OS uninstallable

Thu Mar 30 19:42:35 UTC 2023

On 31/3/23 03:15, Bret Busby wrote:
> 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)
> ..............
> 
> 

So, I powered down the computer, again, and, waited a few minutes, then 
booted it, and, pressed the <ESC> key, which took me to the grub command 
line prompt.

So, I followed the instructions on the web page from the first link that 
Ian Bruntlett posted, again, and, it went okay, except, when I was 
working through the part

"
Booting From grub>

This is how to set the boot files and boot the system from the grub> 
prompt. We know from running the ls command that there is a Linux root 
filesystem on (hd0,1), and you can keep searching until you verify where 
/boot/grub is. Then run these commands, using your own root partition, 
kernel, and initrd image:

grub> set root=(hd0,1)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
grub> boot
"

when I got to the line
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
with the current version number, substituted for that version number; 
thus, becoming
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-69-generic
and pressed <ENTER>
I got
"error: out of memory"

So, I am wondering whether the computer will run Linux Mint Mate 21, 
but, not Linux Mint Mate 21.1, as it seems unable to cope with
initrd.img-5.15.0-69-generic, but, was able to boot, following the same 
sequence of instructions, when Linux Mint Mate 21, with an earlier 
kernel version, was installed.

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