Busybox-please help {SOLVED}

[Black Swordsman]

I have had problems earlier with busybox before and have since tried a fresh install of LM 18.3 cinnamon and have since had a boot to busybox before having a chance to install any updates. I was wondering if anybody might have knowledge as to why that might happen?

info -Fxz of computer having problems

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System:    Host: raun-Aspire-4520 Kernel: 4.13.0-36-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 2.24.30)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Acer product: Aspire 4520
           Mobo: Acer model: Mono Bios: Acer v: v1.3620 date: 09/14/2007
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-55 (-MCP-) cache: 512 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 6400
           clock speeds: max: 1800 MHz 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1600 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA C67 [GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M] bus-ID: 00:12.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1280x800@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M/integrated/SSE2
           GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.135 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card NVIDIA MCP67 High Definition Audio bus-ID: 00:07.0
Network:   Card-1: NVIDIA MCP67 Ethernet
           driver: forcedeth port: 30f8 bus-ID: 00:0a.0
           IF: enp0s10 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
           driver: ath5k bus-ID: 07:00.0
           IF: wlp7s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 152.1GB (60.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1200BEVS size: 120.0GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: USB_2.0_FD size: 32.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 107G used: 82G (81%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.02GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:60C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 189 Uptime: 13:37 Memory: 2458.6/3692.9MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

Is it possible that I am receiving busybox due to my computer not meeting minimum specs? Or maybe because it ran windows prior to installing Mint?

I am at a loss as to what I should do.

[WharfRat]

Boot the live media and paste back the results of sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | egrep 'state|behavior|Mount\ \count|Last\ checked|Maximum'

[Black Swordsman]

Boot the live media and paste back the results of sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | egrep 'state|behavior|Mount\ \count|Last\ checked|Maximum'

Here it is

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mint@mint ~ $ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 |egrep 'state|behavior|Mount\ \count|Last\ checked|Maximum'
Filesystem state:         clean with errors
Errors behavior:          Continue
Mount count:              2
Maximum mount count:      -1
Last checked:             Sun Mar 25 10:57:26 2018

[Mute Ant]

"...due to my computer not meeting minimum specs..." It does. Not new, but not obsolete.

"cpu: 56.0C" A bit warm, but it's a portable, they do run a bit warm.

"bmips: 6400" Totally adequate... roughly double the minimum.

"Memory: 2458.6/3692.9MB" This total is a bit... odd. More than (3.5*1024MB) but a lot less than (4.0*1024MB). I would boot a Live Session Mint and use the Test Memory menu entry, to see how much RAM the machine really has, and if it all works.

Even in busybox you can look at log files in /var/log. Is there any message from the kernel explaining why the boot failed?

[WharfRat]

Try running fsck on that partition

sudo umount /dev/sda1 then sudo fsck -fvCy /dev/sda1

When done try to boot.

[Black Swordsman]

"...due to my computer not meeting minimum specs..." It does. Not new, but not obsolete.

"cpu: 56.0C" A bit warm, but it's a portable, they do run a bit warm.

"bmips: 6400" Totally adequate... roughly double the minimum.

"Memory: 2458.6/3692.9MB" This total is a bit... odd. More than (3.5*1024MB) but a lot less than (4.0*1024MB). I would boot a Live Session Mint and use the Test Memory menu entry, to see how much RAM the machine really has, and if it all works.

Even in busybox you can look at log files in /var/log. Is there any message from the kernel explaining why the boot failed?

Not sure what to put for the memory test but it is saying

Memory: 3839M 1831 MB/s
Ram: 360 MHz (DDR2-720) - BCLK: 200
Timing: CAS 5-5-5-18 @ 128 bit Mode

[Black Swordsman]

Try running fsck on that partition

sudo umount /dev/sda1 then sudo fsck -fvCy /dev/sda1

When done try to boot.

