Problem installing opensuse 13.1 after power failure

I did two upgrades with the full DVD installation & both installed properly.
While I was doing an upgrade from opensuse 12.3 to 13.1 on my desktop we had a power failure.
When the power was restored I started my computer, (the installation dvd was still in the machine)
After the bios screen it asks me to insert a boot media & press a key.
I tried booting with the full version on a usb wich also didn’t work.
I burntthe rescue version to usb which has got me to the live installation.
I have installed my repositories with Yast & done a zypper update which went well untill I rebooted & removed my rescue usb
I then get the same menu at start up.(Please insert boot media & press any key)
I then checked how my partitions are mounted but don’t see a root or home partition.


bash: /etc/fstab: Permission denied
linux:/home/linux # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 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 label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x675e5be7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   207670783   103834368    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       207671296   213968895     3148800   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3       255932416   402733055    73400320   83  Linux
/dev/sda4       402733056   976773119   287020032    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5       402735104   767023103   182144000   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       767025152   976752639   104863744   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 2004 MB, 2004876800 bytes, 3915775 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 label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x40b3d911

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        1640     1163263      580812   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2         1163264     3913728     1375232+  83  Linux

/dev/sdb1 & /dev/sdb2 is the rescue disk.


linux:/home/linux # grub
linux:/home/linux # 

GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

  Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst 

Error 15: File not found

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

grub> root
 (fd0): Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

Yast doesn’t give me an option & I can’t find a way to back up my files through bash.


linux:/boot # cd /grub
bash: cd: /grub: No such file or directory
linux:/boot # cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
cp: cannot stat ‘/boot/grub/menu.lst’: No such file or directory
linux:/boot # 

File manager under file system all my files seem to be in one partition which is marked as root.
Then have three empty unmarked volumes of 107GB; 187GB & 75GB as well as a windows partition.


1)Earlier on I saw a way to alter my runlevels but I can't seem to find a way to boot from level 1
2) The only documentation I can find that was of any assistance on fstab is in bash.

Is there a way for me to configure my bootloader & get my system stable?
Hopefully I will then be able to run the dvd installation & configure my partitions correctly.

To me, it seems that caf4926’s excellent article on “Re-install Grub2 from DVD Rescue” will be of help. You can find it here: http://forums.opensuse.org/content/128-re-install-grub2-dvd-rescue.html.

That way, you should get back your grub-menu and enable you to restart your install of 13.1. However, since the installation procedure obviously was interrupted by the power outage in a somewhat critical point in time, your system may have encountered an inconsistent state. You may have to do a full OS reinstall to rectify that, but I don’t think your Windows installation in affected.

dayfinger

On 2013-12-16 18:26, dayfinger wrote:
>
> To me, it seems that caf4926’s excellent article on “Re-install Grub2
> from DVD Rescue” will be of help. You can find it here:
> http://tinyurl.com/97lwlbx.
>
> That way, you should get back your grub-menu and enable you to restart
> your install of 13.1. However, since the installation procedure
> obviously was interrupted by the power outage in a somewhat critical
> point in time, your system may have encountered an inconsistent state.
> You may have to do a full OS reinstall to rectify that, but I don’t
> think your Windows installation in affected.

Or try the DVD, boot, and choose upgrade. Might work.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

When I inert the DVD & reboot my system doesn’t see the DVD,
I tried to change the setting in bios but that doesn’t help either.

and (from OP)

Provided your DVD player was working prior to the power failure, this is starting to sound like a HW failure.


Questions:

  • When the power disappeared, did you power off your PC, or did you leave it as it was for it to power up immediately at the return of power?
  • Is your computer connected to a battery backup (UPS) or a power-line surge filter?

