[ubuntu-za] Problems with fstab

Bill Cairns cairnsww at gmail.com
Thu Jun 18 09:45:22 UTC 2020 

Thanks Frans,

I am almost reconciled to just carrying on with the system as it stands.
(After all, it is just one command after booting and everything is just as
I want it!) But I will give boot repair a go. Hopefully it won't muck
anything up.

Bill

On Wed, 17 Jun 2020 at 21:18, Frans de waal <meesterarend at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, Think i
> sent the last one before finishing,
> Boot repair should work from your install, though all the disclaimers are
> in place there,  it should handle the boot flags. using gparted gives you a
> visual image of your disk and what is where, also you can check what the
> bootflags is afterwards.
>
>
> On Tue, 16 Jun 2020 at 16:52, Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for your reply Frans,
>>
>> I did a file check - no problems found.
>> I did a reformat when I re-installed - although to be honest I am not
>> sure on which partitions!
>> I used the installer to resize my partitions. I think that is a version
>> of gparted?
>>
>> How do I go about doing a boot repair? Should I use the utility boot
>> repairer  (There is a good write up at
>> https://www.fosslinux.com/1521/boot-repair-for-ubuntu-linux-mint-and-elementary-os-can-fix-bootloader-issues.htm.)
>> Can I just install that on my system (it's running well after all) and
>> write in to sdb1? Must I use gparted first to set the boot flag?
>>
>> We seem to be running into dangerous territory here so I would like to be
>> careful. I do have backups but I know that it is easy to forget something.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 21:17, Frans de waal <meesterarend at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Boot option 1 defenitely is the hdd, wich you want to mount as /home.
>>> Usually also listed as sda1... Therefore the uid identifiers for the
>>> partitions...
>>>
>>> I'm thinking maybe boot from a live disk and check the files on each
>>> disk.
>>>
>>>  Whenever I reinstall for what ever reason, I clean all but the home
>>> folder on the disk and keep only what I need there.
>>> You can also use gparted to set the boot flag and resize partitions as
>>> needed.
>>>
>>> Anyway the best would be to backup all data you need, before doing too
>>> much...
>>>
>>> I've also seen the boot repair option on  the current beta version linux
>>> mint cinnamon disk, wich is also an option to help fix boot problems.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020, 20:15 Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sorry - that question came out backwards. I mean how can I get the
>>>> right boot program onto the SSD disk for BIOS.
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 16:49, Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello Bruce and others,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for your responses so far. I suspect that Bruce is pointing me
>>>>> in the right direction. After the install, I had a lot of trouble getting
>>>>> the machine to boot. I am not sure how to relate the disks described by the
>>>>> BIOS setup to the disks that I have partitioned.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have Gigabyte UEFI DualBios 2011.
>>>>>
>>>>> My boot option 1 is 'SATA PM: ST31000524AS'
>>>>> (This works)
>>>>> Boot option 2 is 'SATA PM: ATAPI iHAS122 C'
>>>>> (When I select this, it just sits there spinning a little wheel at me.)
>>>>> Boot option 3 is 'Realtex PXE B03 D00' (I understand that has
>>>>> something to do with 'boot from LAN?)
>>>>>
>>>>> My other options would be:
>>>>> 'ubuntu'
>>>>> (The same wheel spinning)
>>>>> 'UEFI TEAM5Lite3D120G' (Which I presume is the SSD?)
>>>>> (When I select this, I get 'Media test failure, check cable
>>>>> Reboot and select proper Boot device.)
>>>>>
>>>>> You (Bruce) say: 'I think you might be booting from /dev/sda1 in MBR
>>>>> mode which has it's own /etc/fstab and is trying to mount a non
>>>>> existent/faulty root partition. The emergency error normally comes from
>>>>> /boot/initrd.img (InitRAMFS) if it is unable to hand off to the init system
>>>>> on disk (systemd).'
>>>>>
>>>>> But it does mount and run the correct root partition. It goes wrong
>>>>> when fstab tells it to mount /home.
>>>>>
>>>>> How do I go about getting bios loaded onto the SSD?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the help so far. I am learning a lot even if I am not
>>>>> fixing the problem.
>>>>>
>>>>> BIll
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 16:11, Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks Bruce - I need to reboot to have a look at that and will come
