System Update froze - UbuntuMATE 16-04

[Bret Busby]

On 22/06/2018, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 22/06/2018, Sarunas Burdulis <sarunas at math.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>> On 2018-06-21 13:23, Bret Busby wrote:
>>> On 22/06/2018, Sarunas Burdulis <sarunas at math.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>>>> On 2018-06-21 11:46, Bret Busby wrote:
>>>> ...
>>>>>> I can post a copy of an excerpt (possibly, tail) of the file syslog,
>>>>>> if that helps.
>>>>> "
>>>>> root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret# tail -30 /var/log/syslog
>>>>> Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945845]
>>>>> sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK
>>>>> driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
>>>>> Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945852]
>>>>> sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>> If you're not sure, whether its your external USB drive, you may check
>>>> with `dmesg` and see how it is initialized. I can't suggest a good grep
>>>> pattern, but you should look for lines where 'sdb' first appears and
>>>> then several lines above there might be usb-storage, usbcore messages,
>>>> similar to this:
>>>>
>>>> [69237.176353] usb 1-13: new high-speed USB device number 4 using
>>>> xhci_hcd
>>>> [69237.425014] usb 1-13: New USB device found, idVendor=174c,
>>>> idProduct=5136
>>>> [69237.425017] usb 1-13: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3,
>>>> SerialNumber=1
>>>> [69237.425019] usb 1-13: Product: AS2105
>>>> [69237.425020] usb 1-13: Manufacturer: ASMedia
>>>> [69237.425022] usb 1-13: SerialNumber: 00000000000000000000
>>>> [69237.449081] usb-storage 1-13:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
>>>> [69237.449367] scsi host9: usb-storage 1-13:1.0
>>>> [69237.449495] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
>>>> [69237.451105] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
>>>> [69238.461612] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ASMT     2105
>>>> 0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
>>>> [69238.461934] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
>>>> [69238.470229] sd 9:0:0:0: [sda] Spinning up disk...
>>>> [
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Response from dmesg ends with
>>>
>>> "
>>> [1724770.326664] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result:
>>> hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
>>> [1724770.326671] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error
>>> [current]
>>> [1724770.326678] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Internal target
>>> failure
>>> [1724770.326685] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Write(10) 2a 00 09 de 44
>>> d8 00 00 f0 00
>>
>> Yes, we know sdb is broken and is holding up all disk IO, including
>> sync, then initramfs.
>>
>> If you know that sdb is your external USB drive, then you can pull it
>> from the USB port and the system may recover. If you're not sure what
>> sdb is, you can search dmesg messages for clues. For example
>>
>> dmesg | grep -A8 usb
>>
>> might show new USB device being initialized and then turned into sdb.
>>
>> If instead sdb is your internal harddisk, then there probably is no
>> sense continuing with the upgrade. You may boot from live media and try
>> to salvage any data from it, if needed.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sarunas Burdulis
>> Systems Administrator, Dartmouth Mathematics
>> math.dartmouth.edu/~sarunas
>>
>>
>
>
> "
> root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret# dmesg | grep -AB usb
> grep: B: invalid context length argument
> root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret# dmesg | grep -A8 usb
> root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret# dmesg | grep usb
> root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret#
> "
>


And, to make it all the more "interesting", I have just noticed that
the caja task thing in the task bar, has now become highlighted, and,
the System Monitor applet has resumed being displayed, and, clicking
on the caja thing in the taskbar, shows that caja appears to be
working again, now; resurrected, and, in checking, now, df -h has also
become operational once again.

Ah - until I tried to open the externalHDD in a new tab, in caja, and
then, it hung, again.

I guess I need to wait another day or two, for caja to revive.

-- 

Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia

..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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