 207 56  9964 227 39   16773104

I then do a deeper search...

Disk /dev/sda - 81 GB / 76 GiB - CHS 9965 255 63

The harddisk (81 GB / 76 GiB) seems too small! (< 110 GB / 102 GiB)
Check the harddisk size: HD jumpers settings, BIOS detection...

The following partitions can't be recovered:
     Partition               Start        End    Size in sectors
   Linux                 4460 217 46 13381 105 36  143308800
   Linux                 4462  65 20 13382 208 10  143308800
   Linux                 4467  25 39 13387 168 29  143308800
>  Linux                 4468 160 45 13389  48 35  143308800
   Linux                 4470 138 21 13391  26 11  143308800
   Linux                 4471  13 23 13391 156 13  143308800

Hmmm?


I'll now look into that link you sent regarding superblocks. <gulp>


CG