Ubuntu live usb boot stuck on HP logo (Ubuntu 20.04 and Windows 10)

Background Info

I am dual booting Ubuntu 20.04 on an SSD with pre-installed Windows 10. This has been working for the past 2 months.

What happened first

I tried to boot Ubuntu and I got the same error as this person

I ran fsck on /dev/sda3 and the problem was solved.

The current problem

A few hours later, I try to login to Ubuntu and I got an Authentication Error on the Home Screen. I restarted my computer and after selecting Ubuntu, the computer got stuck on the bright HP logo. While on the HP logo, I can access all the ttys, but I can not login.

What I think

I'm pretty sure this problem was caused by me running fsck on a mounted drive, but I'm not sure. It's probably something to do with corrupted passwords, too.

What I've tried

I have booted in recovery mode, tried resetting my password, and running commands. I know my password is correct. Some stack exchange answers say to run some commands in the TTY, but it always asks for my password and says Incorrect password.

Now I can't access my Linux files which has all my programming tools and projects. Is there any way I can get my files back? Any help would be appreciated!

Tell me if you need more info!

Solution 1:

On occasion, I've seen some machines, HP in particular, seem to damage the ext4 file system structure, on internal SSD's, HDD's and on Live USB's. Whatever the issue, it often is minor and can be fixed using fsck or using the disks application.

Make a new Ubuntu Live USB, assuming the PC damaged the old one (you can reuse the USB device).
Boot from the USB stick to try Ubuntu.
Press Super (AKA "Windows" key), type disk and select the * Disks utility.
Click on each partition of the SSD (or HDD), click on the gear icon, and select Repair Filesystem.
If the repair process finishes showing failure, repeat it as above. Though I cannot explain why two passes are often needed, it almost always succeeds on the second try.
Keep that Live USB handy for the next time the ext4 system is damaged.

Another thing to try, if that does not fix the issue, is to use the Boot Repair utility, which can be downloaded and run from the Live USB. If you find this utility being used often, it can be permanently installed on a Live USB with persistence.