Repair Ubuntu Server 12.04 after upgrade
 

I was using Ubuntu Server 10.04 and decided incorrectly to upgrade to 12.04. I did not realize that 12.04 did not support non PAE motherboards. During the upgrade, I decided to unwisely look at the differences between a file that was about to be replaced and when I got out of the text editor, the upgrade and stopped incomplete. Now, it won't boot and I was wondering if it is possible to repair the file system somehow with a live CD. I found a non PAE 12.04 live CD, but it does not have the repair option. My only other option is to either reinstall from scratch or from an older backup that I have of the server on an iso format.

:cry::banghead:

In my opinion, you should re-install from scratch. Backup everything and start over. The problem there is that you are not using 10.04 nor 12.04 anymore. You are in some kind of gray zone between the two. You can chroot from a live-cd (32bit) and try "apt-get install -f" and try to complete the installation, but that will leave you with a 12.04 if it work, something that may or may not be probable depending on how far the upgrade went in the first place. 12.04 can support PAE just fine if you use the right kernel. This -is- the repair option, but, as for a Windows server, doing so often cause a few problems of its own. Please learn about "chroot" from a live-cd before attempting the process. You need to bind /dev,, /dev/pts, /sys and /proc from the live-cd before starting the chroot jail or it will probably damage your server even more.

If you have important unbacked-up data on the system then you MAY be able to salvage it by booting from a live CD and mounting the hard drive, then move data to another partition or drive. Then you could re-install from the beginning.

I was referring to older "non-PAE" hardware. In any case, I guess I will just have to set it up again using either my older backup or the Ubuntu Network mini which supposedly does support non-PAE hardware.

It is a bit annoying though that the newer Linux distributions don't allow for older hardware. That used to be what was so attractive about Linux. I mean how hard would it be to but in the boot options the ability to use a non-PAE kernel if it was needed. Oh well, I guess I will have to go to a newer hardware platform sometime in the future though I really don't need to be doing that. Maybe I can find a different Linux distribution that does support older hardware, but from what I have been reading, it sounds like most distributions will be going the way of PAE.

:(

Distros have to make decisions on what they have the (people) resources to continue to support. Happens all the time - RHEL only runs on 64-bit capable systems for example.
If you want an "all-singing, all-dancing" pre-packaged distro these decisions by the "powers that be" tend to be "take it, or leave it".

FWIW, I never use upgrade options. For Ubuntu you can safely install into a new partition(s) and share the /home and import your users. If it all goes pear-shaped, simply reboot using the old system. Works a treat - has in the past anyway; haven't bothered with Precise yet on my few remaining Ubuntus.
I'd suggest you do similar if you have /home on a separate partition - if not, recover that first. Then use the net install. Going to another distro is likely to be much uglier.

No, they wont, 32bit is just going to die. But Ubuntu can probably run on non-PAE system if you use the right kernel. I don't think they compiled the distribution with 36 pointers. The default kernel may not work on non-PAE, but it may also just work. If your server is a Pentium III, Ubuntu may not be the right distro for it.

Okay, well I decided to just reimage the server with 11.10 server and update to 12.04, but I was wondering if after installing 11.10 server, do I need to do all the updates before upgrading?

Never mind, I figured it out.