Clean install of Ubuntu boots to 'BusyBox'?

[chainbade84]

277488

120GB SSD.
Windows 7 the first partition non-efi of 60GB on /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, and /dev/sda3
Installed Ubuntu 17.10 64-bit non-efi on /dev/sda4 of 40GB through live USB stick
Have tried reinstalling various time, having Ubuntu automatically choose how to install or manually choosing the partition to install to.

upon a little searching, i booted back up with the live USB disk and ran sudo blkid, which should the UUID for /dev/sda4, which matches what the above screenshot says that it does not exisi for some reason...any ideas?

[Bashing-om]

chainbade84; Hello - Welcome to the forum .

Before we delve deeper, let's verify what we are working with.
Boot up the liveUSB and
Post back - Between code tags - the outputs of terminal commands:


sudo blkid
sudo fdisk -lu

code tag tutorial:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2171721&p=12776168#post12776168
Once we know the target we verify that UUID :)



all in the process

[oldfred]

Have you tried typing exit? Sometimes that works.

What brand/model system?
Is drive set for AHCI, not IDE nor RAID?

[chainbade84]

chainbade84; Hello - Welcome to the forum .

Before we delve deeper, let's verify what we are working with.
Boot up the liveUSB and
Post back - Between code tags - the outputs of terminal commands:


sudo blkid
sudo fdisk -lu

code tag tutorial:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2171721&p=12776168#post12776168
Once we know the target we verify that UUID :)

all in the process






/dev/sda1: LABEL="System Reserved" UUID="CE3E58513E583525" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="e5e81164-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="0C4C63244C6307B2" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="e5e81164-02"
/dev/sda5: UUID="1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="e5e81164-05"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Data" UUID="2CD450A3D45070D6" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="6cfe656c-01"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="UUI" UUID="24AC-56AD" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2dbd2b5d-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"







Disk /dev/loop0: 1.3 GiB, 1425731584 bytes, 2784632 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 /dev/sda: 119.2 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xe5e81164

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 204800 100M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 206848 163842047 163635200 78G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 163844094 250068991 86224898 41.1G 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 163844096 250068991 86224896 41.1G 83 Linux

Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.


Disk /dev/sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x6cfe656c

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 1953521663 1953519616 931.5G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Disk /dev/sdc: 1.9 GiB, 2003828736 bytes, 3913728 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2dbd2b5d

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1 * 2048 3913727 3911680 1.9G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)





Have you tried typing exit? Sometimes that works.

What brand/model system?
Is drive set for AHCI, not IDE nor RAID?

it's an Asus N56JR laptop (i7 with 12GB RAM), 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD. Drive is set to AHCI in the BIOS. No RAID at all.

[Bashing-om]

chainbade84; Himmm ..

Surprise, surprise .. the UUID is identified and the target here is sda5.
Curios and curiouser ......
What results when you attempt to boot sda5 explicitly from grub ?

Reboot the machine, and as soon as the bios screen clears depress and hold a shift key -> grub boot menu;
Here press the 'c' key for (c)ommand mode -> grub > .
here - one command at the time - :


set prefix=(hd0,msdos5)/boot/grub
set root=(hd0,msdos5)
linux (hd0,msdos5)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd (hd0,msdos5)/initrd.img
boot


fault isolation


give it a poke and see

[chainbade84]

chainbade84; Himmm ..

Surprise, surprise .. the UUID is identified and the target here is sda5.
Curios and curiouser ......
What results when you attempt to boot sda5 explicitly from grub ?

Reboot the machine, and as soon as the bios screen clears depress and hold a shift key -> grub boot menu;
Here press the 'c' key for (c)ommand mode -> grub > .
here - one command at the time - :


set prefix=(hd0,msdos5)/boot/grub
set root=(hd0,msdos5)
linux (hd0,msdos5)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd (hd0,msdos5)/initrd.img
boot


fault isolation

give it a poke and see




thanks for the reply, unfortunately it did not work. Here is what it says now:

277491

I'm confused why this is happening. sda5 is UID 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665. But it keeps claiming it doesen't exist, when it is. the fact that I've tried a clean install of Ubuntu 3 times and the issue persists is just strange.

[Bashing-om]

chainbade84; Yeah -

Agreed - a bit of a head scratcher.

