In my Ubuntu Software Updater, I ticked some random updates that were available and clicked 'install'. But midway during the downloads I cancelled the update and powered off my system. Until before I powered off my system everything was working fine, and by that I mean: my internet and sound controls in system menu. Also there were no lags.
When I reopen my system, I see the following problems:
✔ System Menu Icons and System Menu Drop Down are all messed up.
✔ Some system menu icons (including the sound icon) are not visible.
✔ The system menu volume bar doesn't seem to have any effect on the volume. Although the speakers seem to be working, because they produce sound when I play some movie or mp3.
✔ When I open the system setting, it lags very badly and becomes unresponsive every now and then upon clicking.
✔ The sound settings inside system settings are all blank.
✖ Doesn't connect to internet when I insert my dongle. Also I am unable to connect via mobile tethering.
I have no idea how I should proceed to solve these problems, please help.
UPDATE 1
I went ahead with the live boot chroot method as described in the link provided by raffa and then I did a full update+upgrade as instructed here by user535733. This did not fix any of the problems at first.
I investigated my system services using systemctl and found that [email protected] was failing to start. Then I looked up the problem and found a solution here. I used it along with the live boot method. This fixed the lag in the system settings.
However, the sound settings are still blank, system menu is still messed up, and I can't connect to the internet by any means.
Upon further investigation, I found that I have a number of services marked as 'not-found' in systemctl. I have listed them below. I highly suspect that these missing services are causing the problem. Is there any way to fix these services?
$ systemctl --state=not-found
UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION
● tmp.mount not-found inactive dead tmp.mount
● auditd.service not-found inactive dead auditd.service
● connman.service not-found inactive dead connman.service
● console-screen.service not-found inactive dead console-screen.service
● firewalld.service not-found inactive dead firewalld.service
● kbd.service not-found inactive dead kbd.service
● oem-config.service not-found inactive dead oem-config.service
● plymouth-quit-wait.service not-found inactive dead plymouth-quit-wait.service
● plymouth-quit.service not-found inactive dead plymouth-quit.service
● plymouth-start.service not-found inactive dead plymouth-start.service
● slapd.service not-found inactive dead slapd.service
● sssd.service not-found inactive dead sssd.service
● systemd-update-done.service not-found inactive dead systemd-update-done.service
● systemd-vconsole-setup.service not-found inactive dead systemd-vconsole-setup.service
● ua-auto-attach.service not-found inactive dead ua-auto-attach.service
● xfs.service not-found inactive dead xfs.service
● all.target not-found inactive dead all.target
● display-manager.target not-found inactive dead display-manager.target
● x-display-manager.target not-found inactive dead x-display-manager.target
LOAD = Reflects whether the unit definition was properly loaded.
ACTIVE = The high-level unit activation state, i.e. generalization of SUB.
SUB = The low-level unit activation state, values depend on unit type.
19 loaded units listed.
Request: I'd really like to fix this problem if possible because doing an OS reinstall is just not feasible for me right now. Any little guidance will be of great help.
UPDATE 2
- I did as instructed by @Raffa, and it worked!
Most of the output in your systemctl --state=not-found is usual ... I would suggest reinstalling ubuntu-desktop like so sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
This fixed the messed up system menu icons and drop-down and also the blank sound settings problem.
- My internet dongle and tethering aren't connecting yet. There's seems to be some problem with
usb_modeswitch.
$ systemctl --failed
UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION
● [email protected] loaded failed failed USB_ModeSwitch_2-1.5.4
● vboxweb.service loaded failed failed VirtualBox Web Service
$ systemctl status [email protected] --no-pager
● [email protected] - USB_ModeSwitch_2-1.5.4
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; static; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2021-07-04 21:05:57 IST; 22min ago
Docs: man:usb_modeswitch_dispatcher(1)
Process: 1842 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch_dispatcher --switch-mode 2-1.5.4 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 1842 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop systemd[1]: Starting USB_ModeSwitch_2-1.5.4...
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop usb_modeswitch_dispatcher[1842]: Could not read attribute: No such file or directory
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop usb_modeswitch_dispatcher[1842]: Could not read attribute: No such file or directory
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop usb_modeswitch_dispatcher[1842]: Could not read attribute: No such file or directory
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop systemd[1]: [email protected]: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 04 21:05:57 hcl-desktop systemd[1]: Failed to start USB_ModeSwitch_2-1.5.4.
I tried to fix it by a force reinstall, but to no avail.
Since doing a sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop fixed a lot of issues, I wonder if we can fix the rest by doing a reinstall of all the essential system applications and services. In which case, please tell me which services I should reinstall.
UPDATE 3
- Again, it turned out that the problem wasn't with
usb-modeswitch, it's usual for it to show a 'failed' status even in normal conditions. I checked it in a live boot session where my dongle and tethering were working fine, yet
usb-modeswitch showed a 'failed' error in systemctl. So, I think that's sufficient to rule out modeswitch as a culprit for the problem at hand.
New Findings
- Doing an
lshw shows DISABLED written against my networks and link=no in each of them, whereas under normal circumstances (e.g. proper working internet on a live boot), the word DISABLED is absent and link=yes. Any ideas how we might resolve this?
$ lshw -C network
*-network:0 DISABLED <---------------------- Dongle
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@2:1.6.4
logical name: enxfcde56ff0106
serial: fc:de:56:ff:01:06
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device link=no multicast=yes
*-network:1 DISABLED <---------------------- Tethered phone
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 2
bus info: usb@2:1.5
logical name: usb0
serial: ea:af:19:e2:c4:6c
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device link=no multicast=yes
- also my network settings appear as such
