[SOLVED] Unable to boot to desktop

Linux Support
1

I have just rebooted my computer* and all seemed well until just after the splash screen, when I got this…

BusyBox v1.22.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.22.0-15ubuntu1) built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) _ <— flashing cursor

I have already tried boot repair disk and then rebooted and it booted to the same state as above.

  • Just before shut-down of the system to reboot, a couple of warnings popped up telling me that it was unable to write to disk, probably something to do with writing the state of the system to disk!
2

Just tried booting to a previous kernel and still the same problem…

3

Have you got a LiveUSB ?
(really you should always have one of these)

If so, boot to it, and post the output from:

df -h

and

mount

and

sudo fdisk -l
4

I have, you’ve probably forgot you helped me install Multiboot (I think it was written by someone French).
Well, I’ve got the boot repair, gparted and multiple os’es and lots of other stuff.

If so, boot to it, and post the output from:
df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev 16G 4.0K 16G 1% /dev
tmpfs 3.2G 1.6M 3.2G 1% /run
/dev/sdi1 117G 38G 80G 33% /isodevice
/dev/loop0 1.1G 1.1G 0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop1 1.1G 1.1G 0 100% /rofs
/cow 16G 342M 16G 3% /
none 4.0K 0 4.0K 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 16G 12K 16G 1% /tmp
none 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
none 16G 76K 16G 1% /run/shm
none 100M 20K 100M 1% /run/user

mount

/cow on / type overlay (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
/dev/sdi1 on /isodevice type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/loop0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop1 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=104857600,mode=0755)
none on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw)
systemd on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,none,name=systemd)

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007593a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 234438655 117218304 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd1567197

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 3907028991 1953513472 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0009b408

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 2048 3907028991 1953513472 83 Linux

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdd’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sdd: 8001.6 GB, 8001563221504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 972801 cylinders, total 15628053167 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 33553920 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a9c01c5

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 1 4294967295 2147483647+ ee GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdg’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)

Disk /dev/sdg: 3000.6 GB, 3000592982016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 45600 cylinders, total 732566646 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdg1 1 732566645 2930266580 ee GPT

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on ‘/dev/sdh’! The util fdisk doesn’t support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sdh: 8001.6 GB, 8001563221504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 972801 cylinders, total 15628053167 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 33553920 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdh1 1 4294967295 2147483647+ ee GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/sdi: 125.1 GB, 125061562368 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15204 cylinders, total 244260864 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe921f7a6

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdi1 * 1953 244260863 122129455+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

5

Good god, a million drives…

Which partition and drive contains your OS ?

6

The boot device is sda , the 120gb drive

7

There’s a few not connected, I’ve got 6 external HD’s in total.
2 * 3Tb
2 * 4Tb
2 * 8Tb

2 * 2Tb internal
1 * 120Gb boot drive

8

Managed to fix the problem.
I Googled ‘ubuntu has booted to busybox’ and viewed a few results and found the command to fix the error…

While still in ‘Busybox’, I typed the command below

fsck /dev/sda1

NOTE: Change the sda1 to where ever you have your OS installed.

9

Great stuff, glad a file system check fixed the issue :slight_smile:

10

It looks like it’s a common problem.