Laptop Bricked! Getting the Dreaded: Oh No! Something Has Gone Wrong. Need Help Please

[SuperWookie68]

Bricked: Broken beyond repair.

Potato potata. For all intents and purposes... my PoP OS IS beyond repair. So you're worried about scolding me for semantics of a word, instead of helping me fix my problem? Gotcha. Thanks for the helpful response

 

[KGIII]

I'd help more but I'm not quite sure what steps to take other than starting with removing the offending repository. (And maybe trying a more generic distro.)

 

[SuperWookie68]

You're blaming Ubuntu for POP's problems. They are not the same OS.

See, the POP! OS is created specifically to work on System76's hardware. It's known to not always play well with other hardware. They don't care if it doesn't work well on other hardware. It's not meant for other hardware but they make it available for you to download and use at your own risk.

I'm not blaming anyone. I don't even know what's going on, haha. I just want my laptop to work. I don't care if it's PoP OS or Ubuntu's fault. It's not working. And Alexzee just said: There is a reason why many of us here do not run Ubuntu anymore. That sure sounds to me like Ubuntu is at fault. Not PoP. And I do know they are not the same. I know PoP is a derivititve of Ubuntu. Not the same, but similar. But what I did NOT know is that it's "Known to not always play well with other hardware." That is news to me and something I wish I had known a few weeks ago I guess I'll just use Linux Mint instead. Thank you for making me aware of PoP's issues. That really sucks. I love it.

 

[SuperWookie68]

Here is your problem:

E: The repository 'https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/menulibre-dev/daily/ubuntu jammy Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.

The repository that you are trying to pull from doesn't have a release file.
In other words Ryan....it can't pull what it doesn't have.

It's not secure. Having said that, I wouldn't trust it.

You're getting into deep waters on trying to fix the misconfigured configuration of the original user that the guy from Reddit is trying to walk you through.

It would be easier to use Linux Mint to get your Mac up and running. Then, you can make choices that are less upsetting and not above your skill set.

Thank you Alexzee. Thank you for explaining WHY I'm having the issues and why I should probably move away from Ubuntu, PoP or Kubuntu. That helps a lot. Guess I'll start all over with Linux Mint. Best

 

[Brickwizard]

I've spent a TON of time working on and making my PoP OS on my laptop look amazing.

I do believe I told you before, POP is a good distribution if it works OTB [out of the box] if not its a right pain,
what you haven't been told [and this applies to several distributions] if you start to cut and slash, or add untested [not in the distribution repository] apps you're asking for problems,
as @KGIII has said Pop is made by system 76 for their own equipment, it doesn't contain as many drivers or dependencies as Ubuntu [on which it is loosely based]

 

[Alexzee]

Thank you Alexzee. Thank you for explaining WHY I'm having the issues and why I should probably move away from Ubuntu, PoP or Kubuntu. That helps a lot. Guess I'll start all over with Linux Mint. Best

You're welcome.

If you had a System 76 and not a Mac Pop OS would most likely play nicer. In the link below you'll see what @KGIII means.

System 76 and Pop OS:

System76 - Linux Laptops, Desktops, and Servers

System76 computers empower the world's curious and capable makers of tomorrow

system76.com

 

[ron.alan]

For all intents and purposes... my PoP OS IS beyond repair.

Bricked means your computer is beyond repair . . . not the OS. If your computer is bricked, then it's no better than a brick. Just for informational purposes. No scolding intended.

 

[Egzoset]

How is that misleading? My computer doesn't work. Isn't that what Bricked means?

No.

 

[Egzoset]

Most times the word "bricked" is used in a computer sense, it's used incorrectly. At least that's what I've noticed.

I dunno what other sense there is besides using it as a decoration or sending it to the trash can, or if really involved into it, euh... Oh well, when my previous tablet got bricked i finished it by putting it out of its misery, because its time had come. The massacre was total, but i was pleased to refurbish a couple powerful magnets, who knows!

 

[SuperWookie68]

Bricked means your computer is beyond repair . . . not the OS. If your computer is bricked, then it's no better than a brick. Just for informational purposes. No scolding intended.

