ubuntu update went wrong, pc doesnt boot, how can I repair it?
I let the PC install lots of updates at once and after restart, I got a console screen with an error message saying something about udevadm. Google told me it's a known bug caused by the system prompting for restart before configuring is over. I tried the solution suggested there, which was to boot from a live cd, chroot into the normal install and run
dpkg --configure -a
I got lots of errors, and now trying to boot results in a different error message:
Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.
-.-.-
Update: Using Darth Android's suggestion, I was able to run dpkg --configure -a without error messages. However, booting into 2.6.23.25 still produces the Kernel not syncing error message, booting into 2.6.32.24 (the kernel from which the first update started) still produces the udevadm error message, and only booting into 2.6.32.23 works. I haven't tried booting into older kernel versions.
-.-.-
Any suggestions how to repair the PC? Right now, I cannot get Internet while booting from the live cd, so I'd prefer options which don't need it.
The OS is Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit. The details of the configuring bug are here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/devmapper/+bug/358654/comments/0
The error message from dpkg is:
root@ubuntu:/# dpkg --configure -a Setting up samba-common (2:3.4.7~dfsg-1ubuntu3.2) ... sh: cannot create /dev/null: Permission denied sh: cannot create /dev/null: Permission denied Can't open /dev/null: Permission denied dpkg: error processing samba-common (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 13 Setting up linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic (2.6.32-25.44) ... Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 2.6.32-25-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms: line 7: /dev/null: Permission denied run-parts: /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 1 Failed to process /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic.postinst line 110. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of smbclient: smbclient depends on samba-common (= 2:3.4.7~dfsg-1ubuntu3.2); however: Package samba-common is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing smbclient (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Setting up linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic (2.6.32-24.43) ... Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 2.6.32-24-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms: line 7: /dev/null: Permission denied run-parts: /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 1 Failed to process /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic.postinst line 110. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2 Setting up gnome-terminal-data (2.30.2-0ubuntu1) ... Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/sbin/gconf-schemas", line 107, in fd = os.open("/dev/null",os.O_WRONLY) OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/null' dpkg: error processing gnome-terminal-data (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of samba-common-bin: samba-common-bin depends on samba-common (>= 2:3.4.0~pre1-2); however: Package samba-common is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-generic: linux-headers-generic depends on linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic; however: Package linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-generic (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gnome-terminal: gnome-terminal depends on gnome-terminal-data (>= 2.30); however: Package gnome-terminal-data is not configured yet. gnome-terminal depends on gnome-terminal-data (<< 2.31); however: Package gnome-terminal-data is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing gnome-terminal (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Errors were encountered while processing: samba-common linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic smbclient linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic gnome-terminal-data samba-common-bin linux-headers-generic gnome-terminal
Sorry for the lack of formatting, posting from the phone and repairing it on this keyboard is next to impossible.
Follow that guide again, but after the chroot command, try the following before running dpkg -a --configure:
mount -t proc proc /procmount -t devtmpfs none /dev
And before running exit, remember to umount:
umount /procumount /dev
It looks as if your current kernel is only partly installed. Does GRUB give you the choice of using an older kernel? It should. If so, try that.