1

I was trying to install MATLAB on my computer, and got a low memory warning. When I tried to restart my computer, it will not load and is stuck on 'Started User Manager for UID 121...'. I attempted to open in recovery mode, but it gives me a mostly blank screen with nonsense along the top whenever I do.

I tried to enter the second terminal using alt+F3, but nothing happened.

df:

Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             8138204         0   8138204   0% /dev
tmpfs            1632756      1812   1630944   1% /run
/dev/sdc         2076704   2076704         0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop0       1982464   1982464         0 100% /rofs
/cow             8163776    490420   7673356   7% /
tmpfs            8163776     71988   8091788   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120         8      5112   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            8163776         0   8163776   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            8163776       512   8163264   1% /tmp
tmpfs            1632752        76   1632676   1% /run/user/999
/dev/loop1         91264     91264         0 100% /snap/core/8268
/dev/loop2         56064     56064         0 100% /snap/core18/1668
/dev/loop3         46080     46080         0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1440
/dev/loop4        164096    164096         0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/116
/dev/loop5          4352      4352         0 100% /snap/gnome-calculator/544
/dev/loop6         15104     15104         0 100% /snap/gnome-characters/399
/dev/loop7          1024      1024         0 100% /snap/gnome-logs/81
/dev/loop8          3840      3840         0 100% /snap/gnome-system-monitor/127
/dev/sda1      155571552 148032260         0 100% /media/ubuntu/6323ac85-ccdf-4730-baba-1ab81b6b88a0

free -h:

              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15G        1.1G         11G        525M        3.2G         13G  
Swap:           15G          0B         15G

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Edit 2: In order:

total 108492
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root     4096 Mar  3 05:22 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root     4096 Feb  3 12:37 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   235811 Dec 18 15:01 config-5.3.0-26-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   235811 Jan 15 18:10 config-5.3.0-28-generic
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root     4096 Mar  3 05:22 grub
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 41379617 Jan 23 14:41 initrd.img-5.3.0-26-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 41380298 Feb  3 12:37 initrd.img-5.3.0-28-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   182704 Jan 28  2016 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   184380 Jan 28  2016 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   184840 Jan 28  2016 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-------  1 root root  4487587 Dec 18 15:01 System.map-5.3.0-26-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  4487587 Jan 15 18:10 System.map-5.3.0-28-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  9146616 Dec 18 15:20 vmlinuz-5.3.0-26-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  9146616 Jan 15 21:28 vmlinuz-5.3.0-28-generic

total 2204
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm             341522 Mar  5 05:11 apport.log.
1
-rw-rw-r--   1 root              utmp            292292 Jun 27  2019 lastlog
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm             235040 Mar  5 05:21 apport.log
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             218053 Jan 31 15:08 syslog.5.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             186902 Jan 27 18:09 kern.log.3.
gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             127811 Jan 19 05:48 kern.log.4.
gz

total 32
drwxrwxrwt  8 root root 4096 Mar  5 13:30 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Feb  3 12:37 ..
drwx------  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:06 cvcd
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:06 .font-unix
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:21 .ICE-unix
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:06 .Test-unix
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:21 .X11-unix
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root 4096 Mar  5 05:06 .XIM-unix

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Andrew

Andrew
  • 13

1 Answers1

1

First check your file system...

  • boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB
  • open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T
    • type df -h and edit this into your question
    • type free -h and edit this into your question
  • type sudo fdisk -l
  • identify the /dev/sdXX device name for your "Linux Filesystem"
  • type sudo fsck -f /dev/sdXX, replacing sdXX with the number you found earlier
  • repeat the fsck command if there were errors
  • type reboot

Update #1:

  • boot to your Ubuntu Live DVD/USB

    • sudo fsck -f /dev/sda1 (if you haven't already done this)

  • Let's see if we can guess at some commonly full directories. Edit your question with the output of:

    • ls -al /media/ubuntu/6323ac85-ccdf-4730-baba-1ab81b6b88a0/boot

    • ls -alS /media/ubuntu/6323ac85-ccdf-4730-baba-1ab81b6b88a0/var/log | more (only the first 5-10 lines is fine)

    • ls -alS /media/ubuntu/6323ac85-ccdf-4730-baba-1ab81b6b88a0/tmp | more (only the first 5-10 lines is fine)

  • Use Disk Usage Analyzer to determine where your disk space went.

