chroot: cannot run command '/bin/bash': Exec format error

Kane · 2012-05-23 20:57:57

Hi guys,
I was just trying to update my eeepc (last update ~3rd may) when what looked like a kernel panic/memory error or something occured (black screen, numbers).

On rebooting after about 2s it goes to what looks like a login prompt but with (none) login: as the prompt.

So i got the usb stick out with an up to date image on it and tried to chroot in to the install (to hopefully try and reinstall the kernel or something and see if that would help - i can only imagine it crashed whilst updating the kernel?)
But I cant chroot as i get the error stated in the title.

The wiki says its due to architecture differences, but the eeepc is 32bit and i was using the i686 image (the x64 image doesnt even boot on the eeepc so that is definitely not the issue).

Anyone else have any recommendations?

Cheers,
Kane

Kane · 2012-05-23 21:13:03

After reinstalling bash:

pacman -S -r /mnt/<arch_install>/ bash

I can now chroot, but cannot do anything with pacman:

libz.so.1 file too short

The last package entry before the crash was zlib, could this be it?

I'll try updating that

Yep, that sorted it, but now libacl too short ..... (it appears these are all the packages that were updated before it crashed in the middle of it)

How could this have happened? Is it to do with the write delay of ssd or something?

Last edited by Kane (2012-05-23 21:17:31)

Gcool · 2012-05-24 07:14:16

Potentially something similar as this issue (for packages that were being updated when the crash happened).

Try the procedure outlined on the wiki page for each of those packages and see if that fixes the issue.

Kane · 2012-05-24 09:23:44

After reinstalling bash i managed to chroot and then after a couple of packages I rebooted and could get back into my original system.

gnome then wouldnt load, but after reinstalling base and a couple of other packages i think its fixed now (had to force install for them like the link suggests)

Im still wondering why a crash would cause all the installed packages to be corrupt and what caused the crash.
I had been using the laptop for a few weeks without rebooting beforehand and it seemed awfully slow, so i guess it must just have been a memory issue.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-23 20:57:57

chroot: cannot run command '/bin/bash': Exec format error

#2 2012-05-23 21:13:03

Re: chroot: cannot run command '/bin/bash': Exec format error

#3 2012-05-24 07:14:16

Re: chroot: cannot run command '/bin/bash': Exec format error

#4 2012-05-24 09:23:44

Re: chroot: cannot run command '/bin/bash': Exec format error

Board footer