Xubuntu 20.04 disaster

[Colin Law]

On Thu, 19 Nov 2020 at 21:48, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I need some urgent help here.
>
> After I tried to set the preferred applications on my partner's Dell
> laptop, I thought perhaps a software update would be wise.
>
> I ran:
>
> sudo apt -y update
> sudo apt -y full-upgrade
>
> All seemed to go well, although there was an error message that looked
> harmless enough and I let it go (and don't).
>
> I ran the Software Updater, which updated by removing an older kernel
> installation, then said I should reboot.  The two kernel it left
> behind were 5.4.0.53 and 5.4.0.54.
>
> Since then, nothing works, in either kernel.  The system only comes up
> in emergency boot mode, and a df check shows that the /home filesystem
> is completely empty - all her files are gone.

Do you mean that if you do
ls /home
you see nothing at all?

Does the system have multiple disks or multiple partitions with
systems on them?  Perhaps the system has somehow booted the wrong
system.  Do you get a choice of systems on booting?

Colin

>
> We have a backup from a month or two ago (yes, I know - do it more
> often), and we can fall back to there if need be, but I have to say
> that this happens too often (radical problems with an update or
> emergency reboot) for me to want to continue to use Xubuntu on her
> laptop at all.  I never see problems this drastic with my desktop, and
> I just don't understand what's going wrong here.
>
> I don't have time to go through how to re-enable the wifi from the
> command line - I used to know but it's been long enough that I have to
> look it up, and I'm frankly sick and tired of having to go through all
> this work, even once a month, just to have a system that runs normally
> and reliably - two of the reasons I use Linux to begin with.
>
> If I have to reinstall everything I'll probably go over to Linux Mint
> because their system is just plain easier to use (for my partner's
> laptop - I don't like Mint and my Xubuntu works fine - so far).
>
> Any positive suggestions would be welcome.  I apologize for letting
> out my frustration like this, but I have to leave for PT and can't
> even follow up for an hour or so.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Mark
>
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