How Upgrade Linux Mint for First Time in Years

[Condobloke]

Ubuntu with Linux 4.15.0-20-generic

Select that

 

[js10]

Just did. Something briefly popped up with the word "ramdisk" and then a few seconds later something with the word "login" so I was hopeful for another moment, but now it's just back to that black screen.

 

[Condobloke]

@brickwizard ....any clues ?

 

[Condobloke]

reboot again

 

[js10]

It's almost 1:00 AM here now. It looks like Brickwizard hasn't been online for about a half hour, so I might have to wait until tomorrow when more people are online. I know I was warned, but it's just hard to believe that simply updating a system could have this devastating effect.

Maybe one more thing I should mention. Shortly before I walked away, I did see some message about trying to recover from some kind of error -- I actually took a screenshot of it but of course that's a moot point now. But at that point, the system still seemed to be operational. I thought that maybe the update would just fail but that everything would remain in tact.

 

[js10]

reboot again

Sorry, just saw this. And do it the "normal" way or with one of the new options?

 

[js10]

Hey, here's one more interesting thing. For whatever it's worth, and it may very well be nothing, but I still have access to the terminal. I got there by crtl + alt + F1, one of the few tricks I know. I think I better get to sleep now so I at least have some energy to deal with this tomorrow.

 

[Condobloke]

select the same as before....Ubuntu 4.15 etc

 

[js10]

Same exact thing. Once again, though, I still can get to the terminal. By the way, the menu option that I chose to get to those two options was "Advanced Options for Ubuntu," in case that tells you anything.

I really have to call it quits for the day. Seriously, I don't think it will help my cause here if I'm nonfunctional tomorrow. Will for the most part be available again tomorrow afternoon my time.

 

[Condobloke]

@brickwizard

@Lord Boltar

@f33dm3bits

@wizardfromoz

@stan

 

[Brickwizard]

any clues ?

@Condobloke as you are aware I do not have windows myself
so for the newbie ,my first instinct, would be completely switch off windows [ on a laptop w10 never switches off but goes into a form of sleep mode called fast boot]
then switch on the power whilst holding the shift key down [this should enter the grub menu pre installation
you will then normally get 3 to 6 options [depending on what OS's are loaded]
again depending on the system one of the options will say something like.. advanced options for Ubuntu [or mint]or it may say Linux 5.10.0 advanced options, [the important bit is the advanced options]
select this and the next menu will give you more options choose the recovery or repair option and let it run in 80% of cases this should fix the problem
as it has previously worked , if you cant get it to auto repair then I would think seriously starting again
Addendum
if you start again you will normally get a new option use this

Bwiz

 

[Brickwizard]

It looks like Brickwizard hasn't been online for about a half hour,

that's because old wizards need to sleep, I usually close down at 23-00 GMT and return between 05-30 & 07-00 GMT
our members are scattered across all continents and time zones, so please keep the faith and have a little patients

 

[wizardfromoz]

I'm off to tea in a minute, and not back for 15 hours, after which I will look in.

Sounds to me like a job for chrooting and rebuilding grub, using a Live linux USB stick, but I'll look further tomorrow.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[Lord Boltar]

when you get to the terminal by ctrl+alt+F1 can you type in

startx

and see what happens

 

[stan]

As for reinstalling, yeah, I'm at least starting to come to terms with that reality, although it might take a few more crashes to really force me to act.

After 3 years without updates and various problems now, my vote is to reinstall before more crashes/problems cause further grief and waste more time/energy. I think you're putting off the inevitable.

A full reinstall (assisted in a new thread) would likely be finished in about 30 minutes or less... not including the time to walk you through it, if needed, and the time to backup any data you want to keep. A full reinstall would be much faster if you would also be willing to erase your Windows and use Linux on the entire hard drive... because you would not have to be so carefully guided to preserve Windows. Previous posts indicate the computer is getting pretty old, and I'd suspect that you upgraded it to Windows 10, and it probably doesn't run very well either.

This post indicates you need to use swap space because you only have 2GB of RAM. Running out of RAM and swap space may be the cause of the freezes. You do have a 64-bit CPU, so a 64-bit Linux would be preferred, but I think Linux Mint is not a very good choice unless you upgrade RAM to at least 4GB (which is what Linux Mint themselves say here.) If you can't (or won't) upgrade the RAM, I'd recommend trying several distros that are lighter than Mint, such as Lubuntu, Zorin Lite, Linux Lite, antiX (and others)... though some of these may also be sluggish with only 2GB. A new thread would also be good if you need further help/advice on upgrading your RAM.

If it's within your means, this might be a good time to consider upgrading to a whole new computer too. If you want or need Windows, you could get Win 10 or Win 11 with more horsepower to run better. And your older computer could be dedicated to Linux only... it should really run pretty well if you upgrade to 4GB. With the holidays coming, there are a lot of decent deals... I just ordered one myself, my first since 2009. But not all new computers will run Linux well... so dual-booting a new system may not be as good of an idea as you might think. And Windows (updates) is getting worse about taking over the bootloader and preventing Linux from starting when dual-booting. The challenges never end.

 

[Lord Boltar]

Also what is the make and model of your machine - looking at the previous posts I do not see your computer info

inxi -Fxz

I am leaning toward what Stan said in #92 maybe time for a reinstall

 

[js10]

Am back now. Okay, I understand the arguments about reinstalling (although that's what I was hoping this update process would help me avoid). But right now that's a moot point, isn't it, considering its current condition? That is, right now the ONLY thing I care about is at least getting back to where I was and then going from there. So, along those lines, if there is one thing I should do now to attempt a recovery, what would it be? Will start a separate thread for this if you think it would be helpful, as now, unfortunately, I'm way beyond just dealing with freezes (in fact, it's almost like I miss the freezes now!).

PS. Would it be the StartX thing?

 

[Brickwizard]

good evening, did you read my post #88 above ?

 

[Lord Boltar]

Am back now. Okay, I understand the arguments about reinstalling (although that's what I was hoping this update process would help me avoid). But right now that's a moot point, isn't it, considering its current condition? That is, right now the ONLY thing I care about is at least getting back to where I was and then going from there. So, along those lines, if there is one thing I should do now to attempt a recovery, what would it be? Will start a separate thread for this if you think it would be helpful, as now, unfortunately, I'm way beyond just dealing with freezes (in fact, it's almost like I miss the freezes now!).

PS. Would it be the StartX thing?

startx basically runs an Xserver (the graphical "driver") and a command which run on it, which is typically a window manager. By default the commands that are run are in ~/.xinitrc file in your home directory, or some generic system file otherwise.starts

 

[js10]

when you get to the terminal by ctrl+alt+F1 can you type in

startx

and see what happens

Okay, here's what happens. I was able to boot! That's the (very) good news. Now, the bad news is that this new version (clearly some updates DID take place) is a mess. The configuration is very awkward and it seems very buggy. I almost don't know where to begin in terms of the problems, but that's clearly the subject for a new thread, which will start shortly. In fact, one thing I will have to decide is whether to start a separate thread for each problem or try to knock if several in one..

Also, by the way, I noticed the little blue shield icon or whatever it is, and when I click on it, it still lists many updates. I thought that that's what it just did? Naturally I'm a bit skittish about trying this process AGAIN. It's like it's gotten to the point in which I willing to accept some "badness" out of fear that any attempt to improve things will just make them worse.