Why I ask is that when power returns, the power being delivered immediately after the power is returned often is “unclean”, full of spikes and maybe even lower in voltage than specifications allow. Power-line surge filters handle much of this, and UPS-es normally has such filers integrated. Some power supplies allow for major variations in this area. Laptop supplies are in particular known for allowing major variations in voltage as they often span 110V-240V to cover world-wide power lines. That allows for major over-voltage in e.g. the USA, and major under-voltage in e.g. Europe.
Also, note that many desktop PC power supplies are live even when powered off, feeding motherboards etc. to allow for e.g. charging MP3-players over USB even when powered off, or to power on by a keyboard hot-key combination, power-on over LAN etc. These power supplies are normally equipped with a second power switch that must be used to fully disconnect the power supply from the power grid - and that one normally does not switch off.

Leaving a computer powered on/connected to the power grid during power outage will allow line-power to flow through the power supplies prior to it being stabilized, which may harm on-board computer components.


So - if your DVD-player was working prior to the power failure and not now, that may be the case. If you have a replacement DVD-player to test with, do that. You may also have a DVD controller-card failure, which normally is a more involved error to rectify.

However, you do not need to boot off a DVD. You can transfer the installation DVD to USB flash memory as you did with the resque CD, and boot off that instead. Also, connecting an external DVD-player over USB might work if you have one available. That could eliminate a DVD-controller error too. If you have diagnostic SW available from your computer vendor, you should execute that to test your computer.

dayfinger

Completely agreeing with dayfinger. With one addition: even now, you should shutdown, switch off the power supply if available, unplug, leave for 20 minutes, plug, switch power supply on, switch computer on and check if you see the DVD drive.
My bet re. the install, is that you changed the BIOS diskorder, and installed bootloader + bootflag on the USB device. Instead of changing the BIOS disk order, rather use the Boot device option most motherboards have these days.

Originally Posted by dayfinger (https://forums.opensuse.org/members/dayfinger.html)
When the power disappeared, did you power off your PC, or did you leave it as it was for it to power up immediately at the return of power?

No my computer stays off, it doesn’t reboot when the power comes back on.

Originally Posted by dayfinger (https://forums.opensuse.org/members/dayfinger.html)
Is your computer connected to a battery backup (UPS) or a power-line surge filter?

In South Africa all the electricity is 220volts AC/DC.
I don’t have a UPS but all my electronic equipment is run through surge protectors.

Originally Posted by knurpht
My bet re. the install, is that you changed the BIOS diskorder, and installed bootloader + bootflag on the USB device. Instead of changing the BIOS disk order, rather use the Boot device option most motherboards have these days.

If I can remember correctly I thing I did tick a box named bootflag somewhere when I either downloaded or burnt the disk.

Dayfinger I tried following the article by **caf4926 (http://forums.opensuse.org/members/caf4926.html) **
http://forums.opensuse.org/content/128-re-install-grub2-dvd-rescue.html
but got stuck when I needed to change the root directory.
To me it looks like all my folders are in the same partitions (3,5 &6)


 linux:~ # fdisk -l
 

 Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 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 label type: dos
 Disk identifier: 0x675e5be7
 

    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
 /dev/sda1            2048   207670783   103834368    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
 /dev/sda2       207671296   213968895     3148800   82  Linux swap / Solaris
 /dev/sda3       255932416   402733055    73400320   83  Linux
 /dev/sda4       402733056   976773119   287020032    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
 /dev/sda5       402735104   767023103   182144000   83  Linux
 /dev/sda6       767025152   976752639   104863744   83  Linux
 

 Disk /dev/sdb: 2004 MB, 2004876800 bytes, 3915775 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 label type: dos
 Disk identifier: 0x40b3d911
 

    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
 /dev/sdb1   *        1640     1163263      580812   83  Linux
 /dev/sdb2         1163264     3913728     1375232+  83  Linux
 linux:~ # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
 linux:~ # mount --bind /dev mnt/dev
 mount: mount point mnt/dev does not exist
 linux:~ # ls
 .bash_history  .dmrc            .local     .xauthsdFI44
 bin            Documents        Music      .xsession-errors
 .cache         Downloads        Pictures   .xsession-errors-:0
 .config        .gnupg           Public     .xsession-errors.old
 .dbus          .gstreamer-0.10  Templates
 Desktop        .ICEauthority    Videos
 linux:~ # mount --bind /dev /mnt /dev
 

 Usage:....
 Options:....
  Source:....
 

