LILO can't boot after recent update

despotic · 2012-05-06 04:17:08

After updating today, I cannot boot any longer. My root is on lvm and I also use LILO.

I've tried the suggestions to boot from live cd and run mkinitcpio without any success. I've also tried reinstalling udev and mkinitcpio with pacman from a live cd and that did not work either.

When I boot, I see the following messages:

:: Running hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents...done
:: Running Hook [lvm2]
Activating logical volumes...
2 logical volume(s) in volume group "vg1" now active
Creating device node with major 254 and minor 3.
:: mounting '/dev/root' on real root
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
You are being dropped into an emergency shell
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off

[edit] changed title to reflect what I discovered to be the underlying problem: LILO

Last edited by despotic (2012-05-07 02:42:31)

Gcool · 2012-05-06 09:13:51

Can you manually mount the root partition when you're dropped to the recovery shell? What does you lilo config look like exactly (the "root=" line more specifically)?

Last edited by Gcool (2012-05-06 09:14:30)

despotic · 2012-05-06 13:41:50

Yes, I can manually mount the lvm partitions in the recovery shell.

Here is my lilo.conf: http://pastebin.com/w0L1kgqv
Here is my fstab: http://pastebin.com/eyvfnYpC

Also, when i try to update udev or linux or device-mapper with pacman, I get the following warnings:

warning: could not get filesystem information for /bootmnt: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /cowspace: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /sfs/root-image: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /sfs/lib-modules: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /sfs/usr-share: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /repo/core/x86_64: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /repo/core/any: No such file or directory
warning: could not get filesystem information for /bootmnt: No such file or directory

Thanks for your help!

[edit] for anyone looking at this post trying to resolve the above warnings, don't. They don't seem to cause problems and as far as I know they show only during a chroot environment within a live boot, so don't worry about them. If you experience issues, it's most likely related to something else, my particular issue was actually with the LILO boot loader and not related to these warnings at all.

Last edited by despotic (2012-05-07 02:33:05)

despotic · 2012-05-06 21:22:06

Update: I managed to boot my laptop, but I had to install grub to do so, which was a bit complicated. Here is why:

My partition is as follows:

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63   125949599    62974768+  8e  Linux LVM
/dev/sda2   *   125949600   230436359    52243380    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       230436360   234436544     2000092+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

I don't have a boot partition, it is part of my root lvm partition. Because of this, I couldn't use grub.

I proceded to install grub2. However, since my first partition starts @ sector 63, i didn't have enough space for the grub2 image. I was trying to find out how to move my partition a bit so I can have more space for grub2 install, but I couldn't find an easy way. The only way I think it can be done is to shrink the PV, then to move it ... can't overlap so I have to find a big enough empty space. Then move it back, but offset it a little to create a bit of space in the beginning and then resize to fill up the remaining space after the partition. Seems like too much work.

So I gave up, and instead, I repartitioned the swap space at the end of the drive to create an ext2 boot partition, where I deployed the legacy grub. Finally, I'm back in business! What a waste of time this was!!!

Does anyone know why lilo didn't work? It used to work before the update. Problems like this make me feel uneasy updating the system. Is there a good way to make a backup before an -Syu so I could roll back in the future?

tomegun · 2012-05-07 00:09:04

You could try using btrfs' snapshot feature, I remember seeing a nice talk where this was shown off (by one of the Oracle guys, but the name/title escapes me).

To avoid these kinds of "surprises" my recommendation is to use a setup that is more common. If you start using a boot partition and possibly switch to syslinux instead of lilo you'll have a setup that is probably seeing a lot more testing before the updates reach you.

despotic · 2012-05-07 02:25:42

tomegun wrote:

You could try using btrfs' snapshot feature, I remember seeing a nice talk where this was shown off (by one of the Oracle guys, but the name/title escapes me).

I'll have to check this out, thanks.

tomegun wrote:

To avoid these kinds of "surprises" my recommendation is to use a setup that is more common. If you start using a boot partition and possibly switch to syslinux instead of lilo you'll have a setup that is probably seeing a lot more testing before the updates reach you.

Yes, I agree. My laptop is my first archlinux installation and I was using Slackware before hence my weird setup and LILO. I've set up my other machine with a separate boot partition from the start and it seems to have less issues with the boot loader although I've had other issues with it.

My waste of time should be a lesson to anyone trying to setup "optimal" partition structure that fits only hie/her needs. If you don't necessarily need to have a specific setup, stick to what's more common to avoid lots of strange issues during updates. Alternatively, backup frequently and make sure you can rollback if hell breaks loose.

Last edited by despotic (2012-05-07 02:36:43)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-06 04:17:08

LILO can't boot after recent update

#2 2012-05-06 09:13:51

Re: LILO can't boot after recent update

#3 2012-05-06 13:41:50

Re: LILO can't boot after recent update

#4 2012-05-06 21:22:06

Re: LILO can't boot after recent update

#5 2012-05-07 00:09:04

Re: LILO can't boot after recent update

#6 2012-05-07 02:25:42

Re: LILO can't boot after recent update

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