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Basically:

Recently, I successfully upgraded an old 4 GB laptop from 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS but soon after completing it I tried to make the jump to 20.04 LTS and a problem arose.

I was browsing on the 18.04 system when it started to restart. Last I remember it was near 70% of the way through the installation part.

enter image description here

Troubleshooting possible causes:

I'm not sure why its broke now. Maybe it was lack of updating the system before the final LTS upgrade; or, maybe it was that I was browsing and missed a message just before it restarted.

Attempted fixes:

  1. Entering GRUB and putting "nomodeset" on the Linux line as suggested. I've spaces either side of that input.
  2. Copying directory contents to a external HDD. This worded with a 20 GB partition but I need the contents of the main 200 GB partition but the Documents folder is "unreadable". The permissions menu tells me I am not the owner so I can't change the permissions.

I need to back-up the data and, if possible, upgrade the system to recover and use the OS - instructions on how to clone the disk, in this case, as a failsafe would be helpful. I'll check soon to see is, at least, the cloning covered but the rest doesn't seem to be. I'd appreciate it if anyone could provide the relevant information to do all that. Thanks for reading.

Additional info: boot-repair(its LiveOS)

SUMMARY:

In hindsight the update to 20.04 must have completed. Therefore, the answer here applies to computers which don't load the OS when the computer restarts after finishing an OS upgrade.

This computer didn't support UEFI and the problem was loading to a black screen or a black screen with 1.2 lines of non-helpful computer speak, no matter how many restarts.

CloudE11
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  • IMO 16.04 to 20.04 is too big of a jump. Reinstall the OS. (If you'd used this route to begin with, you'd be finished already). And yes, your system should have been fully updated before attempting the upgrade. – Nmath Jan 04 '21 at 19:29
  • No, I was using the 18.04 when the installation process for 20.04 was loading. – CloudE11 Jan 04 '21 at 19:29
  • I understand that you have attempted to upgrade to 18.04 before upgrading to 20.04. Upgrades take way more time than a clean install. Especially if you keep well organized backups, a clean install is faster than even one upgrade-- and you won't encounter the kinds of problems with a clean installation that you can encounter when upgrading. – Nmath Jan 04 '21 at 19:33
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    The live installer is user 999, but your installed system is user 1000 (first user), so different user does not have permission. Can you boot in recovery mode? Or what is specific error you get. Always best to have good backups before major changes. – oldfred Jan 04 '21 at 19:34
  • In addition, a clean install also housecleans a lot of old cruft. You may have old kernels that new install does not recognize so not easily deleted. Old logs and lots of other places with "stuff". I prefer new clean install with every LTS version. – oldfred Jan 04 '21 at 19:36
  • ...fb: trapped read at01004bf000 on channel -1 [.... That's some of what is legible on the black screen I got after a basic boot-repair, though the advanced one recommends a back-up for some steps so I didn't try any more options. I am able to enter GRUB mode. @oldfred – CloudE11 Jan 04 '21 at 21:44
  • You can re-install without overwriting data (use something-else, select existing partitions and ensure you don't format any!), however on a problem during upgrade.. I would not login to GUI until upgrade had completed; you indicate it hadn't. I'd ensure disk file-systems are clean (ie. fsck from live media) unless you know there are okay. You could try logging into text terminal, where I would sudo apt update just to check everything is good (from your description I'd expect to see focal only), then sudo apt full-upgrade to complete upgrade. Adjust for any errors before reboot – guiverc Jan 04 '21 at 22:44
  • "login to GUI", not sure what you mean, i was using 18.04 and installing 20.04. 2. Are you suggesting run those commands from the Live USB? 3. Where and how would I see evidence of focal?
    • – CloudE11 Jan 05 '21 at 00:16
  • Does this answer your question? Failed upgrade from Ubuntu 19.10 to 20.04 "Please update the microcode" – Raffa Jan 07 '21 at 15:46
  • No, its a different problem. – CloudE11 Jan 11 '21 at 00:49