wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

quiqueck · 2014-03-03 16:54:53

Today i decided to remove an old harddrive (IDE). After i do so, the boot-messages hangs on

Starting Sound Card.

So i decided to turn off the soundcard in BIOS. Now the boot-process hangs on boot-message:

Mär 03 16:44:15 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Reached target Sound Card.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Found device ST3250410AS.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Starting File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/43baff62-585e-4802-b71b-
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Found device ST3250410AS.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Mounting /run/media/Daten...
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Mounted /run/media/Daten.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd-fsck[175]: [57B blob data]
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Started File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/43baff62-585e-4802-b71b-3
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Mounting /run/media/VMs...
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch kernel: EXT4-fs (sda9): mounting ext3 file system using the ext4 subsystem
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch kernel: EXT4-fs (sda9): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Mounted /run/media/VMs.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Starting Local File Systems.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Reached target Local File Systems.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Starting Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage...
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Starting Recreate Volatile Files and Directories...
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd-journal[114]: Permanent journal is using 167.8M (max 1.9G, leaving 2.8G of f
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Started Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Started Recreate Volatile Files and Directories.
Mär 03 16:44:16 kaputtnik-arch systemd[1]: Starting Update UTMP about System Reboot/Shutdown...

The only thing i can do is to press CTRL+ALT+DEL. After that, the system shuts down and appropriate messages apper. Trying to start in another runlevel, as described here will do not work.

So i installed the old harddrive again and the system starts as usual. About thinking of this, i verify the entrys in /etc/fstab and found that there is an swap-entry which belongs to my old harddrive (which i removed). Changing it to an "valid" swap-partition, remove the old harddrive, turn on the soundcard in BIOS and everything is fine, no hangs on boot.

In my opinion, this should not be happen. There has to be a warning of a missing swap-partition or a warning of a misbahavior in /etc/fstab, and the boot-process has to be even successfull without a swap-partition. I my case i could only guess, whats wrong, because there are no clues.

I use UUIDs in my /etc/fstab.

alphaniner · 2014-03-03 17:13:19

It's a singularly stupid feature of systemd. By default, anything in fstab that is configured to mount/activate automatically will cause boot failure if not found. AFAIK the only way around it is to add the nofail option to any entries that shouldn't cause boot failure:

/dev/vg1/lv_bucket	/mnt/bucket	xfs	defaults,nofail	0 2

quiqueck · 2014-03-03 17:56:39

The problem is: There is no chance to get into a running (rescue) system. You have to use a live-CD or something else, to correct /etc/fstab. Or are there any other possibilities?

Do i have to mark this topic as solved, because i solved "my" problem myself?

alphaniner · 2014-03-03 18:05:12

When it has happened to me, I was dropped into the recovery shell.

Walston_Tempest · 2014-03-17 05:32:15

Yes use a live cd to fix this, changing or commenting out the offending line! The recovery shell is read only.

falconindy · 2014-03-17 11:43:38

Walston_Tempest wrote:

Yes use a live cd to fix this, changing or commenting out the offending line! The recovery shell is read only.

Or remount root read-write. Or boot with init=/bin/bash. Really no need for a live CD.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-03-03 16:54:53

wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

#2 2014-03-03 17:13:19

Re: wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

#3 2014-03-03 17:56:39

Re: wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

#4 2014-03-03 18:05:12

Re: wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

#5 2014-03-17 05:32:15

Re: wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

#6 2014-03-17 11:43:38

Re: wrong (not existing) swap partition causes boot failure

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