Ubuntu updater crashed - filesystem corrupted

[argus tuft]

Hi all,
I'll start by saying very little about Linux in general, or Ubuntu in particular, but I installed Ubuntu on an old p2 desktop a while ago, it had all been running smoothly, until last night.
When I booted, it said there were 32 updates available, the download went fine, but there were some problems with installing the updates. The error messages were mostly about being unable to clean up, and files being read only. I ok'd my way back to the updater itself, which had crashed. I gave it a good hour to sort itself out, and then restarted ubuntu...
...and now it won't boot.
The logo displays, the progress bar gets about half-way, and then it goes into emergency mode, runs fsuk, which dies with error no. 4. Then I'm left at a prompt that doesn't recognize any commands other than exit and help.

Is there a tool or something relatively simple I can do to fix this, or am I better off with a clean install?

198781 sorry for the terrible image :(

[GlobalForce]

Hi Argus,

Ah, this may turn out to be quite a handful (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=634624) if you find it parallel's your problem. Start like Hanksims, boot your livecd and run fsck manually. What I couldn't determine was the version he's running. Here's another one (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=599546) which may turn over a few clue's. Have you posted over there?


GF

[argus tuft]

Thanks for your reply :)
Well, the HDD just died completely, makes loud "click click whirrr *grind*" noises, and the pc can no longer recognise it, nor can the live cd. So i guess that's that, I find a new HDD, and re-install. :(
Nothing important was on it, other than a nearly completed F@H work unit, so it's more of an incovienience than anything major.

Thanks again :)

[zapjb]

Any Linux is better than no Linux.

So your difficulty was a hardware failure only.

[Longboard]

{QUOTE-> so it's more of an incovienience than anything major. <-QUOTE} @ argus tuft : that was lucky
Is this the first HD that's flopped on you ?
Always a nasty little reminder about the eventual inevitable failure that is just around the corner for us all. :-\

In my youth (heh heh) I had 2 yes 2 HD fail in 12 months: image image image...
and image again if you think your data is worth it

There are some sensational HW options around: Drobo or Netgear NAS and others: have a look; not expensive when you think about it.
Hot swappable raid configs with huge storage options: very nice.

[argus tuft]

Yeah, it's always been a fear of mine, but not realised until now... Actually, it's a miracle the pc worked at all, it had not been turned on for about 5 years when I got it, and HDD was already there. The bios pre-dates 2000, and I think the HDD did too...

[argus tuft]

Well, that was fun! The old HDD was some completely obsolete type (manufactured feb 1999), with a weird type of cable socket I've never seen before. I found an unused IDE slot on the mobo, and finally got it running.
Thing is, the bios doesn't seem to recognise that the HDD is installed, though grub loads fine, as does the new installation of Ubuntu.

However, the pc no longer shuts itself off when I exit Ubuntu, giving the following error messages:

NetworkManager: <WARN> nm_hal_deinit(): libhal shutdown failed - Connection is closed

NetworkManager: nm_dbus_signal_device_status_change: assertion 'cb_data->data->dbus_connection' failed
NetworkManager: nm_dbus_signal_device_status_change: assertion 'cb_data->data->dbus_connection' failed
NetworkManager: <WARN> nm_dbus_init(): nm_dbus_init() could not get the system bus. Make sure the message bus daemon is running!

Is there something (simple) I can do to troubleshoot this?

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

Try the solution on page 2 of this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=603054&page=2

see dysphasi's response...

Mrk

[argus tuft]

thanks. The first part (apm power_off=1) seems to have helped, at least there's fewer lines of text on the screen when Ubuntu exits.
A slightly puzling thing is that
/boot/grub/menu.lst is empty. ??? so I don't exactly feel confident about adding anything to it.

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
How about grub.conf?
BTW, the file is menu. l as in list not number 1. it's menu.list shortened to menu.lst.
Mrk

[argus tuft]

I thought i had typed l instead of 1, but I tried it again today, and it opened normally, with text displayed. And it worked!
Thanks Mrk, much appreciated. :)

[argus tuft]

If I can just ask your help on one more thing... :)

When booting, after it displays acpi fails cuttoff date, use acpi=force (which I have done)
it shows something like
irq: nobody cared use irq = <something>

Any idea what that's about, or whether it's anything major?

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

Do you manage to boot into the OS?
Do you see it as a warning or error? If it's a warning, you can disregard it.

Still...

Do you have wireless and do you need? Likewise for USB ...

After you boot into the system, dump the system messages into files and then upload them here for a closer look:

dmesg > dmesg_dump
lspci > lspci_dump

You'll have to sudo...

Mrk

[argus tuft]

Hi,
Yes, I can boot into Ubuntu just fine, and it all seems to run ok.
It was actually the 'nobody cared' part of the message that grabbed my attention :D

Here are the 2 files, i had to put .txt at the end so the forum would accept them.

Thanks for all your help :)

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

I read a few sources on the net, mostly regarding hardware incompatibilities etc. It seems like you have a USB device throwing a gip. But nothing serious. I wouldn't dig into it too much.

Try running the system a few days. Try your network, sound, usb devices etc, see if everything works. If nothing weird shows up, I wouldn't worry too much.

One last thing, do run cat /proc/interrupts > interrupts_dump.txt and post.

Let's see what device is listening on irq 20.

Mrk

[argus tuft]

Hi, so far as I can tell, everything is working normally, networking is fine (i'm posting this from the ubuntu box), there is no sound card, thus no sound, other than system beeps. Much to my surprise, both usb ports are working fine. Here is the file you asked for. :)

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

My guess is like this: old hardware, doesn't like the acpi... thus by forcing it, you get a bit of hardware hiccups, but nothing major. Can't say much more without really going through the logs like a maniac. Don't think it's really necessary at the moment. But if cacky hits the fan, you know where to find me.

Enjoy.

Mrk

[argus tuft]

Thanks very much for all your help, Mrk. I really appreciate it. :)