 For more details see mount(8).
 linux:~ # chroot /mnt
 chroot: failed to run command ‘/bin/bash’: No such file or directory
 linux:~ # umount /dev/sda3
 linux:~ # mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
 linux:~ # ls
 .bash_history  .dmrc            .local     .xauthsdFI44
 bin            Documents        Music      .xsession-errors
 .cache         Downloads        Pictures   .xsession-errors-:0
 .config        .gnupg           Public     .xsession-errors.old
 .dbus          .gstreamer-0.10  Templates
 Desktop        .ICEauthority    Videos
 linux:~ # umount /dev/sda5
 linux:~ # mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
 linux:~ # ls
 .bash_history  .dmrc            .local     .xauthsdFI44
 bin            Documents        Music      .xsession-errors
 .cache         Downloads        Pictures   .xsession-errors-:0
 .config        .gnupg           Public     .xsession-errors.old
 .dbus          .gstreamer-0.10  Templates
 Desktop        .ICEauthority    Videos
 linux:~ # umount /dev/sda6
 

As suggested I signed in as root but then I had to open a terminal.
I used the xfce Terminal.

I am going to download the KDE live version tonight & see if it works.

On 2013-12-17 18:46, Hermes14 wrote:

> If I can remember correctly I thing I did tick a box named bootflag
> somewhere when I either downloaded or burnt the disk.

What? Then you did incorrectly, the image has to be burnt raw, directly.
You can not add anything. If the software says it can add something,
even a flag, you are in the wrong software or wrong dialog.

Read the instruction link from the opensuse.org download page, nowhere else.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

(See also robin_listas’ comment above)

Good. Then you may not have a DVD device failure after all - is this attempt made using DVD, perhaps, or did you use your USB flash?

There’s no /dev on /dev/sda3. Are you shure your root / is on sda3? Try the same command with the others too (sda5, sda6) and see if you have better success with them. If you used default openSUSE suggestions when partitioning, chances are that sda3 is the swap partition. You can execute mount-commands to the same mount point back-to-back without worries. Just type mount-commands until you have success here. The last mount command always win.

That’s correct. Your problem seems to be the mount-commands, not xfce. But use the Desktop Environment you are comfortable with. caf4926’s instructions are pretty universal and should work as long as you have a terminal-window available, boot from an external medium AND there is a valid Linux root-structure on the disks to be processed. There must be some relevance between the two Linux versions too, but I am not sure how much deviation is tolerated. E.g. you cannot mix 32bit and 64bit architectures between the two Linuxes (as caf4926’s instrutions clearly states). Identical versions are obviously the best, and the only one guaranteed to work.

Simply put, what caf4946 instructs you to do, is to boot an external Linux (since your Linux doesn’t boot as you want) then make your on-disk Linux the current structure afterwards (that’s the mounting of your on-disk root structure followed by the chroot) to make the Grub reinstall procedure execute so it reads from the proper sources (your Linux/disk) and writes to the proper target (also your Linux/disk) instead of whatever the external Linux (on CD/DVD/USB) would instruct Grub reinstall to do.

Good luck!

dayfinger

Thanks guys My desktop is my & running.
I downloaded the KDE live.
I followed the procedurecaf4926 suggested in https://forums.opensuse.org/content/128-re-install-grub2-dvd-rescue.html

 When I got to 
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
 I received a message so such sub directory, but I followed the procedure to the end even though it failed 

I booted with the KDE live, clicked on installation & my hard drive was partitioned correctly.


 ** Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System**
/dev/sda1            2048   207670783   103834368    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       207671296   213968895     3148800   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3       255932416   402733055    73400320   83  Linux /
/dev/sda4       402733056   976773119   287020032    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5       402735104   767023103   182144000   83  Home
/dev/sda6       767025152   976752639   104863744   83  Linux

It looks like the drivers on my DVD player were damaged in the power failure.

I don’t seem to be able to edit my post/
I downloaded the KDE live version to a flash drive & done the installation from a flash drive.