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#1 2020-11-20 20:02:44

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

[SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

I have Archlinux installed on my Asus n752vx laptop since when I've bought it more than four years ago.
Since some months it has started to frequently freeze on "Loading initial ramdisk ..." when I reboot it (I do it not very often, typically once a week).
When the freeze happens, I can reboot the pc by pressing the power off button and then powering it on again and sometimes I have to do that twice to be able to start the system.
The system is configured with a dual boot with Windows 10.

This is the output of lsblk:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 238,5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   260M  0 part /boot
├─sda2   8:2    0    16M  0 part 
├─sda3   8:3    0  75,4G  0 part 
├─sda4   8:4    0   575M  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0 161,8G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   0 931,5G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0 931,5G  0 part /dataBackup
sdc      8:32   0 931,5G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   0 931,5G  0 part /home

This is the output of /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="${saved_entry}"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt5'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt5' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt5 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt5 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt5  74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=it_IT
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux-lts' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-lts-advanced-74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b' {
        savedefault
        set gfxpayload=text
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  F0D6-7769
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F0D6-7769
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux-lts ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b rw  loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=3 splash mitigations=auto,nosmt pci=noaer nvidia-drm.modeset=1
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /intel-ucode.img /initramfs-linux-lts.img
}
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux-lts (fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-lts-fallback-74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b' {
        savedefault
        set gfxpayload=text
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  F0D6-7769
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F0D6-7769
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux-lts ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b rw  loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=3 splash mitigations=auto,nosmt pci=noaer nvidia-drm.modeset=1
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
}
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-advanced-74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b' {
        savedefault
        set gfxpayload=text
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  F0D6-7769
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F0D6-7769
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b rw  loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=3 splash mitigations=auto,nosmt pci=noaer nvidia-drm.modeset=1
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /intel-ucode.img /initramfs-linux.img
}
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux (fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-fallback-74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b' {
        savedefault
        set gfxpayload=text
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  F0D6-7769
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F0D6-7769
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b rw  loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=3 splash mitigations=auto,nosmt pci=noaer nvidia-drm.modeset=1
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-efi-F0D6-7769' {
        savedefault
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        set root='hd0,gpt1'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt1' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  F0D6-7769
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F0D6-7769
        fi
        chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then
        menuentry "Microsoft Windows 10 UEFI-GPT" {
                insmod part_gpt
                insmod fat
                insmod search_fs_uuid
                insmod chain
                search --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 F0D6-7769
                chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
        }
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

This is the output of efibootmgr -v:

BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0001,0005,0000,0004,0003,0006,0007
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager  VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0001* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,e01f44ba-0ef8-4818-b47d-80bf6b4a6b7c,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....H...............
Boot0002* arch_grub     HD(1,GPT,e01f44ba-0ef8-4818-b47d-80bf6b4a6b7c,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\ARCH_GRUB\GRUBX64.EFI)
Boot0003* UEFI:CD/DVD Drive     BBS(129,,0x0)
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0005* UEFI OS       HD(1,MBR,0xa85dd,0x800,0x200000)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)..BO
Boot0006* UEFI:Removable Device BBS(130,,0x0)
Boot0007* UEFI:Network Device   BBS(131,,0x0)

This is the output of ls -all /boot/  :

totale 198076
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root     4096  1 gen  1970  .
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root     4096 25 set 11.23  ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root     4096 30 mar  2016  EFI
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root     4096 24 giu 18.16  grub
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 57117981 19 nov 14.32  initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 35743312 19 nov 14.31  initramfs-linux.img
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 55854188 19 nov 14.31  initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 35070313 19 nov 14.31  initramfs-linux-lts.img
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  3621888 19 nov 08.58  intel-ucode.img
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root     4096 11 lug  2017 'System Volume Information'
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  8968672 19 nov 14.30  vmlinuz-linux
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  6416704 19 nov 14.30  vmlinuz-linux-lts

This is the output of cat /etc/fstab :

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# /dev/sda5 UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b
LABEL=ArchRootSSD       /               ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 1

# /dev/sdc1 UUID=dca8b900-5a1a-4d64-b193-9194d4b214ff
LABEL=ArchDataSSD       /home           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sdb1 UUID=91e93ef5-a6c7-45c9-94a9-90497f48754d
LABEL=ArchDataHDD       /dataBackup     ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sda1 UUID=F0D6-7769
LABEL=SYSTEM            /boot           vfat            rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro    0 2

/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

Can you help me to understand the issue, please?

