X server doesn't start after system update

PebbleSpoon · 2021-03-31 21:04:08

As the title says, I just updated my system and after rebooting Xorg couldn't start, leaving me with a black screen with an error log.

I'm using a Lenovo V145-15AST laptop running kernel 5.10.23-1-lst

I'll leave a link to my xorg log below
2vL0C1Q

Last edited by PebbleSpoon (2021-03-31 21:04:56)

twelveeighty · 2021-03-31 21:57:33

If you just updated your system, then your kernel should not be at 5.10.23, assuming you meant LTS, not LST.

seth · 2021-04-01 05:51:16

uname -a
pacman -Qs linux

Chances are that you either forgot to mount the /boot partition or that you did mount the /boot partition but are actually booting from the root partition.

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 09:25:27

seth wrote:

uname -a
pacman -Qs linux

So I did this and it seems that my installed kernel is 5.10.27-1-LTS, although my

uname -a

output is kernel 5.10.23 as I originally mentioned

seth wrote:

Chances are that you either forgot to mount the /boot partition or that you did mount the /boot partition but are actually booting from the root partition.

I don't have a separate boot partition, only a ESP. Is there a way I can pinpoint the issue that makes me load the wrong kernel?

seth · 2021-04-01 11:50:38

Post the output (do *not* just paraphrase stuff) of

mount
lsblk -f

and elaborate on the utilized bootloader.

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 12:14:42

Here are the outputs of both commands :
https://imgur.com/a/aXia6n8

I'm using GRUB2, which I installed on boot/EFI (the ESP)

seth · 2021-04-01 12:23:19

Please post text, not images of text (see the 1st link in my signature)
Then mount the VFAT partition on sda1 somewhere (/mnt) and check whether there're kernl files (vmlinuz-linux-lts) around.

You can test those and the ones in your /boot directory

file /boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts

and I assume that
1. there's a kernel on sda1 and
2. it's the one you boot…

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 15:00:06

seth wrote:

mount the VFAT partition on sda1 somewhere (/mnt)

sda1 is the ESP, so I tried mounting it but got the following error:

[root@archLaptop /]# mount /dev/sda1 /boot/EFI

mount: /boot/EFI: unknown filesystem type 'vfat' .

For the other part I got this:

[root@archLaptop /]# file /boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts

/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts: Linux Kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 5.10.27-1-lts (linux-@archlinux) #1 SMP Tue, 30 Mar 2021 13:22:29 +0000, RO-rootFS, swap_dev0x8, Normal VGA

Last edited by PebbleSpoon (2021-04-01 15:01:30)

seth · 2021-04-01 15:22:50

You can't mount it because you can't load the vfat module because your running kernel doesn't match the installed modules.
Either boot the failsafe image or inspect the partition from a live distro (or the installation iso)

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 15:33:15

seth wrote:

Either boot the failsafe image or inspect the partition from a live distro (or the installation iso)

How do I boot the failsafe image? Because for some reason the latest iso image is booting me into a black screen (I'll open a separate issue to look into that)

seth · 2021-04-01 15:37:27

You select it at the grub boot screen…
'Arch Linux, with Linux linux-lts (fallback initramfs)'

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 16:01:16

Ok, sorry if it was a dumb question, I've never done it before.

So I've booted the fallback initramfs, but the output of the mount command is exactly the same.

Again, sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but was I supposed to enter the same command or should I be doing something differently?

Last edited by PebbleSpoon (2021-04-01 16:02:01)

seth · 2021-04-01 16:14:39

If the vfat module isn't in the fallback initramfs, you'll have to resort to some live distro. Any will do. Try eg. grml.

loqs · 2021-04-01 17:00:36

You could also try downgrading the linux-lts package to 5.10.23 so the modules match the running kernel.

PebbleSpoon · 2021-04-01 18:53:13

Ok so I downgraded the kernel to 5.10.23 and the computer booted fine.

Just to clarify, the contents of /boot are these:

EFI
grub
initramfs-linux-fallback.img
initramfs-linux.img
initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
initramfs-linux-lts.img
vmlinuz-linux
vmlinuz-linux-lts

and the contents of /boot/EFI are these:

EFI
grub
initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
initramfs-linux-lts.img
vmlinuz-linux-lts

I then executed file /boot/EFI/vmlinuz-linux-lts and got this output:

vmlinuz-linux-lts: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 5.10.23-1-lts (linux-lts@archlinux) #1 SMP Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:32:34 +0000, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x8, Normal VGA

seth · 2021-04-01 20:05:08

Which is most likely the kernel you're bootin from because that's your actual boot partition…
I assume you also had no non-lts linux kernel offered in the bootmanager?

Arch Linux

#1 2021-03-31 21:04:08

X server doesn't start after system update

#2 2021-03-31 21:57:33

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#3 2021-04-01 05:51:16

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#4 2021-04-01 09:25:27

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#5 2021-04-01 11:50:38

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#6 2021-04-01 12:14:42

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#7 2021-04-01 12:23:19

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#8 2021-04-01 15:00:06

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#9 2021-04-01 15:22:50

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#10 2021-04-01 15:33:15

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#11 2021-04-01 15:37:27

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#12 2021-04-01 16:01:16

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#13 2021-04-01 16:14:39

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#14 2021-04-01 17:00:36

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#15 2021-04-01 18:53:13

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

#16 2021-04-01 20:05:08

Re: X server doesn't start after system update

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