Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

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scot^2

Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by scot^2 »

I was running 18.3 perfectly and I saw a level 1 mintupdate update. It was downloading/installing when the battery died. Now the laptop boots to a balck screen that says initramfs.

I created a live LM19 usb. I figured I could just upgrade to LM19 from the usb, but instead, after LM19 loads from the usb it reboots after a minute or two and won't complete the LM19 installation.

Is there any way to go back to 18.3 or else upgrade to 19 at this point, or is the hard drive completely broken?

Thinkpad T410s with an ssd.
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Pierre
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Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Pierre »

the Same Rule applies for Both the Windows & the Linux Systems:
- when applying any updates - ensure the machine is Mains Powered ..

from that Live LM19 usb, can you use the Gparted program,
and paste a screen_shot of the SSD partitions - back here ?
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
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Mute Ant

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Mute Ant »

The dpkg system takes extra care to ensure the OS remains intact when new packages are being installed. Later, it might complain that there are packages partially installed, but not a crash to a busybox boot. That's more likely the OS-root file system interrupted mid-write and needing a repair that can't be handled without deleting something. Linux won't do that without a human driving.

From the initramfs prompt, there's usually a hint about what went wrong.

You can try a simple exit command to resume the boot, or repeat the failure.

You can do an fsck from the initramfs prompt, if you know which device has a problem...
fsck /dev/sda1 ### Check the file system in /dev/sda1
scot^2

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by scot^2 »

Pierre wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:17 am the Same Rule applies for Both the Windows & the Linux Systems:
- when applying any updates - ensure the machine is Mains Powered ..

from that Live LM19 usb, can you use the Gparted program,
and paste a screen_shot of the SSD partitions - back here ?
Screenshot from 2018-07-20 03-23-53.png
scot^2

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by scot^2 »

Mute Ant wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:05 am The dpkg system takes extra care to ensure the OS remains intact when new packages are being installed. Later, it might complain that there are packages partially installed, but not a crash to a busybox boot. That's more likely the OS-root file system interrupted mid-write and needing a repair that can't be handled without deleting something. Linux won't do that without a human driving.

From the initramfs prompt, there's usually a hint about what went wrong.

You can try a simple exit command to resume the boot, or repeat the failure.

You can do an fsck from the initramfs prompt, if you know which device has a problem...
fsck /dev/sda1 ### Check the file system in /dev/sda1
I changed the boot order in order to boot from the live usb. Without the usb plugged in now it boots to a blank screen with a cursor/underscore flashing. I tried changing the boot order back to the original order, but to no avail. So I can't get back to the initramfs prompt it seems.

I seem to remember reading something on the screen about /dev/sda1 errors when it was booting to the initramfs prompt.

Do you have a suggestion?
Sir Charles

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Sir Charles »

scot^2 wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:44 pm So I can't get back to the initramfs prompt it seems.
I seem to remember reading something on the screen about /dev/sda1 errors when it was booting to the initramfs prompt.
You could run the check-repair on /dev/sda1 from your live USB. Launch gparted and right-click on the partition and choose "Check disk" and then "Apply" from the toolbar. Reboot and see if this has resolved the issue.
Mute Ant

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Mute Ant »

/dev/sda1 appears to have only 1.87GiB of data... I don't think that's enough to be a working Mint, with or without errors.
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Pierre
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Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Pierre »

ah no - - that's a Standard Ubuntu Installation:
- sda1 = 107.44Gb
- sda2 & sda5 = 11.80Gb

bog standard Ubuntu install.
8)
that 1.87 GB is the Used Portion of sda1 . .
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
scot^2

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by scot^2 »

Marziano wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:24 am
scot^2 wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:44 pm So I can't get back to the initramfs prompt it seems.
I seem to remember reading something on the screen about /dev/sda1 errors when it was booting to the initramfs prompt.
You could run the check-repair on /dev/sda1 from your live USB. Launch gparted and right-click on the partition and choose "Check disk" and then "Apply" from the toolbar. Reboot and see if this has resolved the issue.
I did what you said. It did not work.
Mute Ant

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Mute Ant »

"...it did not work..." Well no, there is only half an OS in /dev/sda1, unless the gparted display changed. I suggest...
o Live Session memtest to confirm the motherboard chips are all working.
o Live Session disks accessory to check the drive's SMART is still saying "Disk is okay".
o Install Mint, again.
o Don't update anything, just run the installation for a day and wait for something horrible to happen.
jpenguin

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by jpenguin »

Next time, you might want to create a separate /home partition
scot^2

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by scot^2 »

Mute Ant wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:09 pm "...it did not work..." Well no, there is only half an OS in /dev/sda1, unless the gparted display changed. I suggest...
o Live Session memtest to confirm the motherboard chips are all working.
o Live Session disks accessory to check the drive's SMART is still saying "Disk is okay".
o Install Mint, again.
o Don't update anything, just run the installation for a day and wait for something horrible to happen.
I wasn't sure how to go from a Live Session to memtest, so I enabled Extended Memory Test during startup. In the Live Session in /boot/grub there are two files both of which are empty: gfxblacklist.txt and unicode.pf2

Under disks the ssd says "Disk is Ok".

Booted back into a Live Session to re-install. Still re-booted as before before completing the installation. Same issue.
Mute Ant

Re: Battery died during "mintupdate" update in 18.3

Post by Mute Ant »

There's something specifically wrong with your machine or your burned ISO if the standard distribution won't complete an installation. Mostly an install run is just copying files out of the squashed live system into a hard drive partition, nothing risky or exciting.

The DVD Live Session boot gives a countdown timer where you can use up-down to select a boot mode. It looks something like...
  • Try Linux Mint
    Try Compatibility Mode
    OEM Install
    Check Media Integrity
    Test Memory
Or you can burn the iso hidden in Mint to a CD-R and boot Memtest independently...

/usr/lib/memtest86+/memtest86+.iso ### ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data 'MT501' (bootable)
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