[SOLVED] lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

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[SOLVED] lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

At boot time my mint 20.3 edge system shows the mint logo for a while, then drops into a "terminal" login screen. I have restored lm 20.3 twice, using different saved copies (yesterday and last week), and it still does this.

Same thing happens when I boot with 'nomodeset' added to the grub boot line.

How do I repair this problem? I really don't want to reload lm20.3 edge and all my software!


thanks,
sadhu
Last edited by LockBot on Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by SMG »

sadhu wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:40 am At boot time my mint 20.3 edge system shows the mint logo for a while, then drops into a "terminal" login screen.
Can you please provide the output of inxi -Fxxxrz so we can get an idea of your hardware. Take photos of the output if you can not otherwise post the information.

What happened prior to you restoring to the snaphot (ie. why did you use a snapshot)? It will be helpful for us to get an idea of what might have caused the problem.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

sadhu wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:40 am I have restored lm 20.3 twice
I assume you did this by booting a live session, i.e., the same thing you used originally to install. If so, you also can use the live session to post the system information SMG requested. The live session can access the internet and already has Firefox installed.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.15.0-56-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Console: N/A dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME H510M-E v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1017 date: 07/12/2021 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i3-10100 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: N/A L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 57600 
           Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4300 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:9bc8 
           Display: server: X.org 1.20.13 driver: fbdev unloaded: modesetting,vesa tty: 240x67 
           Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:f0c8 
           Device-2: A4Tech A4tech FHD 1080P PC Camera type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus ID: 1-14:3 
           chip ID: 09da:2695 serial: <filter> 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.15.0-56-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: e1000e v: kernel port: efa0 bus ID: 00:1f.6 
           chip ID: 8086:15fa 
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 1.94 TiB used: 1.45 TiB (74.6%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SV300S37A120G size: 111.79 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: BBF0 
           scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00KUWA0 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1H15 scheme: GPT 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00ZF5A0 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           rev: 0A80 scheme: GPT 
           ID-4: /dev/sdd type: USB model: USB DISK 2.0 size: 14.46 GiB serial: <filter> rev: PMAP 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 27.33 GiB used: 27.32 GiB (99.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.82 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list 
           1: deb https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian unstable main
           2: deb [arch=amd64] https://repositories.intel.com/graphics/ubuntu focal main
           3: deb https://screenrec.com/download/ubuntu stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/daniruiz-flat-remix-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/daniruiz/flat-remix/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gerardpuig-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gerardpuig/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gezakovacs-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gezakovacs/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hluk-copyq-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/hluk/copyq/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kdenlive-kdenlive-stable-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kdenlive/kdenlive-stable/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxgndu-sqlitebrowser-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/linuxgndu/sqlitebrowser/ubuntu focal main
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge-dev.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
           1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com//deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openshot_developers-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openshot.developers/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera-stable.list 
           1: deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free #Opera Browser (final releases)
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/protonvpn-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch="all", signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/protonvpn-stable-archive-keyring.gpg] https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:      Processes: 178 Uptime: 6m Memory: 7.55 GiB used: 325.3 MiB (4.2%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 8/9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38
Last edited by SMG on Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added code tags to inxi output to preserve its formatting.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

SMG wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 8:21 pm [What happened prior to you restoring to the snaphot (ie. why did you use a snapshot)? It will be helpful for us to get an idea of what might have caused the problem.
I am embarrassed to say.
1. I changed ownership of all files in "/" to sadhu:sadhu. (I thought I was in my home directory when I did this)
2. I tried to fix sudo so I could change ownership back
3. Then the system started looping at the cinnamon login prompt
4. at this point I logged into LM19.3 in another partition, and ran timeshift restore. (at the time I didn't know timeshift was installed in the boot medium)
5. Fell through to 'terminal' login.
6. rebooted off the distribution medium (a bootable usb) and ran timeshift, this time selecting a previous date.

That's what I did

n.b. All my data are in other partitions. /home/sadhu/ is a soft link to a directory on yet another partition
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by SMG »

sadhu wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:55 amAll my data are in other partitions. /home/sadhu/ is a soft link to a directory on yet another partition
I do not understand what this means. All the desktop (Cinnamon) configuration files are in the home directory (in hidden configuration files). Additionally, there is no home partition showing for your install.

Code: Select all

Partition: ID-1: / size: 27.33 GiB used: 27.32 GiB (99.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.82 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6 
The fact the root partition is showing as COMPLETELY FULL would be a reason you can not currently get into the system. You are probably going to have to cut that back to less than 95% full to be able to get in and even then you will want to free up more space because you will be (or should be) getting messages telling you your system is too full.