Thanks for the information

 

[SuperWookie68]

Man, things just went from bad to worse. I was trying to reformat my Macbook drive, erase the partitions that PoP OS was using, put it back to blank space and now my entire Macbook is not working and erased! There is a folder with a ? mark blinking at me when I boot up and can't do anything, so that's fantastic! Thankfully I have multiple backups on an external drive, hopefully I can get it all back. This is just so much fun

 

[Alexzee]

Man, things just went from bad to worse. I was trying to reformat my Macbook drive, erase the partitions that PoP OS was using, put it back to blank space and now my entire Macbook is not working and erased! There is a folder with a ? mark blinking at me when I boot up and can't do anything, so that's fantastic! Thankfully I have multiple backups on an external drive, hopefully I can get it all back. This is just so much fun

When my patience is tried I experience frustration and discuss when my laptop or desktop won't boot.

The key, my friend, is to stay calm when your facing challenges.

Instead of reformatting your Macbook's drive try this.
1. Plug in your Live Linux Mint USB and start the installation.
2. When it comes time to partition the drive let the partition manager that comes with Linux Mint partition the drive for you.
3. Sit back and let the installer finish the installation for you.
4. Reboot after the install is finished and enjoy your Linux Mint.

You can always use g-parted Live to re-partition the drive if you don't like how the partition manager created the partitions on your Mac's drive for Linux Mint.

 

[SuperWookie68]

When my patience is tried I experience frustration and discuss when my laptop or desktop won't boot.

The key, my friend, is to stay calm when your facing challenges.

Instead of reformatting your Macbook's drive try this.
1. Plug in your Live Linux Mint USB and start the installation.
2. When it comes time to partition the drive let the partition manager that comes with Linux Mint partition the drive for you.
3. Sit back and let the installer finish the installation for you.
4. Reboot after the install is finished and enjoy your Linux Mint.

You can always use g-parted Live to re-partition the drive if you don't like how the partition manager created the partitions on your Mac's drive for Linux Mint.

I actually HAVE to get my MacBook back to how it was a few weeks ago. It has ALL my music that I can't get from any other place on it. And has all my tax returns and other important documents like that on it. So I'm going to have to figure out how this all works and hopefully get it all back on. I may or may not even bother putting Linux back on this laptop at this point. If it's going to be such a pain to use Linux, I don't want to use it on my one computer that has all my important stuff. My PC I just built 2 years ago has nothing important on it. So I might just stick with that and only use Linux there. We'll see. I need to stay away from it for a few days or weeks, then reassess how I feel when I'm not so angry and frustrated.

It's funny, I was reading some stuff on reddit this morning and saw this guy in the Linux threads talking about how tired he is of Linux. How he has tried so hard for years to make it work and yet it always has problems. He even has Linux Mint! And he went on for a good while about all the problems and I could relate to every single one of them. I was laughing out loud while I read and could relate to his pain and frustration. And it made me realize, I don't HAVE to do this. I don't want to be using a computer that's always got problems, always crashing, always freezing, things not working, etc etc. And this guy knows more than I do about Linux and he said he's just exhausted of using it. And that he's going back to Windows. And I was sort of thinking the same thing. And that's even before my Macbook drive got erased while at work today. I'll have to think about this and make my own decision later on, when I've calmed down. Decide if the customization and open source is worth the headache?

I do want to thank you specifically and others for helping me so far. It has been a learning experience for sure and has been fun at times. Lots of stress, frustration and wanting to give up as well. But I've usually persevered and got it to work. Which ultimately feels really good. To know that I can keep going, try hard and come out on top. And I'll still use my Kubuntu on my desktop PC when at home.

But now with my Macbook drive just disappearing and now having to worry about HOW I'm going to get it back to normal, I don't know if I want to continue with Linux on it anymore. Maybe once Apple stops supporting my OS and my computer doesn't even work, then I can turn it into a Linux computer. We'll see. Thanks again

 

[osprey]

I actually HAVE to get my MacBook back to how it was a few weeks ago. It has ALL my music that I can't get from any other place on it. And has all my tax returns and other important documents like that on it. So I'm going to have to figure out how this all works and hopefully get it all back on. I may or may not even bother putting Linux back on this laptop at this point. If it's going to be such a pain to use Linux, I don't want to use it on my one computer that has all my important stuff. My PC I just built 2 years ago has nothing important on it. So I might just stick with that and only use Linux there. We'll see. I need to stay away from it for a few days or weeks, then reassess how I feel when I'm not so angry and frustrated.

