@keneda Nah, I don't have a 2nd battery, nor really the desire to even unplug the old one to swap out if I did. 
I'll prolly just buy another device for Ubuntu Touch - I was just giving it a good go at trying to save/fix this one - but I'm fairly sure the eMMC is dead... if I write data to /cache, /userdata, etc its gone with a reboot...
I thank ya'll; but I think the day I devoted to messing with this one is the last. 
@paulie420 Last thing... when I try to do like... in recovery mode all those options, like Install Update from Internal Storage. When I do that, I see;
E:failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/log
(AND SEVERAL OTHER E:Failed/Can't lines...
??? bad internal storage?? Cause where my boot fails is where Ubuntu Touch should boot - and if its gone.............
@mrt10001 Thanks for the two replies; I've tried UBPorts installer several times. When ya'll say try to revert to Android, do you mean with the packages with the naming scheme "hammerhead-krt16m-factory-fb4041cc.zip"? Inside, the files it comes with are installed with a "flash-all.sh" script? Cause if so; yea, thats what I thought... but when I attempt even the first "fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-hammerhead-HHZ11d.img", it fails;
Sending 'bootloader' (2506 KB) OKAY [ 0.310s]
Writing 'bootloader' FAILED (remote: 'flash write failure')
fastboot: error: Command failed
I've even tried the subsequent commands in "flash-all.sh", which do the following;
$ fastboot flash radio radio-hammerhead-M8974A-1.0.25.0.17.img
Sending 'radio' (42033 KB) OKAY [ 1.820s]
Writing 'radio' FAILED (remote: 'flash write failure')
fastboot: error: Command failed
$ fastboot -w update image-hammerhead-krt16m.zip
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: HHZ20h
Baseband Version.....: M8974A-2.0.50.2.30
Serial Number........: 03b9ef6ed0233716
--------------------------------------------
extracting android-info.txt (0 MB) to RAM...
Checking 'product' OKAY [ 0.099s]
Checking 'version-bootloader' FAILED
Device version-bootloader is 'HHZ20h'.
Update requires 'HHZ11d'.
fastboot: error: requirements not met!
So... I think I've tried most of the things that might get me somewhere... as stated, the three things that 'change' anything that I can get done are;
$ fastboot boot twrp.img
Sending 'boot.img' (14416 KB) OKAY [ 0.638s]
Booting OKAY [ 0.116s]
Finished. Total time: 0.763s
This one is neat; it actually boots the Nexus 5 into the Teamwin Recovery Project 3.7.0_9-0... in recovery mode. However, I dunnno where I can pivot from here. I thought that I'd install twrp, but when I burn that with;
$ flashboot flash recovery twrp.img
Sending 'recovery' (14416 KB) OKAY [ 0.740s]
Writing 'recovery' OKAY [ 1.099s]
Finished. Total time: 2.034s
OK, that sounds promising... but when I "fastboot reboot bootloader", it goes back to the UBPorts fastboot menu. LOL! twrp website said that you might have to hold vol up + power, to boot into recovery so that the old bootloader doesn't auto-write over twrp, but I haven't been able to get that process to... work. I thought if I got UBPorts OUT, maybe UBPorts installer might then work.... UGH.
LAST, if I boot into recovery mode I can use adb to;
adb push twrp.img /sdcard/
twrp-3.7.0_9-0-hammerhead.img: 1 file ...d. 9.6 MB/s (14761984 bytes in 1.466s)
But I dunno what that really does for me - can I install the above twrp.img from within the UBPorts recovery, or the fastboot menu???
Thanks for the attemps, anyone - I think I've done a lot on my own and... just dunno.
I purchased a used Nexus 5 hammerhead and installed Ubuntu Touch using UBPorts...
System worked, and I played around for a few weeks.
Phone battery went dead and when I charge and power on, it hangs on the Nexus 5 powered by ubuntu (Supported by ubports) screen.
If I hold vol down and power, I can get into the UBPorts bootloader;
FASTBOOT MODE
PRODUCT NAME - hammerhead
VARIANT - hammerhead D820(H) 32GB
HW VERSION - rev_11
BOOTLOADER VERSION - HHZ20h
BASEBAND VERSION - M8974A-2.0.50.2.30
CARRIER INFO - None
SERIAL NUMBER - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SIGNING - production
SECURE BOOT - enabled
LOCK STATE - unlocked
fastboot sees the device in fastboot mode;
xxxxxxxxx0233716 fastboot
I can use the vol keys and boot into recovery mode.
