Ubuntu Doesn't Come Up

[7-webmaster]

My 10 year old desktop computer failed, so I obtained a refurbished Dell Optiplex 9020, installed Ubuntu 19.10 in parallel with ******* X. When I booted it up I was, of course, informed that there were updates so I permitted the application of the updates and restarted the computer. It did not restart. I am sitting looking at a plain purple screen. I looked at the debug kernel page but I do not see any of the relevant options in the grub script when I follow the instructions. When I try to edit the grub menu the text is only displayed for a few second before the screen goes black, so I couldn't edit it even if I could see the options I am instructed to modify. Furthermore prior to applying the updates the system always booted to the grub menu because that is only reasonable to permit me to choose between Ubuntu 19.10 and ******* X each time. After the upgrades I must hold down the right shift to see the grub menu. Could someone please direct me to current documentation of how to resolve this problem?

[yancek]

The official Ubuntu documentation on dual booting with windows 10 is at the link below. I would suggest you read through it and compare the instructions to what you did.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

[7-webmaster]

Thank you. I cannot even get into the BIOS now. I powered off the computer, unplugged it, plugged it back in and powered it up while pressing the key (F12) that previously worked to get me into the BIOS as I had to do to boot from the USB to install Ubuntu. Again I remind you that dual boot worked UNTIL I restarted Ubuntu to apply post-installation fixes. Now I have an expensive doorstop. If I power the computer on with no key pressed it boots into Ubuntu and then sits in a perpetual loop displaying the logo and the five dots that change color between white and red. If I power the computer on while holding down F12 it goes to a black screen. If I power the computer on with right shift held the red light on the USB stick blinks a few times, then the Ubuntu boot starts but it immediately goes to a plain purple screen. The existing documentation on boot problems only mentions 18.04 and references removing lines that I did not see in the grub menu the few times I have got that far. Even when I could see the grub menu it was only displayed for a few seconds, not long enough to edit. Which is why I have been trying to boot from the USB stick.

[7-webmaster]

I removed the USB stick and got into the BIOS Setup. I rearranged the boot sequence to put USB first, where it should be anyways. The BIOS was already set for Legacy rather than UEFI boot so I left that. I then rebooted into the USB, so I can see the ******* and the Ubuntu partitions on the disk. But I am running the USB in trial mode. How do I copy information out of the Ubuntu partition so I can attach it to a problem report? I cannot open or copy the boot log because of bad permissions.

[7-webmaster]

I would really appreciate instructions on how to collect the documentation to find out why I cannot boot Ubuntu on this system. I have gone back, reformatted the entire disk and installed Ubuntu as the only operating system. When I reboot after installation the logo comes, the screen goes to blank purple, the light indicating disk activity flickers for a few minutes then everything stops. I can see the contents of the file system when I boot from the installation USB but I do not know what to look for to find out why Ubuntu will not boot.

[yancek]

Boot Ubuntu from the install usb and if you have an internet connection, go to the link below and read through the page so you have a basic understanding. The use the 2nd option described on that page to download the ppa with boot repair and run it as instructed. Make certain that you do NOT try to make ANY repairs but select the option to Create BootInfo Summary. When it finishes, you should get a pastebin link you can post here which will have details on your system and someone here should be able to make a recommendation.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[7-webmaster]

I cannot install boot-repair because it has a seemingly endless list of dependencies. I am sending this message from the USB installer so I can see everything on the system, but I do not know WHAT to report, and this interface does not permit me to attach large files like those in /var/log. What I can see in those log files looks entirely normal, but I still see nothing but a blank purple screen. Also note that I have tried and failed to follow the instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingKernelBoot. Holding right shift down does not display the grub menu, and I cannot edit the grub menu from the install USB.

[7-webmaster]

Please. All I am asking is for assistance to debug why my system is not coming up. Exactly what should I be looking for in the logs? As far as I can see everything in the logs looks fine, but all I see is either the five dots blinking white and red or a plain purple screen. I never see the Ubuntu 19.10 page from which I would get to the login. I cannot see any relevant advice on the Wiki or elsewhere.

[CelticWarrior]

Boot Repair suggested above is to be installed to and run from a live session ("Try Ubuntu").

Also, when the splash screen seems stuck you can press ESC to see the last messages. This should give some clue about why it is stuck. Very likely an issue with the graphics mode.

[7-webmaster]

I cannot install boot-repair

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
Simple tool to repair frequent boot problems.

Website: https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home
More info: https://launchpad.net/~yannubuntu/+a...tu/boot-repair
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.

Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.10 _Eoan Ermine_ - Release amd64 (20191017) eoan InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.10 _Eoan Ermine_ - Release amd64 (20191017) eoan Release
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security InRelease [97.5 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan InRelease [255 kB]
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu eoan InRelease [15.4 kB]
Get:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu eoan/main amd64 Packages [1,704 B]
Get:8 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main amd64 Packages [137 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates InRelease [97.5 kB]
Get:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu eoan/main Translation-en [1,576 B]
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/main amd64 Packages [969 kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main Translation-en [51.5 kB]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [204 B]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main DEP-11 48x48 Icons [29 B]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [29 B]
Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/main amd64 c-n-f Metadata [1,940 B]
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/restricted amd64 Packages [8,904 B]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security/restricted Translation-en [1,516 B]
Get:19 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [510 kB]
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/main DEP-11 48x48 Icons [95.4 kB]
Get:21 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [173 kB]
Get:22 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/main amd64 c-n-f Metadata [29.7 kB]
Get:23 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main amd64 Packages [204 kB]
Get:24 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main Translation-en [77.5 kB]
Get:25 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [73.0 kB]
Get:26 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main DEP-11 48x48 Icons [9,948 B]
Get:27 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [15.1 kB]
Get:28 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main amd64 c-n-f Metadata [2,932 B]
Get:29 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [8,904 B]
Get:30 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/restricted Translation-en [1,516 B]
Fetched 2,840 kB in 2s (1,339 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.10 _Eoan Ermine_ - Release amd64 (20191017) eoan InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.10 _Eoan Ermine_ - Release amd64 (20191017) eoan Release
Hit:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security InRelease
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan InRelease
Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu eoan InRelease
Hit:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
boot-repair : Depends: boot-sav but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
boot-repair : Depends: boot-sav but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install -y boot-save
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package boot-save
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install -y boot-sav
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
boot-sav : Depends: glade2script (>= 3) but it is not going to be installed or
glade2script-gtk2 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install -y glade2script-gtk2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
glade2script-gtk2 : Depends: python but it is not installable
Depends: python-gtk2 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install python
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package python is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'python' has no installation candidate
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install python-gtk2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package python-gtk2 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'python-gtk2' has no installation candidate
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

python --version

Command 'python' not found, but can be installed with:

sudo apt install python3

You also have python3 installed, you can run 'python3' instead.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt install python3
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
python3 is already the newest version (3.7.5-1).
python3 set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 252 not upgraded.



If python is already installed why is the installation of boot-repair not finding it?