Linux Mint System Won't Boot but Fsck Clean

Hi all,

I was running Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia prior to the problems described here.

I've just made some changes to my PC which now won't boot. I am attempting to install a new graphics card, and so have installed a RAM upgrade and I have also connected up a new hard drive, which is meant to be unrelated to my Linux build (it's used to run the Windows config my brother uses on the same computer).

My system is running a 1TB main disc, the Windows 250GB disc mentioned above, and a 250GB mounted drive which I set up a while back. Being new to this stuff, I think I managed to mount the extra disc incorrectly, since next time I booted I was dropped into recovery mode and got bailed out by some utility helpfully fixing the errors for me - sorry, can't remember the name or specifics of this, but figured it might be important.

Now, I made all the changes listed above, and for a while it was dropping me into recovery mode, now I just get a blinking cursor. Following some advice online, I booted into Mint from a Live USB and ran fsck on the two drives, both of which came back clean, so I'm a little stuck on what to do next. Any suggestions?

Final piece of info - I think the drives were set up incorrectly because my main 1TB drive is listed as /dev/sdb1, whereas the 250GB drive is at /dev/sda. I think this was probably the reason why when I booted a while back it had to correct these errors - it was trying to boot of /dev/sda by default? Just a thought ...

Any ideas would be much appreciated, cheers.

I'm not speaking from a position of knowledge, but the problem *could* be your /etc/fstab file now being incorrect.

Boot up into Linux off an external media, and paste the contents of /etc/fstab on your boot disk here.

Also paste the results from blkid so that we can compare them.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Linux Mint> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

The move will not hurt it, but I am not sure that this issue is specific to Mint.
On my systems I always label the devices, and change the fstab and grub setting to use the label.
I do this because I have seen issues when a minor udev change or hardware change remapped the devices and cause problems like this.
Such problems are rare when the device UUID is used for both, but that is NOT very user friendly, and apparently is not in play in this case.

An analysis, and solution, will have to await the feedback form the OP. I am looking forward to that with great anticipation.

Hi, thanks for the responses.

Booting from USB and running 'cat /etc/fstab' returns:

overlay / overlay rw 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0

and the result of 'blkid' is:

/dev/sda: UUID="b9d9e4e2-48a4-4bd0-87ba-eab08a98cdb3" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="746d55fc-01"

I've also posted this question on forums.linuxmint.com, and a user has suggested the command 'inxi -SMdpo', which returns the following output if this is of some use:

System: Host: mint Kernel: 5.0.0-32-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.5 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia
Machine: Type: Desktop Mobo: MSI model: 970A-G43 (MS-7693) v: 3.0 serial: <root required> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 10.3
date: 03/28/2013
Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 56.8 MiB (0.0%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD2500AAJS-75M0A0 size: 232.83 GiB
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: TDK model: Media Trans-It Drive size: 7.46 GiB
Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: TSSTcorp model: CDDVDW SH-224DB dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw
Features: speed: 48 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram
Partition: ID-1: / size: 3.87 GiB used: 56.8 MiB (1.4%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
ID-2: /rofs raw size: 1.81 GiB size: <root required> used: <root required> fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop0
Unmounted: ID-1: /dev/sdb1 size: 931.51 GiB fs: ext4 label: N/A uuid: 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
ID-2: /dev/sdc1 size: 1.90 GiB fs: iso9660 label: Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon 64-bit uuid: 20

I have also connected up a new hard drive

This is most likely to have caused your problem.
Linux enumerates disks as it finds them, (sda, sdb, etc)
Your original boot disk is likely no longer /dev/sda.
Use UUID or PARTUUID in your fstab file, & all should work.
You could use 'labels' also, (but I suggest disk ID is probably better).

boot the live Linux and run the following commands

sudo mkdir /mnt/sdb
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb

post the output of the following:

lsblk -f
cat /mnt/sdb/etc/fstab
cat /mnt/sdb/grub/grub.cfg

Hi, as requested:

mint@mint:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt/sdb
mint@mint:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb
mint@mint:~$ lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
loop0
squash /rofs
sda ext4 b9d9e4e2-48a4-4bd0-87ba-eab08a98cdb3
sdb
└─sdb1
ext4 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e /mnt/sdb
sdc iso966 Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon 64-bit
│ 2019-12-13-16-58-44-00 /cdrom
├─sdc1
│ iso966 Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon 64-bit
│ 2019-12-13-16-58-44-00
└─sdc2
vfat Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon 64-bit
833C-CDB0
sr0

and the second one:

mint@mint:~$ cat /mnt/sdb/etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda /mnt/sda ext4 defaults 0 0

but the third one did not have a grub directory:

mint@mint:~$ cat /mnt/sdb/grub/grub.cfg
cat: /mnt/sdb/grub/grub.cfg: No such file or directory

mint@mint:~$ ls /mnt/sdb
bin dev initrd.img lib32 media proc sbin swapfile tmp vmlinuz
boot etc initrd.img.old lib64 mnt root snap sys usr vmlinuz.old
cdrom home lib lost+found opt run srv timeshift var

sorry that should have been

cat /mnt/sdb/boot/grub/grub.cfg

delete this line in the /mnt/sdb/etc/fstab

/dev/sda /mnt/sda ext4 defaults 0 0

open the file with a text editor with this command

sudo nano /mnt/sdb/etc/fstab

note if you have reboot the live iso after running the commands in post 8 you will have to rerun the mkdir and mount commands again before running this commands

mint@mint:~$ cat /mnt/sdb/boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
if loadfont /boot/grub/fonts/UbuntuMono16.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_GB
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
insmod gfxmenu
insmod png
set theme=($root)/boot/grub/themes/linuxmint/theme.txt
export theme
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
set timeout=30
else
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
set timeout_style=hidden
set timeout=0
# Fallback hidden-timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
elif sleep --interruptible 0 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=1
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
}
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-40-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-40-generic
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.3.0-40-generic' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.3.0-40-generic-advanced-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.3.0-40-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-40-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-40-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.3.0-40-generic (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.3.0-40-generic-recovery-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.3.0-40-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-40-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-40-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.3.0-28-generic' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.3.0-28-generic-advanced-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.3.0-28-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-28-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-28-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.3.0-28-generic (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.3.0-28-generic-recovery-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.3.0-28-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-28-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-28-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.0.0-32-generic' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.0.0-32-generic-advanced-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.0.0-32-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.0.0-32-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.0.0-32-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon, with Linux 5.0.0-32-generic (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.0.0-32-generic-recovery-34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 5.0.0-32-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-5.0.0-32-generic root=UUID=34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-5.0.0-32-generic
}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+)' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
knetbsd /boot/memtest86+.elf
}
menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 34f29a91-35d6-4797-ad41-ac2f2aef8f2e
fi
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

I deleted the line mentioned and rebooted, have the following error on screen if this is any help:

[ 35.526753] ata4.00 status: {DRDY}
[ 35.526753] ata4.00 failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
[ 35.526753] ata4.00 cmd 61/10:50:98:da:41/00:00:06:00:00/40 tag 10 ncq dma 8192 out

etc.

do a search on the error

ata4.00 failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

It gets several hits it could be anything from a drive connector not seated good, incompatible drive, bad/weak power supply and more