Update #2:

  • Uninstalling matlab cleared enough space and the disk is able to boot now.
heynnema
  • 70,711
  • Hello,

    Thank you for your patience, and my apologies about the wait. I have edited my original question with the results. Just to make sure that I'm not going to accidentally mess anything up, I'm looking for the item on the device list with just "Linux" on it, correct, not "Linux swap/Solaris" or anything else?

    Thanks, Andrew

     – Andrew Mar 04 '20 at 05:37
  • @Andrew No problem. And yes, you're looking for "Linux", not "Linux swap". Report back. – heynnema Mar 04 '20 at 22:06
  • when I boot up, it now stops on "Started Hold until boot process finishes up." – Andrew Mar 05 '20 at 06:06
  • @Andrew Did the fsck find any errors? Boot to the Ubuntu Live DVD/USB again. Start the Disks app. Get screenshot(s) of the SMART Data & Tests window and lets look at the disk parameters. Has your system config changed recently? – heynnema Mar 05 '20 at 14:45
  • fsck did not find any errors. Before experiencing this problem, I had been attempting to download Matlab. I received a warning that I was low on memory, and I ran into the problems from my original post when I attempted to restart my computer. Disk parameters: https://imgur.com/a/vYLph0N – Andrew Mar 07 '20 at 07:12
  • @Andrew Is it possible that when you did the df command, and copy/pasted the output into your question, that you accidentally didn't get all of the data? I don't see any data for your hard disk, sda or sdb. If you were booted to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB, maybe you have to open the File Manager and click on sda/sdb to mount the disk(s) before df will see them. – heynnema Mar 07 '20 at 15:02
  • @Andrew After pasting text into your answer, select that text, then click on the {} icon to format the text so it's human-readable. – heynnema Mar 07 '20 at 15:05
  • thank you for the tip! I re-ran it, and it looks like you were right. sda is now attached. – Andrew Mar 07 '20 at 21:21
  • @Andrew Good job! Your hard disk is full full full. Please do Update #1 from my answer. Report back. – heynnema Mar 07 '20 at 22:36
  • @Andrew Also, can you get to Recovery Mode from the GRUB menu? – heynnema Mar 07 '20 at 22:46
  • I have updated my OP above. Unfortunately, I have been unable to load Recovery Mode from the GRUB menu. – Andrew Mar 08 '20 at 05:59
  • @Andrew Thanks for the info! There's no clue yet. Boot back to the Ubuntu Live DVD/USB and start the Disk Usage Analyzer and see if you can determine a folder on your sda1 that's taking up a lot of space. – heynnema Mar 08 '20 at 14:43
  • Should I proceed to delete non-essential files and clear up space? – Andrew Mar 08 '20 at 22:54
  • @Andrew Are you running the Disk Usage Analyzer now? Have you identified what directories are consuming all of the major space? – heynnema Mar 08 '20 at 23:23
  • I am, and I have identified this directories (MATLAB and its toolbox are the main perpetrators). – Andrew Mar 09 '20 at 00:08
  • @Andrew Do you have a very small disk? How much room is MATLAB taking? Is there anything else on the disk that can be deleted first? Any other downloads, pictures, music, etc. that takes very much room? Does MATLAB have its own installer application? Delete enough stuff so that you can boot. – heynnema Mar 09 '20 at 01:02
  • Sda1 has about 68.8GB. I'll try to find something else to delete. Oddly, I don't have the permissions to delete Matlab. – Andrew Mar 09 '20 at 01:28
  • Apologies for not responding sooner. Deleting Matlab did the trick and my computer is running perfectly now. Thank you so much for your help, you're a life-saver. – Andrew Mar 26 '20 at 16:04
  • @Andrew Thanks for the update. I updated my answer. If you wish, you can accept my answer by clicking the checkmark icon just to the left of my answer. Thanks! – heynnema Mar 26 '20 at 17:05