:date: 2020-11-07 ========================== Saturday, November 7, 2020 ========================== My old Dell notebook, used now by Ly, doesn't start any more after it froze suddenly while Ly was working. Maybe it had gotten too hot. Or some RAM or SSD is getting old. When starting it up, it only says "Invalid partition table!". I created an lubuntu startup USB stick in order to boot. Strange: I created the lubuntu startup stick from an iso file I had downloaded already in September 22. 20.04.1 The machine behaves perfectly when booted from the live lubuntu stick. :: $ sudo fdisk /dev/sda -l Disk /dev/sda: 238,49 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors Disk model: SAMSUNG SSD SM84 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x1427a579 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 204800 100M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda2 206848 209922047 209715200 100G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 209924094 500117503 290193410 138,4G 5 Extended /dev/sda5 483469312 500117503 16648192 8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda6 209924096 483469311 273545216 130,4G 83 Linux Partition table entries are not in disk order. $ sudo fdisk /dev/sda Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.34). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help): v Remaining 2734 unallocated 512-byte sectors. I started `sudo gparted`. I selected :menuselection:`Device --> Attempt Data Rescue`: - No file systems found on /dev/sda - The disk scan by gpart did not find any recognizable file systems on this disk. Again in gparted I did right click on the /dev/sda1 partition and select "Check". Then "run pending operations". This created the following report:: GParted 1.0.0 configuration --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize libparted 3.3 ======================================== Device: /dev/sda Model: ATA SAMSUNG SSD SM84 Serial: S12LNSAD707427 Sector size: 512 Total sectors: 500118192 Heads: 255 Sectors/track: 2 Cylinders: 980623 Partition table: msdos Partition Type Start End Flags Partition Name File System Label Mount Point /dev/sda1 Primary 2048 206847 boot ntfs System Reserved /dev/sda2 Primary 206848 209922047 ntfs /dev/sda3 Extended 209924094 500117503 extended /dev/sda6 Logical 209924096 483469311 ext4 /dev/sda5 Logical 483469312 500117503 linux-swap ======================================== Device: /dev/sdb Model: ATA WDC WD10SPCX-60H Serial: WD-WX41A9309763 Sector size: 512 Total sectors: 1953525168 Heads: 255 Sectors/track: 2 Cylinders: 3830441 Partition table: msdos Partition Type Start End Flags Partition Name File System Label Mount Point /dev/sdb1 Primary 63 1953525167 ext4 Dell1TB ======================================== Device: /dev/sdc Model: USB Flash Memory Serial: none Sector size: 512 Total sectors: 30253056 Heads: 255 Sectors/track: 2 Cylinders: 59319 Partition table: none Partition Type Start End Flags Partition Name File System Label Mount Point /dev/sdc Unpartitioned 0 30253055 iso9660 Lubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64 ======================================== Check and repair file system (ntfs) on /dev/sda1 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) calibrate /dev/sda1 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) path: /dev/sda1 (partition) start: 2048 end: 206847 size: 204800 (100.00 MiB) check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize -i -f -v '/dev/sda1' 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize v2017.3.23AR.3 (libntfs-3g) Device name : /dev/sda1 NTFS volume version: 3.1 Cluster size : 4096 bytes Current volume size: 104854016 bytes (105 MB) Current device size: 104857600 bytes (105 MB) Checking for bad sectors ... Checking filesystem consistency ... 100.00 percent completed Accounting clusters ... Space in use : 60 MB (56,5%) Collecting resizing constraints ... Estimating smallest shrunken size supported ... File feature Last used at By inode $MFTMirr : 1 MB 1 Sparse : 35 MB 102 Ordinary : 103 MB 100 You might resize at 59219968 bytes or 60 MB (freeing 45 MB). Please make a test run using both the -n and -s options before real resizing! grow file system to fill the partition 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) run simulation 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize --force --force --no-action '/dev/sda1' 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize v2017.3.23AR.3 (libntfs-3g) Device name : /dev/sda1 NTFS volume version: 3.1 Cluster size : 4096 bytes Current volume size: 104854016 bytes (105 MB) Current device size: 104857600 bytes (105 MB) New volume size : 104854016 bytes (105 MB) Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK. real resize 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize --force --force '/dev/sda1' 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS ) ntfsresize v2017.3.23AR.3 (libntfs-3g) Device name : /dev/sda1 NTFS volume version: 3.1 Cluster size : 4096 bytes Current volume size: 104854016 bytes (105 MB) Current device size: 104857600 bytes (105 MB) New volume size : 104854016 bytes (105 MB) Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK. I tried Christophe Grenier's testdisk utility:: $ sudo apt install testdisk It said that there were problems but that it cannot fix them. I copied the data to another machine. Memtest86 (version 5.01) always froze at the same place, at 63% of Test #2. Maybe it is just the problem described `here `__: If the freeze occurs in MemTest86 but the system runs normally otherwise, the problem is likely with the UEFI firmware. The most common issue is when running MemTest86 using multiple CPU cores (default behaviour). The lubuntu boot usb can only start lubuntu but has no option I installed a new Ubuntu 20.10 on onto the first SSD (/dev/sda), overriding the partitions, including a Windows 7 that had been kept from doll's previous owner when we bought it many years ago.