Ubuntu won't start :(
 

Hello,

I'm not sure but I think I switched my computer off in a wrong way.
Anyway, since then, when I try to start my computer, it says
init: mountall main process (1024) terminated with status 3.

Please help me, I'm just a beginner.

What should I do, should I just force the computer to shut down by pressing the starting button for 5 seconds, and then restart my computer?
I'm waiting for your instructions, I'm completely blocked and I can't work, please help me as soon as possible. Thanks a lot.

so i just forced to reboot, and then I got this :
filesystem checks are in progress
press esc to cancel checks

and then I get again
init: mountall main process (1024) terminated with status 3.
and
mount of filesystem failed.
a maintenance shell will now be started.
CONTROL-D will terminate this shell and re-try.
root@elishac:^#
what should I do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I made this mistake to shutdown my computer the wrong way too,and i could not boot it,till i formatted disk and reinstalled the operating system.I don't tell you to do that,there maybe be an other solution too.

Well the good news is that you can still boot to command line, so I presume all is not lost.

But I do not have the answer as I a a noob too.

What filesystem did you select when installing? ext2? Have you tried just letting it run its check... It could take some time you know.

Try typing fsck / at that prompt.

I did not select anything, I told you everything that appeared on the screeen.
I wrote fsck and the answer was :
fscl from util-linux-ng 2.16
e2fsck 1.41.9 (22 aug 09)
dev/sda5 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
pass1:checking inodes,blocks, and sizes.
pass2:checking directory structure
pass3:checking directory connectviity
pass4:checking reference counts
untattached inode 1436210
connect to /lost+found<y>?



What should I do now?

Hello elishac,

When in the maintenance shell try running:
Using this command the system will try to fix any errors automatically.

Post any results here.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hello Eric,

thanks a lot for trying to help me once again.
I wrote y when the prompt was
connect to /lost+found<y>?.
The result was
pass 5: checking group summary information
bloack bitmap differences: (+14444876--1444877) +144881 +1444886
Fix <y>
i wrote y
freeblocks count wrong for group #44 (4647, counted=4643).
fix y
i wrote y
inode bitmap differences +1436227
fix y?
i wrote y
free inodes count wrong for group #44 (26544, counted=26543)
free inodes count wrong (4855835, counted=4855834)
fix y
y
dev/sda5 ** file system was modified **
dev/sda5 ** reboot linux **
dev/sd5 26846/5124480 files (1.6% non contiguous, 1856621/5120000 blocks
root@elishac

What should I do now?

Hi,

Have you rebooted after the complete check yet? As it says in the messages, reboot linux. Try to reboot and see if you can access your system.

Kind regards,

Eric

I wrote reboot and rebooted.
I chose ubuntu at grub.
then a screen appears that says :
one or more of the mounts listed in /etc/fstab cannot yet be mounted:
swap: waiting for UUID=c91... (a list of random chacaters)
press esc to enter recovery shell
shall i press esc?

Yes, enter the recovery shell and type the following command:
The 'A' option will try to check all your partitions as listed in the fstab file and the 'a' option will try to repair.

Kind regards,

Eric

Well actually I press esc but it didn't send me to a command line window. Instead, I get the normal graphical log in window.
I can now log in normally.
does that mean my problem is solved, even though i got the "one or more of the mounts listed in /etc/fstab cannot yet be mounted" message ?

Hi,

It means your system is fixed mostly but since you got the error concerning the swapspace I suggest you open a terminal and type as user:
or as root
as stated earlier. It will fix whatever errors it encounters and can be fixed.

Kind regards,

Eric

result is :
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.16
dev/sda5 us liybted (edit:is mounted)
warning !! running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause SEVERE filesystem damage.
Do you really want to continue ?
i answered yes
result was :
dev/sad5:superblock last write time is in the future (by less than a day, probably due to a bad system clock last boot).
FIXED.
dev/sda5 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
dev/sda5: entry %gconf.xml in home/elsihac/.gconf/system/networking/connections4/connection (1403566) has deleter/unused 1403531. CLEARED.
/dev/sda5: unatacched inode 1403530
dev/sda5/ unexpected inconstency; run fsck manually.
(ie without -a or -p options).
elishac@elishacc:~$

Hi,

Sorry for the delay, was having lunch. Reboot the system and see if any errors appear now.

Kind regards,

Eric

Yes there is still the same error, it says sda5 is not mounted.
When I press esc, I get a log in screen and I can use ubuntu normally, but I still get this error at every reboot.

Try running "e2fsck -dfpy"

Just in case you are wondering

e2fsck is the fsck utility for ext2 ext3 and ext4 file systems (ubuntu uses ext 2 or ext 3).

-d option turns on debugging. This is useful if there are errors
-f Forces it to check file systems marked as clean
-p automatically repairs errors
-y assume yes to all questions.

it says :
e2fsck: Only one of the options -p/-a, -n or -y may be specified.

What should I write then ? The command you mentioned doesn't seem to work.

sorry, double post due to internet problems

Hi elishac,

In my opinion on Ubuntu the sda5 refers to your swap space. Can you open a terminal and type
there should be a line in there defining the swap. Verify if I'm not mistaking and the /dev/sda5 is swap or not. Eventually post the line containing swap here.

Also run the command
and post the output here. If your swap is mounted is should show up.

If /dev/sda5 is swap then fsck has no use since you cannot use it on a swap. Awaiting your reply.

Kind regards,

Eric

elishac@ee:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=b5... / ext2 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=c9... none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/DONNEES ntfs-3g rw,auto 0 0
elishac@ee:~$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1989536 1291076 698460 0 91584 785412
-/+ buffers/cache: 414080 1575456
Swap: 0 0 0
elishac@ee:~$

what should i do now?

Hi,

Apparently something has gone wrong with the swap space.
Can you type in a terminal:
and post the output here?

Kind regards,

Eric

I don't know if this has anything to do with my problem, but remember that I am (as far as I know), in a recovery shell, since I pressed esc when the error message appeared, before the login window.
fdisk -l doesn't produce any output.

If you're logged in as a user, then it should be:
Sorry for that. I like to play God on my machines so always forget the sudo part.

Kind regards,

Eric

elishac@ee:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for elishac:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe718f4b9

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 6375 51201024 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 6375 16386 80410624 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 16386 19458 24677376 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 16386 18935 20480000 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 18935 19458 4195160 82 Linux swap / Solaris
elishac@ee:~$

Hi,

Can you also post the contents of your fstab file please?
Kind regards,

Eric

elishac@ee:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=b5... / ext2 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=c9... none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/DATA ntfs-3g rw,auto 0 0
elishac@ee:~$

Hi,

Sorry to make you double post the fstab, I forgot you already did that. When in the recovery mode type
and post output here please.

Kind regards,

Eric

elishac@ee:~$ mount
/dev/sda5 on / type ext2 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
/dev/sda2 on /media/DATA type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/elishac/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=elishac)
elishac@ee:~$

Hi,

I don't see anything off in these configs only that you are missing your swap. When you reboot do you still have to login to the recovery console and take it from there or can you start normally?

To make your swap work do the following as root or using sudo.
Next check if the UUID for /dev/sda6 is still the same with (as root or with sudo in front):
If necessary change your fstab accordingly to mount the swap at boot. You can check if swap is being used with (might be with sudo):
Kind regards,

Eric