Hi i've just recently installed ubuntu 8.10 on compaq cq40

after installing some updates using package manager last night, today's boot does not get past this error message. I am completely green when it comes to Ubuntu and Linux in general ! If someone would be kind to please give advice ( not just sympathy hahaha) for this error . i have found (using Google) one thread containing this error message and tried doing some of the soulutions posted , but nothing has worked so far .
please let me know if you need any further info or text relayed .

Well, I've had a similar issue, but not with ubuntu, might be the same type of error though....if you try to run (from a live-cd, since you cannot boot)

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/
ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/

What do you get? My error was that the naming scheme for the partitions changed, so I had to change the last bit of the ID in fstab to make it match what the system reported in /dev/disk/

You could also try to edit the fstab on your harddisk from the livecd to match the ID's from /dev/disk/by-id or /dev/disk/by-uuid, and reboot.

As a last resort, you could just change the device names to for instance /dev/hda1 (IDE) /dev/sda1 (SCSI/SATA) or whatever your drives are reported as, just to get it to boot. Than you could correct the fstab with the ID's your system shows you, once you have the system up and running.

If you have no success, please post the output of;

cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
ls -l /dev/disk/by-id
ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid

This will make it easier to help you further.

loaded the cd now . do i need to start in a different mode or just let it run ?

Which cd are you using? As long as you get into a shell somehow, it should not matter. (As long as you are not using an automated install cd

hello R. K
this is what i get after enter ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid
total 0
lrwxrwxwx 1 root root (date time) 4446-EBF6 ->../../sda1
lrwxrwxwx 1 root root (date time) ba9######## -> ../../sda5
lrwxrwxwx 1 root root (date time) cea13a34-##### ->../../sda6

do i need to make any changes ..and .. if so how please
you wrote : "You could also try to edit the fstab on your harddisk from the livecd to match the ID's from /dev/disk/by-id or /dev/disk/by-uuid, and reboot." can i change anything in terminal when it's ubuntu@ubuntu ?

hmm only cd i have is the install cd .. sounds like i could be helpless now ..??
oh crap

when i prompt sudo blkid i get
/dev/sda1:UUID="4446-ebf6" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sda5: UUID="ba9ell#####" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: UUID="cea13a33######" TYPE="swap"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"

i dont know if this means anything because i've loaded the install cd .. but what would the "swap" mean ?

Well, if you have not installed anything yet, you should still be ok. ubuntu@ubuntu should also be ok, you can probably do a "sudo su" if you need root access.

Then the next step would be to mount your root drive like this:

mkdir /mnt/sysroot (make a folder to mount the drive in)
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysroot (guessing your first partition is your root partition)
ls /mnt/sysroot/etc | grep fstab (check if you mounted the correct drive, if not, unmount it with "umount /dev/sda1" and try with sda5/6)

When you find your fstab, edit it with your editor of choice (vim/nano/etc) like this:

vim /mnt/sysroot/etc/fstab

and replace the UUID's with what you got in post #5 or just use /dev/sdaX in stead.

I'll hang around here for a while if you run into trouble..

Ah. This means that the drive /dev/sda6 is your swap drive. It also means that where I wrote /dev/sda1 in my last post, you should use /dev/sda5 in stead.

Do you have Windows dualboot? Why is your first harddrive vfat?

PS. A swap drive is a partition you define to "extend" your memory, if your machine runs out of RAM it will put some of the information from RAM to this drive to free up space, and retrieve it when the system needs it.

firstly , thank you so much for replying to me and so quickly , i feel so lost in the woods here ..
the only things i have installed after ubuntu 8.10 edition is java and a online game puzzle pirates. so if your recommending me to just re install ubuntu i guess i could do that .

i don't know why my hard drive is vfat ..? is this bad ? again clueless
no i don't have windows dual boot , just bought this laptop free dos and installed ubuntu

if i try what you've wrote in post #8
mkdir /mnt/sysroot (make a folder to mount the drive in) do you mean type a name for folder where these brackets are ?

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysroot (guessing your first partition is your root partition)


so jsut tell me (again) where should i start now
thanks again

No problem, we've all been lost in the woods sometimes... Press the "Thumbs Up" button on my posts if they help you..

What I would do is (in this order)

1. Boot from the install cd
2. Get to the shell (Where it says ubuntu@ubuntu)
3. Run "sudo su"
3. Run "mkdir /mnt/sysroot"
4. Run "mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/sysroot"
5. Check the contents of the drive for the fstab file running "ls -l /mnt/sysroot/etc | grep fstab"
6. If you see a listing for the fstab file after running the previous command, edit the file:
7. nano /mnt/sysroot/etc/fstab
8. Replace your UUID's with general disk names.

/ drive = /dev/sda5
swap drive = /dev/sda6

(Ctrl-O to save, Ctrl-X to quit)

9. Reboot without the cd

Why you have a FAT partition I don't know, but I do not thing you have installed Ubuntu on it, if you have, a reinstall would be in order. But first, if what I've written above does not help, please post your fstab file from your harddrive, and I can tell you how to edit it.

o k im upto your step of replace uuid's with general disk names ..
am lost as to where im changing this
i do see # /dev/sda5
UUID=bae####blah blah / ext 3
# /dev/sda6
UUID=ceal blah blah none swap

do you mean type in /drive where the text /dev/sda6 reads or where the text UUID= blah blah reads ??
not making this change till i hear back from you ..

You should be able to just change it like this: (The lines with #'s in front of them are comments, and can safely be ignored)

Original:

# /dev/sda5
UUID=bae####blah blah / ext 3
# /dev/sda6
UUID=ceal blah blah none swap

Changed:

# /dev/sda5
/dev/sda5 / ext 3
# /dev/sda6
/dev/sda6 none swap

ok i did this , with only one space in between / and ext 3 and between sda6 none
i typed <ctrl> o and now it shows file name to write : /mnt/sysroot/etc/fstab

do i press enter here ?
if yes then it says wrote 9 lines
am i exiting now and re booting .. i can;t wait to see if this has worked .. fingers crossed Retrievil !