[Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

Gremnon · 2012-01-14 19:58:05

Haven't been able to post this since I've been without internet for a time. Since the update requiring manual intervention on /etc/mtab (20th Dec, in the news feed) I have been unable to boot the kernel. Exact output is due to come (will have to try and boot it again then copy it down to get it) but the gist of it is that it can't find the modules, and so is not able to mount any partitions, dropping to an emergency shell.

I've tried using a livecd to access it, and can mount the partitions, but proc will not mount once chrooted into the environment, and without it mkinitcpio seems unable to detect any filesystems.

I suspect it's time for a reinstall because of this, but hope there's a fix that will save me the time and hassle of doing so.

Last edited by Gremnon (2012-01-14 21:31:10)

Gremnon · 2012-01-14 20:19:15

Exact details of the boot messages are as follows:

Booting the Kernel.
::Starting udevd...

done.
FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/3.1.5-1-ARCH/modules.dep: no such file or directory
:: Running Hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents ...done
:: Running Hook [keymap]
:: Loading keymap ...done
Waiting 10 seconds for device /dev/sda6
ERROR: unable to determine major/minor number of root device '/dev/sda6'

Then it drops to the emergency shell.

lucke · 2012-01-14 20:35:26

You have to mount /dev and /proc before chrooting. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Re … e_you_boot

Other topics about the mismatch between the version of the kernel and the modules seem to be cropping up recently on the forum. Perhaps you will find some answers to your problem in them.

Last edited by lucke (2012-01-14 20:37:43)

Gremnon · 2012-01-14 20:45:15

I'm sorry, but I can see no mismatch between Kernel version and the /lib/modules it looks for - both are '3.1.5-1-ARCH'
Unless this is not the issue to which you are referring, I cannot see how that is an issue.
Also, while following the directions in the linked-to page appears to work, attempting to re-run mkinitcpio now complains of a not mounted /sys, and it again fails to find modules.

lucke · 2012-01-14 21:04:55

If your kernel is 3.1.5-1-ARCH and you have the modules in /lib/modules/3.1.5-1-ARCH/ directory, with the only thing missing being the modules.dep file - perhaps running "depmod -a" would fix it.

Gremnon · 2012-01-14 21:30:54

That helped. It revealed that it was looking for the modules in /lib/modules/3.0-ARCH. Creating a symlink to the already existant 3.1.5-1-ARCH has fixed this issue - for now. Hopefully it won't be needed by the next Kernel update.

Gremnon · 2012-01-14 21:55:46

Final note - the same appears to hold true of the current (3.1.9) 'linux' package - except instead of looking for 3.0-ARCH it is instead looking for 3.1.5-1-ARCH.
It would appear that somehow, each Kernel package is looking for the modules of the previous one.

falconindy · 2012-01-14 22:42:57

No, this is not true. modprobe uses the currently running kernel to determine where to look for modules, i.e. if 'uname -r' returns 3.1.9-2-ARCH, then modprobe will look in /lib/modules/3.1.9-2-ARCH for modules. There's no other mechanic involved here. If you are seeing errors about modules being searched for in /lib/modules/3.1.5-1-ARCH, then you are still running the old kernel. Run the "file" tool on /boot/vmlinuz-linux.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-14 19:58:05

[Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#2 2012-01-14 20:19:15

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#3 2012-01-14 20:35:26

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#4 2012-01-14 20:45:15

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#5 2012-01-14 21:04:55

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#6 2012-01-14 21:30:54

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#7 2012-01-14 21:55:46

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

#8 2012-01-14 22:42:57

Re: [Solved] No longer able to boot Kernel

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