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Old 03-28-2018, 07:20 PM   #1
froufrou
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PC no longer boots up as usual.


I use Linux Mint 18.1 MATE.

I'm currently using Windows 10 as i'm having a problem with Mint.

I tend to leave my pc on for weeks on end, however the other morning i decided to restart the computer.
It started to boot up as per normal, but once Mint was automatically chosen[as opposed to Windows 10] the screen went orange and a small box appeared.

It read:
"Your session only lasted less than 10 seconds. If you have not logged out yourself, this could mean that there may be some installation problem, or you may be out of diskspace.
Try logging in with one of the failsafe session to see if you can fix this problem."

I don't wish to use Windows and i'm hoping someone can help fix this problem i have with booting up and using linux, thanks.

I am very much NOT tech savvy i'm afraid, so please explain as if you're talking to someone with next to no computer knowledge![coz it's true!]
As far as having enough space on the hard drive, there is plenty.

Thank you.
 
Old 03-28-2018, 07:52 PM   #2
syg00
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This has been reported all over the place - a virtualbox update caused it apparently. Check for other posts in this (Mint) forum for the reolution - you should be able to do it from recovery mode.
 
Old 03-29-2018, 01:43 AM   #3
froufrou
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Thanks for replying.
I didn't even know i had a virtualbox to start with!

It seems i need to put a command in the terminal? Unfortunately i can't do this as the pc doesn't get to that stage of the boot where the terminal is an option to bring up.
Also ctrl+alt+F1 does nothing.
 
Old 03-29-2018, 02:03 AM   #4
ondoho
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^ what did you actually try?
please post all commands & output received.

fwiw, i would have started with this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by froufrou View Post
"Your session only lasted less than 10 seconds. If you have not logged out yourself, this could mean that there may be some installation problem, or you may be out of diskspace.
Try logging in with one of the failsafe session to see if you can fix this problem."
it tells you where to look first in plain english.
 
Old 03-30-2018, 05:06 AM   #5
froufrou
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Well sorry if i don't understand plain English, we are not all the same.

Nothing has changed since it was working properly, so i don't understand how there can be an installation problem, and there is enough empty space on the disk.
I don't understand how 'try to log in with one of the failsafe sessions to see if you can fix this problem.' I don't know what a failsafe session is.

I turn the pc on and it starts booting up. The 'booting up menu???' flashes which buttons one can press in order to delve into a particular menu if desired, but it flashes for less than a second and sometimes the list of buttons to press doesn't show at all.
So i have no idea which button to press to get into the 'background',[F1, etc] so to speak, as it's not on screen long enough for it to register.'

It then goes to an orange screen with the small message box. I'll put in my username and password, hit enter, then it'll go to an orange screen without the message box and it'll stay like that possibly til the end of the world as we know it, if i allow it!

So then i have to hold the on/off button on the tower down til the pc turns off, and then try once again. Sometimes i can get to Windows and sometimes Windows is avoided even tho' i'll choose it. So i never know whether the orange screen will appear or Windows.
When i choose Linux Mint it now always goes to the orange screen.

Should i try and intall the CD with Mint on it again?
It's awful using Windows again after so long using Linux Mint, but at least it's available to me.

Thanks.
 
Old 03-30-2018, 06:13 AM   #6
ondoho
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maybe related:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ds-4175626369/
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 04-03-2018, 05:51 AM   #7
froufrou
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Thanks for replying.

From what i've read the advice is to put sudo apt-get remove virtualbox* in the terminal to fix the problem, however in order to access the terminal Mint has to of booted up, mine never gets that far. So i cannot do it.

At one point when the pc is booting up a some F numbers are shown at the bottom of the screen. As i said before this only flashes up for less than a second, and sometime not at all. I've been turning the pc on and off repeatedly hoping to see these numbers and what each one does. However they appear so briefly it's almost impossible to work this out. The only one i've seen is one that deals with System Information.
Does anyone know which F-number i should be pressing in order to get to a place where this whole problem may be solved?

Many thanks.
 
