Ubuntu is failing to boot after an XP virtual machine crashed my system.
 

Hello all, I'm in dire need of some help at the moment. Please forgive me, I'll get all the terminology wrong I'm sure.

About a half an hour ago I tried running a Windows XP VM and my laptop (System76 Galago Pro) completely froze up immediately. After restarting the system, GRUB loads up just some logs and a shell. From what I can tell, all of my files are still intact but I've lost the ability to load Ubuntu (16.04 with GNOME) and go about my usual business.

I was getting an error similar to this and I followed those steps to no avail. I don't know how to adequately read log files in order to know what's going on, but I'm also seeing "fsck failed with error code 8."

It appears I'm stuck in my first virtual console. Usually my working environment is the second one, and pressing alt-ctrl-f2 just shows a blinking cursor. Anyone know what kind of information I should be looking for in the logs?

Thanks in advance for any help.

From what you've said, it sounds like your system is starting but is going into "console mode" - dropping to a virtual console. (on the host system - Ubuntu)

While based on this "fsck failed with error code 8.", your drive's UUID may have changed, we really should get some more information from you.

Can you post the output of the following commands:
(please use CODE tags.)

And then;

Thank you for the quick response!

The fsck directory is curiously empty, but the output of blkid is as follows:

Can you post the output of the following commands as well:

I'll do my best to preserve formatting

Well, it doesn't look like your drive's UUID is incorrect.

I'd suggest starting your system from a live CD/USB like systemrescuecd and running the command below to check the file system. I'd check the root partition (/dev/nvme0n1p2)

Change "nvme0n1XX" to the device node assigned to your Ubuntu "root" partition.

I tried to start gnome by running 'lightdm' and I got the following:
followed by a few more lines then:
I'm trying to Google around for this but I'm coming up short.

While you should check your file system, can you try running the command below and if it doesn't load the graphical environment, post the messages you get:

startx also complains about no connection to D-bus.

What about the possibility of just restoring the 'Ubuntu' partition, nvme0n1p2? I just so happened to make a backup of it earlier today. Or is the problem beyond just that partition?

Well, just tried to restore via Clonezilla, but it said nvme0n1p2 did not contain a partition table... Back to square one.

This doesn't solve your problem, but don't run that Windows XP VM again until you check its settings, more specifically how much memory it was allocated compared to how much memory you have on your system. Did you try running it while another VM was running perhaps? In any case, if there is not enough RAM to go around then the "lock-up" problem you describe may occur.

Which leads me on to the next question. How did you restart your machine when it locked up? If you cut the power and restarted then it is this which could have well caused the problem you are currently experiencing.

If I encountered a situation like yours then I probably would try to recover from my most recent system image so, yes, restoring that Ubuntu partition might do the trick, although you may also have to have a look at the grub/boot side of things afterwards.

nvme0n1p2 is an ordinary partition, it shouldn't contain a partition table (unless this is some form of partitioning that I'm not aware of). Are you sure that you're attempting the restore correctly? Is this something that you've successfully done before?

Yes, you're correct. Sorry, I should have gone to bed a long time ago...

I've never done a restore through Clonezilla before, but I regularly backup my filesystem partition to another partition on an external drive. I assumed I could essentially do the same process in reverse, where the source partition is the one on the external drive and the target is the corrupted one. But when I went to attempt that, I was getting an error relating to a partition table.

I'm now going to attempt a fresh install of Ubuntu then restore it, but I have a feeling I might run into a similar problem. Running gives the following:

If you have successfully backed up the Ubuntu partition then you should be able to restore that partition. I would concentrate on achieving that if I were you (post here exactly what you are doing in Clonezilla and what error messages you receive).

I don't understand why you would want to do a fresh install and then try to restore the previous partition, thus overwriting your brand new installation.

From what you are describing, your file system has taken a bit of a beating. That's why, in circumstances like this, I would normally restore to my last system image.

However, first you may want to try properly fscking the file system (ensure it is not mounted), accepting any recommended modifications, just to see what gives. Use fsck without any parameters to do so.