Ubuntu

Switch computer on & nothing happens

Asked by peter ratcliffe

My PC runs ubuntu (kubuntu on screen) 16.04 LTS upgraded from 14.04 via the official release. At the end of the upgrade I expected the PC to shut down abd restart on its own as upgrades sometimes do. It didn't, and after about 10 minutes I shut down and restarted.

More recently I switched the computer on and nothing happened. The hard drive light was on but the screen was blank, without even the asrock menu. I swapped to an older screen and this sort of worked except that the wallpaper came up a bit at a time. I could access apps but not some files. With the proper screen in place everything settled down over the next few days. Is there either a command or some software that I can run to prove that all is well?

The boot directory contains
peter@peter-desktop:/boot$ ls
abi-3.13.0-92-generic memtest86+.bin
abi-4.4.0-31-generic memtest86+.elf
config-3.13.0-92-generic memtest86+_multiboot.bin
config-4.4.0-31-generic System.map-3.13.0-92-generic
grub System.map-4.4.0-31-generic
initrd.img-3.13.0-92-generic vmlinuz-3.13.0-92-generic
initrd.img-4.4.0-31-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic
lost+found
peter@peter-desktop:/boot$
Having had trouble here in the past should I remove any of these files?

Thank you, Peter Ratcliffe

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Manfred Hampl
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Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#1

Why do you think that you should delete files from a system, directory like /boot. This is definitely not a good idea.
In case that you are running out of space on the /boot file system, then you should use the package management programs to remove obsolete files.

Things that can be checked to verify the health of your system:
1. When booting you should see a line on top of the screen (rather ealy in the boot process) telling something like
/dev/sda1 clean, nnn/nnn files, nnn/nnn blocks.
If it says "clean", then the quick file system check went ok

2. Do you get any warning or error messages for the commands
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
?
If not, then the package management is in a consistent state.

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#2

sorry typo error ... (rather early ...

Revision history for this message
peter ratcliffe (pjcr) said : 		#3

In May 2015 "lack of disc space in /boot" message led me to ask Question
266626. I followed Dillon's response as well as I could and freed up
disc space. What should I do if, or when, it happens again?

None of the text you quote appears when I boot. I do get, top left on
the screen;

Ubuntu

Memory test (memtest86+)

Memory test (memtest86+ . . .

Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (14. . . . .

Advanced options for Ub . . .

These are gone before I can record it all so . . . means the bit I
missed. There is then an option at the bottom of the screen to select
one. Leaving them alone starts up the first line.

Neither sudo apt-get update or sudo apt-get dist-upgrade come up with
warnings or error messages as far as I can see. The dist-upgrade
command took a long time. The computer itself seems to be working OK.

Thanks again, Peter Ratcliffe

On 12/08/16 11:17, Manfred Hampl wrote:
> Your question #340072 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/340072
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Manfred Hampl proposed the following answer:
> Why do you think that you should delete files from a system, directory like /boot. This is definitely not a good idea.
> In case that you are running out of space on the /boot file system, then you should use the package management programs to remove obsolete files.
>
> Things that can be checked to verify the health of your system:
> 1. When booting you should see a line on top of the screen (rather ealy in the boot process) telling something like
> /dev/sda1 clean, nnn/nnn files, nnn/nnn blocks.
> If it says "clean", then the quick file system check went ok
>
> 2. Do you get any warning or error messages for the commands
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
> ?
> If not, then the package management is in a consistent state.
>

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#4

The message from the fil system check comes after the grub menu.

What puzzles me a bit is that you tell that there is a
Ubuntu 14.04
entry in the grub menu.

If you boot normally and then log in and open a terminal window, what is the output of the commands

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo apt-get update
sudo fdisk -l

Revision history for this message
peter ratcliffe (pjcr) said : 		#5

The grub menu that includes 14.04 is from a script taken before the
update. Sorry. However, when I switched on just now none of the grub
menu appeared.

The output you asked for is as follows;

peter@peter-desktop:~$ uname -a
Linux peter-desktop 4.4.0-34-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 27 16:06:39
UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
peter@peter-desktop:~$

peter@peter-desktop:~$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial
peter@peter-desktop:~$

peter@peter-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for peter:
Hit:1 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Ign:3 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:4 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Hit:5 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release
Hit:6 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Get:7 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [94.5 kB]
Fetched 94.5 kB in 0s (129 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
peter@peter-desktop:~$

peter@peter-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/ram0: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram1: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram2: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram3: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram4: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram5: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram6: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram7: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram8: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram9: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram10: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram11: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram12: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram13: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram14: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/ram15: 64 MiB, 67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0002ee98

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 499711 497664 243M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 501758 976771071 976269314 465.5G 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 501760 976771071 976269312 465.5G 8e Linux LVM

Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root: 457.8 GiB, 491559845888 bytes,
960077824 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-swap_1: 7.7 GiB, 8233418752 bytes, 16080896
sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram0: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram1: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram2: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram3: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram4: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram5: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram6: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/zram7: 478.2 MiB, 501420032 bytes, 122417 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
peter@peter-desktop:~$

Hope this helps, even if I don't understand what it is telling you.

On 13/08/16 11:27, Manfred Hampl wrote:
> Your question #340072 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/340072
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Manfred Hampl requested more information:
> The message from the fil system check comes after the grub menu.
>
> What puzzles me a bit is that you tell that there is a
> Ubuntu 14.04
> entry in the grub menu.
>
> If you boot normally and then log in and open a terminal window, what is
> the output of the commands
>
> uname -a
> lsb_release -crid
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo fdisk -l
>

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#6

This looks ok for me. I do not see a problem.

Please copy/paste the output of the command

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Revision history for this message
peter ratcliffe (pjcr) said : 		#7

peter@peter-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
[sudo] password for peter:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer
required:
   kde-wallpapers-default libakonadi-calendar4 libakonadi-contact4
libcdaudio1
   libkcalutils4 libkpimidentities4 libkpimtextedit4 libkunitconversion4
   libmailtransport4 libmicroblog4 libprison0 libslv2-9 libsoprano4
   libvirtodbc0 odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 soprano-daemon virtuoso-minimal
   virtuoso-opensource-6.1-bin virtuoso-opensource-6.1-common
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
peter@peter-desktop:~$

Should I remove the packages no longer required and if so what is needed
after autoremove in the command sudo apt autoremove?

On 13/08/16 23:32, Manfred Hampl wrote:
> Your question #340072 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/340072
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Manfred Hampl requested more information:
> This looks ok for me. I do not see a problem.
>
> Please copy/paste the output of the command
>
> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
>

Revision history for this message
Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#8

For clan-up of your system you can remove the packages that are listed as 'no more needed'

The best command to do this is

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

To sum up, I do not see anything pointing into a problem with the Ubuntu installation.
Also other persons have experienced the effect that after completion of the release upgrade the first reboot has failed.
I do not see anything to worry about and I think that this question document can be closed.
Keep an eye on your system, and in case that you experience a problem, please create a new question document with the details.

Revision history for this message
peter ratcliffe (pjcr) said : 		#9

Thank you for your help patience. I've learnt a lot from this question.