Minor Problem Causes Zorin 18 Installation to Fails And Can't Be Repaired

General Help
1

Sorry for the lengthy post. I am new to Zorin OS. I have installed Zorin 18 Core on a server box twice. The first time I installed the OS, it took me quite a while to get it working; at least it took me quite a while to figure out how to set up my multiple drives.

I was working on the system to get my five data drives accessible from my Windows laptops. I finally had four of the five working as desired, but one couldn't be accessed from Windows.

I was trying to reset the drive's format from ExFat to NTFS with GParted when I received an error while creating a new partition on the drive. I decided to reboot the server in an effort to clear out anything that might be preventing me from creating the new partition. To my surprise, the system would not boot. I went through dozens of 'fixes' I found online, none of which solved the boot problem.

I finally started over again and installed the OS from scratch. This second time, I had more success because I had fought through many issues the first time. All was well. I could access all my drives from Windows (after I had reformatted each drive, other than the boot drive, as NTFS).

Last night we had a brief (as in a 2-3 second) power outage. Once again, I was surprised that the server would no longer boot properly. This time, I got the error "failed to start gdm.service - gnome display manager."

I booted into a Live system's Recovery
I tried numerous 'fixes' that all failed. I ran:
sudo apt install --reinstall gdm3
sudo apt install --reinstall zorin-os-desktop
sudo apt install -f
sudo reboot
and received the message "dpkg: error: unable to access dpkg status area: Read-only file system]

I tried running:
sudo mount / -o remount,rw
and
sudo mount -o remount /dev/sda1

I have lost track of all the steps I have tried to resolve the system errors, but nothing has worked. Unfortunately, I hadn't set up Timeshift, so I had no recovery capabilities.

Can anyone provide me with a step-by-step process to help me get my system functioning without the need to reinstall the OS and set up everything again?

2

"failed to start gdm.service - gnome display manager."
"dpkg: error: unable to access dpkg status area: Read-only file system"

The reason the GNOME Display Manager (GDM) is failing to start is almost certainly because your entire file system has switched to Read-only mode.

When the Linux kernel detects a potential hardware failure or a serious file system inconsistency, it locks the drive to "Read-only" to prevent further data corruption. Since GDM can’t write temporary files or logs, it crashes on boot.

More specifically,

GDM (the login screen) requires access to /var/lib/gdm3 and /tmp.

When the kernel throws the Read-only flag, those directories become "locked" vaults. GDM tries to write a "lock file" to prove it's running, fails, and shuts down. Once you fix the file system error GDM should start automatically on the next reboot.

You've already tried the remount commands without success, so... the next step is to check the integrity of your disk:

  1. Identify your partition: Run lsblk to see which partition is your root (usually something like /dev/sda2 or /dev/nvme0n1p2).
  2. Run the repair tool: If you can, boot into Recovery Mode from the GRUB menu (hold Shift or Esc while booting).
  • Select fsck from the menu.
  • Alternatively, run it manually from the terminal (replace sdXX with your partition name):Bashsudo fsck -f /dev/sdXXNote: If the drive is mounted, it might ask to unmount first. Say yes.

Going forward it would be a good idea to check the "health" of your drive using smartmontools:

  1. Install the tool: sudo apt install smartmontools (if the disk allows it).
  2. Check health: ```bash sudo smartctl -H /dev/sdX

If it happens again, watch for specific error messages such as "I/O error" or "EXT4-fs error." Those specific strings tell you why the kernel decided to lock your files.

2 Likes
3

Welcome to the Forum!

Only to understand that right: You want install Zorin on a Server with multiple Drives. And these Drives are formated to NTFS, correct? The Driver where You want Zorin install on: Is this formatted as NTFS, too? Because this wouldn't be the best Idea. For the Installation Drive ext4 would be better.

1 Like
4

Thanks for the response. No, the OS drive/partition is Ext4.

5

Thanks for the reply. I have tried hitting the Shift key while booting - did nothing. I then tried hitting the Escape key and that brought me to a grub prompt, but there is no Menu. Is there a command to run from grub> to access the menu you mentioned, or am I missing something when I boot the server?

6

If your configuration file is intact but GRUB just didn't load the interface, run this command at the grub prompt:

Bashconfigfile (hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Note: The path (hd0,gpt2) is a common example. If that returns an error, run the ls command to see your partitions (e.g., (hd0,gpt1)). Then, alter the command above to point to the one that looks like your boot partition.

7

Thanks again. Whichever command I enter at the grub prompt returns the error can't find the command 'xxxxxx', in this case 'bashconfigfile'.

Any other ideas?

8

My mistake. It should be just Configfile ...
So, run Configfile (hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub/grub.cfg not Bashconfigfile (hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub/grub.cfg ...

1 Like
9

Thank you for your assistance, but I decided that since there is a good possibility that the SSD I used for the OS could be failing, I just purchased a new drive and reinstalled Zorin from scratch. So far it is working properly. I also set up TimeShift and have backed up the system in case I have further issues. I will see if I can close this point.

2 Likes
10

Thank you for your assistance. I have purchased a new SSD and replaced the one I was using for the OS. After reinstalling Zorin, all seems to be working properly. I will see if I can close this point.

1 Like
11

When replacing the SSD solves it for You, You could simply mark Your Post as Solution.

12

Thank you.

1 Like
13

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.