Fallback mode after update.. how to revert to last stable settings?

[Cosmo.]

The live system does not bring you further.

If you are in the grub menu you must go to the second entry "extended options", there are the older kernel listed and you can select it. I told you this already some posts above. If you don't follow, I cannot help you.

And for the last time: There does not exist any F11 shortcut in the grub menu.

[Mattyboy]

Now you've updated grub we can see you have plenty of Kernels installed and they should be listed in its menu.

when I load the grub boot (via repeatedly pressing ESC), I only have four options and none of them is related to which kernel to load

I've just noticed that you say you repeatedly press ESC at boot... might sound daft this... I'm wondering if your skipping grub completely. When you first boot wait for the beep/splash screen and just press it ( or shift ) once, don't spam the key.

How to boot from a Live USB or DVD. Select your Bio's/UEFI boot order and select either device as first boot. Or press f12 ( depending on machine ) after the beep/splash screen.

If you still can't get the grub menu open the terminal run this command and copy/paste back its results.

Code: Select all

cat /etc/default/grub

[Cosmo.]

The OP uses the ESC key, because he has one of those hardware, where the shift key does not work for showing the grub menu. So far this correct. And no, you cannot skip the grub menu with the ESC key.

[winxpwasgreat]

The live system does not bring you further.

If you are in the grub menu you must go to the second entry "extended options", there are the older kernel listed and you can select it. I told you this already some posts above. If you don't follow, I cannot help you.

And for the last time: There does not exist any F11 shortcut in the grub menu.

.. and as I already stated previously, there only thing appearing by repeatedly pressing ESC at boot is the following believe it or not:

Startup Menu
F1 System Information
F2 System Diagnostics
F9 Boot Device Options
F10 BIOS Setup
F11 System Recovery
ENTER - Continue Startup
For more information, please visit: www.hp.com/go/techcenter/startup

No trace of such "extended options" you mention.

Anyway Cosmo please don't try to make it look like I am not following the advices posted here as that is not the truth - thank you.

[winxpwasgreat]

Now you've updated grub we can see you have plenty of Kernels installed and they should be listed in its menu.

when I load the grub boot (via repeatedly pressing ESC), I only have four options and none of them is related to which kernel to load

I've just noticed that you say you repeatedly press ESC at boot... might sound daft this... I'm wondering if your skipping grub completely. When you first boot wait for the beep/splash screen and just press it ( or shift ) once, don't spam the key.

How to boot from a Live USB or DVD. Select your Bio's/UEFI boot order and select either device as first boot. Or press f12 ( depending on machine ) after the beep/splash screen.

If you still can't get the grub menu open the terminal run this command and copy/paste back its results.

Code: Select all

cat /etc/default/grub

So should I give the live usb a go?

The output of that command is the following:

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# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

By the way another problem is that I cannot shutdown the computer anymore.
The lower bar with the start menu is gone, and if in the terminal I enter the command poweroff, I get "poweroff: Need to be root".
The only way is to longpress the power button, which I am aware isn't the best thing to do.

[Mattyboy]

Startup Menu
F1 System Information
F2 System Diagnostics
F9 Boot Device Options
F10 BIOS Setup
F11 System Recovery
ENTER - Continue Startup
For more information, please visit: www.hp.com/go/techcenter/startup

Would you say that these options that show are a part of the HP UEFI diagnostics. NOT Linux diagnostics?

[winxpwasgreat]

Startup Menu
F1 System Information
F2 System Diagnostics
F9 Boot Device Options
F10 BIOS Setup
F11 System Recovery
ENTER - Continue Startup
For more information, please visit: www.hp.com/go/techcenter/startup

Would you say that these options that show are a part of the HP UEFI diagnostics. NOT Linux diagnostics?

Makes sense because of that URL.
Which means I am unable to access the proper linux grub menu, as longpress SHIFT does nothing and ESC ESC ESC goes to that HP UEFI diagnostics menu.

So no way I can access my grub menu?

[Mattyboy]

So, when you boot up the computer NOT pressing anything it just boots directly to the desktop without showing the GRUB menu ( its black with white text )?

Thinking you might need to edit the grub timeout.

[winxpwasgreat]

So, when you boot up the computer NOT pressing anything it just boots directly to the desktop without showing the GRUB menu ( its black with white text )?

Thinking you might need to edit the grub timeout.

Correct!
Good idea but I wouldn't know how to edit the grub timeout - could you guide me?

[Mattyboy]

Ok we're getting somewhere.

Yes I can help you, but not right now, sorry, just got to go out... what version of Mint are you using?

Check back here later today.... ( someone else might beat me to it ).

[winxpwasgreat]

Ok we're getting somewhere.

Yes I can help you, but not right now, sorry, just got to go out... what version of Mint are you using?

Check back here later today.... ( someone else might beat me to it ).

No problem - Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon Rosa

[Mattyboy]

I think that the way you access HP diagnostics is conflicting with the normal way you would access the grub menu.. esc. So we need to edit Grub so that is shows up when you boot without pressing that key.

First thing, I can't remember the name of the text editor in Mint 17 I think its gedit so if the command fails replace that part of the first command with the name of your default text editor.

Open terminal and run

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

a text file will open with elevated privileges.