It's funny, I was reading some stuff on reddit this morning and saw this guy in the Linux threads talking about how tired he is of Linux. How he has tried so hard for years to make it work and yet it always has problems. He even has Linux Mint! And he went on for a good while about all the problems and I could relate to every single one of them. I was laughing out loud while I read and could relate to his pain and frustration. And it made me realize, I don't HAVE to do this. I don't want to be using a computer that's always got problems, always crashing, always freezing, things not working, etc etc. And this guy knows more than I do about Linux and he said he's just exhausted of using it. And that he's going back to Windows. And I was sort of thinking the same thing. And that's even before my Macbook drive got erased while at work today. I'll have to think about this and make my own decision later on, when I've calmed down. Decide if the customization and open source is worth the headache?

I do want to thank you specifically and others for helping me so far. It has been a learning experience for sure and has been fun at times. Lots of stress, frustration and wanting to give up as well. But I've usually persevered and got it to work. Which ultimately feels really good. To know that I can keep going, try hard and come out on top. And I'll still use my Kubuntu on my desktop PC when at home.

But now with my Macbook drive just disappearing and now having to worry about HOW I'm going to get it back to normal, I don't know if I want to continue with Linux on it anymore. Maybe once Apple stops supporting my OS and my computer doesn't even work, then I can turn it into a Linux computer. We'll see. Thanks again

Some observations on Mac and linux here:

https://linux.org/threads/which-linux-distributions-is-the-best-for-mac-m1.43909/#post-183779

and in that thread generally. The point being made there is that the operating system macs use now can be used in similar ways to linux, and be virtually indistinguishable from linux if set up that way, but mac's operating systems are more optimal on that hardware at present.

Despite the frustration, it sounds like there's some comfort from a wise practice mentioned in post #33:

Thankfully I have multiple backups on an external drive

I guess it's rather glib to say that linux requires learning, just the same as for any operating system, but it's like that and all linux cognocenti have needed to cross that bridge. Having another computer running linux for learning sounds ideal in this situation.

 

[Condobloke]

@SuperWookie68 ....you may never forgive me.....but I laughed, LOUD, as I read you post up there ^^...(No.33)

Why?...because you described me, when I initially set out using Linux.

I'll try and nutshell it for you.

You said up above :""And I'll still use my Kubuntu on my desktop PC when at home.""

Kubuntu is obviously on a "non Mac" pc.....and obviously gives you a good experience

Mac.....they are...um....different.

Cool down...find your important data....preserve it in a couple of places, again. Breathe a huge sigh of relief once that is done.

Then....take a non mac pc, whether it be desktop or laptop ...and smile again.

Maybe a buy a refurbished one just for this purpose/....just a thought.

 

[ihb]

SOLUTION :
Dear all I had and exact same problem, but on Debian 12 on my old asus laptop (2010)

Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-37-amd64
Architecture: x86-64
Hardware Vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
Hardware Model: N46VM
Firmware Version: N46VM.303

I've tried disabling the 'autologin to user-abc' but it does not have any effect

The solution that I've tried and [thankfully] successful in 1 try is as follows

1. on the error page above "Oh No Smiley" try to exit to terminal by [pressing Ctrl-Alt + F2/F3
2. once we enter the Terminal login with the linux user account that has access to SUDO/Administrator privilege
3. Disable/Stop the GDM3 by typing "sudo systemctl stop gdm3"
4. Remove GDM3 by typing : "sudo apt purge gdm3"
5. Reinstall GDM3 by typing : "sudo apt install gdm3"
6. Restart GDM3 by typing : "sudo systemctl enable gdm3" AND "sudo systemctl start gdm3" (from terminal will enter the GNOME).

In my case the GDM3 responds normally to login/password successfully, even without restarting the laptop. But you may try to 'restart/reboot the machine' 1time beforehand.

By the way before I tried 6 steps above I typed the following command after step 2 (at the Terminal) , these steps seems to do something, yet the problem still happens,

2.1. type = sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2.2. type = sudo apt install --fix-broken

sudo apt install --fix-missing

sudo apt autoremove

2.3. type = sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Hope this helps. Cheers

So I was just minding my own business, hadn't installed or done ANYTHING in hrs to my MacBook Air when the battery gave out and the laptop shut down. This happens all the time with my old MacBook Air as the battery is super old. It lasts 2 or so hrs, then around 40% or so of battery left, can unexpectedly shut down. It's always fine when I boot back up once it's getting some charge. It's even happened before with PoP OS and again, nothing bad happens. Not this time though!

