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I had Ubuntu 15.10 LTS running OK on a single OS (no Windows partition) Dell Inspiron 5559 with UEFI boot sector. Needed to upgrade to run newer software (Google Meet in Firefox).

Tried to start the upgrade online about 50 times with:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

but always I got "Failed to download repository information". My internet connection is fine, but I kept getting packages not downloaded, index files not downloaded, error 404 etc. etc. I went round in circles for about 2 hours, following a lot of advice on this site about unticking update options in the software updater, changing the mirror URL, etc. Nothing worked. The same errors kept coming up.

So I gave up on that, and tried upgrading from a 16.04 LTS thumbdrive (from Canonical). Upgrade went OK then came up with an error about the boot sector and froze. Should have written it down, didn't. Muppet.

Anyway, now I have a machine that boots to a black screen where one of the 3 options is to boot Ubuntu. If I do, I get the prompt: (initramfs)

This is the entire screen content:

[   1.031313] radeon 0000:01:00.0: VCE init error (-22)
fsck from util-linux 2.26.2
/dev/sda2: clean, 94899/60497920 files, 10639308/241989376 blocks
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init.
mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: no such file or directory
No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.

Busybox v1.22.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.22.0-15ubuntu) built-in shell (ash) Enter 'Help' for a list of built-in commands

So I'd like to repair the boot sector.

I've tried running GPARTED from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS live, and selected 'repair', but the boot up hasn't changed.

So, can anyone who reads this, and might be able to help, try to understand that for a Linux Newbie, understanding 90% of the answers already on this website is a no-no; most of them are written by brilliant people who make a bunch of assumptions about the technical knowledge of the intended audience. I'm not that audience. I'm dumb. I thought that an upgrade to 16.04 from 15.10 would be straightforward, as they've had 16 versions to get it right.

Thank you for your patience,

JM

mikewhatever
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John M.
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  • Looks like there is a problem with the filesystem. You may want to run a check from the Live USB like this: sudo e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sda2. You may also want to check the storage device's SMART data to make sure it is healthy. – mikewhatever Oct 05 '20 at 19:54
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    15.10 has been EOL for several years. I would not have expected the upgrade to succeed. 16.04 goes EOL itself in a few months. I suggest that you do a clean install of 18.04 or 20.04. Your operating system has not been kept updated now for half a decade. It's a lost cause to try to save it at this point. Please don't allow your OS to go EOL. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases – Nmath Oct 05 '20 at 20:00
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    Does this answer your question? How to install software or upgrade from an old unsupported release? – Nmath Oct 05 '20 at 20:01
  • Thank you for all answers thus far: I had no idea it was so critical to keep the OS up to date... Can anyone tell me whether, if I do a clean install, the best way to restore my backed-up data? I 'rsynced' all files and subdirectories in /home/ to a USD HDD before attempting the upgrade. – John M. Oct 05 '20 at 20:16
  • Please be precise with your details, 15.01 means the 2015-January release however there was no 15.01 release, which could mean you're not using Ubuntu at all and us assuming you are could create more problems for you, OR you do mean 15.10 (2015-October release). 15.10 also was not a LTS release as it wasn't an even year, nor the first release of the year. It had a supported life of 9 months. – guiverc Oct 05 '20 at 22:02
  • https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades The best place to go for the upgrade is the release notes of the release you're moving to, ie. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XenialXerus/ReleaseNotes/ which has a Upgrading from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or 15.10 section. Your upgrade will be more complicated now as you're outside the 9 month supported window. – guiverc Oct 05 '20 at 22:03
  • Hi Guiverc, thank you, and I'm sure youre right about exact release numbers and LTS. there's no way I can check right now, as it won't boot, but I am 100% certain it was 15 point something, and yes, it was Ubuntu. If you read all of the preceding bit, you'll see the Busybox message, which specifically mentions Ubuntu. – John M. Oct 05 '20 at 22:45
  • Whilst I am planning to do a clean install with 18.04, right now what would actually be helpful is a way to repair the boot partition. Is it possible to repair a version 15.x boot partition from a 16.04 flashdrive live boot? If not, I'd be very grateful for suggestions. – John M. Oct 05 '20 at 22:47
  • Do you intend to have more than one operating system? If you only want Ubuntu, I suggest that you use the "Disks" application from a live session (The "Try Ubuntu" option from installation media). Format (erase) the whole disk (GPT), then you can begin the installation. Ubuntu will create all of the necessary partitions including EFI – Nmath Oct 05 '20 at 23:09
  • No, only Ubuntu. Before I reformat the disk, I really need to repair the boot partition so I can get into a couple of emails that weren't on my last backup. It must be possible: I have the original bootable 15.10 ISO file on an old flash drive... – John M. Oct 05 '20 at 23:27

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