Last edited by Xwang (2021-03-08 17:09:49)


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#2 2020-11-25 14:20:16

kuroclef
Member
From: Fuji-shi, Shizuoka, Japan
Registered: 2016-01-15
Posts: 1
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

You might be able to fix it this way.

  1. Enter the “arch-chroot” environment.

  2. # pacman -Rsn intel-ucode
  3. # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  4. Leave the environment and reboot your PC.

What happend ? Why happend ?
I don’t know, sorry. But I think your problem will be solved.

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#3 2020-11-25 14:29:10

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

kuroclef wrote:

You might be able to fix it this way.

  1. Enter the “arch-chroot” environment.

  2. # pacman -Rsn intel-ucode
  3. # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  4. Leave the environment and reboot your PC.

What happend ? Why happend ?
I don’t know, sorry. But I think your problem will be solved.

Are you suggesting me to remove the intel-ucode package?
Since I am able to log into my pc (when the issue happens I've "just" to power it off and on sometimes so that it continues loading the system being the freezing only a frequent random event), I think I can avoid to enter the arch-chroot env. Is it correct?
Since some days I'm using the lts kernel and the freeze has never happened.
Is it somehow related?

Last edited by Xwang (2020-11-25 14:30:15)


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#4 2020-11-25 15:43:15

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,331

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

intel-ucode is an important package for processor stability/security, removing it without having determined it to be the reason for the issue is unlikely to help and might be counter-productive.

What is intended to start during boot up? From the symptoms it just sounds like the usual race conditions with regards to getting the graphics subsystem up (... your system is "too fast" and the graphical environment gets started before the graphics driver is ready). A common fix for this is to include the necessary graphics driver modules in the initramfs so that they are loaded before the rest of the system: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … _KMS_start

Maybe post/check the journal after having successfully booted after a forced shutdown via e.g.

sudo journalctl -b-1

to get the data from the previous boot. You should also try whether you can switch the VT with Ctrl+Alt+F2 and the like during the "freeze"

Last edited by V1del (2020-11-25 15:46:12)

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#5 2020-11-27 19:02:15

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

The issue has happened again:

The journalctl is not usefull because it does not report at all the "failed boot" as you can see from these lines:

nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx systemd[1]: Reached target Reboot.
nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx systemd[1]: Shutting down.
nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx audit: BPF prog-id=36 op=UNLOAD
nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx audit: BPF prog-id=35 op=UNLOAD
nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx audit: BPF prog-id=30 op=UNLOAD
nov 27 19:08:08 n752vx audit: BPF prog-id=29 op=UNLOAD
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx systemd[1]: Hardware watchdog 'iTCO_wdt', version 0
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx systemd[1]: Set hardware watchdog to 10min.
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx kernel: watchdog: watchdog0: watchdog did not stop!
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx systemd-shutdown[1]: Syncing filesystems and block devices.
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx systemd-shutdown[1]: Sending SIGTERM to remaining processes...
nov 27 19:08:09 n752vx systemd-journald[266]: Journal stopped
-- Reboot --
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xe2, date = 2020-07-14
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: Linux version 5.4.79-1-lts (linux-lts@archlinux) (gcc version 10.2.0 (GCC)) #1 SMP Sun, 22 Nov 2020 14:22:21 +0000
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b rw loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_priority=>
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: KERNEL supported cpus:
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel:   Intel GenuineIntel
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel:   AMD AuthenticAMD
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel:   Hygon HygonGenuine
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel:   Centaur CentaurHauls
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel:   zhaoxin   Shanghai  
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x001: 'x87 floating point registers'
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x002: 'SSE registers'
nov 27 19:11:32 archlinux kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x004: 'AVX registers'

At nov 27 19:08:09 the target Reboot was reached, but then the log of the following "good" boot (which I've made with the lts kernel) begins.
In the three minutes between 19:08:09 and 19:11:32 I've awaited with the "Loading initial ramdisk ..." on the screen.
Meantime I've tried to see if other console were reachable but they were not.
Then I've forced the shutdown pressing the power button and restarted the pc selecting the lts kernel which up to now has never showed the issue.
So I presume that the freeze happens very early before journalctl starts logging the events. Is it correct? What else can I do?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#6 2020-11-28 10:11:42

mariuskava
Member
Registered: 2015-11-02
Posts: 1

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

I have the similar issue on Lenovo ideapad Miix 700. Instead of hanging sometimes it is happening consistently on every boot during init ramdisk. Removing `intel-ucode` or downgrading to 20200616 version fixes the issue.