So I boot back up into PoP OS, I log in with my password, then the next screen is all one color with the Oh No! Something Has Gone Wrong message!!! It will only let me restart. I can't even get into the system! I restart and it just keeps going back to this screen! I'm literally locked out of PoP OS!

Now the details and backstory. This is a dual boot machine now. I installed PoP OS on this 2014 MacBook Air a few weeks ago and it's been fantastic! No problems at all. PoP, along with Linux Mint have been the most stable and worry free OS of Linux I've tried so far. So the system has a partition I setup for Mac on one side of the drive and PoP on the other. I had to go through this extremely lengthy install process of making all sorts of partitions on the drive for PoP on this Mac. Followed this guys online tutorial and watched another persons video and it worked amazing! It had me creating a Root, Boot, Home, Swap and Recovery partitions. And I think, one of them had you installing a program called rEFInd. It's a slightly better looking Boot Menu than the std plain gray Mac version. Which to be honest, I'm not even sure how to use. I just hold down option when I boot my MacBook on, select the Linux drive of the two (Mac on the left, Linux on the right) and I'm on my way.

So I'm TOTALLY at a loss as to HOW this happened? How do I fix it? I also didn't want that rEFInd program running anymore on boot up, as I thought it might be the problem? So I went in (after this whole problem happened) to my Mac Utilities, to Startup Disk (and followed the directions on rEFInd's website on how to uninstall). It says it's best to just bypass rEFInd, instead of trying to uninstall it. It's very complicated. So It says to just select the drive you want to boot from, hit restart and voila, it won't boot into rEFInd anymore. Problem is, I think rEFInd had a few different drives or partitions I could boot into for Linux. And I think one of them said Recovery. And that is where I'm guessing I need to go? To PoP OS recovery mode? But I can't get there, because I have a dual boot system. I have to hold down Option key on my MacBook to get to the Boot menu that allows me to choose between the Mac drive or Linux drive. And if I chose Linux and immediately hold down the space bar, nothing happens. It boots into PoP OS then says Oh No! Something has gone wrong. I can't figure out how to fix this and need some help please. Thanks

 

[bob466]

Bricked: Broken beyond repair.

Paper weight.

 

[bob466]

I could fix this problem in 20 to 30 minutes...I'd put the system image I created before the problem started back on the Drive...easy.

If you don't then it's a re-install for you...might be time to look at Foxclone..https://foxclone.org or Redorescue...https://sourceforge.net/projects/redobackup/files/ then you'll never be in this position again.

 

[Rob]

This happened to me a few weeks ago on a system76 laptop.. I ended up uninstalling and re-installing \

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall pop-desktop pop-session gnome-shell gdm3

sudo apt --fix-broken install

 

[CataclysmicGentleman]

Haha, so I'm just sh*t out of luck?! Ubuntu just sucks, is super glitchy and there's almost nothing that can be done, short of some Linux wizard going through my laptop configuration? If that's the case, then Man, that is a HUGE bummer!!!

I've spent a TON of time working on and making my PoP OS on my laptop look amazing. It was exactly how I wanted it and looked SOOOO fantastic. Ran smooth. And had ZERO problems until this happened.

And just to be clear.... even though Linux Mint is based off of Ubuntu, you're suggesting I use Linux Mint instead of Ubuntu, PoP OS or Kubuntu? That it should, in theory be WAY more stable and have almost no problems or problems like this? I don't want to do this again and have it all fail all over again. If I chose another distro for the laptop, I want it to be the LAST distro I put on it and have zero problems.

I have also had problems with PoP OS, among other distros. Linux Mint is just a great well maintained distro, and I can customize it enough to be whatever I need. Cinnamon has more options for customization then Gnome does (out of the box from the best of my memory)

for sure give it a try! You just might like it. I have only had flawless installs and updates with ONE distro, and that is linux mint. really no problems- forsure less problems then when I used to use windows, and far more freedom then what you find with Mac, and far more stability then a bleeding edge distro can provide (EG: Fedora or Arch) in my opinion its a great all around option for those who wanna "plug and play: use their PC"