Stuck in Grub Rescue. Filesystem is unknown?
 

Hi, older gentleman here.
I don't know if I'm posting in the right section. I guess I should preface this by telling you that I know absolutely nothing about Linux or computers in general. So, please explain things to me like I'm a 4 year old.

So, my brother got me Linux when I bought a used laptop a few years ago. He said it was better than Windows, so I said ok.
After two years of ZERO problems, last week, all my files were locked, and Mozilla was acting weird and I couldn't access my bookmarks, etc.
I searched online and read about 'fsck' commands, and how they fix things, so I tried different 'fsck' commands that were recommended and that RUINED everything. Now, when I turn on my laptop, I'm stuck in Grub Rescue, and I've tried every single combination that I've seen from Youtube videos, forums, and I can't get back in. It says the filesystem is unknown.


I'm currently using a bootable USB stick with Linux and read about Boot Repair, so I figured I'd try it out. I can't make any sense of what the results mean. My laptop is still stuck in the Grub Rescue when I start it up. Any idea of what I can do to get back in?

Here's the Boot Repair results - http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/DHrjQNYBYM/

I've been to Disks, and checked/repaired the Filesystem, and it says it's OK.
I just don't know if it's the Filesystem, or the Partition, I honestly don't know what the heck any of that means. I don't know what to do, and it's just causing me lots of stress. Any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks.

There is no other way, except to reinstall Linux.
When you install new Linux, it will "see" other of your partitions.
After installing, please backup linux partition with Acronis.
Alternative is that you try UBCD and try to find your linux partition.
Try Super grub disk or Super grub2 disk.
If that fails, just reinstall linux and backup with Acronis.

Many distros have "live" images you can run. You just need a way to get those images downloaded and copied to a bootable storage device. After two years of using linux as your daily driver, the storage device you were using might have failed. It's always easier to install linux if you have other linux devices. Since linux is basically files on a filesystem, you don't even need like CPU devices to create bootable media for the other device. As in you could create an x86 bootable USB stick from a $35 raspberry pi sbc. Rufus, Nero, ??? in windows to get an image to a storage device. Just good old dd or dcfldd in linux, and other methods.

3em8826,

I would be inclined to boot the laptop your Mint Live DVD and select “Try Linux Mint”. Do NOT install it at this stage.

The Live session should log you in automatically. If it doesn’t, or if you need to login manually, you can use the following credentials:

For the username, type mint
For the password, if asked, just press Enter.

Then locate your Documents, Photos etc from your hard drive and then Copy & Paste them to an external drive.

This link refers to a Windows OS but the procedure is broadly the same. It is just a matter of locating your personal data on the main hard drive and copying it to a backup drive.
https://askleo.com/machine-wont-boot-get-files/

Once your data is safe, you can then begin a fresh installation of the latest Linux Mint 19.2:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide....io/en/latest/

This is strange, because the boot repair tool (which I don't know - it creates a nice report, but why doesn't it repair your boot configuration?) does detect a filesystem that Grub is able to process:
sda is a disk, SCSI Disk A. sda1 is a fraction of that disk named partition (a very large fraction, almost 99%). The Linux operating system including all programs, and your files are on that partition. "filesystem" is the method by which the partition's storage space is structured into files. The structure can break due to broken hardware (no disk lives forever), malicious or erroneous programs or switching the computer off without an orderly shutdown. fsck is the command that checks and optionally repairs the structure.

sdb seems to be a DVD-ROM.

The good news is that your data is probably still there, on that sda1 partition. If you could connect another disk to the PC, you could probably make a copy of it. It's hard to give you the right directions for that.

I wonder if your boot loader is the problem. Normally, after starting the computer, you should get a menu that allows you to select "Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit" and "Advanced options for Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit". Selecting the advanced options should display another menu. Your grub configuration file has 42 advanced menu points including many duplicates. I believe it is this large number that kills your bootloader.

What exaclty do you get when starting the PC?

did you do try to reinstall grub2 as the boot repair suggested?

The boot repair output shows you are using Mint 17.3 which you can see at the Mint site at the link below has not been supported since April of this year. That means you cannot install software using the standard methods nor can you get any security updates. Time to backup your data as suggested above and do a new install.

https://endoflife.software/operating...nux/linux-mint

You do have an inordinately large number of kernels/initrd files. Generally, most Linux systems keep only 2 while you have 20+. I would not think this would prevent booting and your partition is no where near to being full. Did you try to reinstall Grub2 as suggested above and if so, exactly what happened?

The message above in your boot repair shows a major problem as these files are needed. Could you boot the live usb and navigate to that directory /media/mint/525428d3-4434-4973-a4c5-29a118c78b52 and see if the /etc/fstab and /etc/grub.d files do exist.

