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I asked here several months ago whether the Ubuntu upgrade process had been improved from "better off doing clean install" as it was when I came up from 14.04 to 16.04 (and from 16.04 to 20.04) and was told I shouldn't worry about it; upgrade problems are rare.

For the past week, then, I've been getting a recurring popup message nagging me to upgrade, reminding me that Kubuntu doesn't have 5 year support, but instead Kubuntu 20.04 will lose support in April of 2023 -- and offering a "one click" upgrade start.

This afternoon, with a few hours when I had nothing pressing to do, I started that upgrade. I was first given the message that "third party repositories are being disabled" which I've also been told, here, isn't a red flag -- I just have to re-enable those repositories after the upgrade is complete. Then downloading began, and completed in under 25 minutes, followed by applying changes, which was forecast to take about an hour and a half.

I left to make dinner, and came back to a message that Python3 had failed to install and my upgrade would continue, but the system might not be in a usable state afterward. Minutes later, another message announced an abort of the upgrade -- it gave a systemd command that I thought was telling me what it was going to automatically do, along with a reboot nag and a crashed program notification (which didn't say what had crashed).

Then I was returned to my regular Kubuntu desktop. I clicked the reboot prompt, and got a normal-looking shutdown.

Then the computer didn't power back up automatically as it usually does after a restart command; it hasn't done so since then on either a CTL-ALT-DEL from GRUB menu or reset button. Both result in a power down and require pushing the power button to start up again.

I get the GRUB menu I'm used to finding, so I ran a Google search on my laptop (still on MATE 16.04, but at least it runs), and found this blog article that told me to start by booting to recovery mode. Which I tried, but the recovery mode menu screen I get is very broken, with a lot of broken formatting leading to a final message set saying I'm in "emergency mode" and offering a number of systemctl commands -- none of which will run if I type them; nor do I get a login prompt if I try a normal boot and get to emergency mode without the recovery mode menu.

Help! This is my primary daily driver system; I can't do anything productive or creative without it. I have no other operable operating systems on the desktop machine.

Hardware details (if it matters): AMD Fx8350, 32 GB RAM, GTx1650 w 4 GB VRAM, startup drive is a 256 GB SSD with what I believe was enough free space in the system volume.

Update 12/12

I found this question with the exact (I think) "emergency mode" message and I hope to try the methods given in that answer to get out of emergency mode to a useful command prompt.

