Ubuntu Server hanging on adding swap

Question

A fresh install of Ubuntu Server is refusing to boot and hanging on "Adding 524284k swap on /dev/mapper/test--vg-swap_1. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:524284k

I can get around this by dropping onto recovery mode and just resuming to a normal boot.

JamesH · Answer 1 · 2016-01-05T18:55:29.660

20

It is doing this because Ubuntu is trying to switch to a high resolution video mode for the console and your hardware isn't cooperating.

Fixing this while at the machine

When Grub2 shows up:

Highlight the menu item for Ubuntu and press 'e'
Go to the line where it loads the kernel and press 'End' to go to the end of the line
Add 'nomodeset'
Press F10 or Ctrl-X to boot it

With any luck it will boot into the login screen. This won't save that option but at least now you can edit the file for Grub2 and update it to save that option if it works. I blogged about this recently.

Fixing this for good

Log in (ssh will probably do, if you know the machine's IP)
Update the grub config file nano /etc/default/grub
Find the line that starts with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
Edit the line to include nomodeset, in my case, the line looked like this afterwards: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
Save/exit nano
Run update-grub
Reboot

edited Jan 05 '16 at 18:55

answered Apr 24 '14 at 04:29

JamesH

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Thank you! For others, the line you add `nomodeset` to is the line that starts with `linux /boot/vmlinuz...`, not the `initrd` line. – Brian Hempel Dec 26 '14 at 07:44
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Note: The easy way of doing this with modern versions of GRUB is by editing /etc/default/grub and add "nomodeset" (separated by a space) to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable. – Ernie Feb 24 '15 at 21:26
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Thanks, this fixed my problem with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on a Mac Mini. – Nelson Feb 28 '15 at 20:49
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@Ernie: then `update-grub`. – Gauthier Mar 05 '15 at 09:06
Gauthier: you're right! Thanks, and +1 – Ernie Mar 06 '15 at 19:33
solution also works for ubuntu 14.04. I took the liberty of incorporating your comments into the answer (it it's accepted, that is). – amenthes Mar 18 '15 at 15:23
There is no `/etc/init/grub` file on my Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Desktop nor Kali Linux. I have used `/etc/default/grub` instead. – Sopalajo de Arrierez Jan 05 '16 at 16:14
@SopalajodeArrierez Thanks, I overlooked that somehow. I fixed the reference. – JamesH Jan 05 '16 at 18:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 15 '13 at 11:26

How did you add it? You may want to format the swap again. What you can do is boot under rescue mode, mount the vgs and do:

# mkswap /dev/mapper/test--vg-swap_1

# swapon /dev/mapper/test--vg-swap_1

Then add it again to the /etc/fstab if it's not present.

Ubuntu Server hanging on adding swap

2 Answers2