>>>>>> back on my other machine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 15:57, Bruce Pieterse <dev at santura.co.za>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Bill,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks, just wanted to make sure the obvious was covered. I think
>>>>>>> Wesley and Frans was on to something earlier.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Three things I want to mention:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 1. As mentioned by Wesley earlier in the thread, please make sure
>>>>>>> the BIOS is using the SSD root filesystem when booting (/dev/sdb1) and is
>>>>>>> set to UEFI mode. Generally this is marked as UEFI: ubuntu in the BIOS but
>>>>>>> can possibly vary depending on the BIOS. I think you might be booting from
>>>>>>> /dev/sda1 in MBR mode which has it's own /etc/fstab and is trying to mount
>>>>>>> a non existent/faulty root partition. The emergency error normally comes
>>>>>>> from /boot/initrd.img (InitRAMFS) if it is unable to hand off to the init
>>>>>>> system on disk (systemd).
>>>>>>> 2. You have a swap partition with UUID
>>>>>>> 1c5e43a0-097c-4d68-90df-e544497323dd enabled in /etc/fstab, but that
>>>>>>> partition doesn't exist in the output of *sudo blkid*. You can
>>>>>>> comment that line out for now. You can use a swap file instead and can be
>>>>>>> setup after you get this fixed.
>>>>>>> 3. The entry in /etc/fstab is correct, but I think the problem is
>>>>>>> point 1.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best approach is to completely, disconnect the the old hard drive
>>>>>>> and only have the SSD in and then setup the BIOS correctly, then reboot
>>>>>>> into Ubuntu. If everything is OK, shut-down, reconnect your old hard drive
>>>>>>> and boot up again.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Absolutely last resort or another alternative is to rsync your /home
>>>>>>> directory from /dev/sda6 to another disk (rsync -avu /mnt/old-home/
>>>>>>> /mnt/tmp-home), format /dev/sda with just 1 ext4 partition, mount it, then
>>>>>>> rsync the contents back to the drive. This will ensure that this is no MBR
>>>>>>> on /dev/sda and is only used for /home.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Let us know how it goes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, 2020-06-15 at 12:51 +0200, Bill Cairns wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Bruce,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I got 'command udo not found' until I copied it right!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Here you are:
>>>>>>> /dev/sdb2: UUID="2e740efb-b15b-4bea-9ef8-a20dd7a87186" TYPE="ext4"
>>>>>>> PARTUUID="2d6e92df-4f61-489d-b490-b7494b2dac37"
>>>>>>> /dev/sda1: UUID="ea22080c-4fda-44a2-9823-b51cef829ada" TYPE="ext4"
>>>>>>> PARTUUID="00023991-01"
>>>>>>> /dev/sda6: UUID="b7092661-c008-4beb-9cdc-06c3dd036181" TYPE="ext4"
>>>>>>> PARTUUID="00023991-06"
>>>>>>> /dev/sdb1: UUID="B9BC-946C" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System
>>>>>>> Partition" PARTUUID="26461b51-7dde-415d-bc0b-f8c93d1606a7"
>>>>>>> /dev/sdc1: LABEL="Transcend" UUID="60CC093DCC090F4A" TYPE="ntfs"
>>>>>>> PARTUUID="f2d4863e-01"
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>   Bill
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 11:06, Bruce Pieterse <dev at santura.co.za>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Bill,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please can you provide the output of *sudo blkid | grep
>>>>>>> "ext\|vfat\|ntfs" * to get a better understanding of your disks and
>>>>>>> partitions.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, 2020-06-15 at 09:42 +0200, Bill Cairns wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Wesley,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for your reply.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I hope that I am talking sense here. (I am sometimes not sure that I
>>>>>>> am using the right terminology.) Going back in time, I started with only
>>>>>>> the hard disk which is now sda. I had boot, the OS, and everything else on
>>>>>>> it. Then after a couple of years I added the ssd - now sba. Now I have
>>>>>>> installed the OS on the ssd, but I still boot from my hard drive. (That is,
>>>>>>> when I did the install, I specified '/' as being on sb2.) It seems to work
>>>>>>> very well except for this problem of not being able to use fstab to specify
>>>>>>> where /home is.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> At the moment, I am manually mounting /home after startup. Again, it
>>>>>>> all works well except that I have two /home directories - one on the ssd
>>>>>>> and the one that I use.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bill
