Arch Linux

sambos

Member

Registered: 2016-11-29

Posts: 2

Arch Linux USB key not booting after pacman -Syyu

Hey! New user. I have an ArchLinux Usb Drive and it worked fine until I ran pacman -Syyu to update the system just now.

In fact, after I ran it, my DE crashed and I couldn't even launch my terminal to do a shutdown. So, I held the power key to shut down the laptop, and when I rebooted it, I just get no output at boot. There's just a blank screen and nothing happens.

What can I do? I'm looking at my pacman.log file and see nothing out of the ordinary. Keep in mind, I'm new to Arch.

Here is my relevant pacman.log
[2016-11-29 13:52] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syyu'
[2016-11-29 13:52] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2016-11-29 13:52] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] transaction started
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] upgraded linux (4.8.10-1 -> 4.8.11-1)
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] >>> Updating module dependencies. Please wait ...
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] upgraded llvm-libs (3.9.0-2 -> 3.9.0-3)
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] upgraded xfce4-clipman-plugin (1.4.0-1 -> 1.4.1-1)
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] transaction completed
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM] running '99-linux.hook'...
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default'
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Starting build: 4.8.11-1-ARCH
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [base]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [udev]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [modconf]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [block]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [fsck]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Generating module dependencies
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Creating gzip-compressed initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Image generation successful
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'fallback'
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Starting build: 4.8.11-1-ARCH
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [base]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [udev]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [modconf]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [block]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: wd719x
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: aic94xx
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Running build hook: [fsck]
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Generating module dependencies
[2016-11-29 13:52] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Creating gzip-compressed initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
[2016-11-29 13:53] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Image generation successful
[2016-11-29 13:53] [ALPM] running 'gtk-update-icon-cache.hook'...
[2016-11-29 13:53] [ALPM] running 'update-desktop-database.hook'...

sambos

Member

Registered: 2016-11-29

Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux USB key not booting after pacman -Syyu

Follow up, just tried the key on a desktop, and on this one I actually get something displayed, looping error saying

initramfs-linux.img failed i/o error

Anyone have this issue?

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,772

Re: Arch Linux USB key not booting after pacman -Syyu

That is not good.  What kind of desktop is it?  What is the partition structure of the USB drive? What is (are) the files system(s)?

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onslow77

Member

Registered: 2014-09-21

Posts: 279

Re: Arch Linux USB key not booting after pacman -Syyu

Hello sambos!

Welcome to Arch Linux!

First , a couple of pointers:
- Use pacman -Syu when doing regular updates of the system
- Use pacman -Syyu to force a refresh of all package lists and upgrade, this is used for example when you change the contents in your mirror list
- Use code tages when posting output from you console,

 like this! 

In fact, after I ran it, my DE crashed and I couldn't even launch my terminal...

What "DE" do you use?

What can I do?

You should troubleshoot your issues by looking in your journal. If you can not boot at all, you can use chroot.

Regards
Martin

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It is advised to follow the How to post guide when posting on the Arch forum. If one consciously jumps over these elementary steps like reading the wiki and providing necessary information about the problem, one can be regarded as a Help Vampire.

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: Arch Linux USB key not booting after pacman -Syyu

Sounds like your USB could be going bad. Or, the USB circuitry on the laptop could be going bad. Or it could be a fluke; I also inexplicably had a bad initramfs created just a few weeks ago, and have had no issues since (and hadn't experienced anything like that before).

What you should do depends on how much you care about the data on the USB. If there's nothing critical, just chroot and rebuild the initramfs.

Otherwise, backup anything you don't want to lose. With failing or possibly failing storage, it's best to avoid writing to it entirely. You could dd the entire USB to an image, mount RO and copy specific files to another location, etc. Depending on how critical the data is, you might want to verify individual files are intact, or make two images/copies (with a reboot in between) and compare them with cmp/diff; depending on what exactly is going wrong your images/copies could be corrupt without any indication of problems.

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