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#7 2021-02-14 18:57:21

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

The problem is still present even if random.
I'm wondering if using systemd-boot instead of grub could solve the issue.
When I look for "loading initial ramdisk" on google I see that all the posts are related to GRUB and in at least one case one user solved changing to systemd-boot, but maybe it is completely not related ...


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#8 2021-02-14 20:41:04

Maniaxx
Member
Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

As you're using nvidia-drm.modeset=1:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … de_setting

DRM kernel mode setting

nvidia 364.16 adds support for DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) kernel mode setting. To enable this feature, add the nvidia-drm.modeset=1 kernel parameter. For basic functionality that should suffice, if you want to ensure it's loaded at the earliest possible occasion, or are noticing startup issues you can add nvidia, nvidia_modeset, nvidia_uvm and nvidia_drm to the initramfs according to Mkinitcpio#MODULES.

You can also omit that kernel option. Its not necessary.

Other than that i would replace fstab LABEL entries with UUID or PARTUUID (just to shuffle some potential candidates). I've seen occasional freezes at that position due to BIOS device enumeration (harddisks detected in different order).


sys2064

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#9 2021-02-14 22:47:00

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Maniaxx wrote:

As you're using nvidia-drm.modeset=1:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … de_setting

DRM kernel mode setting

nvidia 364.16 adds support for DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) kernel mode setting. To enable this feature, add the nvidia-drm.modeset=1 kernel parameter. For basic functionality that should suffice, if you want to ensure it's loaded at the earliest possible occasion, or are noticing startup issues you can add nvidia, nvidia_modeset, nvidia_uvm and nvidia_drm to the initramfs according to Mkinitcpio#MODULES.

You can also omit that kernel option. Its not necessary.

Other than that i would replace fstab LABEL entries with UUID or PARTUUID (just to shuffle some potential candidates). I've seen occasional freezes at that position due to BIOS device enumeration (harddisks detected in different order).

nvidia-drm-modeset=1 is needed to avoid tearing (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … oken_VSync).

and my MODULES in mkinitcpio.conf is already:

MODULES=(intel_agp i915 nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)

So it seems that the only thing to try is to change fstab and use UIDD instead of LABEL even thought it would be a serious problem if the issue is given by the use of LABEL because it is one of the suggested methods described in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pe … ice_naming .

Moreover I have just seen that my / partition (/dev/sda5) has the following GUID 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4. Should I change it to 4f68bce3-e8cd-4db1-96e7-fbcaf984b709 (see https://systemd.io/DISCOVERABLE_PARTITIONS/)?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#10 2021-02-15 08:47:10

Maniaxx
Member
Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Xwang wrote:

nvidia-drm-modeset=1 is needed to avoid tearing

But its not mandatory to boot up the system. You might want to narrow down candidates to find the bug.

Xwang wrote:

MODULES=(intel_agp

You have an i7/skylake. Are you sure this is correct?

Last edited by Maniaxx (2021-02-15 09:00:29)


sys2064

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#11 2021-02-15 10:08:21

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Maniaxx wrote:
Xwang wrote:

nvidia-drm-modeset=1 is needed to avoid tearing

But its not mandatory to boot up the system. You might want to narrow down candidates to find the bug.

Maybe you are right, but since tearing is terrible on this laptop without nvidia-drm-modeset=1, I prefer to have random freeze startup instead of tearing all the time I use the PC.

Maniaxx wrote:
Xwang wrote:

MODULES=(intel_agp

You have an i7/skylake. Are you sure this is correct?

Sincerely I do not remember why I have intel_agp and i915 on the modules, but consider that this installation is on the PC since 2016.
So is it possible that some configuration needed in the past are not good any-more?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#12 2021-02-15 10:28:52

V1del
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Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,331

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Do you get more output if you edit the kernel params and remove quiet and add loglevel=7 ?

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#13 2021-02-15 10:56:19

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

V1del wrote:

Do you get more output if you edit the kernel params and remove quiet and add loglevel=7 ?

I've just done that, but the freeze has not happened yet. I'll let you know as soon as it happens again.

Edit:
It has happened and on the screen there Is no info After "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Last edited by Xwang (2021-02-15 11:00:40)


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#14 2021-02-15 11:43:42

Maniaxx
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Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Xwang wrote:

Sincerely I do not remember why I have intel_agp and i915 on the modules, but consider that this installation is on the PC since 2016.
So is it possible that some configuration needed in the past are not good any-more?