Here is the output for doing those two terminal codes

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mint@mint ~ $ sudo umount /dev/sda1
umount: /dev/sda1: not mounted
mint@mint ~ $ sudo fsck -fvCy /dev/sda1
fsck from util-linux 2.27.1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure                                           
Error reading block 17834983 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading directory block.  Ignore error? yes

Force rewrite? yes

Directory inode 4468322, block #0, offset 0: directory corrupted               
Salvage? yes

Missing '.' in directory inode 4468322.
Fix? yes

Setting filetype for entry '.' in ??? (4468322) to 2.
Missing '..' in directory inode 4468322.
Fix? yes

Setting filetype for entry '..' in ??? (4468322) to 2.
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity                                        
'..' in /var/spool/cups/tmp (4468322) is <The NULL inode> (0), should be /var/spool/cups (4468318).
Fix? yes

Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Inode 2 ref count is 22, should be 23.  Fix? yes

Inode 4468318 ref count is 4, should be 3.  Fix? yes                           

Pass 5: Checking group summary information                                     
Free blocks count wrong (26311017, counted=26311031).                          
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong (6867740, counted=6867743).                            
Fix? yes


/dev/sda1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

      218337 inodes used (3.08%, out of 7086080)
          81 non-contiguous files (0.0%)
         211 non-contiguous directories (0.1%)
             # of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 0/0/0
             Extent depth histogram: 180543/7
     2011529 blocks used (7.10%, out of 28322560)
           0 bad blocks
           1 large file

      158858 regular files
       20673 directories
          56 character device files
          25 block device files
           0 fifos
          10 links
       38715 symbolic links (37697 fast symbolic links)
           1 socket
------------
      218338 files

figured I should post this prior to restarting so that I can make sure that there isnt anything else that I should do prior to trying to boot back up without the live usb

[WharfRat]

I would conclude that that device is on the out - ready to fly south.

There's nothing else you can do at this juncture except cross your fingers and try to boot.

Also it's time to transfer any important files to another media and prepare to replace that disk and reinstall.

[Black Swordsman]

I would conclude that that device is on the out - ready to fly south.

There's nothing else you can do at this juncture except cross your fingers and try to boot.

Also it's time to transfer any important files to another media and prepare to replace that disk and reinstall.

So my main problem is my HDD then? if so I have plans to upgrade it to a 250GB SSD but if it is more than just a storage problem then I will probably just have to save up some money to get a new laptop

[WharfRat]

I'm not sure if you were able to boot or not since you didn't say, but either way install smartmontools and gsmartcontrol to check the condition of that device.

To me it looks like it's that disk's surface is failing.

[Black Swordsman]

I apologize, It did end up booting. Is there a terminal command to download those programs or can I find them in Synaptic?

[WharfRat]

I apologize, It did end up booting. Is there a terminal command to download those programs or can I find them in Synaptic?

sudo apt-get install smartmontools gsmartcontrol

gsmartcontrol is a gui front-ent to smartmontools.

[Black Swordsman]

I apologize, It did end up booting. Is there a terminal command to download those programs or can I find them in Synaptic?

sudo apt-get install smartmontools gsmartcontrol

gsmartcontrol is a gui front-ent to smartmontools.

As of right now gsmartcontrol says that the driver is in good condition

[WharfRat]

SMART reports can be confusing and you should not take them as gospel.

I have a drive that cannot pass the short offline test yet it reports the device as healthy.

Since you have experienced a file system problem, that could be attributed to the disk starting to exhibit signs of wear and tear.

So it's imperative to have and keep recent backups and a comprehensive recovery strategy.

Good luck

[Mute Ant]

When you run memtest from the Live Session, or the GRUB menu, do you get 100% pass? The numbers still look odd...

MEMTEST: Memory: 3839M <----- 4GiB less 256MiB for shared video RAM is completely normal.

INXI: Memory: 3692.9MB <----- Linux is not using all the RAM. It will do this if blocks are found to be consistently unreliable, but it won't detect random changes in the stored data. Everything written to persistent storage goes through RAM first. A bad RAM chip, just one 'fizzy' gate out of millions, can make your drive look horribly damaged without registering any SMART failure at all. The drive does checksums, but that's useless if it's being given damaged data.