a., I think there is more going on than I can figure out for you. But I have one observation - your home partition is very small. My home directory is about 8 GB and this is not a longstanding install, I can add about 500MB a month if I just accumulate downloads and photos, etc, so I expect it to grow to 20-50 GB. And from the description in lsblk it looks like you have an install that still doesn't boot or that boots and is uncooperative or broken, which is where you began. Check your boot-up parameters again and try to run a live session. Debian or Ubuntu current 32-bit versions should all work, or any Linux flavor you like. What was your original install version and method? Have you tried that to test the hardware? Are you willing to try a fresh install? That may be the best answer. You may be preserving some corrupt file that is breaking the system. Good luck , Ted P.