System won't boot after update. SOLVED

[Snapshot]

just to be clear, you have reinstalled and you are having the same problem you have in your previous install?

i asked for the output of your newly installed system.

after a fresh install, why would an update fail on you and not on anybody else? do you have a unique setup? a unique system spec?

what does it the update say when it fails?

try to update from the terminal and see what msgs you will get if any, you can do that by running these commands

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

You are correct that I experienced the exact same problem with a fresh install.  I opened a console and entered apt-get update then apt-get dist-upgrade which gave me "command not found" so I dropped the dist and simply used upgrade which worked.  Once I rebooted I encountered the same messages which I posted a short time ago.  At that point I went back and used my backup dvd to reinstall PCLOS from which I'm working now.  In retrospect it appears that apt-get dist-upgrade may have been mistyped because while writing this reply I copied and pasted it into a console after apt-get update and it worked.  I didn't use the syslog you refer to due to not having access to it.  Do you want me to copy and send it after updating and before rebooting?  That I can/will do.  Finally, no, my system isn't unique in any way.  I have a AMD 64 bit processor and Western Digital hard drives using 4GB onboard ram with a nVidia GForce 9400 video card.  There is nothing unique or different about this configuration nor do I have any applications installed outside the repo except for Epkowa Epson scanner drivers which aren't in the repository.

[muungwana]

This is pclinuxos, you were not supposed to use "apt-get upgrade" under any circumstance. You had problems after you update using this command and you really should not complain because of it.

Did you use the same command on the update of your first install? The one that failed to work and you had to reinstall?

[Snapshot]

This is pclinuxos, you were not supposed to use "apt-get upgrade" under any circumstance. You had problems after you update using this command and you really should not complain because of it.

Did you use the same command on the update of your first install? The one that failed to work and you had to reinstall?

As I explained, I got a command not found using your dist-upgrade and thought it was a typo so I used upgrade alone.  Now I've gone back with this install and dist-upgrade works fine and is still updating.  Usually I copy and paste long commands but figured this was short and easy so I typed it in instead of copy and paste.  That has now been corrected.

[muungwana]

Hope the update will go well 

Your problem is one of those problems that happen to rare people and are difficult to troubleshoot and the default blame is put on user error or faulty hardware.

[wharfhouse]

muungwana, Snapshot, Tex & all,

I think we have a problem... mine's just done the same (I'm on Zen Mini).  I've been upgrading regularly without no problem except this time (apart from when I tried a kernel upgrade which went wrong  ), and yes I too have to express my utter disappointment.  In my case I get the black screen of death after Grub, after the usual scrolling text... no log-in screen or anything.

I too tried your advice muungwana about pressing F2 at the boot screen...

1. Press e. You will then see two lines of text.
2. Press e again. Your cursor will then be at the end of the first line. Press the space bar once, then enter the number 3.
3. Press [Return].
4. Press b to boot.

You will boot up into runlevel 3, without a GUI. At the login prompt, login as root. Then enter:

..never got to run level 3, just the BSOD.

And by the way, this is XP (how I hate XP ) on another partition on the same hard disk, so no probs with the hardware.

I have to say I really thought I found the distro and quite the finest out of the many I experimented with and I really thought I'd come to the point of completely ditching Windows, but I can't have this, even if we fix it this time, where's the confidence that at some point in the future after an upgrade as we're supposed to do to keep everything running "sweet" that the same thing is going to happen again with potentially disastrous results when you're completely reliant on PCLinuxOS being the only installed OS?

[Snapshot]

Hope the update will go well  

Your problem is one of those problems that happen to rare people and are difficult to troubleshoot and the default blame is put on user error or faulty hardware.

Current status is partial success.  I encountered similar if not the same errors rebooting and ended up in the same limited shell (single user mode) with the following:
Telling INIT to go to single user mode
INIT: going to single user mode
Sh-4.1# login: snapshot
Password:
Last login:
gpg: WARNING: unsafe permissions on configuration file `/home/snapshot/.gnupg/gpg.conf
gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions in configuration file 'home/snapshot/.gnupg/gpg.conf

I went to root mode then typed startx which finally presented me with the splash screen in root mode.  Then I tried to switch user accounts but no go.  I was prompted to enter my root password to unlock the account.  After establishing a new user account I tried switching users again but still no go.  As of now I'm still in root mode.  While I seem to have made a bit of progress, I'm not where I need or want to be.  What now?  Thanks for your patience and understanding along with your offer to help.

Bob

[smileeb]

Snapshot, after the startx and you are in the root mode desktop click on synaptic
and click on and load the 2.6.38.8 pclos1.bfs reboot and restart your computer
with that kernel.

