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yesterday it was working fine, it's my work laptop so nothing special happened, ubuntu asked for update, I did.

Today's morning there is boot loop. After grub menu there is a black screen and reboot, there is no end for this.

Tried recovery mode and different kernels (result the same). There is no message at all, tried enabling some boot logs removing that 'quiet' flags but no logs at all.

What can I do to NOT reinstall system? Is there a way to connect to console, and maybe try to update again?

koowalsky
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  • I'm having the exact same issue on my PC, reinstalling the SO only works if I don't upgrade the kernel (the newest one available was 4.3.0.45.101). Did you got any luck on solving this problem? – Kaciano Ghelere Apr 04 '20 at 04:43
  • Have you tried "Repair broken packages" option from recovery mode, with networking enabled? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1033789/how-to-recover-graphical-ui-after-accidently-uninstalling/1033790#1033790 – HattinGokbori87 Apr 09 '20 at 21:51

6 Answers6

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In your GNU GRUB menu screen (where you select Ubuntu, Advanced options, Memory test, Recovery, etc), you can edit the command line by pressing 'e' on the highligted line. Now, you can edit the parameters that are passed to the kernel during boot time. If you replace init with init=/bin/sh, you will escape to a root shell at an early point. From here, you can mount disks, and fix other issues.

To see what goes on during boot you can edit the boot sequence as described above, and get rid of the 'quiet splash' section as well (or press ESC during boot when you see the splash screen or everything is black).

I would pay attention to the boot sequence as the text flies by, it might hang at a certain point. That's your clue. ;)

guzaho
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  • thanks for your answer. tried that but it also shows black screen and reboots, there is one additional log about bash console beeing loaded but it disappears after a second. cannot post picture (low rep) so it's here https://imgur.com/a/GpuY9Wa – koowalsky Mar 31 '20 at 09:48
  • here is boot logs, it is going to the end so maybe last boot command fails? https://imgur.com/a/Qnagh5k – koowalsky Mar 31 '20 at 09:54
  • Can you use something like systemrescueCD and boot from a USB device to get access to your disk? – guzaho Apr 04 '20 at 13:18
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Boot in recovery mode

From your grub menu, advanced options for Ubuntu submenu you can select recovery option and get this screen from How to Fix an Ubuntu System When It Won’t Boot:

enter image description here

Read the full article above for detailed instructions on recovering your system when it won't boot properly. To summarize:

  • clean: Attempts to make free space on your file system. If your storage is full and this is causing some sort of problem, this can help free up space.
  • dpkg: Repairs broken software packages. If a package failed to install properly and your system doesn’t work because of it, this may help.
  • failsafeX: Boots your computer in a failsafe graphic mode. If there’s a problem with your Xorg graphical server configuration or graphics drivers and that’s causing your Ubuntu system to boot to a black screen or preventing the graphical desktop from loading properly, this can get you back to that graphical desktop.
  • fsck: Performs a file system check, which scans the computer’s file systems for errors and automatically fixes them. It’s a bit like chkdsk on Windows.
  • grub: Updates the GRUB boot loader. If you could use the GRUB boot loader to get to this menu, this option probably won’t help.
  • network: Enable networking, which is disabled by default in recovery mode.
  • root: Leaves the menu and goes to a root shell prompt. From here, you can mount the file system in write-mode and run commands that may help fix problems with the system. You should only do this if you know what you’re doing — it’s a way to fix the problem by hand if you know how.
Community
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WinEunuuchs2Unix
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0

To try debugging the issue, and given you already tried editing grub, you could try booting from a Live CD/USB, mount your partition, and check the contents of

/var/log/kern*
/var/log/messages*

which would belong to your last boot attempt.

If this does not help, you could try reinstalling (check also this), which can bring your system back to life with a not-so-heavy effort.

sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio
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The way that I have solved issues like this in the past is by creating an ubuntu installation drive and booting from that. When it comes up with the choose your installation type screen, select keep files and reinstall ubuntu. Hope this helps!

Coolguy129
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I got this problem when I tried to upgrade from Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04. I did as the suggestion in from this link in the tty1 by press: Ctrl + Alt + F1 after start and execute these commands one by one. Please check the first 3 file before remove:

$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend

$ sudo apt clean

$ sudo apt update --fix-missing

$ sudo apt install -f

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a

$ sudo apt upgrade

$ sudo apt dist-upgrade

$ sudo reboot
Neo
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Turn on the PC and immediately after POST completes, hold down shift

That puts you in GRUB's menu

Select the advanced tab

Choose recovery mode

Then pick repair broken packages

K7AAY
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