Possible. I would remove all modules for testing. The point of freeze might be on the module loading stage indeed.

You could also try 'earlyprintk' kernel option.

Last edited by Maniaxx (2021-02-15 11:46:02)


sys2064

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#15 2021-02-15 12:30:21

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Maniaxx wrote:
Xwang wrote:

Sincerely I do not remember why I have intel_agp and i915 on the modules, but consider that this installation is on the PC since 2016.
So is it possible that some configuration needed in the past are not good any-more?

Possible. I would remove all modules for testing. The point of freeze might be on the module loading stage indeed.

You could also try 'earlyprintk' kernel option.

I've tried to add earlyprintk=vga but it does not give any additional info when the freeze happens.

Is it possible to remove modules only for one of my three kernels (I've linux, linux-lts and linux-zen which I'm using  currently)?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#16 2021-02-15 12:41:22

Maniaxx
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Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Sure, its even strongly recommended. You might end in a non-booting state and you should have fallback/recovery options.

I would create a separate initramfs on a new grub entry. And it generally wouldn't be wrong to have a recovery usb-stick with an archiso (e.g. with ventoy) at hand.

Last edited by Maniaxx (2021-02-15 12:42:13)


sys2064

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#17 2021-02-15 12:44:28

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Maniaxx wrote:

Sure, its even strongly recommended. You might end in a non-booting state and you should have fallback/recovery options.

I would create a separate initramfs on a new grub entry. And it generally wouldn't be wrong to have a recovery usb-stick with an archiso (e.g. with ventoy) at hand.

Is there an howto anywhere?

meantime I've tried to use earlyprintk=efi with no luck (no addition info when freeze happens). Why it is not possible to have any info? It seems that when the issue happens it easy very very early in the booting process, before earlyprintk is called. Do you agree?

Last edited by Xwang (2021-02-15 13:11:08)


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#18 2021-02-15 14:42:36

Maniaxx
Member
Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Xwang wrote:

Is there an howto anywhere?

Not sure, but its not that hard. Something like this:

cp /etc/mkinitcpio.conf /tmp
nano /tmp/mkinitcpio.conf
sudo mkinitcpio -c /tmp/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-mycustom.img

Then copy & paste a menuentry from '/boot/grub/grub.cfg' to '/etc/grub.d/40_custom' (or /boot/grub/custom.cfg) and change it to your new initramfs (initrd    /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-mycustom.img) and update grub.cfg (sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg). Edit: Not necessary for /boot/grub/custom.cfg).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB

Xwang wrote:

meantime I've tried to use earlyprintk=efi with no luck

Maybe try 'earlyprintk=efi,keep' or 'earlyprintk=vga,keep'. And yes, chances are probably not very high to get more output. Maybe try in combination with 'nomodeset'.

Xwang wrote:

It seems that when the issue happens it easy very very early in the booting process, before earlyprintk is called. Do you agree?

It passes video handling from BIOS to driver/kernel at that point. 'nomodeset' might prevent that. I don't think it can affect earlyprintk in any way though. The kernel just cannot talk to you (write to the display). Usually earlyprintk is used in combination with rs232/serial to a 2nd system/console.

Last edited by Maniaxx (2021-02-15 14:57:00)


sys2064

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#19 2021-02-15 16:41:56

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

I've done a custom kernel with an empty MODULES, but it randomically freezes in the same way as the others.
Moreover when it does not freeze it does not display GDM, but I can blindly login and obtain the desktop enviroment (KDE).
So I would say that at least some of those modules are needed and that they are not the cause of the freezes. Do you agree?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#20 2021-02-15 17:27:43

Maniaxx
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Registered: 2014-05-14
Posts: 732

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Yes, looks like that.

When it freezes. Did you wait already for (let's say) at least 6 minutes? Maybe the kernel is not dead and something times out after some time (with error).
Can you disconnect the two additional HDDs? Maybe create a temporary home folder (or duplicate it) on the 1st HDD for testing.
How are these HDDs connected? Via USB?


sys2064

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#21 2021-02-15 17:38:11

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Maniaxx wrote:

Yes, looks like that.

When it freezes. Did you wait already for (let's say) at least 6 minutes? Maybe the kernel is not dead and something times out after some time (with error).
Can you disconnect the two additional HDDs? Maybe create a temporary home folder (or duplicate it) on the 1st HDD for testing.
How are these HDDs connected? Via USB?

I've tried to left it in that state for longer than 6 minutes without any other errors or messages coming out.