[Snapshot]

I'll give it a try.

[Old-Polack]

Hope the update will go well  

Your problem is one of those problems that happen to rare people and are difficult to troubleshoot and the default blame is put on user error or faulty hardware.

Current status is partial success.  I encountered similar if not the same errors rebooting and ended up in the same limited shell (single user mode) with the following:
Telling INIT to go to single user mode
INIT: going to single user mode
Sh-4.1# login: snapshot
Password:
Last login:
gpg: WARNING: unsafe permissions on configuration file `/home/snapshot/.gnupg/gpg.conf
gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions in configuration file 'home/snapshot/.gnupg/gpg.conf

I went to root mode then typed startx which finally presented me with the splash screen in root mode.  Then I tried to switch user accounts but no go.  I was prompted to enter my root password to unlock the account.  After establishing a new user account I tried switching users again but still no go.  As of now I'm still in root mode.  While I seem to have made a bit of progress, I'm not where I need or want to be.  What now?  Thanks for your patience and understanding along with your offer to help.

Bob

While in the root login, open a terminal and enter this command;

[root@localhost ~]# chmod -R 700 /home/snapshot                      <Enter>

This should remove all the group writable errors.

[muungwana]

Single user mode means only root user can log in and the system is at its basic level.

You will be dropped to this level on system boot up when something serious happen and something can not be read or written to when the system starts.

It looks like there is an update that does not like your hardware

[Snapshot]

I ran OP's command, installed 2.6.38.8- PCLOS1 kernel and rebooted.  Would you believe SUCCESS?!  Yes, it booted without a single error or hiccup. From the looks of it everything is restored without errors.  Thank you all for the help.  @Old Polack, this time I didn't do the breaking; not my fault.   I know that there are others who are having the same problem so I won't mark this thread solved until everyone has gotten their system restored.

Bob

[muungwana]

can you now reboot to the old kernel and see if you will get the same error?

My limited understanding of the boot up process say the file system will first be mounted in RAM initially and then it switches to the one on the hard drive and a system is dropped to single user mode if this switch is un successful most of the time due to a faulty file system.

Wrong permissions on a user home directory is something that would have been noticed past run level 3, not when the system is about to enter or is at run level one.

The only explanation i can see if the new kernel, something in the update doesnt work with the old kernel but why are you the only one who got this? why permissions were wrong on your freshly installed system and not everybody else?

[Old-Polack]

I ran OP's command, installed 2.6.38.8- PCLOS1 kernel and rebooted.  Would you believe SUCCESS?!  Yes, it booted without a single error or hiccup. From the looks of it everything is restored without errors.  Thank you all for the help.  @Old Polack, this time I didn't do the breaking; not my fault.   I know that there are others who are having the same problem so I won't mark this thread solved until everyone has gotten their system restored.

Bob

It could have been the need for the new kernel, or it could have been totally screwed up permissions that borked things. Whenever I see any permission errors in my $HOME directory, I run that command to fix all the permissions in all the sub directories, just to be sure. It usually works, on its own, to clear things up, but you've also had lots of upgrades, and any one might have required a newer kernel than the one you had.

With 4 GB RAM you might want to install this kernel. Works great here.

[root@fatman ~]# uname -r
2.6.38.8-pclos1.pae.bfs

[Snapshot]

can you now reboot to the old kernel and see if you will get the same error?

My limited understanding of the boot up process say the file system will first be mounted in RAM initially and then it switches to the one on the hard drive and a system is dropped to single user mode if this switch is un successful most of the time due to a faulty file system.

Wrong permissions on a user home directory is something that would have been noticed past run level 3, not when the system is about to enter or is at run level one.

The only explanation i can see if the new kernel, something in the update doesnt work with the old kernel but why are you the only one who got this? why permissions were wrong on your freshly installed system and not everybody else?

I'm not sure if but I'll try then post back.  I can't explain why this happened.  Obviously if I understood the idiosyncrasies I wouldn't have posted this thread to start with.  That, I'm sure, is a rhetorical question.  I'm not sure I'm the only one with problems after the update since there is another member on this thread whose system is trashed.  Thankfully I had a backup live dvd with my settings on it and didn't lose anything except a bit of hair that I pulled out trying to make this thing work and some time.  I'm relieved that this problem is solved and express my sincere thanks to you and others who have helped me.

[Snapshot]

I tried 3 different kernels and it booted every time so whatever caused the problem isn't there any longer.  I'm currently using the pae kernel and all is well.