Cannot boot after trying MATE Tweak > Interface > Panels
Hi,
I canot boot my Trisquel 8 (32-bit). It is in a Libreboot X60. Everything worked ok until I happened to play with a dropdown menu I found at:
Control Center > MATE Tweak > Interface > Panels - Select a panel layout to change the user interface.
The box for the dropdown menu was empty, and when I clicked on it I could see its different options. I was clicking on each to see how things were changing. Once I saw them all I just wanted to go back to my normal interface, but I could not. I could not have that box empty as it was. There was also the "Save Panel Layout" button, which I think I did not click at any time, but I am not sure.
I could not set that box empty as it was, so I had a different interface. I was missing my normal interface, the Trisquel default one, which I had customised.
Then I did poweroff -p
Now I try to boot my computer and, after entering the disk-encryption password, I get:
Welcome to emergency mode! After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or ^D to try again to boot into default mode.
Press Enter for maintenance
(of press Control-D to continue):
I did not manage to boot it normally. Now I am in the command line with root. If a do journalctl -xb I see some red lines (please see attached images).
How should I troubleshoot?
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A priori, the fact you modified the panel layout before the problem occurs is a mere coincidence. Your XFS filesystem to be mounted at /home is corrupted. As the log says, you need to 'umount' it and run 'xfs_repair' on it. If the filesystem is indeed mounted, the following command will tell you the corresponding device:
# mount | grep home
If that filesystem is /dev/sdaX (where "X" is a number and "a" may actually be another letter if /home is not on the first disk):
# umount /home
# xfs_repair /dev/sdaX
If that is not enough:
# xfs_repair -L /dev/sdaX
You can also do that from a live system (prefix the commands with "sudo ", without the quotes).
Thank you!
I got no result by entering # mount | grep home
Please have a look at my new image attached, it's the outcome of lsblk. home does not seem to be mounted. Sould I execute the following? # xfs_repair /dev/sda5
By the way, I am quickly reading now this XFS is a 64-bit thing, while my computer and Trisquel are 32-bit.
Maybe I read too quickly...
I believe XFS supports all the architectures Linux supports. It is indeed implemented in the kernel. As far as I understand, XFS being 64 bits means it uses 64 bits to address the disk. That allows to have XFS filesystems of size up to 8 exbibytes minus one byte. That is about 8 billions of GiB. :-)
= )
home is not mounted, but xfs_repair says it cannot open /dev/sda5: Device or resource busy.
Shall I go for # xfs_repair -L /dev/sda5?
Forget my last message, sudo xfs_repair /dev/sda5 did work from a live system, but unsuccessfully:
............................................................................................................................................Sorry, could not find valid secondary superblock
Exiting now.
I could not boot my system.
Then I tried with
sudo xfs_repair -vL /dev/sda5
but got the same results : (
Do I need to reinstall everything, or is there anything else I could try?
If I reinstall everything, will the problem be fixed? Or could it be a physical thing I will keep suffering?
By the way, I don't know about filesystems and I thought my Trisquel was using ext4. Is it using XFS, or is it using both?
If you reformat the partition:
- You will lose the data on it (since that perspective does not seem to bother you, I guess you have a recent backup);
- The problem should be fixed...
- ... but not for long (or at all) if the drive is actually defective!
You can see the SMART data of the drive. The easiest way is probably:
- to install the "gnome-disk-utility" package in the live system;
- to launch "Disks" from the "Control Center";
- to click on the disk (in the left panel);
- to click on "SMART Data & Self-Tests" in the "burger" menu (the three stacked horizontal segments).
As the name says, you can test the disk from there too.
On GNOME Disks' main window, after clicking on "Partition 5", the button with three gears allows you to "Format Partition...". You would then have to edit accordingly /etc/fstab's line that refers to /home. I mean the file /etc/fstab of the installed system (you can still write on its root filesystem, right?). If you choose again XFS for the filesystem type (you can choose another type too), the line can be:
/dev/sda5 /home xfs defaults 0 2
And you would have to recreate (e.g., with 'mkdir') the home folders of the users, bearing their login as a name, ans setting the same uid and gid (e.g., with 'chown') as before: they can be respectively read in the third and fourth column of /etc/passwd. Again: I mean the file /etc/passwd of the installed system.
Well, that instructive process or reinstalling everything. :-)
While waiting for answers on my previous questions, I'm adding some more...
What is the default panel layout on Trisquel 8? Is it Redmond? How do I set the default panel layout back if I changed it?
I think it's "Trisquel" but there's a bug. If you go and play with Mate Tweak, you can't go back using the GUI (default Trisquel is not available).
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/how-do-i-revert-back-default-interface
mate-panel --reset --layout trisquel
Thank you loldier and thank you Banana.
SMART Data & Self-Tests say the disk is OK. I am finally going for a reinstall, as I don't have a proper backup of the home folder.
Thanks again for the good explanations!