New Installation won't boot.

[A Traveller]

Thanks for your comments, Dennis N.

I'm not using 10.04 out of choice! It is beyond annoying now that many websites cannot be viewed properly and a lot now cannot even load at all (connection/certificate/various errors). The functions don't work on a lot of these sites as I can't update flash/java, etc.

My pc may be a few years old, however, the specs are still quite good and more than enough of handling the latest Ubuntu, etc. I need to install a recent OS as soon as possible before the 10.04 stops letting me do anything at all! I know it's based on Ubuntu, but I am thinking of trying Zorin to see if I can at least log in! Might try Lubuntu also but if Ubuntu doesn't work, not sure if Lubuntu will.

Thanks oldfred, no login as yet at any point. Not sure if I was "at root".

I have installed more than once and considering the same problems when I tried installing a year ago, I don't think a bad install could be the problem.

Will try sudo nano -B /etc/grub when I manage to muster some motivation to get going again!

Thanks.

[A Traveller]

I get the following when I tried sudo nano -B /etc/grub at the GRUB screen and in recovery mode.

GRUB screen:

Can't find command 'sudo'

If I leave out sudo, I get@
Can't find 'nano'

Recovery Mode:

root@mycomputer:~# sudo nano -B /etc/grub
sudo: unable to stat /etc/sudoers: permission denied
sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting...
sudo: unable to initialise policy plug-in
root@mycomputer:#~

I also tried choosing the option to fix dpkg in Recovery Mode, which informed me that 5 new packages are going to be installed and 81 packages are going to be upgraded but when I accepted, I got 'could not resolve gb.archive.ubuntu.com' and 'restoring original system state'. I then tried enabling networking, however, now I cannot even get to a grub screen any more. It just stops at the black screen just before it says booting from CD/DVD (which is my first boot device). It doesn't even show booting from CD/DVD any more. It just stops before that. UPDATE - am able to access GRUB/Recovery Mode again and tried fsck. Noticed the comment 'etc/default/rcs no such file or directory'. The check took only a few seconds and stopped at [ OK ] Reached target Swap. Is that normal or am I supposed to leave it for a few minutes?

I'm wondering if Ubuntu is worth all this effort.

Thanks.

[A Traveller]

I have now tried installing Lubuntu but get the exact same problem, i.e. stuck at the Ubuntu screen with the dots (blue instead of purple, this time).

I have now also tried installing Zorin, but it's the same problem as when I installed Ubuntu 16.04 a year ago; stuck in the black screen login loop. I have tried nomodeset and nosplash for this but that hasn't worked. Am getting the same failures as with Ubuntu 18.04.

Surely, SOMEONE must know what the Ubuntu people have changed between 12.04 and 16.04 that is causing these problems for so many people!

[Dennis N]

Recovery Mode:
root@mycomputer:~# sudo nano -B /etc/grub

Choosing Recovery mode > root shell prompt makes you root, so sudo should not be used. Then nano will work.
Then, /etc/grub is not the correct location for the grub settings, which I assume is what you are after. It should be /etc/default/grub.

[A Traveller]

Thanks for your suggestion, Dennis N.

I followed your instructions and got the following errors:

Unable to create directory /root/ local/share/nano/: no such file or directory.
It is required for saving/loading search history or cursor positions.

I then pressed Enter again just to see if I can get back to the root@mycomputer and then the nano grub settings appeared (the one with the hidden timeout and grub_gfx mode - 640x480, etc) but I couldn't change any of them. I got the errors:

Error writing etc/...read only file system

and

File 'etc/default/grub is unwritable'.

I also tried 'service gdm start' again whilst I was in nano and got the comment:

Starting GNOME display manager...
and then an error that the above failed.

I also disconnected my monitor from my nvidia graphics card, removed the card from the pc and attached the monitor to the onboard graphics (ATI Radeon HD 3000 graphics DirectX10) but this made no difference at all. Not sure if this needs to be tested by installing the OS after changing the graphics connection.

Thanks.

[Dennis N]

File 'etc/default/grub is unwritable'.

Right. Because the file system state is 'read-only' as the warning says at the top of the recovery mode menu. That's how it starts up. If you plan to edit files in recovery mode, see step 8 of "Booting into recovery mode" in this wiki article:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode

[A Traveller]

Thank, Dennin N. Yes, I have come across that webpage before. I did vaguely recall that I had read something to do with making something writable, but wouldn't have known where I had read it as I have now read info from what seems like a million different websites now in trying to fix this. Anyway, for the moment, I am going to try another OS that is not based on Ubuntu/Debian because I really have had enough of trying to solve this problem for over a year and getting nowhere. I need an up to date OS because the software on my main Ubuntu 10.04 has become very restrictive (mainly for the Internet). Anyway, thank you very much for all your help. I might need it again if I revisit this issue! There is one thing that I have come across AFTER having deleting Ubuntu 16.04, which I did not get to try. Maybe I could try that with 18.04 also. It was related to editing/deleting an xauthority file. Sounded promising, but am not holding my breath! Thanks again, Dennis N/oldfred.