Hello elishac,

Just like repo said, your best option (and utility to have around) is a LiveCD of the version you're running. Do you have the option to download and burn an ISO of the same Ubuntu you have?

It's quite normal that you can change the root password if you have console access (physical access to the machine). There are always ways to bypass what's installed. Even in Windows (what you're referring to in my opinion) you don't really need the 'old' password to be able to reset a password (for example if you've forgotten it). All you need is physical access to the machine.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hello Eric,

thanks again for helping me.
Does that mean I'll have to reset all the configurations I made ?
I'd rather not do that, I've had enough problems already, I don't need to go through them twice :/.

I managed to log in so I can do whatever is needed now. Maybe I can undo what I did without actually using a liveCD ? (that really sounds like the worse option to me)

Hi,

I don't know what has been changed by the installation you performed so I'm unsure how to uninstall/remove it. If now you have full access to the system you should be able though to perform the necessary actions. Before trying out things I suggest you take a backup of your configuration files and important documents (to USB stick or other drive/partition).

With a LiveCD you could boot your computer in that environment and thus not touching your harddisk. Next you could make a copy of all your configurations to a USB stick before attempting to uninstall the previous installation.

Kind regards,

Eric

Well, now I have yet another problem.
I rebooted my computer, but the file system check started, and now it says :
init:mountall main process 1139 terminated with status 3.
mount of filesystem failed
a maintenance shell will now be started.
ctrl+d will terminate this shell and retry
give root password for maintenance
(or type ctrl d to continue):

(if i type ctrl d, the computer restarts and i get the same thing all over again...)

Hello,

Enter the maintenance console by typing in your root password when asked for it. Next type in the following to force a system check:
(I thought I saw in one of your posts that that's the root partition)
Let the check fix errors if any. If that process is finished then try to mount your system with:
If you can mount successful then check your fstab and mtab with:
and post the contents here so we can see if there is any strange stuff in it.

Also check, if you're able to mount the system, the log files for errors (syslog and kern.log) in /var/log and post any errors here.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hello Eric,

I did what you asked. It took over a minute to execute the first command.
Then the result was :
unattached inode 1431542.

/dev/sda5: unexpected inconsistency. run fsk manually (ie without -a or -p options)

What should I do now ? mount -a or e2fsck -C0 -f -v /dev/sda5 or something else ?

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, just got home. Try in the maintenance console:
and see where that leads. Post the output please.

Kind regards,

Eric

The output was :
/dev/sda5 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
pass1:...
...
pass4:...unattached inode 1431542
connect to /lost+found<y>?

(i suppose it's "yes" but I'll just wait for you to tell me to be sure)

Hi,

Just accept by typing y

Kind regards,

Eric

Sorry I didn't see you had answered.
I pressed yes but another question appeared.
inode 1431542 ref count is 2, should be 1. fix<y>?

Hi,

Answer yes (y) again.

Kind regards,

Eric

another yes/no question... should i answer yes to all of them?
this time the question is :
pass5: checking group summary information
block bitmap differences: +1488039 + 1488045 + 1488051 + 1488053
fix<y> ?

Hi,

If the errors seem similar and the choice is presented then answer yes to all of them.

Kind regards,

Eric

ok, i answered yes to all of them. the questions were :
free blocks count for group #xx (yy, count = zz). fix?
free blocks count (xx, count = yy). fix?
inode bitmap differences: +xx. fix?

and then :
/dev/sda5 : file system modified. Reboot linux.
root:^#

Hello,

Ok, let's see where the reboot takes you and if everything is indeed fixed so that you can access your system again and 'undo' what you've done in the first place.

Kind regards,

Eric