9.10 upgrade now can't even startup

[tonyuk123]

Hi, just done the upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 karmic koala
always had no problems before but this one is a nightmare

now it is all installed and upgraded but i cannot start in Ubuntu and had to resort to using windows again!

with the upgrade you get 2.6.31-11 kernel which hangs saying 'statup...'

2.6.28-11 has never started up and still doesn't

2.6.24-24 which is the highest version i have ever got to boot on my pc which is an older motherboard now tries to boot up but gets stuck
this is a summary of what it says

init:spreadload main process(2671)terminated with status 1
mountall:/proc: unable to mount:Dev busy
mountall:/proc/selfmounting: no such file or directory
mountall:root filesystem isn't mounted
init:mountall process(2672) terminated with status 1
general error mounting filesystems

it the drops to the root terminal like screen

and thats about it
anyone any ideas how to get further please?

[treeclimber]

I got the very same message. I have been waiting for three days for some help. The only help offered is to completey wipe the drive and re-install which I don't want to do! My computer is less than 5 months old. Any help?

[tonyuk123]

if we can get a terminal screen we ought to be able to create directories that it needs or something
just need to know what to create and how
i do have a copy of my root directories that i took
but i'd rather not do a full 9.04 install to get back to what i had if i don't have to!
any help anyone?????

[tonyuk123]

i do have a full copy of the 9.10 installation disk if that helps atall

[treeclimber]

I have the live CD, also and have used it to boot. I just need to know what to put into the terminal to get the upgrade fixed. Any ideas, please?

[tonyuk123]

yeah i did try booting from the livecd before doing the upgrade, boots fine, i guess that also uses the 2.6.31-14 kernel, so not sure why it doesn't start atall after install

[treeclimber]

I also reported it in Launchpad, but all I got there was to totally re-install. I would rather not do that. This is my husband's computer and he is not really good at backing things up. I have another drive on this computer, but when I tried to copy his home folder onto the other drive using the live CD, it said I didn't have permission. I suppose that was because I was using the live CD. I couldn't get it to accept his user id or password. Can somebody tell me how to do this using the live CD?

[witeshark17]

the only issue I found was failed to boot, having this on screen:

Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic
Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.28-16-generic
Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.28-16-generic (recovery mode)

If the errors are in any way similar to the unknown command 'initrd' - maybe this will help:

type "e" to edit to find (and write down, no cut and paste!) a number like:

UUID=73b2b033-654b-4efa-8e11-17138c4d0333 <(example)

then


Ctrl-C (it may be just C !!) to enter the GRUB command line
2. Type in insmod linux and press ENTER

linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-10-generic root=UUID=73b2b033-654b-4efa-8e11-17138c4d0333

where 73b2b033-654b-4efa-8e11-17138c4d0333 < is unique to your system (found after hitting "e" to edit in the boot options list)

then

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-10-generic

where 2.6.30-10 <is your current (latest) kernel

boot And after booting doing a
sudo grub-install (target drive)

I will post more details and corrections as I put this together after a lot of Google!

Please post any inaccuracies as since I can no long recreate the scenario, I post this from memory!

[zman58]

I never do a distribution upgrade from one series to the next. How do you know what you have when you are done? I would not do this for Windows either--never. Not with any system.

A complete re-install should not be that big of an issue. If you had Windows, then it would be because it takes a lifetime to deal with
Windows install. On most Linux systems you are talking less than an hour to get everything done--in some cases as little as 25 minutes.

Hopefully you backed up your personal data before trying the failed upgrade. If not, then you will have to use the Live CD to boot and retrieve any personal data from your system. Afterwards, just apply the Live CD to the entire hard drive and go for it. A fresh install. If you have Windows (dual boot) also on your system, then apply the install to only the existing Linux partition.

[tonyuk123]

yeah i know your point on fresh install
but as the system is setup over time, yo uhave various accounts and settings, an upgrade generally doesn't change these, whereas a clean install often means resetting these
also if we can get to a terminal line
surely the directories that are needed and whatever else can be forced in some way
i am no expert, but i'm sure this must be possible from the info given, at least by some of you experts out there?
also the fact before upgrade it booted in kernel 2.6.24-24 i would have thought would mean i could still boot at least, but seems not

[treeclimber]

Zman, if you saw my post above, I tried to use the live CD to save my husband's home folder to another drive, but it won't let me do that. It says I don't have permission. I used his user name and password and I still couldn't copy and paste to the other drive. I figured it was because I was using the CD. So how do I get it to let me save?

