[SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

tralph3 · 2021-05-07 05:29:05

Original title: Kernel update makes system unbootlable. Failed to load kernel module

I had to remove the last bit to fit the "[SOLVED]" text.

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So, I just updated my system and it downloaded the new Kernel 5.12. It finished no problems, but after rebooting, the system was unbootable. I got past grub no problem, but once the system is initializing, it printed a "[FAILED] Couldn't load Kernel Modules" message, and it just stopped there, nothing happened. I tried reinstalling the following packages from the live arch environment: linux linux-firmware linux-headers. I also updated grub afterwards. This didn't help. In the end, I reverted to a timeshift backup I had from yesterday, May 5th (thank you timeshift), but now I'm afraid to update my system because it's likely it'll break again.

What's causing this? How can I fix it?

Last edited by tralph3 (2021-05-07 20:59:56)

seth · 2021-05-07 06:21:16

You forgot to mount the boot partition before the update or you did mount it but are in fact booting from the root partition - as a result the installed and booting kernel are different versions.

tralph3 · 2021-05-07 14:19:05

Now that you mention it, the genfstab command I used when installing arch didn't generate an entry for the boot partition. And now that you mention it, I do have stuff in my /boot directory, that changes when I mount my boot partition to /boot...

Also, I've been havin some weird issues with grub. You see, I tried to clean up my uefi boot entries, so I used efibootmgr to delete all of them and then I just created an entry with grub install. That new boot entry didn't work. I also did the same from the live environment with the boot partition mounted. No dice. I had to make the entry with efibootmgr to be able to boot, and I strangely had to pass two EFI directories as such: /EFI/EFI/Grub[...] assuming root in this case is the /boot directory (because that's how efibootmgr works). And that did it.

I guess I'll have to add an entry to fstab for the boot partition, then delete everything in the boot folder ans my boot partition, and reinstall grub, and that's it... Right?

tralph3 · 2021-05-07 14:52:54

Also... I installed the intel-ucode package for my CPU, but when grub tries to access it, it fails beacuse of a "read-only fikesystem". Weird.

seth · 2021-05-07 15:01:15

I guess I'll have to add an entry to fstab for the boot partition, then delete everything in the boot folder ans my boot partition, and reinstall grub, and that's it... Right?

If you remove everything, you'll also have to re-install the kernel an intel-microcode and, in doubt, run mkinitcpio.

If you previously didn't mount the boot partition, you're booting from there (but the kernel went onto the root partition), so for a brief test, just mounting /boot and updating the system should do.
You'll then have deted files in the /boot directory on the root partition and can delete those if the above went fine.

tralph3 · 2021-05-07 20:37:50

Ok, I did what you said. I mounted the boot partition, then I updated the system and rebooted. Everything worked. Then I deleted what was on the non-mounted /boot folder,r rebooted, everything worked. Then, to clean stuff up, I deleted the Grub entry with efibootmgr and reinstalled grub. The entry grub created couldn't get into grub, for some reason grub can't install itself properly. So I once again created the efi entry with efibootmgr, which let me get to grub and boot the system, and everything is working properly now. Thanks a lot!

seth · 2021-05-07 20:46:19

Cool.

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2021-05-07 05:29:05

[SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#2 2021-05-07 06:21:16

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#3 2021-05-07 14:19:05

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#4 2021-05-07 14:52:54

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#5 2021-05-07 15:01:15

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#6 2021-05-07 20:37:50

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

#7 2021-05-07 20:46:19

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel update makes system unbootlable.

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