If you somehow disassociated /home with your install, that may be another problem.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

What puzzles me is that inxi was able to report anything about the system partition. A live session usually reports gibberish and ERR-102.

sadhu, we're not yet out of things to try, but I'm skeptical this can be fixed. If you're interested, I can tell you how to backup your Timeshift archive to USB drive, reinstall Mint, and then restore the old archive to the new installation. BUT, it's very complicated, command line intensive, will take hours, and there's no assurance it will work. In particular, if your Timeshift archive is corrupted (at file level), nothing you do now will save it.

Would you be comfortable tackling something that ambitious? I notice you have been using Mint for many years, so perhaps so.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

> If you somehow disassociated /home with your install, that may be another problem.

I've always used some pretty small partitions for / root, and have always moved all my data, including /home/sadhu to other, more spacious partitions. I've been doing this for years with no problem.

But I'll taking your advice and expand the root partition and see what happens.

… to be continued

Resizing did the trick.


Thanks much
-sadhu
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by acerimusdux »

The main problem is only that the / partition is full. Very likely the timeshift backups themselves are taking up a good amount of space there.

Try a couple of simple things to free up space:

Code: Select all

sudo apt autoclean
will delete some cached old apt packages.

You could also clean up old journal logs.

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journalctl --disk-usage 
will tell you how much space is used by these logs

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sudo journalctl --vacuum-time="2 months"
will delete any logs older than 2 months.

You could probably also copy your timeshift directory to another partition. But I would try to get the restored system working first before messing with moving your backups.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

acerimusdux wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:38 am You could probably also copy your timeshift directory to another partition.
Be aware, this can be done but it's tricky. Timeshift relies on hard links to keep the snapshot archive relatively small, in effect requiring just one copy of each file. The only way I know to duplicate this efficiency is to copy the archive with rsync, using the -H flag to preserve the hard links.

Happily, sadhu was able to solve the problem based on SMG's advice, so our work here is done. :)
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by SMG »

sadhu wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:00 amI've always used some pretty small partitions for / root, and have always moved all my data, including /home/sadhu to other, more spacious partitions. I've been doing this for years with no problem.
I do not understand how you "moved" to more spacious partitions because if you had really done that, those partitions would have shown in your inxi output. :?

The default install of Linux Mint creates a home directory under root. If one wants to move that directory to its own partition, these are the instructions Partitioning/Home/Moving.
sadhu wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:00 amResizing did the trick.
Glad to hear you were able to get in.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

SMG wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 11:20 am I do not understand how you "moved" to more spacious partitions because if you had really done that, those partitions would have shown in your inxi output. :?
Notice the OP has three hard drives. Likely enough the partition being linked into Home is on one of the two 1 TB drives. Also that inxi wasn't run from the installed system and English isn't the OP's first language.
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Re: lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by SMG »

linux-rox wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:49 pmNotice the OP has three hard drives. Likely enough the partition being linked into Home is on one of the two 1 TB drives.
The partition information indicates the install is not seeing a separate home partition. The install is seeing home as a directory under root. That is my point.
linux-rox wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:49 pmAlso that inxi wasn't run from the installed system
It sure looks like it was run from the installed version. I do not understand why you think it was not. The 5.15.0-56 kernel is the kernel released a few days ago. Additionally, the partition and drive information also indicates the info is from an installed version.
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Re: SOLVED lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

sadhu wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:40 am I really don't want to reload lm20.3 edge and all my software!
In my humble opinion, now that the immediate problem has been solved, you should put in place some sort of system backup. Not only because something like this could happen again, but also as insurance against hardware failure. Do a little research. You'll see there are many options.
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Re: SOLVED lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

linux-rox wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:16 pm … now that the immediate problem has been solved, you should put in place some sort of system backup.
Thank you. One of the first things I did after installation was to set up Timeshift.
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Re: SOLVED lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by linux-rox »

What will you do, though, if the Timeshift restore doesn't work? What will you do if the hard drive fails?

I'm suggesting a proper system image backup tool like Rescuezilla or Foxclone.
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Re: SOLVED lm20.3 cannot boot after Timeshift Restore

Post by sadhu »

linux-rox wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:57 pm What will you do, though, if the Timeshift restore doesn't work? What will you do if the hard drive fails?
I guess I'll do what I actually did in this case -- a compete re-install. Bite the bullet.

Also, BTW, I'm native English speaker.


--Sadhu
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