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 02:17, Wesley Werner <wesley.werner at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Bill
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You said the boot drive is sda1, but your SSD disk lists as sdb2
>>>>>>> (UUID=2e740efb). Perhaps the BIOS is booting the wrong drive?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>> Wesley Werner
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 1:03 AM Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I tried looking at the drive before mounting it as /home and this is
>>>>>>> what it looks like with mount -v (I asked nautilus to mount the '960 Gb
>>>>>>> drive')
>>>>>>> /dev/sda6 on /media/bill/b7092661-c008-4beb-9cdc-06c3dd036181 type
>>>>>>> ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uhelper=udisks2)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I can access it quite happily that way too.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sun, 14 Jun 2020 at 16:19, Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for your reply Paolo. I confess that I am not quite sure what
>>>>>>> I should be looking for. The mount -v gives me:
>>>>>>> /dev/sda6 on /home type ext4 (rw,relatime)
>>>>>>> While /proc/mounts has
>>>>>>> /dev/sda6 /home ext4 rw,relatime 0 0
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> That would seem the same, but I am not sure I am looking at the
>>>>>>> right things.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is the ssd with the OS from mount -v:
>>>>>>> /dev/sdb2 on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,errors=remount-ro)
>>>>>>> and from /proc/mounts:
>>>>>>> /dev/sdb2 / ext4 rw,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 0
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, 13 Jun 2020 at 22:34, Paolo Gigante <
>>>>>>> paolo.gigante.sa at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Not that it should cause a crash but are you sure its an ext4
>>>>>>> filesystem on that device?
>>>>>>> If the mount command works, you may want to try 'mount -v' to see
>>>>>>> what mount is actually doing. Once you have used the mount command to
>>>>>>> attach the FS, does the entry look like in /proc/mounts
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, Jun 13, 2020 at 2:38 PM Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Boot is on the hard drive - sda1
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, 13 Jun 2020 at 15:30, Frans de waal <meesterarend at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Just a thought... What is the boot drive in the bios?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, 13 Jun 2020 at 15:10, Bill Cairns <cairnsww at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello everybody,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am trying to run 20.04 with my OS on an SSD device and my home
>>>>>>> directory on my old hard drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This mount command works perfectly:
>>>>>>> sudo mount UUID=b7092661-c008-4beb-9cdc-06c3dd036181 /home
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> However, when I try to do the same thing in fstab -
>>>>>>> # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>> # Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
>>>>>>> # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
>>>>>>> devices
>>>>>>> # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>> # <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>
>>>>>>>  <pass>
>>>>>>> # / was on /dev/sdb2 during installation
>>>>>>> UUID=2e740efb-b15b-4bea-9ef8-a20dd7a87186 /         ext4
>>>>>>>  noatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
>>>>>>> # swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
>>>>>>> UUID=1c5e43a0-097c-4d68-90df-e544497323dd none            swap    sw
>>>>>>>              0       0
>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>> # Home is on sda6. Added 2020-06-13
>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>> UUID=b7092661-c008-4beb-9cdc-06c3dd036181 /home ext4
>>>>>>> nodev,nosuid,relatime  0  2
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The system crashes rather badly and says 'You are now in emergency
>>>>>>> mode' or something equivalent. (And I have no idea how to do anything in
>>>>>>> emergency mode!)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have used the example in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab
>>>>>>> (changing the UUID of course).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am sure that I am missing something very simple. Can anyone help
>>>>>>> please?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks, keep safe,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bill
>>>>>>>
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