partial-upgrade fails building grub

[trigeek]

On 1/31/2021 a popup appeared on my Ubuntu 20.04 desktop to run a partial upgrade. I accepted and the upgrade hung here:

Setting up grub-efi=amd64 (2.04-lubuntu26.8) ...
.
.
Found intrd image: /boot/intird.img-5.4.0-64-generic

That was nearly 24 hours ago and nothing further has happened.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:20.04.30
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-65.73-generic 5.4.78
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-65-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CrashDB: ubuntu
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Feb 1 17:40:07 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-06-07 (969 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
Symptom: release-upgrade
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
VarLogDistupgradeTermlog:

[trigeek (kjaspan)]

uname -a
Linux genet 5.4.0-65-generic #73-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jan 18 17:25:17 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
lsb_release -r
Release: 20.04

ps -aef|grep do-part
kevin 30636 2413 0 Jan30 ? 00:00:03 /bin/sh -c /usr/lib/ubuntu-release-upgrader/do-partial-upgrade --frontend=DistUpgradeViewGtk3
root 59473 30636 2 Jan31 ? 01:35:46 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/lib/ubuntu-release-upgrader/do-partial-upgrade --frontend=DistUpgradeViewGtk3
root 59537 59473 0 Jan31 pts/1 00:04:42 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/lib/ubuntu-release-upgrader/do-partial-upgrade --frontend=DistUpgradeViewGtk3

[trigeek (kjaspan)]

ps -aef|grep dpkg
root 61083 59537 0 Jan31 pts/2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dpkg --force-overwrite --status-fd 66 --configure --pending
root 73721 61083 0 Jan31 pts/2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/perl -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/grub-efi-amd64.postinst configure 2.04-1ubuntu26.7
root 73731 73721 0 Jan31 pts/2 00:00:00 /bin/bash /var/lib/dpkg/info/grub-efi-amd64.postinst configure 2.04-1ubuntu26.7
root 76126 76123 0 Jan31 ? 00:00:00 fuser /var/lib/dpkg/lock

[trigeek (kjaspan)]

I had a hunch that there was a problem on one of my external backup discs, so I disconnected and reconnected it and the system croaked - it became impossible to unlock the screen and a remote ssh was able to connect but fdisk -l did not respond.

I rebooted the system, with trepidation, and all seems well and healthy except the backup disc has an inconsistency in the boot NFS partition.

I am running disc diagnostics but sda, the main internal disc, seems healthy.

[trigeek (kjaspan)]

What should I do the next time I am offered to run the partial upgrade??

[trigeek (kjaspan)]

I ran apt-get install -f and the software-updater ran successfully to completion.