OS uninstallable

[Bret Busby]

On 31/3/23 01:38, Bret Busby wrote:
> On 30/3/23 21:23, Ian Bruntlett wrote:
>> Hi Bret,
>>
>> I am not a GRUB 2 expert but I do have some internet links that may be 
>> of interest...
>> https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/blog/classic-sysadmin-how-to-rescue-a-non-booting-grub-2-on-linux <https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/blog/classic-sysadmin-how-to-rescue-a-non-booting-grub-2-on-linux>
>>
>> The latest GRUB 2 manual can be found here:
>> https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html 
>> <https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html>
>>
>> And there is a rescue disk intended to fix GRUB problems:
>> https://www.supergrubdisk.org/ <https://www.supergrubdisk.org/>
>>
>> Please note, I am _not_ a GRUB expert, I just collect useful links...
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>>
>> Ian
>>
>> -- 
>> -- ACCU - Professionalism in programming - http://www.accu.org 
>> <http://www.accu.org>
>> -- My writing - https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/ 
>> <https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/>
>> -- Free Software page - 
>> https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/home/free-software 
>> <https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/home/free-software>
>>
>>
> 
> Thank you for the links, Ian.
> 
> I worked through the instructions on the first link, and, it went okay, 
> until the
> grub-install
> command, which returned a set of errors, of which, I managed to capture 
> a screenshot, which is stored on the desktop.
> 
> So, I figured "Okay,so I will have to go through the set of steps to get 
> it to boot, each time;
> 
> grub> set root=(hd0,1)
> grub> linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1
> grub> initrd /initrd.img
> grub> boot
> 
> (as applies to the applicable partitions on this computer)
> .
> 
> But, when I booted, then, performed a system upgrade (apt full-upgrade) 
> then rebooted, the computer merrily booted into Linux, with not having 
> found the existing MS Windows installation.
> 
> So, because that OS was Linux Mint Mate 21, I updated to 21.1, and 
> rebooted.
> 
> That rebooted the same.
> 
> Then, because it has an nVIDIA GPU, and, the system analyser thing (the 
> thing that shows as a clipboard,in the right hand corner of the panel, 
> with a red exclamation mark, when it figures that something needs doing 
> to the system, like installing additional drivers or language packs) 
> recommended installing the nVIDIA driver, rather than the installed 
> nouveau driver, I did that, then, it told me that the system needed to 
> be rebooted.
> 
> So,I rebooted the computer, from within that application.
> 
> Then, upon rebooting, I got the grub menu, so, selected Linux Mint, and 
> then, the system broke.
> 
>  From what I can make out of the lines of text, the first critical line is
> "
> [ 3.940637] Kernel panic  - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 
> unknown-block(0.0)
> "
> 
> and then, about 19 lines of text, ending with
> 
> "
> [ 3.940972] ---[ end Kernel panic  - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount 
> root fs on unknown-block(0.0) ]---
> "
> ..
> Bret Busby
> Armadale
> West Australia
> (UTC+0800)
> ..............
> 
> 


I had shut down the computer, waited a while (more than ten minutes - we 
have heavy rain at present, and, a cat wanted to go outside, then 
changed its mind a few times - the back yard is under water, and the cat 
finally decided to go outside and get wet), and, rebooted the computer.

It went into the GRUB menu, which showed only three options - boot into 
Linux, boot into linux advanced settings, or, boot into UEFI firmware 
settings (the computer is BIOS/MBR, not UEFI/GPT).

Then, it went to a screen saying
"Out of memory
press any key to continue"

I did not press a key, and the computer got bored waiting, so, it went 
to the screen of the kernel panic.

Regarding the "Out of memory", the computer has a Xeon CPU and 32GB RAM.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............