Arch Linux

freakcitizen

Member

Registered: 2023-11-11

Posts: 3

Boot Failure on Arch with Dual Drives After NVMe Wipe

Hello,

I need help with a boot issue on Arch. My setup has Arch on 'sda' (root and boot partitions) and an 'nvme0n1' drive for extra space. Post a failed attempt to clone 'sda' to the NVMe, I zeroed out 'nvme0n1'. This led to a boot error: failed to mount '/boot' and dependency failure for local file systems.

Boot Error:
[FAILED] Failed to mount /boot.
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for Local File Systems.

ChatGPT suggested these as possible reasons for the issue:
    Boot Loader Configuration
    Fstab Entries
    Accidental Disk Selection
    Disk Identifier Changes
    Hardware Issues
    Peripheral Conflicts

I tried to troubleshoot to the best of my ability but unfortunately still haven't been able to resolve the issue.

I would greatly appreciate some guidance from a more experienced Arch / Linux user on how to resolve the issue bc I was hosting some personal projects locally and the down time is killing me.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: Belsize Park

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,193

Website

Re: Boot Failure on Arch with Dual Drives After NVMe Wipe

a failed attempt to clone 'sda' to the NVMe

That's a bit vague. What exactly did you do? Please share the full command(s) used.

---

godisnowhere

zggzcgy

Member

From: CN

Registered: 2022-08-27

Posts: 9

Re: Boot Failure on Arch with Dual Drives After NVMe Wipe

The information you provided is not detailed enough. I will assume your environment based on the information I have seen.

You used a certain tool to clone disk sda to disk nvme0n1, and after restarting, you entered a successful kernel boot. However, due to the inconsistency between the uuid of the new nvme0n1 disk and the uuid recorded in fstab, the kernel was unable to mount/boot.
This usually displays the following information on the console:

You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view
system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, or "exit"
to continue bootup.
Give root password for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):

You only need to log in and use the root password to log in to the shampoo, and then modify the uuid of the boot partition in/etc/fstab to nvme0n1. For example, my nvme0n1 partition structure is as follows:

# lsblk /dev/nvme0n1
NAME                            MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1                         259:0    0 465.8G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1                     259:1    0  1023M  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p2                     259:2    0 464.8G  0 part  /
# blkid /dev/nvme0n1p1
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL_FATBOOT="EFI" LABEL="EFI" UUID="4EAF-8AC2" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI" PARTUUID="c0365eb5-aac8-4bea-a2de-919cb3415ba8"

Use a familiar text editor to replace the UUID in the blkid file with the UUID in the boot file in the fstab file.Adjust UUID based on the previous command blkid。

/etc/fstab
UUID=<old uuid>		/boot		vfat		defaults	0 0
** Replace with the following content **
UUID=4EAF-8AC2		/boot		vfat		defaults	0 0

Last edited by zggzcgy (2024-03-29 23:44:54)

freakcitizen

Member

Registered: 2023-11-11

Posts: 3

Re: Boot Failure on Arch with Dual Drives After NVMe Wipe

The information you provided is not detailed enough. I will assume your environment based on the information I have seen.

You used a certain tool to clone disk sda to disk nvme0n1, and after restarting, you entered a successful kernel boot. However, due to the inconsistency between the uuid of the new nvme0n1 disk and the uuid recorded in fstab, the kernel was unable to mount/boot.
This usually displays the following information on the console:

You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view
system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, or "exit"
to continue bootup.
Give root password for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):

You only need to log in and use the root password to log in to the shampoo, and then modify the uuid of the boot partition in/etc/fstab to nvme0n1. For example, my nvme0n1 partition structure is as follows:

# lsblk /dev/nvme0n1
NAME                            MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1                         259:0    0 465.8G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1                     259:1    0  1023M  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p2                     259:2    0 464.8G  0 part  /
# blkid /dev/nvme0n1p1
/dev/nvme0n1p1: LABEL_FATBOOT="EFI" LABEL="EFI" UUID="4EAF-8AC2" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI" PARTUUID="c0365eb5-aac8-4bea-a2de-919cb3415ba8"

Use a familiar text editor to replace the UUID in the blkid file with the UUID in the boot file in the fstab file.Adjust UUID based on the previous command blkid。

/etc/fstab
UUID=<old uuid>		/boot		vfat		defaults	0 0
** Replace with the following content **
UUID=4EAF-8AC2		/boot		vfat		defaults	0 0

Alright, zggzcgy, you got the situation spot on with your assumptions. Quick question for the future: what more info should I have included in my initial post to make it clearer from the get-go?

On the password issue you mentioned, here’s what’s happening: it prompts for the root password, I type mine in, press enter, and... nothing. It's like I never typed anything. The console just stares back at me, silent. Any idea what's up with that?

Assuming I can't get around that root password prompt: is there another way to replace the UUID in the blkid file with the UUID in the boot file in the fstab file? Live Arch environment?

zggzcgy

Member

From: CN

Registered: 2022-08-27

Posts: 9

Re: Boot Failure on Arch with Dual Drives After NVMe Wipe

On the password issue you mentioned, here’s what’s happening: it prompts for the root password, I type mine in, press enter, and... nothing. It's like I never typed anything. The console just stares back at me, silent. Any idea what's up with that?

Probably the root password is wrong, maybe you don't know or you forgot your root secret.

Assuming I can't get around that root password prompt: is there another way to replace the UUID in the blkid file with the UUID in the boot file in the fstab file? Live Arch environment?

Yes, you can use Live Arch.