System fails boot after weekly update [Solved]

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Hi.

1. I started the weekly update process through Rigo as I always do. I walked away for about one hour. When I returned, I saw that Rigo stated that there were errors during the update. I did not find out what the errors were due to my lack of knowledge of where to find the error descriptions.

2. I restarted the update process through Rigo. The update completed without error.

3. I attempted to shutdown/reboot the system. The system shutdown but failed to boot. I believe the first error message I read on the console during the reboot attempt involved an inability to mount /dev/shm, but I could be wrong. I will check this again during my next boot attempt.

4. I then booted using the LiveCD/DVD. I performed "su" and "fdisk -l". I can easily observe my hard drive and I have been able to mount it. Therefore the problem is not related to an inability to read the hard drive.

Q1: What is the command that forces another update attempt? I would like to rule out a bad download from the Sabayon server(s).

Q2: What information do you need from me in order to better understand this problem?

Q3: What would you suggest that I do?

Thank you very much in advance.

[dave_64]

Q1:
equo update (issue that command from a root terminal)
After completion and return to the command prompt, type and enter:
equo upgrade
(If you are unable to boot up, I don't know how you are going to run these commands)

Q2: At what point in the reboot process did it fail? Did you get a boot menu? Did it go almost to the end of the process and end in a "black screen"? (nothing but a blinking cursor)?
Which sabayon, DE, hardware, and when did you install? New install? or has it been running well for some time?

Q3: You may have to chroot into your installed linux from the livedvd, and run the update and upgrade commands, and:
equo deptest
equo libtest
But first, what can you tell us about Q2

[VolvoBirkenstock]

As per Q2, I obtain a grub menu when attempting to boot. (System is dual-bootable.) I select sabayon linux, which is also the default. The first error that I see thrown to the console involves an inability to mount /dev/shm. However, boot apparently proceeds to the point where the display manager would start, and the system makes no further progress. Cursor is located in the upper left corner. Background is blue and I believe the monitor indicates Sabayon on it. I am unable to obtain a console through the usual means (Ctrl-Alt-F{1-6}). I don't know if the cursor is a "blinking underscore" or an "unblinking underscore", since I'm running LiveCD/DVD as I type this.

I did perform a new installation late in 2012 and have kept up with weekly updates since. I am running the amd64 version of KDE. There were previous issues with AMD/ATI proprietary graphics card drivers, but folks in the Hardware section helped me straighten that out and the result worked extremely well. In late March I had another issue where the system failed to boot, but it was also solved. (See viewtopic.php?f=86&t=30187 .) The root cause for that problem was a loose SATA cable connection to the hard drive which somehow corrupted the MBR, but which I was able to repair.

There also was an issue involving modification of kernel args followed by grub2-mkconfig which corrected the console displays (Ctrl-Alt-F{1-6}), but that was resolved with a stable result. (See viewtopic.php?f=56&t=29566&start=10 .)

I'll take this up again late tomorrow. If I don't hear additional advice or requests for additional information, I will attempt to go the chroot route using your answer to Q3.

Thank you VERY much.

[dave_64]

It also occurs to me that the changes, modifications, and, or alterations you made previously to resolve issues with AMD/ATi, may have become counterproductive with the recent upgrade. You might consider reversing some of those back to their original state (their defaults).
A situation somewhat like that happened to me concerning nvidia drivers a couple of weeks ago.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

I booted using the LiveCD/DVD and performed the following using konsole:

Code: Select all

su
vgchange -a y
mkdir -p /mnt/sabayon
mount /dev/vg_titanic/lv_root /mnt/sabayon   (my root partition)
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sabayon/boot   (sda3 is my boot partition)
mount -t proc none /mnt/sabayon/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/sabayon/dev
chroot /mnt/sabayon /bin/bash
env-update
source /etc/profile
export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"
cp /proc/mounts /etc/mtab


I then attempted equo update. It failed. Even while my browser connection to this site worked, something in the chroot process lacked the capability to find a route to any equo package servers. I'm not an IP guru, so I went and found out the IP addresses for both pkg.sabayon.org and mirror.umd.edu and entered those hostnames and IP addresses into /etc/hosts. I then ran "equo update" and it worked. Two packages were updated. I then ran "equo deptest". This is what was printed to the konsole window:

Code: Select all

(chroot) localhost etc # equo deptest
>>
>> Entropy is running off a Live System
>> Performance and stability could get severely compromised
>>
>>  @@ Running dependency test...
>>  @@ These are the dependencies not found:
>>    # >=sys-fs/udev-096
>>       # Needed by:
>>       # net-wireless/prism54-firmware-1.0.4.3
>>  @@ Installing available packages in 10 seconds ...
>> No packages found.
(1, False)
(chroot) localhost etc #


This is a desktop system that does not use wireless. However, I suppose this missing package could cause issues during boot. I then executed "equo libtest". This is what was output to konsole:

Code: Select all

(chroot) localhost etc # equo libtest
>>
>> Entropy is running off a Live System
>> Performance and stability could get severely compromised
>>
>>  @@ Libraries test
>>  @@ discarding directory: /usr/lib64, because it's symlinked on: /usr/lib
>>  @@ discarding directory: /lib64, because it's symlinked on: /lib
>>  @@ Collecting broken executables
>>  @@ Attention: don't worry about libraries that are shown here but not later.
>>    (7.1%) /usr/bin/gnome-panel [ libgnome-desktop-3.so.4 ]
>>    (14.4%) /usr/lib/thunderbird/components/libmozgnome.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxpcom.so ]
>>    (33.9%) /usr/lib/firefox/components/libmozgnome.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxul.so ]
>>    (34.1%) /usr/lib/thunderbird/extensions/{847b3a00-7ab1-11d4-8f02-006008948af5}/platform/Linux_x86_64-gcc3/components/libenigmime-x86_64-gcc3.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxpcom.so ]
>>    (37.3%) /usr/lib64/svrcore/libsvrcore.so.0.0.0 [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (43.4%) /usr/lib/svrcore/libsvrcore.so [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (44.5%) /usr/lib/firefox/browser/components/libbrowsercomps.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxul.so ]
>>    (60.2%) /usr/lib64/svrcore/libsvrcore.so.0 [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (67.4%) /usr/lib/thunderbird/components/libdbusservice.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxpcom.so ]
>>    (71.7%) /usr/lib/firefox/components/libdbusservice.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxul.so ]
>>    (73.1%) /usr/sbin/dcbd [ libconfig.so.8 ]
>>    (76.0%) /usr/lib/svrcore/libsvrcore.so.0 [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (84.0%) /usr/lib64/svrcore/libsvrcore.so [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (87.1%) /usr/lib/icedtea6/jre/lib/amd64/libjawt.so [ libmawt.so ]
>>    (87.4%) /usr/lib/gnome-panel/4.0/libclock-applet.so [ libgnome-desktop-3.so.4 :: libgweather-3.so.1 ]
>>    (90.6%) /usr/lib/svrcore/libsvrcore.so.0.0.0 [ libnspr4.so.8 :: libplc4.so.8 :: libplds4.so.8 ]
>>    (97.0%) /usr/lib/thunderbird/extensions/{e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}/components/libcalbasecomps.so [ libmozalloc.so :: libxpcom.so :: libxul.so ]
>>  @@ Matching broken libraries/executables
>>  @@ System is healthy.
(chroot) localhost etc #


I should mention that according to grub, it is likely that the kernel I am running is x86_64-3.8.0-sabayon, and the proprietary video drivers I am using are consistent with that kernel. I haven't updated the kernel or proprietary video drivers since I was able to get the system to work. If you believe that I should back out the proprietary drivers, I'm hoping you can point me to a link to a HOWTO cookbook. Furthermore, I'm running multiple monitors with an AMD/ATI Radeon 7770, and I don't want to take a performance hit if I drop the proprietary drivers. However, I desperately need system stability. I've been running Sabayon Linux on multiple platforms since before Sabayon 5, and it's been rock solid until the last four months, during which time I've struggled with productivity-killing issues.

Thank you again very much.

[dave_64]

I don't know how to advise you further. I have no experience with ATI, and very little experience with LVM. Hopefully, someone else can give you an answer. If it was me, I would carve out a 40gb space and install 13.07 and upgrade it. If it worked, I would back up my data and reinstall on a larger partition. In fact, I have 3 sabayons installed, and every couple of years, I reinstall a new one in place of the oldest of the three. I realize that sabayon is a "rolling distro", and theoretically, there is no need to reinstall. But, sometimes, the old installation seems like a house of cards, and it's easy for me to reinstall and migrate the data. Migrating thunderbird and firefox has become almost a trivial procedure for me.
Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable than me, will see this and get you going again.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Fixed it. Went the chroot route and upgraded the kernel, ati drivers, etcetera, to 3.10.0. It's more involved than that, but that's it in summary.

Thanks very much for your help.