Linux Mint 19.1 Stuck At Log In [SOLVED]

[Alexzee]

My best mate and I tried out Linuxfx 10.5 (Windows 10) without installing it on his Toshibia laptop.

After rebooting the laptop and booting into Linux Mint 19.1 my friend put's in his password at log in the screen goes black and takes him back to log in again. If he tries to log in again it does the same thing. So..... it's stuck in a loop.

How do I fix it so my friend can log in again?

 

[Condobloke]

This will be grub related.....but have you tried rebooting a few times?

(and make sure the usb with windowsfx on it has been pulled out)

if that fails....

How to Repair, Restore, or Reinstall Grub 2 with a Ubuntu Live CD or USB · How to Ubuntu

Grub 2 typically gets overridden when you install Windows or another Operating System. To make Ubuntu control the boot process, you need Reinstall (Repair/Restore) Grub using a Ubuntu Live CD.

howtoubuntu.org

 

[Alexzee]

Yes, i tried restarting twice.

Instead of using the Live Linux Mint CD can I go through recovery mode and reinstall Grub to /dev/sda?

This is a dual boot on this laptop.
Elementary OS 5.1 Hara is on /dev/sda3 and Mint 19.1 is on /dev/sda1.
Elementary has the boot in Grub so I would re-install Grub to Mint's /dev/sda1 right?

 

[Condobloke]

I think so....give it a try

It will either work or it wont

Is there any important info on the PC ?....does he have a backup ?......Does he have Timeshift installed and operating ?...if he does you can use a live cd, access Timeshift....and restore the whole thing from there.....

 

[Alexzee]

I think so....give it a try

It will either work or it wont

Is there any important info on the PC ?....does he have a backup ?......Does he have Timeshift installed and operating ?...if he does you can use a live cd, access Timeshift....and restore the whole thing from there.....

Yeah, he has a backup of everything and he used Timeshift the last time he updated Mint last week.

 

[Condobloke]

Timeshift will do the trick

Boot the pc from any live cd or usb....go to Timeshift (install it if you have to, probably from Software Manager)...or
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install timeshift

then go to 'Settings'...the type will be rsync....then to Location...t;shift will probably already have found the location of the snapshots....click on the location......then go back to RESTORE...select a snapshot to restore.....click on ok...next etc.....go have coffee.......5 minutes or so depending on the size of the snapshot

 

[Alexzee]

Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Elementary has the boot in Grub so I would re-install Grub to Mint's /dev/sda1 right?

No need to Alex - if you are dual- or multi-booting Linux, you need only install/reinstall Grub to the drive, that is /dev/sda.

Timeshift is your first port of call, and we'll wait to hear how that goes.

If it fails for some reason, to remedy the situation, you can use that method I described elsewhere, of going into Advanced Options for Mint, enter Recovery, drop to a Shell and assume Root, and then run

grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub
reboot

Cheers

Wiz

 

[Alexzee]

I tried booting the Linux Mint 19.1 Live CD and it wouldn't boot.
All it did was hang restart and hang some more.
I tried shutting down the laptop with the Live Mint CD in place and rebooted.
The Mint CD still continued to hang:-

I than tried booting with the Elementary OS Live CD and that booted.
Following the instructions on the page to the link you posted in post #2 to the 'T' I went through each command to install Grub.

When I tried to install Grub I got this error message:

grub-install: warning: file system 'ext2' doesn't support embedding.
Embedding is not possible.
Grub can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklist's are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

I don't get what is going on because I didn't install linuxfx (Winfx 10.5) all I did is try it from the cd.

Any other idea guys why the login is stuck in a loop?

 

[Alexzee]

Going into Advanced Option for Linux Mint 'Recovery Mode' dropping to a root shell and running those cmds failed--
Still can't get past the log in:-

Since the Linux Mint CD won't boot I don't know how I'll get to Timeshift:-

 

[wizardfromoz]

This should be done on a fresh start, Alex. I'll ask

Is your Mate's computer BIOS/MBR or UEFI/GPT Alex?

But I'll end this thread, get a sleep and I'll have more material posted for you for your tomorrow

Wiz

 

[Alexzee]

This should be done on a fresh start, Alex. I'll ask

Is your Mate's computer BIOS/MBR or UEFI/GPT Alex?

But I'll end this thread, get a sleep and I'll have more material posted for you for your tomorrow

Wiz

A fresh start agreed-

His pc is BIOS/MBR.

