Kernel update issue

syntaxvorlon · 2011-08-25 01:20:36

So my main desktop has unfortunately had some issue with the new kernel update. Restarting after an update, I found that grub had lost track of any legacy kernel or that the symlinks to the new kernel are in place but the actual 3.0 kernel is not. I went ahead and edited the lines in grub per the instructions on the main page but this did not fix the issue, which is what suggests that there was some sort of update failure that I did not notice before the restart.

As a result, I am unable to boot. I am scouring the internet for other methods for dealing with this. I also misplaced my arch install usb and will be searching for that, which at the very least I could use to probe my hard drive and find the specific files.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

vcolonel · 2011-08-25 06:45:37

Can you get the output of /boot/grub/menu.lst and an ls -la from /boot/grub?

syntaxvorlon · 2011-08-26 01:59:54

An update:

I've been able to find the install USB but for some reason it does not show up as a removable media that can be booted from, I haven't tested whether this machine will boot from it yet, but it ought to.

Since I can't get a linux environment I've had to go around the back way and I've done the equivalent of ls on /boot/grub:

grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> kernel /grub/ [TAB]
  Possible files are: menu.lst e2fs_stage1_5 fat_stage1_5 ffs_stage1_5 iso9660_stage1_5 jfs_stage1_5 minix_stage1_5 reiserfs_stage1_5 stage1 stage 2 stage2_eltorito ufs2_stage1_5 vstafs_stage1_5 xfs_stage1_5 menu.lst.pacnew

Unfortunately I don't know how to display text files into the grub shell, so I can't show you menu.lst at the moment. However, I can type out the launch commands:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/[snip] ro
initrd /kernel26.img

Per the news post about the new kernel I modified this to:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/[snip] ro
initrd /initramfs-linux.img

Also in case it is relevant, here is the [TAB] output from /boot:

Possible files are: lost+found onlyblue.bmp grub tuxlogo.bmp coffee.bmp debian.bmp debianlilo.bmp debian-de.bmp inside.bmp syslinux

I'll check now to see if I can boot to my usb stick on this machine.

syntaxvorlon · 2011-11-08 01:49:33

Unfortunately I still have not yet resolved this issue and, lacking time to find a solution, found myself desparing and have put off working on the issue. So I'm working on my other machine, a netbook on which I have arch installed(which for some reason I can't get X working). Looking here I can clearly see, comparing with my previous post of the output provided by grub about the contents of the boot folder with the boot folder on this machine, it is clear that all of my vmlinux26 and vmlinuz-linux as well as my linux images somehow shuffled off. I probably screwed something up. I'm going to see if I can copy them from an install iso directly to fix the matter. Wish me luck.

syntaxvorlon · 2011-11-08 01:51:22

Minor update: I attempted to chroot from an install USB to see if I could repair directly using pacman but it seems that chroot does not work between system architectures. (there is a note to this affect in the wiki) If anyone knows a way to get around this issue, I would be all ears.

Last edited by syntaxvorlon (2011-11-08 02:36:34)

syntaxvorlon · 2011-11-08 03:40:06

Final update this evening:
Loaded up kernel package from my harddrive in the Live USB environment and attempted to mkinitcpio. I probably ended up parsing the wrong hooks and getting things fouled with the USB environment. I did things from the root folder but thinking back on it, it might have been better to do things from my harddrive mounted in the Live USB. Will try tomorrow.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-08-25 01:20:36

Kernel update issue

#2 2011-08-25 06:45:37

Re: Kernel update issue

#3 2011-08-26 01:59:54

Re: Kernel update issue

#4 2011-11-08 01:49:33

Re: Kernel update issue

#5 2011-11-08 01:51:22

Re: Kernel update issue

#6 2011-11-08 03:40:06

Re: Kernel update issue

Board footer