Use a # to comment out this line

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GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"

So that it looks like this

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#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"

Click file in the text editor and then save as, once saved close the editor.

In Terminal run

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

and then re-boot your machine with

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shutdown -r now

Hopefully you will now see the grub menu when your machine boots without pressing any key.

[Cosmo.]

I see 2 possibilities:

1. If you are in this Startup Menu (coming from your BIOS, bit from Linux) select the option to Continue Startup = press the Enter key. Now must be very very quick: Immediately after having pressed the Enter key press the ESC again. But it must be really extremely quick! Hopefully you are now in the grub menu.

2. Method is the way to edit grub as described by Mattyboy.

[Cosmo.]

The only way is to longpress the power button, which I am aware isn't the best thing to do.

Absolutely.
The cold reset of a hanging computer will sooner or later end in a damaged file system with the consequence of possible data loss.
This is the method to restart an otherwise not reacting computer:
Press and hold the alt key and the print key. Whilst still holding both keys pressed enter those letters one after one with a little break between them: r e i s u b. After the last letter the computer will immediately reboot without risking the file system. You can replace the letter b with the letter o, if you want to shut down instead of rebooting.

[winxpwasgreat]

Thanks heaps Mattyboy and Cosmo. I edited the grub conf file and now will reboot.

I think that the way you access HP diagnostics is conflicting with the normal way you would access the grub menu.. esc. So we need to edit Grub so that is shows up when you boot without pressing that key.
First thing, I can't remember the name of the text editor in Mint 17 I think its gedit so if the command fails replace that part of the first command with the name of your default text editor.
Open terminal and run

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

a text file will open with elevated privileges.
Use a # to comment out this line

Code: Select all

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"

So that it looks like this

Code: Select all

#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"

Click file in the text editor and then save as, once saved close the editor.
In Terminal run

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

and then re-boot your machine with

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

Hopefully you will now see the grub menu when your machine boots without pressing any key.

Done - this is the terminal's output:

Code: Select all

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-119-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-119-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-112-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-112-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-32-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic
  No volume groups found
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done

I see 2 possibilities:
1. If you are in this Startup Menu (coming from your BIOS, bit from Linux) select the option to Continue Startup = press the Enter key. Now must be very very quick: Immediately after having pressed the Enter key press the ESC again. But it must be really extremely quick! Hopefully you are now in the grub menu.
2. Method is the way to edit grub as described by Mattyboy.

I see.. so basically my time-window to access the grub menu was a millisecond right after that HP diagnostic menu. I wonder why it was set to be such a short time.
Anyway I edited the grub txt, let's see how it goes.

The only way is to longpress the power button, which I am aware isn't the best thing to do.

Absolutely.
The cold reset of a hanging computer will sooner or later end in a damaged file system with the consequence of possible data loss.
This is the method to restart an otherwise not reacting computer:
Press and hold the alt key and the print key. Whilst still holding both keys pressed enter those letters one after one with a little break between them: r e i s u b. After the last letter the computer will immediately reboot without risking the file system. You can replace the letter b with the letter o, if you want to shut down instead of rebooting.

Great tip - thanks, only knew about reisub, not reisuo.

[Mattyboy]

So the question is can you now see your GRUB menu at boot and the option to select a previous Kernel to boot to?

[winxpwasgreat]

So the question is can you now see your GRUB menu at boot and the option to select a previous Kernel to boot to?

Yes now I can - which is great, and thanks for that.

Unfortunately the computer is still crashing though, even if I run the other 2 old kernels I have installed.
Anything else I should try to do to diagnose what the problem is?

Also another question: how can I access the wifi connections window now that the lower bar is gone? I don't want the Network Connections window, I want the other one where I can actually see the current wifi networks and select the one to connect now.

[Mattyboy]

https://superuser.com/questions/961717/ ... -un-delete

If its still crashing you might want to try a lighter desktop, that will mean a re-install. Try MATE.

[winxpwasgreat]

https://superuser.com/questions/961717/ ... -un-delete

If its still crashing you might want to try a lighter desktop, that will mean a re-install. Try MATE.

Hyronically, the command cinnamon-settings does not work in my alt+f2 box.
And if I run it in terminal, it tells me there's something wrong with libwayland-egl.so.1 - which I cannot find in software manager.

Code: Select all

cinnamon: error while loading shared libraries: libwayland-egl.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/cinnamon-settings.py", line 40, in <module>
    modules = map(__import__, mod_files)
  File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_applets.py", line 3, in <module>
    from ExtensionCore import ExtensionSidePage
  File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/ExtensionCore.py", line 29, in <module>
    curr_ver = subprocess.check_output(["cinnamon", "--version"]).splitlines()[0].split(" ")[1]
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 573, in check_output
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd, output=output)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['cinnamon', '--version']' returned non-zero exit status 127

Ok, I will reinstall the whole thing. Very disappointed about this linux mint though - never had such an issue with Windows XP where the "restore to previous working settings" were always getting me out of trouble.

[Cosmo.]

never had such an issue with Windows XP where the "restore to previous working settings" were always getting me out of trouble.

The comparable tool for Linux is TimeShift. Install it, activate it (= have a snapshot ready), and it will do the same.