Ubuntu stuck on boot, won't get past fsck!

This is the second time this has happened. I have disabled mouse acceleration on Ubuntu by following these instructions.

Immediately after that I tried to log out but the system got hung at the fsck screen, so after about 5 mins I force-shutdown the system and when turning it on again Ubuntu got stuck on the fsck screen and won't get past that!

I have tried using a live USB to both delete the file that I created and also run fsck on the sda6 partition and it says everything is OK. Don't really know what to do now. This is what it looks like:

This is what it looks like


After experiencing this exact same issue, using Ubuntu 16.04.02, I found a couple of ways to work around it. It seemed my problems were caused by changing the graphics nvidia drivers, and although I haven't found a way to properly work the drivers, I can get the regular login operation working again.

  1. First Fix.

    • I used ESC on the startup ubuntu purple splash to be able to enter GRUB.
    • Using e to edit the grub ubuntu boot command, I added the command nomodeset to the line starting with linux, just before other commands quiet splash. See this for an example.
    • At the Ubuntu Login Screen, I got caught into a login loop, where the same startup process was obviously being called. To get past this, using CTRL + ALT + F1 you can login and enter a terminal.
    • Use sudo apt-get purge nvidia* to remove the unusable graphics drivers. Can be installed again later if need be. (ie, here)
  2. Second Fix (Context: After achieving sucess with the first method, I proceeded to reinstall nvidia drivers to attempt to get the working again. Doing so, I also restarted xserver as described here which ended up breaking my login process, and even with nomodeset still resulted in the same issue.) Looks like the GIF in this.

    • To get past this block, I needed to boot into a recovery mode configuration of Ubuntu.
    • Use ESC on the startup ubuntu purple splash to be able to enter GRUB. Select Advanced options for Ubuntu.
    • Selected Root option to drop to a root shell prompt.
    • Use sudo apt-get purge nvidia* to remove the unusable graphics drivers.
    • Use Method 2 to reset xserver dependencies. This is because xserver hosts nouveau drivers for graphics cards.

You should now have regular access to your Ubuntu instillation, but I can't comment on your graphics card functionality.