I'd agree with others that the best thing to do at this point is to back up your files and do a new install of your unsupported Mint.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to offer me your advice.

Two of you asked if I reinstalled Grub. When I ran Boot-Repair, the reinstall grub was ticked. Is that the same? I guess it didn't do anything. Anyway, I also downloaded Super Grub2 and ran it via a USB stick, but that didn't help. The only bootable menthod that showed just brought me straight back to the Grub Rescue black screen.



When I start my PC, I get the Asus logo and it it gives me the option to click f12 where I can choose whether I want to boot from the Hard Drive or USB, etc.
Anyway, after the logo, when it's usually just supposed to log onto Linux, instead, it goes to a black screen and it says the following-

I've tried everything, and it all leads to "Filesystem is unknown".

It's really confusing. When I check in 'Disks', the hard drive size says I have 416 GB free space out of 636 GB. So, clearly the 220 GB is all my files (documents, photos, videos, music).
The device is on /dev/sda1, and as you mentioned, it's on Ext4.
I just don't know how to get back in.

Many of you have suggested to copy the hard drive. How do I do that, and when I do, how does that work? Will all my files be at my disposal, or will I have trouble getting to them? Someone also mentioned Acronis? Is that the easiest way to get my files back?

If anyone has other suggestions or questions, do let me know. Any extra input will be appreciated. Thanks again, all.

When you get the rescue prompt, this is usually so because Grub is unable to read its configuration file. In your case, Grub says it's unable to read the filesystem that contains the configuration file, which should be sda1.

My thinking is that either Grub looks in the wrong place, or the filesystem is broken. In the former case, you can still boot your system, probably. All you need are the magic incantations in the Grub manual:
This tells Grub to look in disk 0, partition 1 (which is sda1), install the "normal" module and run it. This module finds the config file and initiates system startup.

If this doesn't work, you are better off booting from a live DVD. Just use a normal Mint DVD. You will get the familiar desktop environment, and /dev/sda1 will show as a disk on the desktop. Attach another disk, e.g. a USB drive large enough for your data, and simply copy it there by dragging and dropping. Then install Linux Mint on sda1, overwriting its original content. When you are done, copy the data back.

Another option is to reinstall Grub from the live DVD environment, as others have commented, but this might be a bit too advanced for you, and you might cause more damage.

This might be your problem. This is from the boot-info script.

As yancek pointed out earlier, your Linux Mint 17.3 is no longer supported, so you need to do a fresh installation in any case.

I have just done a short blog explaining the process of using a Live Linux DVD or USB drive to recover personal data:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...al-data-38094/

Then do a fresh installation of Linux Mint 19.2 MATE 64 bit or similar:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide....io/en/latest/

If you do not feel confident enough to tackle this alone, I recommend that you find a computer-savvy friend or neighbour to help you.

OP's installation could as well have been the one used for creating https://aty.sdsu.edu/bibliog/latex/d...ub2rescue.html so it might be worth trying exactly what the example shows as an expedient way to recover, if foregoing activity hasn't rendered the installation completely unbootable.

Another longshot: announce your location. It's possible someone reading this thread is located within a reasonable commute. I've been a party to that very situation, less than 30 minutes' drive away.

Where's the brother now?

Edit:
I just tried following that URL, even though I have no root filesystem on sda1. What I did from the grub> prompt:The result was Linuxmint 19.2 booted to a normal login screen. You would of course not use the gpt syntax I needed but you would not, instead using root=hd0,msdos1.

Since my grub> came up in the ordinary course of events, it may be that yours might also require as that page shows:before your root= line. Set, insmod normal and normal I did not need, and you may not either. Set is included there to confirm appropriate configuration.

Hi, gang. Thanks for all the responses.


I downloaded Mint 19.2 MATE 64 bit, but I don't have permission to go into any of the folders when the HDD is mounted. Is there any way to make it not read-only?

When I press 'Set' I get the following -
And when I press 'ls' I get the following -
I've tried following the instructions, and punched in the prefix, and root, but every time I punch in 'Insmod normal' or just 'normal', it tells he that 'normal' is an unknown command.
And in the end, it tells me that the msdos1 and msdos5 are Unknown Filesystems.

Any advice?

Thank you all again.

Only msdos1 matters, since msdos5 is a swap partition. Did you forget to insmod linux? That's how EXT4 gets to be known to grub. It might be all you need is the following:I didn't need insmod normal or normal.

When a disk command fails due to a bad block or broken disk the filesystem on the disk is set read-only. Please run the command and paste the output here.