14.04 Won't start desktop after update

[bfromcolo]

I have been running 14.04 64 bit for some weeks with no issues. Now after applying updates on reboot it seems to get to where it would be ready to display the login screen and just hangs with a cursor blinking in the top left corner. I try booting on one of the previous kernels but this has the same issue. I tried the recovery mode on multiple kernels, it brings up the menus, but it can not start networking, I tried to fix packages but it fails because networking isn't enabled. I can get to start a root shell prompt, but after I logon it tells me /var/lib/update-notifier/fsck-reboot: Read only file system. So I can see data but I don't know that I can do anything. It is running but just seems to be failing to start the desktop. Any help would be appreciated.

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Cable or wireless connection?

[bfromcolo]

It's wireless, I'll need to rearrange some things to try it wired. Is there a command that I can enter from the shell to revert back to a previous restore point?

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Restart again and do F1 at startup, see if it gives some information

[bfromcolo]

I figured I would try to back up everything before I went any further with this mess. I have the system booted off USB and I can mount the system drive, but I have been unable to copy files off of it.

sudo - i nautilus

(nautilus:16100): Gtk-WARNING **: Failed to register client: GDBus.Errorrg.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files

Did something change with 14.04, I feel certain I have does this before? How do I change permissions on the drive to copy data off of it?

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Can you try this:

sudo apt-get install gir1.2-gtksource-3.0

[bfromcolo]

Thanks for trying to help. I am running off the live USB at the moment and it said the latest gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 was already installed. Still trying to get the data off this thing and then I will probably just re-install.

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Yes my mistake, I was searching the www and found this:

Did forcefsck leave you with a read-only filesystem?
Did you have some drive problems on your linux system and want to run fsck at boot time only to find that your system stays in eternal fsck-reboot mode? When you try to remove the forcefsck file in single user mode, you discover that you can’t because the filesystem is in read-only mode?
Here’s what worked for us.
Interrupt the fsck and you’re in single user mode.
mount -o remount, -rw /dev/hda1 /
Now you can rm forcefsck
Replace hda1 in the line above with the appropriate device for your root filesystem. It may /dev/sda1 or /dev/hda2

[bfromcolo]

after a hour of searching this got me able to read the drive, backing up now. Where that volume name was assigned by the Live CD.

sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /media/ubuntu/42e755e4-58b1-46ed-96e7-af9d2a7bdb37/home -R

I think I am going to throw in the towel and reinstall after this is over, been messing with Linux for years and sometimes it just likes to remind me what a neophyte I am.

Thanks

[cprofitt]

after a hour of searching this got me able to read the drive, backing up now. Where that volume name was assigned by the Live CD.

sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /media/ubuntu/42e755e4-58b1-46ed-96e7-af9d2a7bdb37/home -R

I think I am going to throw in the towel and reinstall after this is over, been messing with Linux for years and sometimes it just likes to remind me what a neophyte I am.

Thanks

My son's desktop experienced a similar problem. He told me his computer would no longer boot, but he does not have rights to install updates... his computer was busted though. I connected to the internet and fixed all broken or missing packages. His computer then booted to a flashing cursor in the upper left had corner. I have now reinstalled Ubuntu five time testing proprietary drivers as well as going back to 12.04.4 and found no joy. The computer seems not to work at this point. Not sure what to make of it.