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Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
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010101
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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#16 Post by 010101 »

This is a narrative of my problem(s). I write this for all who may experience this problem, who run a search and come across this thread.

The topic of this was a problem booting into my OS with the GUI. I got nothing but a blinking cursor.

After a many many hours(dozens of hours) of searching and reading, I came to the consensus that the problem was with X windows, also known as X11.

So I decided to use the apt-get to update and upgrade. I was confident that this would fix problem, though not 100% confident. But then another problem arose, a problem with-in a problem. The apt-get was fouling up.

THE PROBLEM WITH APT-GET

When running the apt-get update and upgrade, I got this ominous message:

E: Write error - write (28: No space left on device)
E: IO Error saving source cache
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.


From the command line, I ran df -i. I discovered that the /var was at 100% usage.
So I investigated and found a lot of old logs. So I deleted them, which freed up 98% of the space on /var.
From there, I attempted using the apt-get command to update. It worked.
Then I used the apt-get command to upgrade. It also worked, thought I took a good of amount of time.

Now for the moment of truth after many hellish hours of work searching, analyzing, and attempts to fix the original problem, then many hours more to fix my problem with-in a problem, the apt-get.

I rebooted and held my breath.

I Booted up normally, and there it was, the login screen.

I now I got my life back.

The problem is solved, but there's a problem. The problem is that while I'm confident that the original problem was cause by X windows, I'm not 100% sure.
That bothers me. I regret doing a system wide update and upgrade. If I had it to do over, I would have only updated and upgraded the X windows, to know for sure that it was X windows that was causing the problem. And then there's the mystery as to why this happen. Not knowing why bugs the s**t of me.

010101
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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#17 Post by 010101 »

I want to take time to thank all who took the time to help.

A special shout-out goes to Loci.Cantos.

Thax

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#18 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

010101 wrote:then there's the mystery as to why this happen
There's no mystery at all — the drive was full. To stop it happening again perhaps try actually reading the log files to see what the problem was instead of just blindly deleting them.
deadbang

010101
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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#19 Post by 010101 »

I didn't blindly delete the logs. I have copies, for which I will review.

For some reason you must think I'm an idiot. :?

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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#20 Post by Loci.Cantos »

I think maybe the "/var was at 100% usage" that you cited may have been your disk problem, if the disk itself is not full. This can happen pretty fast actually, if you don't clean it after updates and upgrades.

When I update/upgrade my system I usually run this sequence (every time):

sudo apt update
then
sudo apt upgrade
then
sudo apt autoremove
then
sudo apt autoclean

I'm not sure these are all necessary -but this sequence certainly keeps that /var full error from appearing.

I can't speak to the GUI session issue beyond what posted a couple of days back.

Glad to hear you found joy with your system once again. Cheers!

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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#21 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

Loci.Cantos wrote:I'm not sure these are all necessary
The autoremove command might cause some issues if you don't pay attention to the output. See http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=104157 for more on this.
deadbang

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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#22 Post by Loci.Cantos »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:The autoremove command might cause some issues if you don't pay attention to the output. See http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=104157 for more on this.
This is a good heads-up HoaS. Thanks for the tip.

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Re: Can't Boot Into OS. A Very Stange Thing Has Happen!

#23 Post by 010101 »

I think maybe the "/var was at 100% usage" that you cited may have been your disk problem, if the disk itself is not full. This can happen pretty fast actually, if you don't clean it after updates and upgrades.

When I update/upgrade my system I usually run this sequence (every time):

sudo apt update
then
sudo apt upgrade
then
sudo apt autoremove
then
sudo apt autoclean

I'm not sure these are all necessary -but this sequence certainly keeps that /var full error from appearing.

I can't speak to the GUI session issue beyond what posted a couple of days back.

Glad to hear you found joy with your system once again. Cheers!
Thanx. This is sound advise. From hence forth, I will pay more attention to my disk usage. Perhaps when I do a distro upgrade, I will consider giving my partitions a little more space. although that would simply delay the inevitable.

As for the autoremove command, I'm bit hesitant to use it. The last time (several years have past since) the action went horribly wrong. For some reason I lost all use of my packages. I guess it Head On A Stick had a good point, one to take seriously.

I want to take the time again to thank all for the help.

FYI: It seems that the problem was with the x11.

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