Old 04-03-2018, 06:33 AM   #8
hazel
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It's worth going over the boot sequence of your computer. There are three main stages:

1. The bios runs. This is a piece of firmware inside the computer. You can access it by pressing certain function keys. Those are the F-keys that you see briefly displayed.

2. The bios loads the GRUB bootloader and that runs. It is GRUB that gives you your menu.

3. GRUB loads and runs the default option on the menu, if you haven't selected a different one. For you, that seems to be Mint.

You want to access a different menu option, namely Mint in recovery mode. So you must interrupt GRUB. The shift key is the normal way to do this. As soon as the function key prompts have disappeared, press shift repeatedly. You should get a static GRUB menu from which you can boot into Mint in recovery mode.
 
Old 04-04-2018, 01:21 AM   #9
ondoho
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i suppose you do not want the bios. (those "F"s flashing by)
you want grub.
i guess mint deliberately hides it from the user; if i remember correctly you have to hold the <Shift> key during boot to show it. then you can use the arrow keys (up/down) to choose a different entry. there must be some sort of failsafe or recovery mode. try that. it will probably bring you to a non-graphical prompt; you can log in with your usual credentials if requested to do so.

once you get to a command line prompt, we need some info. you need to enter commands and show us their output (or use the information to find help yourself).
so, please enter these commands:
Code:
df -h
to show disk usage, and
Code:
grep -C2 EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
to see if your graphical session has some problems.
 
Old 04-04-2018, 04:33 AM   #10
hazel
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There certainly is a recovery mode entry on the GRUB menu because other people have been using it to solve precisely this problem. There is a thread on this with detailed instructions. I think one of the earlier respondents gave a link to it.

The OP's problem is that he isn't seeing a GRUB menu. I remember I once had Mint installed on a laptop and that didn't show the menu either; it just booted straight into the default option as his does. Pressing shift should hopefully bring the menu up.

[rant]This is the kind of thing that really annoys me about distros like Mint. In their attempt to be "user-friendly" they end up robbing the user of tools he actually needs to solve problems. There's nothing friendly about that. It's a damned imposition.[/rant]

Last edited by hazel; 04-04-2018 at 05:38 AM.
 
Old 04-04-2018, 11:18 AM   #11
ondoho
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hazel View Post
[rant]This is the kind of thing that really annoys me about distros like Mint. In their attempt to be "user-friendly" they end up robbing the user of tools he actually needs to solve problems. There's nothing friendly about that. It's a damned imposition.[/rant]
yep. it's the reason why i can never write "user-friendly" without quotes.
 
Old 04-05-2018, 10:55 PM   #12
froufrou
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Hi, and thanks for replying to me.

Well i did get into recovery mode, thats the good news!
When i put df -h into the command line the reply was it couldn't be found. The same when i entered
grep -C2 EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log. grep couldn't be found.

TBH i have made a live CD of Mint 18.3 as i have no faith in myself ever returning to my original 18.1. It's so annoying as i've lost a lot of stuff from my old Mint. I do have some songs and pics on memory sticks which i'll be able to copy into the new version.

I did a search for the virtualbox on the new version and apparently it's not installed, so thats a good thing, isn't it?

Cheers.
 
Old 04-06-2018, 12:41 PM   #13
ondoho
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Quote:
Originally Posted by froufrou View Post
When i put df -h into the command line the reply was it couldn't be found. The same when i entered
grep -C2 EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log. grep couldn't be found.
it would be better to copy-åaste the actual command & its full output.
anyhow, if this is true it means your system is likely shot.
but you can still get your data.
Quote:
I did a search for the virtualbox on the new version and apparently it's not installed, so thats a good thing, isn't it?
sorry, i don't understand the question.
where is virtualbox not installed? and why would that be a good thing?
 
Old 04-07-2018, 10:12 AM   #14
froufrou
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I've obviously got this wrong. I thought this whole problem started with a virtualbox update, must of misunderstood.

Anyway like i've said i'm using 18.3 now and i've transferred a lot of the files i had on the memory sticks.
So thank you so much for all your time and suggestions regarding this problem, i appreciate it.
 
  


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