Zeiss Ikon
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  • Troubleshooting might be possible, but it's far easier to just clean install Kubuntu 22.04 and reload your backups. I just had the scrambled recovery mode menu myself yesterday on a test system - I turned it off during an update - but it wasn't as bad as yours, mine didn't proceed to emergency mode, and I was able to type in commands and fix it. – Organic Marble Dec 12 '22 at 01:10
  • Continuing from what @OrganicMarble suggested; I always consider an Upgrade via re-install (ie. non-destructive install) my backup for failures of release-upgrade of desktop systems, and often use it as my primary means too if I'm hurried for time (it's faster!); as additional packages you added (if in Ubuntu repositories) get auto-reinstalled & no config file is touched (I use few 3rd party though), but in your case if you had a failure during release-upgrade I would not attempt a GUI login, fixing it at terminal - then only if it looked good at terminal, would I attempt the GUI – guiverc Dec 12 '22 at 01:15
  • Many Ubuntu tools are very reliant on python3 working, so I'd aim to fix that first (your exact error messages are key to understanding the issue). As the Ubuntu release upgrader tools are a Ubuntu tool; you're best doing everything in terminal (or 2nd would be default Ubuntu Desktop at worst, not KDE's/Kubuntu's). When python3 is fixed; I'd sudo apt update & look to ensure that looks good (ie. jammy is expected, no 3rd party, no missing lines etc), then work on sudo apt full-upgrade, once done reboot & login normally – guiverc Dec 12 '22 at 01:21
  • Of course, it's also Monday now, and I won't have multiple hours to work on this most of the week. I probably should have mentioned that fixing this from terminal would require all that knowledge of CLI that a GUI normally prevents me from needing (and I doubt anyone with only a single brain actually has). I agree, python3 is first, if I can ever get to a useful command line, and I might be able to get that installed on CLI. I'll try to copy off the emergency mode messsages in a "normal" boot -- but as a first note, GRUB menu still listed the same kernels (5.15.0-56) that it had before. – Zeiss Ikon Dec 12 '22 at 09:51
  • @guiverc What is upgrade via reinstall and why isn't it the primary upgrade method?? FWIW, I have several 3rd party repos; the whole point of Kubuntu is I can do what I need to do, not just what the OS publishers think I need... – Zeiss Ikon Dec 12 '22 at 09:54
  • Upgrade via re-install is what I like calling it, but it was offered (by default) long ago with Ubuntu ISOs via the Repair Installation option, and it's supposed to return when ubiquity gets replaced by the current canary installer too, but it's currently available by "Something else" (or "Manual partitioning" if using a flavor using calamares), selecting your existing partition(s) but not having format selected, and the install type is triggered. It was only ever intended to work with Ubuntu repository software though (not 3rd party) so no guarantee with 3rd party. – guiverc Dec 12 '22 at 09:58
  • FYI: The Upgrade via re-install was just using the "Repair Installation" option with the release you want to upgrade too... as the repair installation tool doesn't check what release you were, and thus can be used to go forwards/backwards too... though esp. on going backwards to an earlier release; there can be consequences with some packages so you should do homework first to ensure no side effects (as I discovered long ago going backwards from 12.04 to an earlier release... Lubuntu call this option "Install using existing partition" in their documentation but it's not new... – guiverc Dec 12 '22 at 10:01
  • SMH. @guiverc I think I'm back to looking for a stable rolling release based on Debian (because everything I know on CLI is for Debian). AntiX? I came to Unbuntu flavors because they have an upgrader. A clean install normally takes me six hours (lots of stuff to reinstall after "install" is done). – Zeiss Ikon Dec 12 '22 at 13:05
  • Stable and rolling release don't go together.. This Debian box I'm using now is bookworm or what Debian refer to as testing, being the closest to my normal Ubuntu which currently is lunar. Ubuntu QA tests release-upgrades to be flawless without any 3rd party; so you can always remove the 3rd party; perform the release-upgrade then add it back.. or I still think Upgrade via re-install is fastest & easiest. Ubuntu flavors do not have a upgrade tools; we cannot - we use the main Ubuntu tool I mentioned prior comment as flavors are Ubuntu (just different seed/packages) – guiverc Dec 12 '22 at 22:35
  • Well, now the desktop machine won't even power on. Might be a power supply failure (I had some unscheduled restarts and freezes, though they were thermal in nature and was planning to open and vacuum the machine soon). "Remove all third party" and reinstall it takes 2/3 of the time of a clean install (I use mostly 3rd party stuff). Perhaps it would be helpful if the Ubuntu upgrader would warn that it doesn't support Kubuntu etc. But it sounds very much like "this works great unless you try to use it in the real world." Wish there was a way to put the question on hold until it'll start... – Zeiss Ikon Dec 13 '22 at 00:03
  • The Ubuntu release upgrader tool works on any Ubuntu system, and with any packages from the Ubuntu repositories which include of course all flavors which include packages from 'universe' which is a Ubuntu repository (not 3rd party such as PPA). I'm a product manager for a flavor & we QA ensuring there are no problems but not with 3rd party (esp. 3rd party packages intended to be the latest but not intended to be used with release-upgrade). – guiverc Dec 13 '22 at 00:34
  • flavors like Kubuntu are just Ubuntu systems built from a different seeds so different default Ubuntu packages are used by default - they are Ubuntu systems & all Ubuntu tools will work with official flavors (outside of any bugs we missed; which we want reported!), we ensure that is the case as best we can, with the resources we have. FYI: I'm using this Debian* box now b/c of issues with my primary box & it's PSU... but using newer releases & regular upgrades maybe better for you*... – guiverc Dec 13 '22 at 00:35
  • Well, this was a combination of impending power supply failure causing the original upgrade fail (I think), plus corrupted BIOS requiring reload to default settings, plus default settings being wrong and preventing a boot even to USB stick. Fixed now, though multiple runs of installer plus one of Boot Repair mean I'll be reinstalling most of my third party apps. – Zeiss Ikon Dec 27 '22 at 14:42

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