Let's boot a liveUSB and see what then we can find out .
from the live environment:


sudo blkid -c /dev/null

this will give all UUIDs in use by partitions / drives etc. The "-c /dev/null" forces blkid to poll the hardware for the UUID so as not take it from an OS cached file.

And now we look and compare. mount the target sda5 ( maybe ??)


sudo mkdir /mnt/looksee
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/looksee
cat /mnt/looksee /etc/fstab
cat /mnt/looksee/etc/default/grub
cat /mnt/looksee/boot/grub/grub.cfg


All ducks in a row ?? All UUIDs look sane ?

when done looking about .. we must UN-mount what we mounted :


sudo umount /mnt/looksee


just try'n to make sense of non-sense; as of yet I too do not get it .



together we can

[chainbade84]

chainbade84; Yeah -

Agreed - a bit of a head scratcher.

Let's boot a liveUSB and see what then we can find out .
from the live environment:


sudo blkid -c /dev/null

this will give all UUIDs in use by partitions / drives etc. The "-c /dev/null" forces blkid to poll the hardware for the UUID so as not take it from an OS cached file.

And now we look and compare. mount the target sda5 ( maybe ??)


sudo mkdir /mnt/looksee
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/looksee
cat /mnt/looksee /etc/fstab
cat /mnt/looksee/etc/default/grub
cat /mnt/looksee/boot/grub/grub.cfg


All ducks in a row ?? All UUIDs look sane ?

when done looking about .. we must UN-mount what we mounted :


sudo umount /mnt/looksee


just try'n to make sense of non-sense; as of yet I too do not get it .

together we can




Ya all UUID's look the same and match what the sudo blkid -c /dev/null command said, which was:


/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="System Reserved" UUID="CE3E58513E583525" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="e5e81164-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="0C4C63244C6307B2" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="e5e81164-02"
/dev/sda5: UUID="1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="e5e81164-05"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Data" UUID="2CD450A3D45070D6" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="6cfe656c-01"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="UUI" UUID="24AC-56AD" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2dbd2b5d-01"



if you want to take a look at the grub.cfg, here it is:


#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
set timeout=30
else
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
set timeout_style=menu
set timeout=10
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
set timeout=10
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30,0; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
}
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Ubuntu' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic root=UUID=1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Ubuntu' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665' {
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 4.13.0-16-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.13.0-16-generic-advanced-1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 4.13.0-16-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic root=UUID=1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 4.13.0-16-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.13.0-16-generic-recovery-1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 4.13.0-16-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic root=UUID=1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic
}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+)' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
knetbsd /boot/memtest86+.elf
}
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos5 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos5 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 1bed0af4-d096-45bd-b6a1-b39531a03665
fi
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 7 (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-CE3E58513E583525' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 CE3E58513E583525
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CE3E58513E583525
fi
parttool ${root} hidden-
chainloader +1
}
set timeout_style=menu
if [ "${timeout}" = 0 ]; then
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

[Bashing-om]

chainbade84; Hu,,, ...

I do not see a thing I can point a finger at . All looks like should workie .

I will have to consider for a spell - see if I can come up with a means to proceed.

sometimes I do wonder


other times - I just do not know

[chainbade84]

chainbade84; Hu,,, ...

I do not see a thing I can point a finger at . All looks like should workie .

I will have to consider for a spell - see if I can come up with a means to proceed.

sometimes I do wonder

other times - I just do not know




ya it's the damnedest thing. I figured a clean install would fix it but it didn't. I'm going to try to install Kubuntu just to see if it happens to work...

[Bashing-om]

chainbade84; Well

As you have already re-installed several times .. I can not see how an install of Kubuntu will have a different result .

I keep thinking about this - and as I know no better - is to see what results when we re-install grub . But I can not justify this action except we may get a hint of what is not taking place .


right wrong or otherwise



do something

[oldfred]

You never said if typing exit at busybox error worked or not.

A full reinstall of grub & a new kernel sometimes works also. You can use Boot-Repair or full chroot.
Sometimes initramfs is not fully configured and new kernel recreates it.

If drive was slow coming up, this sometimes works. But that has been more for slow external drives that may take longer to load.
May need to add boot parameter for drive to come up to speed.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rootdelay=90"