Arch won't boot after -Syu: /etc/rc.sysinit can't execute things

AndreasBWagner · 2010-08-04 13:49:51

Hello,

I was not getting any updates for about a week or two so I checked my mirrors and added a few more. I ran yaourt -Syu, there were 30 updates.
I shutdown my computer and when booting I got several messages saying "cannot execute binary file" from /etc/rc.sysinit.

Here is the first of such messages:

/etc/rc.sysinit: line 45: /bin/dmesg: cannot execute binary file
rtc_cmos 00:04: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
rtc0: alarms up to one month, y3k, 114 bytes nvram
/etc/rc.sysinit: line 84: /sbin/hwclock: cannot execute binary file

Arch Linux Fallback has the same problems. I also tried to get to my files with the Arch livecd but I could not mount them:

mount: can't find /dev/sda3 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I have some things on there that I don't want to lose.

Thanks,

Andreas

flamelab · 2010-08-04 13:54:48

Try to chroot (google it or check the arch wiki) into your system from another linux (live cd for example) system, and reinstall the base group (pacman -S base).

If there is any error, please post it here.

AndreasBWagner · 2010-08-05 11:08:02

From a knoppix disk I mounted sda3 and other partitions to their respective mount points and used chroot.

I ran pacman -S base but many of packages did not install correctly according to the messages.

The reboot with the hard drive fails and I am dropped to a recovery shell.

I can't chroot in again after this because of "Exec format error" however both the Knoppix disk and the Arch install are both i686. Maybe x86_64 base was being installed by pacman.

AndreasBWagner · 2010-08-06 11:17:32

I have retrieved the files I need and will start with a fresh install (which would be a good idea even if it was bootable).

I screwed up the install by adding mirrors without remembering to check the architecture (which was x86_64 and should have been i686). I made it impossible to chroot in again from the i686 livecd by installing x86_64 base on the i686 computer.

If anyone is reading this don't make my past mistake and add mirrors for the right architecture.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-08-04 13:49:51

Arch won't boot after -Syu: /etc/rc.sysinit can't execute things

#2 2010-08-04 13:54:48

Re: Arch won't boot after -Syu: /etc/rc.sysinit can't execute things

#3 2010-08-05 11:08:02

Re: Arch won't boot after -Syu: /etc/rc.sysinit can't execute things

#4 2010-08-06 11:17:32

Re: Arch won't boot after -Syu: /etc/rc.sysinit can't execute things

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