Ubuntu not booting: system _was_ working

[Nils Kassube]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> I have a two-week old Kubuntu 8.04 installation that is now failing to
> boot. When I start the computer, I get the Kubuntu graphic, then it
> drops to tty1 and I get a text login. When I log in with my username
> and password I get a message that the system is read only. 

There must be a reason why the system is read only, probably there are 
errors on the / partition. Run e2fsck for that partition.

If that doesn't bring up an error I would reboot and remove the "quiet 
splash" options from the kernel command line in the grub menu. Then you 
might see the reason why / is mounted read only.

> Other than 
> / no partitions are mounted. As /home is it's own partition I cannot
> access my files there. 

I think /home can't be mounted because / is read only.

> I then logged in as root (I do have a root 
> password) and tried running init 5 however that did nothing.

Why did you expect that "init 5" might help in any way? Runlevel 5 is in 
no way special for Ubuntu. All runlevels 2 to 5 are the same unless you 
have your own special setup for runlevel 5. The standard runlevel for 
Ubuntu is 2.


Nils