Hi all.
After going through a range of Linux OS installations, I settled on Neon as my full time Linux OS.
Been going great until a 200+ item auto update yesterday (don't know if it is connected).
A few hours later, the computer froze, repeating the same split second of music for a minute or so (its happened on every Linux OS I tried)
After a forced hard reset, the computer will no longer boot.
It used to go straight to the "Please unlock disk sda_5 crypt" page, but now have a "Select Operating System" page.

neon GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.13.0.43-generic
neon GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.13.0.43-generic (rec
neon GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.13.0.41-generic
neon GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.13.0.41-generic (rec

options 1 & 2 bring up a wall of text ending with [end kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
Option 3 brings up the sda_5 crypt page and accepts my login. But will go no further than the next screen: "Welcome to emergency mode"
Option 4 brings up the recovery screen.
FSCK fails on [OK] Reached target swap.
DPKG fails with error:
reading cache
Cannot upgrade
An upgrade from 'xenial' to 'bionic' is not supported with this tool
Finished, please press enter.
I managed to get to a text screen that also accepted my username login (different from encryption one) and brings up a terminal at the bottom but can go no further.

I installed boot repair using the Neon Live disc and it uploaded the output @ https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/P7k8SRGNbR/

Anyone got any ideas?

If it wasn't for about 4 files, I could simply bin everything and start again, but I need to recover those.
The disc encryption means access is impossible through the live disc.

This posting should help you with accessing the encrypted partition from a live CD.

Mounting encrypted LUKS partition from Live CD
https://askubuntu.com/questions/653408/ ... om-live-cd

Once you have access to the data, it could then be copied to external media, e.g., USB drive.