Yeah, it's late. Be back tomorrow.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Got 10 minutes and then I have to sign off and cook tea.

His pc is BIOS/MBR.

... accounts in part for the

grub-install: warning: file system 'ext2' doesn't support embedding.
Embedding is not possible.
Grub can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklist's are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

This typically occurs with BIOS/MBR where we are trying to install Grub where there is insufficient space before the partition, specifically at the beginning of the drive.

We can address that if need be, (and the Live CD hanging problems), but the is another avenue to try Timeshift if you are able to access Elementary from the Grub Menu.

Even if EOS does not have Timeshift installed yet, you can install it using the PPA method Brian describes in #6.

You can then launch Timeshift and point in Location in Settings to where the Mint snapshot is stored, and choose to restore its snapshot. The default process, once the log file is parsed and size calculated, should show as defaults where Mint was housed, in its disclaimer.

If you are satisfied that that is correct, you can go ahead and tell it to restore.

A successful conclusion will entail a reboot when Timeshift is finished, and the reboot outcome will have Elementary on top and Mint 2nd, we can fix that later.

I can give you more detail when I am on deck tomorrow, or you can try it for yourself and report the outcome.

Nite all

Wiz

 

[Alexzee]

Got 10 minutes and then I have to sign off and cook tea.



... accounts in part for the



This typically occurs with BIOS/MBR where we are trying to install Grub where there is insufficient space before the partition, specifically at the beginning of the drive.

We can address that if need be, (and the Live CD hanging problems), but the is another avenue to try Timeshift if you are able to access Elementary from the Grub Menu.

Even if EOS does not have Timeshift installed yet, you can install it using the PPA method Brian describes in #6.

You can then launch Timeshift and point in Location in Settings to where the Mint snapshot is stored, and choose to restore its snapshot. The default process, once the log file is parsed and size calculated, should show as defaults where Mint was housed, in its disclaimer.

If you are satisfied that that is correct, you can go ahead and tell it to restore.

A successful conclusion will entail a reboot when Timeshift is finished, and the reboot outcome will have Elementary on top and Mint 2nd, we can fix that later.

I can give you more detail when I am on deck tomorrow, or you can try it for yourself and report the outcome.

Nite all

Wiz

I'm in the process of explaining all of what you wrote in this post to my friend to see what he has to say.

 

[Alexzee]

Timeshift was launched and used on my friends desktop NOT his laptop.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Before we tried the Linuxfx CD Linux Mint 19.1 had 16 Gig's free.
I stood there and watched and my friend did not install Linuxfx.
When he was done trying Linuxfx he removed the CD.

Mint now only has 1.7 Gig's free and we are stuck at the login looping.
It looks like something on the Linuxfx CD got it's hooks into the Mint partition and altered it:-

A few hours later after telling my friend all that you said.......

My best mate has decided to install Linuxfx in place of Linux Mint 19.1 on his laptop.

Once the backup of Elementary OS is finished, I'll proceed to help him with the fresh installation.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Gotcha - one of my follow up questions was going to be to ask whether / or any /boot had sufficient space, but what you have said accounts for that.

I'm not keen to install the Linuxfx, if they don't have a support forum online, so I may not be able to help there.

Good luck!

Wiz

 

[Condobloke]

It looks like something on the Linuxfx CD got it's hooks into the Mint partition and altered it:-

From my experience with Windows, if your assumption is correct then windowsfx will have the ability to "phone home"

Good Luck !

 

[Alexzee]

Installation did not go as planned.

Using the partition manager I deleted the Linux Mint partitions and used the free space (41 Gig's) to create an ext 4 partition and a swap for Linuxfx.

The installer failed to create the partitions that I made and at that point my friend decided to just allow Linuxfx to take over the whole disk and say goodbye to Elementary OS.

BTW, I only had 41 Gig's of free space to partition with : so 'maybe' that's why the installer couldn't create the partitions I made. (any other time with any other installer/partition manager creating 2 partitions ie}: 1 ext4 and one swap was enough room) go figure:-

So I started the installation again and told the installer to use the whole HDD.
The installer is really simple and easy to use and the install took about 20 min's.

A fresh reboot was successful and the fresh installation of Linuxfs was a success!
My best mate is using it now and likes it.

I still would like to know "how" the Mint partition became compromised and generated the login loop.
Furthermore, I'm very perplexed at why the Live Mint CD continued to hang. That CD was the orginal CD that I used a few years ago to install Mint on that laptop to begin with.