Arch Linux

miscsubbin

Member

Registered: 2012-10-30

Posts: 37

[SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

So I installed Arch on one of my machines, but it won't always boot. The process usually goes like this:

1. Select the first option in grub (generated during the install)

2. The system prints kernel output

*a whole bunch of output*
*#'s* hub 3-1.8:1.0: USB hub found
*same as above* 4 ports detected
ERROR: device 'UUID:*long number*' not found. Skipping fsck.
ERROR: Unable to find root device 'UUID=*same number*'.
You are being dropped into a recovery shell
    type 'exit' to try and continue booting
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
*prompt*

3. Reboot and boot the installation media by usb

4. I can mount all my partitions (4 partitions: /, /boot, /var, /home) and chroot into them. So they're all there and not corrupted or anything

4a. Sometimes I look into some settings (grub.cfg, fstab), but I never really change anything

5. Reboot again, boot works fine. System loads and everything works properly

It won't always boot at the last step, sometimes I use the first option, sometimes I try the fallback initramfs, sometimes I boot the installation media, sometimes I shutdown and try again later. Eventually it will boot, but there doesn't seem to be any pattern to what it's doing. I don't really know that much about the boot process either, so there's not much I can do.

Any suggestions on how to fix, or maybe troubleshoot better?

Last edited by miscsubbin (2012-11-07 20:00:57)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

Have you tried applying labels to your filesystems and booting with root=LABEL=<your_label_here> ?

Edit: See man 8 e2label

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-11-07 17:21:49)

miscsubbin

Member

Registered: 2012-10-30

Posts: 37

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

Did not know that this existed, but I'll try it right now. Thanks.

miscsubbin

Member

Registered: 2012-10-30

Posts: 37

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

Hmm, same error, but replace the UUID with the label I put in.

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

Try regenerating the initramfs image, like it says here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … onger_boot

There could also be a kernel module issue, since systemd doesn't load them sequentially (this is where the speed boost comes from), and if one is dependent on another, and that one isn't loaded... it would explain why sometimes it boots and sometimes it doesn't.

Have you tried the linux-lts kernel? Just in case it's a kernel issue.

Last edited by DSpider (2012-11-07 18:22:28)

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miscsubbin

Member

Registered: 2012-10-30

Posts: 37

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with booting, only works some of the time.

Try regenerating the initramfs image, like it says here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … onger_boot

There could also be a kernel module issue, since systemd doesn't load them sequentially (this is where the speed boost comes from), and if one is dependent on another, and that one isn't loaded... it would explain why sometimes it boots and sometimes it doesn't.

Have you tried the linux-lts kernel? Just in case it's a kernel issue.

Ok, I changed the kernel and got it to boot, but now I can't get nvidia drivers installed (since I changed kernels, the module is no longer available). I'm installing the nvidia-beta drivers from the AUR, and it says it can't determine the target kernel version. I changed the PKGABUILD and nvidia.install to point to the new kernel module paths, but it still throws the same error. Should I make a new topic about this?

No matter what distro I use, nvidia drivers always seem to find a way to give me grief.

EDIT: I just installed nvidia-lts and it seems to boot reliably.

Last edited by miscsubbin (2012-11-07 20:00:36)