System unbootable with root fs mounted ro after update to systemd 234-2ubuntu12 (from 234-2ubuntu10) on artful

[Markus Birth]

After not touching my notebook since 30th September (where I did the dist-upgrade to artful and installed all available updates), I did all available updates today (20th October) and the system didn't boot after that.

The last message I see is "Reached target Bluetooth". Before that, there are several failed services. GDM doesn't come up.

After logging in on tty2, I saw that the root partition was mounted read-only. Inspecting the messages of e.g. systemd-resolved shows that it didn't start because of the read-only filesystem. After remounting it fw, I was able to restart the daemons and could also start GDM and login fine.

My fstab shows:

UUID=a936dbe9-5ab5-4272-aaae-d22030824373 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

The UUID is correct as "mount / -o remount,rw" works fine. Booting with the previous kernel doesn't change anything.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: systemd 234-2ubuntu12
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Oct 20 21:46:36 2017
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-07-26 (451 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160719)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04f3:2073 Elan Microelectronics Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2a Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1bcf:2c7d Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: HP HP Spectre x360 Convertible
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=a936dbe9-5ab5-4272-aaae-d22030824373 ro text
SourcePackage: systemd
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-09-30 (20 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 09/28/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F.43
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 81A1
dmi.board.vendor: HP
dmi.board.version: 33.76
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF.43:bd09/28/2016:svnHP:pnHPSpectrex360Convertible:pvr:rvnHP:rn81A1:rvr33.76:cvnHP:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.family: 103C_5335KV G=N L=CON B=HP S=SPT
dmi.product.name: HP Spectre x360 Convertible
dmi.sys.vendor: HP

[Markus Birth (mbirth)]

I changed my fstab from

UUID=a936dbe9-5ab5-4272-aaae-d22030824373 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

to

UUID=a936dbe9-5ab5-4272-aaae-d22030824373 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1

and it now boots fine again. I don't know why that is necessary now and why the update didn't notify me or made the change automatically.

[Markus Birth (mbirth)]

The change in the fstab seems to have worked only once. Today, it doesn't boot again (with the changed fstab). I've tried switching from UEFI to Legacy mode without luck, too.

[TJ (tj)]

May be related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1591411

[TJ (tj)]

Sorry, wrong link! may be related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/laptop-mode-tools/+bug/1726930

The other link is related to the problems systemd<>dbus encounter where "Transport endpoint is not connected" messages are reported because systemd cannot talk to its client services through Dbus.

[Markus Birth (mbirth)]

Yes, this seems to be a duplicate of your bug.

On battery power, the system DOESN'T boot up.

With the charger connected, the system boots up just fine.