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#1 2008-12-03 15:55:18

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

[Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Hello,

First off, I'd like to mention that this was initially posted in the Newbie Corner, as my skills regarding the Kernel are non-existant.  I do, however, believe that it is more appropriately placed here.  I'm also very desperate for a fix.  Apologies if this is incorrect.

I've been running Arch on my Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop for about 2 weeks now without a single issue.  I had an encrypted drive setup with pm-utils working and not much else worth mentioning.

Today I updated with a pacman -Syu.  I do not recall all of the updated packages, but since a reboot I have not been able to get back on.  I shall attempt to copy as much of the error text as possible.  A lot of hex is involved, which I doubt is entirely relevant, so I'll leave most of this out.  One more thing worth noting is that I was bringing the laptop out of hibernation and there had been no problems until after entering my LUKS passphrase.  All that is below followed:

BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 00000000
IP: [<c01b204c>] __bio_clone+0x2c/0x80
*pde = 00000000
Oops: 002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Modules linked in: aes_i586 aes_generic xts gf128mul dm_crypt dm_mod crypto_blkcipher sr_mod cdrom sd_mod uhci_hcd ehci_hcd usbcore ata_piix ahci ata_generic pata_acpi libata scsi_mod dock

Pid: 720, comm: vol_id Not tainted (2.6.27-ARCH #1)
EIP: 0060:[<c01b204c>] EFLAGS: 00010206 CPU: 0
EIP is at __bio_clone+0x2c/0x80
EAX: // Bunch of hex
ESI: // Bunch of hex
 DS: // Hex...
Process vol_id (pid: 720) // hex
Stack: // Numbers, numbers, everywhere.
Call Trace:
 // Might the contents of the call trace be relevant?  It'd kill me to type out, but I'll do it if necessary.
Code: // as above
EIP: [<c01b204c>] __bio_clone+0x2c/0x80 SS:ESP 0068:f7057be8
--[ end trace ]---

Now, naturally I've skipped a lot of the nitty-gritty details, but I'm sure anyone would imagine why.  I did try to take a picture of the screen, but I've not been able to get it to come out remotely clear.  Also, I'm completely unable to do anything on the computer itself--I think my button mashing gets something to time out after 180 seconds sometimes, which allows me a ctrl+alt+delete reboot at most; failing that, it's a hardware reboot.

I use this laptop for study, so it's imperative that I get it back up and running ASAP.  I also have a lot of work on this computer which I cannot afford to lose.

I tried using the Arch CD to mount the partition and roll back the kernel with Pacman, but I was unable to mount my root partition because it is encrypted.  I am able to mount the boot partition, so perhaps if I could cp over the previous kernel it would do this trick.  I'm not sure if this has any bad side-effects, or where to obtain just the kernel file.

Help very much appreciated--I'm not computer illiterate, but this is far beyond my ability.

Last edited by Newnux (2008-12-04 23:17:28)

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#2 2008-12-03 18:40:40

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Do you have the opportunity to boot using the fallback kernel ?
If that doesn't work either, can you add 'init 3' to the end of the kernel boot line, in
order to bypass the gui boot ?

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#3 2008-12-03 20:07:57

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Thanks for the response, deej.

Unfortunately, neither of those options seem to change anything.  I'm also not sure what you mean by 'gui boot'--I start X manually, if that's what you mean, but it never gets that far.

Would it not be OK for me to simply cp the previous version into my boot partition and try using that?  Or is there any way that I can log into my encrypted partition through a live disk or something?

Last edited by Newnux (2008-12-04 05:26:31)

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#4 2008-12-04 11:08:56

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Whoa... encrypted partitions... never used them !
One thing I would do [ note, this is me ] in a situation like this is re-install.
Depending on your partitioning scheme, you should be able to save your information OK.

For instance, my partitioning scheme is /; /home; /backups. [ I'm ignoring my other drive, with
/swap etc on it].

So when I re-install, when the option the 'prepare hard drive' comes up, I select the 'select
mount points' option - I do not partion the drive. So, I select the partitions and elect not to
format any partition I wish to save the information on. Job done.

So, remember, if you go this route do not re-partition your drive and do not elect to
format any partition on which you have your important data.

Good luck - I've never had a problem, so as long as your partioning scheme allows it
[ ie. you haven't put everything on the / partition ] you'll be OK.

Deej

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#5 2008-12-04 14:01:10

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Appreciate the feedback again, deej, but I have all my important data on an encrypted root partition.  This is looking bleak!

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#6 2008-12-04 17:09:22

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Never fear, there will be a way...

Failing an answer appearing here for your problem, I
shall look a little deeper...

Deej

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#7 2008-12-04 17:17:42

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Ok. I re-read your problem, so let's get the obvious out of the way first:

You say you can mount the /boot partition. Good. Mount it and edit /boot/grub/menu.lst .
The portion we're looking at is:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/77e3ed8a-cf2e-43ff-bfd5-bc8bea0e6a79 ro pci=nomsi iommu=noaperture
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/77e3ed8a-cf2e-43ff-bfd5-bc8bea0e6a79 ro pci=nomsi iommu=noaperture
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

Yours may look differently. I was thinking of commenting out the first Arch Linux boot completely, and relying on the fallback boot.
This should be pointing to the kernel used before the upgrade.

