[SOLVED] black screen after filling up HDD to 100% by accident

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 01:49 AM

Debian 10 KDE
I've been carrying some large files to transfer, when I needed to do a wireshark capture. The HDD filled up to 0b free space. I have then deleted a VM that I don't need anymore and got extra 30GB. The laptop was fine, closed it and woke up few times, then I got message that unlocking screen is broken and I won't be able to log into the DE. I have rebooted, entered encryption key, the system boots up through GRUB into black screen with a mouse cursor.

Because I could not move on, I entered tty and removed temporary files

Code:

find /tmp -type f -delete

I don't think this is an issue with insufficient space anymore though.
I have Timeshift installed and have few restore points. Tried one from earlier today but getting the same black screen.
Been looking up this problem but didn't find anything useful.
Thanks for looking

edit
I just tried to run neofetch from tty and I get

Code:

/usr/bin/neofetch: line 48: cannot create temp file for here-document: No space left on device

edit
so the startx won't launch because

Code:

xauth: unable to write authority file /tmp/serverauth.IPK......
xauth: unable to write authority file /home/jan/.Xauthority-n

when I do

Code:

df -k

I get /dev/dm-0 used 100%

I keep removing bunch of large files and I still have 0b avalable free space on /dev/dm-0

Code:

$ df -k
Filesystem      1K-blocks       Used   Available  Use%   Mounted on
udev              8018688          0     8018688    0%   /dev
tmpfs             1610560       9600     1600960    1%   /run
/dev/dm-0       473461232  454527316           0  100%   /
tmpfs             8052784          0     8052784    0%   /dev/shm
tmpfs                5120          4        5116    1%   /run/lock
tmpfs             8052784          0     8052784    0%   /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop1          99456      99456           0  100%   /snap/core/9289
/dev/loop0          98944      98944           0  100%   /snap/core/9436
/dev/loop2           1664       1664           0  100%   /snap/modem/-manager/426
/dev/nvme0n1p1     306584       5224      301360    2%   /boot/efi
tmpfs             1610556          0     1610556    0%   /run/user/1000

shruggy · 07-15-2020, 03:13 AM

Please show the output of

Code:

sudo du -hd1 /var|sort -hr|head

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Please show the output of

Code:

sudo du -hd1 /var|sort -hr|head

Code:

$ sudo du -hd1 /var|sort -hr|head
2.3G   /var
1.2G   /var/cache
942M   /var/lib
16M    /var/backups
11M    /var/tmp
44K    /var/spool
32K    /var/snap
4.0K   /var/opt
4.0K   /var/mail

shruggy · 07-15-2020, 03:28 AM

Hmm, not much to see there. Let's do the same for /boot and /opt.

Code:

sudo du -hd1 /boot /opt|sort -hr|head

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Hmm, not much to see there. Let's do the same for /boot and /opt.

Code:

sudo du -hd1 /boot /opt|sort -hr|head

Code:

$ sudo du -hd1 /boot /opt|sort -hr|head
1.4G    /opt
321M    /opt/Signal
286M    /opt/Citrix
249M    /opt/brave.com
239M    /opt/google
237M    /opt/slimjet
88M     /boot
69M     /opt/teamviewer
13M     /boot/grub
5.2M    /boot/efi

shruggy · 07-15-2020, 03:37 AM

Not much either. Well, then it's likely something under $HOME that takes all the space.

syg00 · 07-15-2020, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janus84

I keep removing bunch of large files and I still have 0b avalable free space on /dev/dm-0

That sounds like timeshift "looking after" you by keeping the files you delete in the snapshot(s). Ain't life a bitch.
You should be able to change the setup from a liveCD but I must admit I haven't tried it. An ugly solution would be to delete /timeshift (or where-ever Debian puts it), but like I said, ugly ...

shruggy · 07-15-2020, 03:44 AM

Not sure if the almost filled-up system will allow you to install something like bleachbit, cruft, or cruft-ng. But if yes, it's certainly worth a try.

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Not much either. Well, then it's likely something under $HOME that takes all the space.

Thanks for your help, I've learned something.

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

That sounds like timeshift "looking after" you by keeping the files you delete in the snapshot(s). Ain't life a bitch.
You should be able to change the setup from a liveCD but I must admit I haven't tried it. An ugly solution would be to delete /timeshift (or where-ever Debian puts it), but like I said, ugly ...

This gave me a good laugh. I only installed Timeshift like 48 hours ago!
I see Timeshift has command to delete all snapshots, that's what I should do. Or might try deleting from latest to earliest and see how it goes.
Does this sound reasonable? I guess I won't need them if they are counter-productive atm...

shruggy · 07-15-2020, 03:57 AM

Instead of installing bleachbit, you can:

Code:

sudo -i
apt-get clean
apt-get autoremove
rm -rf /tmp/* /var/tmp/* /var/cache/gdm/*
rm -f /var/cache/man/cat?/*
exit

This is basically what bleachbit does, besides removing everything in ~/.cache.

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janus84

This gave me a good laugh. I only installed Timeshift like 48 hours ago!
I see Timeshift has command to delete all snapshots, that's what I should do. Or might try deleting from latest to earliest and see how it goes.
Does this sound reasonable? I guess I won't need them if they are counter-productive atm...

Removing Timeshift snapshot from the time I did the wireshark capture fixed my issue. I'm back on desktop.
Much appreciated, I did not realise that I'm keeping everything I "delete" - something to remember.

Janus84 · 07-15-2020, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Instead of installing bleachbit, you can:

Code:

sudo -i
apt-get clean
apt-get autoremove
rm -rf /tmp/* /var/tmp/* /var/cache/gdm/*
rm -f /var/cache/man/cat?/*
exit

This is basically what bleachbit does, besides removing everything in ~/.cache.

Thanks, noted.
I'm still learning how to properly maintain my Linux boxes...

syg00 · 07-15-2020, 04:38 AM

Aren't we all ... glad you got a handle on it.