Arch Linux

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

System update broke bootloader (?)

After running pacman -Syu and rebooting my pc I can't boot. I'm just stuck on the bios screen and I can't do anything about it. I thought it was the bootloader (grub) that broke but it apparently isn't since I switched to systemd-boot via booting from a live USB and it's still not working.

Here are the outputs of:

lsblk -f
df -h
efibootmgr -v
ls -lR /boot

https://imgur.com/a/slZdkuV

Apologies for not using a pastebin, but I don't know how to upload the code from the live USB without a GUI.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

I can't boot. I'm just stuck on the bios screen and I can't do anything about it

Can you access the firmware (BIOS) boot manager? There is a boot entry for systemd-boot so it should be available from there.

I switched to systemd-boot via booting from a live USB

Please share exactly what you did. Include all commands and any configuration files. Thanks.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

You have 2 EFI partition in 2 separate disks. Why is that? What is the other EFI partition for? I'm asking because perhaps the UEFI is reading from the false EFI.

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

I can't boot. I'm just stuck on the bios screen and I can't do anything about it

Can you access the firmware (BIOS) boot manager? There is a boot entry for systemd-boot so it should be available from there.

I switched to systemd-boot via booting from a live USB

Please share exactly what you did. Include all commands and any configuration files. Thanks.

I can access the boot manager and the boot entry for systemd-boot is there but when I exit the boot manager after setting it as the first option it just goes back to the boot manager.

This is what I recall doing in the live usb:

loadkeys es
mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
arch-chroot /mnt
bootctl install
bootctl update
systemctl enable --now systemd-boot-update.service

/boot/loader/loader.conf looks like this:

tiemout 3
console-mode keep
default @saved

I have the default arch.conf in /boot/loader/entries/

I also suppose I have another efi partition in the usb since I need to boot from it, I dont remember making anymore efi partitions manually.

Thanks for the help

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

I have the default arch.conf in /boot/loader/entries/

Read that file.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

I have the default arch.conf in /boot/loader/entries/

Read that file.

It goes:

title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=UUID=6b4c08c3-6ae9-4ea2-8cda-2c49050a56f6 rw

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

My apologies, I thought you meant that the file was just copied without editing, which I can now see not to be the case.

EDIT: Are the kernel & initramfs images actually present on the ESP? I can't see the entire content from your photo.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-01-31 16:12:26)

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

My apologies, I thought you meant that the file was just copied without editing, which I can now see not to be the case.

EDIT: Are the kernel & initramfs images actually present on the ESP? I can't see the entire content from your photo.

I think this is the part that is missing in the picture:

https://imgur.com/a/g30tkzf

initramgs-linux.img and vmlinuz-linux are in /boot/ aswell.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

Well that all looks fine.

What actually happens when you start the machine? What do you see on the screen?

Which packages were updated? Did the update complete successfully?

Is this with an NVIDIA card? I think the drivers need rebuilding when the kernel version bumps, although I'm not completely sure because I would never buy NVIDIA.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

Well that all looks fine.

What actually happens when you start the machine? What do you see on the screen?

Which packages were updated? Did the update complete successfully?

Is this with an NVIDIA card? I think the drivers need rebuilding when the kernel version bumps, although I'm not completely sure because I would never buy NVIDIA.

When I start it I get to the BIOS screen, no matter what boot order I set, after rebooting it goes to the bios screen again unless I plug in the live USB. I'm not sure which packages were updated since I ran pacman -Syu.
I believe the update completed successfully.

Yes I do have an nvidia card, but I don't know how to rebuild the drivers (or even what rebuilding means). Why wouldn't you buy an nvidia card? Does it have to be with the fact that its propietary?

I think I forgot to mention I ran mkinitcpio -P from a live usb after it stopped booting. This was before I tried switching to systemd-boot.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

Yes I do have an nvidia card, but I don't know how to rebuild the drivers

That makes two of us then :-)

How did you install the drivers originally?

Why wouldn't you buy an nvidia card? Does it have to be with the fact that its propietary?

Yes.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

How did you install the drivers originally?

I think I did pacman -S nvidia afer realizing nvidia-dkms didn't work for my hardware.

Yes.

AMD has open source drivers? I don't really know what proprietary means.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,175

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

Basically that, AMD has open drivers, nvidia has most of the well working stuff closed-source. It's generally fine and will work properly. Also the difference between nvidia and. nvidia-dkms is not related to hardware, but to which kernel you intend to run. If you are on the default linux kernel then nvidia is the correct option for a prebuilt module.

Where are you at right now? can you even boot systemd-boot? But then not the kernel? Or is that failing already? , if systemd-boot fails already then your hardware and drivers are irrelevant. Did you update your UEFI before these issues? Is potentially secure boot enabled or so that denies you starting systemd-boot?

TheRealJoker

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 10

Re: System update broke bootloader (?)

Where are you at right now? can you even boot systemd-boot? But then not the kernel? Or is that failing already? , if systemd-boot fails already then your hardware and drivers are irrelevant. Did you update your UEFI before these issues? Is potentially secure boot enabled or so that denies you starting systemd-boot?

I don't think I can boot systemd-boot. If that means I get to see an interface different from the UEFI one  I'm not seeing anything. Same for the kernel, I don't know how I'm supposed to know if it booted but I don't see anything besides the UEFI screen.
I don't know how to update my UEFI so I assume I didn't (unless pacman -Syu updates it). And no, I don't have secure boot enabled, that I checked.