Sound worthwhile to you ?

Deej

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#8 2008-12-04 17:47:41

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Just found another post with an encrypted volume problem... and a solution:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=59084
Does this resemble the problem you're having ?

Deej

Last edited by deej (2008-12-04 17:48:38)

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#9 2008-12-04 19:35:00

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Giving these a go right now!  Thank you very much for helping.

-- Edit --
Using the posted lines in menu.lst for either the kernel or kernel fallback had no effect.

I followed the other topic but the problem seems slightly different.

:: Running Hook [encrypt]

runs after the disk message, and I can't make any changes anyway because I can't get into my root partition.

Starting to lose hope here.  I'd like to try mounting the drive from the Arch live CD, but I'm not sure how.  I took a look at the wiki I used to encrypt the disk (click) but I receive the error:

Command failed: No key available with this passphrase.

upon entering my password.   I'm thinking it might be because I skipped the step:

# cryptsetup -c aes-xts-plain -y -s 512 luksFormat /dev/sda3
Enter passphrase: mypassword
Verify passphrase: mypassword

thinking that doing this would destroy my current setup and make the drive forever inaccessible.  Instead, I just used the step after:

# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
Enter any LUKS passphrase: mypassword

which resulted in the above error.

Last edited by Newnux (2008-12-04 19:57:07)

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#10 2008-12-04 20:08:10

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Mmmm... interesting, in a pain-in-the-ass kind of way wink
Let's continue researching... back in a minute.

Deej

[EDIT]

Maybe this will shed some light on the matter:

Yesterday, an update came through for cryptsetup-luks-1.0.6-6.fc10.i386.
I'm using the disk encryption; I installed it at the time I installed
Fedora 10 snapshot 3. This morning I turned on the system and when I
mistyped my passphrase the first time, the next two attempts to enter
the correct passphrase (and I knew I was typing it in correctly) would
get this response:

command failed: no key available with this passphrase.

Source:

http://n2.nabble.com/Fedora-10-Passphrase-Problem-With-cryptsetup-luks-td1477812.html

[EDIT 2]

Are you seeing anything about "dm_crypt" in the error messages you get ?

[EDIT 3]

Ah ha... maybe      thiswill bring home the bacon:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57521

Last edited by deej (2008-12-04 20:31:07)

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#11 2008-12-04 21:19:49

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Thanks again, deej.

That may well be the problem, but unfortunately without being able to access the (encrypted) root partition, I won't be able to fix anything so that I can access the (encrypted) root partition.  I guess the lesson learned is not to use an encrypted root partition!

In any case, I should have a backup from a few weeks ago of my work.  It's nothing life threatening, but it's certainly going to set me back quite some time.  I'll get to reinstalling Arch and going through the arduous customization process once again :-(.

Once again, you have my heartfelt thanks: you really tried to help me.

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#12 2008-12-04 21:29:52

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

No problem. I know what a b***er it is to lose data [ I've a pile of seven blown hard-drives on my workbench ! ].

Try a BIOS password instead smile

Deej

[EDIT]

I'm like a dog-with-a-bone with this one big_smile

Have you tried the 'luksAddKey' [ I think it's called that ] command ? This will add another password for the
volume. It's a long-shot, but maybe worth a go. If it fails when you have to enter your original password, at
least we're narrowing the problem down a bit.

[EDIT 2]

Have you had a look at theluks Wiki ?

http://code.google.com/p/cryptsetup/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions

The very first FAQ is relevant to your problem.

Last edited by deej (2008-12-04 21:43:03)

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#13 2008-12-04 22:54:04

Newnux
Member
Registered: 2007-06-13
Posts: 59

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

You are a god!  I've managed to mount the partition under Arch Live!  The process was something like this, in case anyone else has problems:

modprobe dm-crypt
modprobe aes-i586
cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sda3
// I believe at this point it asked for the volume's password, to which I entered
// the one I set it up with.  I was then able to assign a new password.
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda3 root
// Entered new password.
mkdir /mnt/hallelujah
mount /dev/mapper/root /mnt/hallelujah

And now I have full access to all of my data!

That's really all I wanted, I'll very happily reinstall Arch after having backed up what I need.

Thank you so much, deej!

--- Edit ---

OK, I said I'd reinstall but I thought I'd try to recover my system now that I had access to the root partition.  After all, reinstalling is a bad habit that carried on from my Windows days.

Following the guide here, I attempted to roll back to the previous kernel.  This wasn't happening, as an error occured every time relating to the [uresume] hook.  I wasn't even sure if I needed this hook--it took me quite some time getting hibernate/suspend working correctly, so I tried a lot of things that I forgot to document.  Curiously, I tried to use the newest kernel (through the pacman -U command) available in /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ after having removed uresume from mkinitcpio.conf.

After a reboot, everything went as smooth as butter!  Well, aside from Xorg failing to parse my (messy) conf--but I'll work on that next, assuming Xorg had an update or something.

Last edited by Newnux (2008-12-04 23:21:07)

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#14 2008-12-05 09:11:04

deej
Member
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 395

Re: [Solved] Kernel update + encrypted root won't boot

Good show smile:):)

Carbon-based life-forms 1 Sand-based rubbish 0

big_smile:D:D

Deej

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