The additional HDD are internal ones.
I just moved the original HDD to the CDROM bay and put another SDD where the HDD originally was.
However the issue has not started with this upgrade and I would not like to touch them.

As I've told before, I have  seen that my / partition (/dev/sda5) has the following GUID 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4. Should I change it to 4f68bce3-e8cd-4db1-96e7-fbcaf984b709 (see https://systemd.io/DISCOVERABLE_PARTITIONS/)?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#22 2021-02-15 17:45:04

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,331

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

The guid is only relevant if you don't use an fstab to map the disks you want. So systemd-boot could boot you fstab-less outside of that it doesn't matter much.

Have you tried the non LTS kernel?

Last edited by V1del (2021-02-15 17:46:19)

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#23 2021-02-15 17:51:35

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

V1del wrote:

The guid is only relevant if you don't use an fstab to map the disks you want. So systemd-boot could boot you fstab-less outside of that it doesn't matter much.

Have you tried the non LTS kernel?

Both linux, linux-lts and linux-zen have the same randomic issue.
Currently I'm using zen because I need for a program I'm using.

I'm still using GRUB. Moving to systemd-boot could change something or help solve the issue anyway?


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#24 2021-02-15 18:09:33

Xwang
Member
Registered: 2012-05-14
Posts: 353

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

This is the output of lsblk -f

NAME   FSTYPE FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                                                 
├─sda1 vfat   FAT32 SYSTEM      F0D6-7769                             229,8M    10% /efi
├─sda2                                                                              
├─sda3 ntfs         OS          9A7CDA157CD9EC4F                                    
├─sda4 ntfs                     12D2C4E3D2C4CBE3                                    
├─sda5 ext4   1.0   ArchRootSSD 74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b   82,2G    43% /
└─sda6 ext4   1.0   BOOTGRUB    305d04f0-7318-4915-a240-a24b764dc84f  121,5M    68% /boot
sdb                                                                                 
└─sdb1 ext4   1.0   ArchDataHDD 91e93ef5-a6c7-45c9-94a9-90497f48754d  170,6G    76% /dataBackup
sdc                                                                                 
└─sdc1 ext4   1.0   ArchDataSSD dca8b900-5a1a-4d64-b193-9194d4b214ff    197G    73% /home

This is the fstab which I've used up to now based on LABELs:

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# /dev/sda5 UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b
LABEL=ArchRootSSD       /               ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 1

# /dev/sdc1 UUID=dca8b900-5a1a-4d64-b193-9194d4b214ff
LABEL=ArchDataSSD       /home           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sdb1 UUID=91e93ef5-a6c7-45c9-94a9-90497f48754d
LABEL=ArchDataHDD       /dataBackup     ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sda1 UUID=F0D6-7769
LABEL=SYSTEM            /efi            vfat            rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro    0 2

# /sev/sda6 UIDD=305d04f0-7318-4915-a240-a24b764dc84f
LABEL=BOOTGRUB          /boot           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

And this is the one based on UIDD that I'm trying to write:

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# /dev/sda5 UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b LABEL=ArchRootSSD 
UUID=74296c4e-84df-4eda-87a1-09be9d8e114b       /               ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 1

# /dev/sdc1 UUID=dca8b900-5a1a-4d64-b193-9194d4b214ff LABEL=ArchDataSSD
UUID=dca8b900-5a1a-4d64-b193-9194d4b214ff       /home           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sdb1 UUID=91e93ef5-a6c7-45c9-94a9-90497f48754d LABEL=ArchDataHDD
UUID=91e93ef5-a6c7-45c9-94a9-90497f48754d       /dataBackup     ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

# /dev/sda1 UUID=F0D6-7769                            LABEL=SYSTEM
UUID=F0D6-7769                                  /efi            vfat            rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro    0 2

# /dev/sda6 UIDD=305d04f0-7318-4915-a240-a24b764dc84f LABEL=BOOTGRUB
UIDD=305d04f0-7318-4915-a240-a24b764dc84f       /boot           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2

/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

But if I run sudo mount -a when using UIDD it says;

mount: /boot: special device UIDD=305d04f0-7318-4915-a240-a24b764dc84f does not exist.

If i run sudo mount -a when using LABEL it does not complain

(I'm running sudo mount -a to test if fstab is correct.
I do not understand what is the issue, but idt deny me to try using the UIDD.


I'm still learning English so please excuse me if my English is not good enough and feel free to correct me via PM if you want.

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#25 2021-02-15 18:12:29

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,331

Re: [SOLVED] Frequent freezes on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

It's UUID not UIDD

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