[michaelzap]

I also reported it in Launchpad, but all I got there was to totally re-install. I would rather not do that. This is my husband's computer and he is not really good at backing things up. I have another drive on this computer, but when I tried to copy his home folder onto the other drive using the live CD, it said I didn't have permission. I suppose that was because I was using the live CD. I couldn't get it to accept his user id or password. Can somebody tell me how to do this using the live CD?

Have you tried copying the files using root permissions (type "gksudo nautilus" into a terminal from the Live CD and then use the file manager window that opensup to copy the files as you normally would)?

You definitely want to back up your files first before you do anything else (even if you don't go ahead and do a clean reinstall).

You should also be able to copy the files with a Live CD made to be used for more than trying out the system before you install it, such as Knoppix.

[treeclimber]

Well, that did allow me to backup his files. Thanks! I guess I'll just have to go ahead now and do a complete re-install. I don't see another alternative. Thanks anyway!

[michaelzap]

Well, that did allow me to backup his files. Thanks! I guess I'll just have to go ahead now and do a complete re-install. I don't see another alternative. Thanks anyway!

Good luck to you! I actually did a clean install of Karmic on my laptop and it's still too unstable to use (but I'm going to devote a few hours today to trying to resolve that). In a worst-case scenario you could always do a clean reinstall of Jaunty (or perhaps Debian if you want something very similar and extremely stable).

[tonyuk123]

well i just went and partitioned the linux part of my drive with ext4 partitioning
after full install
i now get the initrd error at startup !
so i guess i better try the bit someone posted earlier, only thing is i dont have the kernel that worked on 9.04 now!
think i might go back to lts version if none of that works
9.10 seems to have too many problems, just when linux systems seem to be making some headway !

[tonyuk123]

well seems 9.10 isnt stable atall and very hard to install
wahtever you have
not best advert for ubuntu over windows 7 !
not that i like windows atall, but if people who used ubuntu for a year cant install it, what hope do others have
have tried upgrade and fresh instal after upgrade wont boot, still not hope
even if windows is a pain, at least it generally works when it is intalled.
wel anyway goin gback to 9.04 clean install, to see what happens
hopefully it works fine

[Thomas1477]

well seems 9.10 isnt stable atall and very hard to install
wahtever you have
not best advert for ubuntu over windows 7 !
not that i like windows atall, but if people who used ubuntu for a year cant install it, what hope do others have
have tried upgrade and fresh instal after upgrade wont boot, still not hope
even if windows is a pain, at least it generally works when it is intalled.
wel anyway goin gback to 9.04 clean install, to see what happens
hopefully it works fine
What happens at boot?

[tonyuk123]

get inird
too big
thats it
cannot get further

[paxmark1]

I dist-upgrade a lot. And then sometimes, especially when a LTA comes out I do a fresh install.

I have config files I have tuned up and also track some SVN's to compile some programs. When it borks, so far, I have been able to get it jump started via reading man pages and lurking in the forums.

search out forums for things like

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get clean all [or use the aptitude versions]
sudo apt-get update

and

sudo update-grub


do you have it all still in ext3 or do you have some ext4 partitions.

[Dillibag]

Hi everyone,
I upgraded from 9.04 to 9.10 through the internet and could not get the screen to work. Had a similar problem when when I installed 9.04 from a bought DVD and solved this by putting my old CRT on and then reset the screen resolution. This did not work now. I get 2 grub messages at start up and then the old CRT screen starts Kubuntu and the LCD Ubuntu, after a short while both go to Ubuntu and everything works fine even if the CRT is unplugged from the power point as long as I leave it connected to the computer. I like the look and feel of 9.10 but would like to get rid of the CRT screen, it just takes up to much room on my desk. So what can I do?
Thank you for any suggestions.
Dillibag

[tonyuk123]

well maybe the suggestion to get it starting up might have worked when i could get it a terminal type screen
but now i did a clean instal, as that was what everyone was saying, and the latest kernels dont work with my motherboard
so now i have no kernel that will let it startup atall
just get the initrd error, but i cant use the solution to make it use another kernel because i dont have any apart from what comes with a clean install of 9.10 !
i am going to do a clean install of the latest LTS version
and the use that until the next LTS is out
but then i will have to do an upgrade not a clean instal or i will lose the last kernel that works
thanks for all the help everyone hopefully all will go well this time!

[bern.hard]

I did a 3-step upgrade from 8.04 through 8.10 and 9.04 to 9.10.
Then on startup I could not get past a flickering terminal screen which did not accept any reasonable input. So I did a clean install of 9.10 on another partition, which worked, and then later I found out that I had to delete the old xorg.conf in etc/X11 to have 9.10 upgrade startup normal.
So anyone welcome to try to rename his old xorg.conf to e.g. xorg.conf.bak and restart, it might work.
(still having other probs, though, but at least 9.10 runs)
cheers
Bernhard