[SOLVED] Sid kde can't boot at all after last update

[quixote]

After the last update, when I restarted the system, it went to a graphical login but the resolution was wrong (more like 1080 x 700 instead of 1440 x 900) and the keyboard was totally unresponsive. (Even the capslock key does not make the caps-lock-on indicator light appear.)

So I tried booting into recovery mode and that gives me the message that the root account is locked and to look up the man page for sulogin. Did that, tried what it said, accomplished nothing. So I searched around and found info about removing ! from root line in /etc/ passwd and /etc/shadow. Still the same problem on reboot.

(I'm able to access the files because I have Jessie on another partition and can mount my Sid partition from there.)

So I'm completely stuck. I don't see a lot of other people with this problem post-update. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad x201s with intel graphics.

[stevepusser]

Oh, Sid, you mischievous kid!

Just reinstall from your last backup.

[quixote]

Ayup. Nice of you to keep it on your drive for me. Just send it along as an attachment when convenient.

(In reality? I just got back from 4 months overseas. Turned my server off while away. Figured now was a good time time to tweak my system before school starts. Made two weeks worth of customizations before it blew up. At which point I realized I hadn't turned my server back on. As they say, crap happens. So I was hoping for some useful input that would prevent me from having to do two weeks worth of work over again when I no longer have two weeks.)

[sunrat]

I've been using sid-based distros (currently siduction Plasma 5) for years and would never do an upgrade without making a full backup first. I think it's only been needed to restore twice. See my sig.
Sid has been through tumultuous changes recently. Perl transition, Qt transition, Python transition, Plasma 5.10. It's pretty scary and I've avoided upgrading for a few weeks but will attempt today (after making a backup) as only 1 package shows to be removed.
siduction forum has an Upgrade Warnings thread which helps to avoid disasters.
I don't know how to fix your issue but wish you luck.

[quixote]

Thanks for the good wishes, sunrat :/ . Seems like there have to be ways around a locked root account and/or graphics issues. There *have* to be, right?

OT, but I suddenly realized by "stevepusser" rings a bell: you've given us that very convenient palemoon repository. Many thanks from a user!

[pendrachken]

Thanks for the good wishes, sunrat :/ . Seems like there have to be ways around a locked root account and/or graphics issues. There *have* to be, right?

OT, but I suddenly realized by "stevepusser" rings a bell: you've given us that very convenient palemoon repository. Many thanks from a user!

Boot with init=/bin/bash on the kernel boot line in grub,

then once in, remount the disk/s with

Code: Select all

mount -ao remount,rw 

Keep in mind you will have NO services brought up, as this bypasses the init process completely. Doesn't matter if if it SystemD or any other init in use, it won't be run... the kernel will just start a bash session from your root FS. You will have to bring up services ( like networking ETC ) if you need them manually.

[quixote]

That got me into the system and ... I'm an idiot. (Yeah. I know stevepusser knew that.) Anyway, what I found out is that I'd filled up the partition.

:redface: :BIG redface:

So, not a problem with sid at all. What with all my tweaks, the upgrade was just the last thing that got the partition to 100% full. Christ on a pogo stick. Haven't made that mistake in years.

Anyway. Off to see what I can delete and then I'll come back to tell you how it all came out in the end.

[quixote]

It turned out to be more than just an out-of-space problem. When I created the partition, I managed to give it the same UUID as another partition on the drive. [Long story of confusion....] I fixed the UUID problem, but getting grub to work just turned into a time sink. So I reinstalled.

Everything, including Sid, now working fine. It was never Sid's fault. I owe Sid an apology.

(Also, I've run out of space to put "SOLVED" in the subject line. Changing the subject line seems like a bad idea. Is there a good way to handle that?)

[stevepusser]

Just remove the last three words, since the kernel had nothing to do with it.

[pylkko]

I'm pretty sure that you don't need to use Sid, so you could save a lot of time switching.

The Sid machine that I have, I run on btrfs so that I can roll back a snap shot in case Sid brakes something. I would never consider using Sid without back ups. The thing is, breakage does not come evenly. Sometimes you might have essentially no breakage on your particular set up for months, and then suddenly everything might brake.

[quixote]

Thanks Steve. That's another "D'Oh!" sort of thing....

pylkko, I didn't know that btrfs allowed for rollbacks. I'll have to read up on it.