adb sees the device;
List of devices attached
xxxxxxxxx0233716 recovery
Here are some outputs from adb shell that might be helpful;
~ # df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 928.1M 28.0K 928.0M 0% /dev
tmpfs 928.1M 8.0K 928.1M 0% /tmp
tmpfs 928.1M 0 928.1M 0% /storage
tmpfs 928.1M 0 928.1M 0% /mnt/secure
tmpfs 928.1M 0 928.1M 0% /mnt/fuse
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system
1009.3M 18.6M 990.7M 2% /system
~ # dmesg (sample)
<4>[ 2.493874] mmcblk0: retrying write for general error
<3>[ 2.493925] end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 10002952
<3>[ 2.494003] Buffer I/O error on device mmcblk0p28, logical block 754241
<4>[ 2.494079] lost page write due to I/O error on mmcblk0p28
<3>[ 2.494131] end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 10002960
<3>[ 2.494209] Buffer I/O error on device mmcblk0p28, logical block 754242
<4>[ 2.494254] lost page write due to I/O error on mmcblk0p28
<3>[ 2.494967] mmcblk0: mmc_blk_err_check: general error sending status command, card status 0x80900
<6>[ 12.579182] sdhci: =========== REGISTER DUMP (mmc1)===========
<6>[ 12.579259] sdhci: Sys addr: 0x00000060 | Version: 0x00003802
<6>[ 12.579304] sdhci: Blk size: 0x00007200 | Blk cnt: 0x00000060
<6>[ 12.579379] sdhci: Argument: 0x0211b160 | Trn mode: 0x0000002b
<6>[ 12.579422] sdhci: Present: 0x01f80000 | Host ctl: 0x00000035
<6>[ 12.579496] sdhci: Power: 0x0000000b | Blk gap: 0x00000000
<6>[ 12.579540] sdhci: Wake-up: 0x00000000 | Clock: 0x00000007
<6>[ 12.579615] sdhci: Timeout: 0x0000000f | Int stat: 0x00000000
<6>[ 12.579660] sdhci: Int enab: 0x03ff800b | Sig enab: 0x03ff800b
<6>[ 12.579735] sdhci: AC12 err: 0x00000000 | Slot int: 0x00000000
<6>[ 12.579779] sdhci: Caps: 0x642dc8b2 | Caps_1: 0x00008007
<6>[ 12.579854] sdhci: Cmd: 0x0000193a | Max curr: 0x00000000
<6>[ 12.579898] sdhci: Resp 1: 0x00000000 | Resp 0: 0x00000900
<6>[ 12.579972] sdhci: Resp 3: 0x00000900 | Resp 2: 0x00000000
<6>[ 12.580016] sdhci: Host ctl2: 0x00000003
<6>[ 12.580088] sdhci: ADMA Err: 0x00000007 | ADMA Ptr: 0x35a00040
<6>[ 12.580132] mmc1: clk: 200000000 clk-gated: 0 claimer: mmcqd/1 pwr: 10
<6>[ 12.580207] mmc1: rpmstatus[pltfm](runtime-suspend:usage_count:disable_depth)(0:0:0)
<6>[ 12.580253] sdhci: ===========================================
<6>[ 12.580329] mmc1: bytes to transfer: 49152 transferred: 49152
<3>[ 12.584431] mmcblk0: mmc_blk_cmd_recovery: general error sending stop or status command, stop cmd response 0x0, card status 0x480900
<3>[ 12.584513] mmcblk0: error -110 sending stop command, original cmd response 0x900, card status 0x480900
<4>[ 12.584609] mmcblk0: retrying write for general error
<3>[ 12.589944] mmcblk0: mmc_blk_err_check: general error sending status command, card status 0x80940
Here are (what I think is the) partitions info:
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 31.2 GB, 31268536320 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3786 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16128 * 512 = 8257536 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 1 266306 2147483647+ ee EFI GPT
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p1: 67 MB, 67108864 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 2048 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1p1 ? 12158374 29994462 570754815+ 72 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1p2 ? 2635774 32886216 968014120 65 Unknown
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1p3 ? 29216898 59467339 968014096 79 Unknown
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1p4 ? 1 56831664 1818613248 d Unknown
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary
Partition table entries are not in disk order
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p2: 1 MB, 1048576 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 32 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p3: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p4: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p5: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p6: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p7: 2 MB, 2097152 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 64 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p7 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p8: 1 MB, 1048576 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 32 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p9: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p9 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p10: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p10 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p11: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p11 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p12: 3 MB, 3145728 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p13: 3 MB, 3145728 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p13 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p14: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p14 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p15: 16 MB, 16777216 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 512 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p15 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p16: 16 MB, 16777216 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 512 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p16 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p17: 3 MB, 3145728 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p17 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p18: 23 MB, 23068672 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 704 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p18 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p19: 23 MB, 23068672 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 704 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p19 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p20: 23 MB, 23068672 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 704 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p20 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p21: 3 MB, 3145728 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p21 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p22: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p22 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p23: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p23 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p24: 0 MB, 524288 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 16 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p24 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p25: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 32768 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p26: 31 MB, 31457280 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p26 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p27
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p27: 734 MB, 734003200 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 22400 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p27 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p28
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p28: 29.2 GB, 29236373504 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 892223 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p28 doesn't contain a valid partition table
/sys/block # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0p29
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p29: 0 MB, 5632 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 0 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0p29 doesn't contain a valid partition table
I can boot up a twrp recovery image;
fastboot boot twrp.img
I tried to burn that recovery image;
paulie420 archframework ~/adb fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.7.0_9-0-hammerhead.img
Sending 'recovery' (14416 KB) OKAY [ 0.880s]
Writing 'recovery' OKAY [ 1.099s]
Finished. Total time: 2.175s
But UBPorts overwrites it (I think) before it can boot.
At any rate, I just want to get Ubuntu Touch back in full - thats all this device was ever for... is my eMMC fried? Or... any suggestions at all? Thanks.