ubuntu wont start after applying patches

[unix1adm]

I just loaded ubuntu 9.10 on my laptop. Toshiba it loaded fine. So I ran update on the system and it updated to teh 9.20 kernel (dont remember act numbers)

But now it wont reboot.

I get udevadm trigger is not permitted while udev is inconfigured
udev settle is not permitted while udev is unconfigured
svgalib: Cannot open /dev/mem
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
-Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Check root= (did the system wait long enought for device?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/e1768deb-95e0-44bd-96b0-b725c73d42af does not exist. Dropping to a shell

Busy box v.1.13.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.1.13.3-1ubuntu7) built in shell (ash)
Enter help for a list of built-in commands
(initranfs)

edit:

Kernel 2.6.31-20-generic.

It had
kernel 2.6.31-14-generic

I was able to boot back into the old kernel.. so whats happening? why wont the upgraded kernel work?

[Rubberman]

I don't know why the update failed, but you should be able to boot the previous kernel and see what happened to fix it. Unbuntu as well as most Linux systems keep the last couple of kernels around, accessible via the grub boot menu (press any key before the count-down timer expires).

[unix1adm]

I don't know why the update failed, but you should be able to boot the previous kernel and see what happened to fix it. Unbuntu as well as most Linux systems keep the last couple of kernels around, accessible via the grub boot menu (press any key before the count-down timer expires).

For some reason i cannot quick reply...

But yes see my last statement...

"I was able to boot back into the old kernel.. so whats happening? why wont the upgraded kernel work?"

What do I need to look at to see why the kernel wont boot?

[Leppie]

what sizes are the drive and the partition?

[impert]

[QUOTE
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/e1768deb-95e0-44bd-96b0-b725c73d42af does not exist. Dropping to a shell

I was able to boot back into the old kernel.. so whats happening? why wont the upgraded kernel work?[/QUOTE]

It's a little odd that you're getting the "device does not exist" message and yet you're able to boot into the old kernel.

Have a look at your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (if you use "legacy" Grub ie v.0.97 or so); or, if you use Grub 2 (1.96 or 1.97) look in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Make sure that the UUID shown corresponds to the partition you're trying to boot (sudo blkid will give you the UUIDs for all your partitions).

Try running update-grub - though this should happen automagically with the kernel update.
You can also replace the

/dev/disk/by-uuid/tra-lala

by /dev/sda5 (or whatever your partition is).

[Rubberman]

ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/e1768deb-95e0-44bd-96b0-b725c73d42af does not exist. Dropping to a shell

I was able to boot back into the old kernel.. so whats happening? why wont the upgraded kernel work?

It's a little odd that you're getting the "device does not exist" message and yet you're able to boot into the old kernel.

Have a look at your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (if you use "legacy" Grub ie v.0.97 or so); or, if you use Grub 2 (1.96 or 1.97) look in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Make sure that the UUID shown corresponds to the partition you're trying to boot (sudo blkid will give you the UUIDs for all your partitions).

Try running update-grub - though this should happen automagically with the kernel update.
You can also replace the by /dev/sda5 (or whatever your partition is).

Although the drive UUID's should not change, it is possible. Also, don't use /dev/sda1, etc in /etc/fstab since they are likely to get renamed/renumbered. Preferable is to name the partitions and use LABEL=name in /etc/fstab. Example:

LABEL=/                 /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
LABEL=/boot1            /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=SWAP-sda2         swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

You can use the command /sbin/tune2fs -L name /dev/sdaN to relabel ext2/ext3 file systems. So, boot under the old kernel, relabel the file systems, edit /etc/fstab to use labels, and then try to boot the new kernel.

Example to relabel your basic file systems on boot drive, assuming /dev/sda1 is /boot, /dev/sda2 is swap, and /dev/sda3 is / - use the command fdisk -l /dev/sda to see your configuration:

sudo /sbin/tune2fs -L /boot1 /dev/sda1
sudo /sbin/tune2fs -L / /dev/sda3
sudo mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2

[impert]

don't use /dev/sda1, etc in /etc/fstab since they are likely to get renamed/renumbered.

Well, yes, but:

Although the drive UUID's should not change, it is possible.

And ever since it happened to me, I can't see the point of using UUIDs at all.

Preferable is to name the partitions and use LABEL=name in /etc/fstab

Yes, I use labels. But if you are multibooting, labels such as / or /boot are not helpful. Personally, I use SDA1, SDA2 etc, so I know exactly which device they point to without having to run any commands, too. I don't know whether labels are more stable than UUIDs, but if they are no worse, then there's a case for suggesting that partitions be automatically labelled by default SDA1 or sda1 etc. Or even "dev/sda1" etc, which brings us round full circle.
But this is getting us away from the OP's problem, which appears to be that there's a line in his grub.cfg or menu.lst which has the wrong UUID

[unix1adm]

thank you. I will hopefuly give this a try tonight and post back later.

[unix1adm]

sudo update-grub did not do much.

so i ran these commands and it told me the file did not exist.

file /dev/disk/by-uuid/e1768deb-95e0-44bd-96b0-b725c73d42af

I ran the update command and it told me there was an issue some of the openoffice sw and some other stuff.

sudo apt-get reinstall linux-image-2.6.31-20-generic gave an error..

The process told me to run this command....
sudo dpkg --configure -a

Once I did that I ran the update kernel command listed above and it said not needed or some such message.

I rebooted and things are working now.

So the problem looks like it was with openoffice and some java sw.
Sorry i dont have the actual errors I did not think to save them before the reboot.

Hope this helps someone else if they run into it.

[unix1adm]

apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-2.6.31-20-generic

this works now to see if it resolves my issue