Unable to boot

6 replies [Last post]
Browneyes
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Joined: 01/25/2020

I have the same problem as B Sharp, my boot starts OK with the flash screen
of Gnu and Tux but then I get a similar Terminal screen:
BusyBox v1.22.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.22.0-15ubuntu1.4) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands

I then get a prompt
(initramfs)
I suspect an automatic update may have caused the problem (as I did nothing
between one login and the next) and I guess if I knew where to look I could
modify the offending script.

Any help much appreciated.

Ray Brown

liberpoolesque
Offline
Joined: 01/07/2020

Could this be a device dependent problem?
One of my installs on an old second hand laptop works fine with the newest Trisquel updates. (I don't have access to any other hardware right now)
What kind of device are you using? Is it an X200, like bsharp1157? Does it have libreboot installed?

Further, are any of your usual drives/partitions visible from the busybox shell, using "ls /dev/sd*" ?
Are there any error messages? Do any errors get printed if you "exit" out of the busybox shell?
Are you using disk encryption or LVM?

I'm asking because with additional information, it might be easier to see the connection, expecially if more cases like this show up.

Browneyes
Offline
Joined: 01/25/2020

Thank you for your prompt reply.
My computer is a Lenovo T400 reconditioned from "Ministry of Freedom" with
Libreboot and no disk encryption or LVM.

The error message when exiting from the Busybox shell is:
dev/sda5 contains a file system with errors. Check forced.

My visible partitions etc are:
/dev/sda5 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda

On Wed, 5 Feb 2020 at 20:12, <name at domain> wrote:

> Could this be a device dependent problem?
> One of my installs on an old second hand laptop works fine with the
> newest
> Trisquel updates. (I don't have access to any other hardware right now)
> What kind of device are you using? Is it an X200, like bsharp1157? Does
> it
> have libreboot installed?
>
> Further, are any of your usual drives/partitions visible from the busybox
> shell, using "ls /dev/sd*" ?
> Are there any error messages? Do any errors get printed if you "exit" out
> of
> the busybox shell?
> Are you using disk encryption or LVM?
>
> I'm asking because with additional information, it might be easier to see
> the
> connection, expecially if more cases like this show up.
>

liberpoolesque
Offline
Joined: 01/07/2020

So /dev/sda5 may contain a damaged filesystem, and it might be an important one. There are some posts on the Internet with problems kind of similar to yours. Most of them recommend trying to fix the damaged partition, which fixed the problem. Did you try running "fsck -y /dev/sda5"?
However, as far as I can see fsck may not be included in Trisquel's version of BusyBox. Do you have some Trisquel Live medium like a CD or a USB drive? If so, you could try using that to fix the damaged filesystem. Insert the CD/USB, boot into the live environment ("try trisquel without installing") and run "sudo fsck -y /dev/sda5" in a terminal.

Browneyes
Offline
Joined: 01/25/2020

I am away this weekend but will try next week when I get back. Thanks

On Thu, 6 Feb 2020, 20:36 , <name at domain> wrote:

> So /dev/sda5 may contain a damaged filesystem, and it might be an
> important
> one. There are some posts on the Internet with problems kind of similar
> to
> yours. Most of them recommend trying to fix the damaged partition, which
> fixed the problem. Did you try running "fsck -y /dev/sda5"?
> However, as far as I can see fsck may not be included in Trisquel's
> version
> of BusyBox. Do you have some Trisquel Live medium like a CD or a USB
> drive?
> If so, you could try using that to fix the damaged filesystem. Insert the
> CD/USB, boot into the live environment ("try trisquel without
> installing")
> and run "sudo fsck -y /dev/sda5" in a terminal.
>

Browneyes
Offline
Joined: 01/25/2020

As you say the BusyBox ash terminal does not show fsck as a valid command
BUT your advice of running "fsck -y /dev/sda5" worked perfectly. I do
appreciate your help. Thank you very much.

Ray

On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 at 21:36, Ray Brown <name at domain> wrote:

> I am away this weekend but will try next week when I get back. Thanks
>
> On Thu, 6 Feb 2020, 20:36 , <name at domain> wrote:
>
>> So /dev/sda5 may contain a damaged filesystem, and it might be an
>> important
>> one. There are some posts on the Internet with problems kind of similar
>> to
>> yours. Most of them recommend trying to fix the damaged partition, which
>> fixed the problem. Did you try running "fsck -y /dev/sda5"?
>> However, as far as I can see fsck may not be included in Trisquel's
>> version
>> of BusyBox. Do you have some Trisquel Live medium like a CD or a USB
>> drive?
>> If so, you could try using that to fix the damaged filesystem. Insert
>> the
>> CD/USB, boot into the live environment ("try trisquel without
>> installing")
>> and run "sudo fsck -y /dev/sda5" in a terminal.
>>
>

strypey
Offline
Joined: 05/14/2015

Is it possible for the OP (or an admin) to modify the title of this post to something more specific, and add "solved"? This could be helpful to other users who strike a similar problem and try searching the forums for help before starting a new thread.