Arch Linux

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

[SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Alright, lets see if you peoples can help me not have to reinstall.

So, I installed arch linux alongside windows 10 about 3 months ago, and I have had no issues with booting up either windows or arch linux. Two days ago however, I tried to boot up arch and was greeted by an error saying that my boot partition (/dev/sda1) was unable to mount. Here is the output of 'systemctl status boot.mount':

boot.mmount - /boot
Loaded: loaded (/etc/fstab; generated; vendor preset; disabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2016-06-15 16:04:42 UTC; 1min 32s ago
Where: /boot
What: /dev/sda1
Docs: man:fstab(5)
          man:systemd-fstab-generator(8)
Process: 273 ExecMount=/usr/bin/mount/ /dev/sda1 /boot -t vfat -o rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro (code=exited, status=32)

Jun 15 16:04:42 StevensArch systemd[1]: Mounting /boot...
Jun 15 16:04:42 StevensArch mount[273]: mount: unkown filesystem type 'vfat'
Jun 15 16:04:42 StevensArch systemd[1]: boot.mount Mount process exited, code=exited status=32
Jun 15 16:04:42 StevensArch systemd[1]: Failed to mount /boot.
Jun 15 16:04:42 StevensArch systemd[1]: boot.mount: Unit entered a failed state.

So, apparently, linux no longer recognizes the vfat filesystem... when it has for the past 3 months...

Something worth mentioning is that I update my system (pacman -Syu) about every other time I boot into linux, and I think i did the last time I successfully logged in. Still though, I haven't found anything yet indicating that that update might have caused anything to break... still researching though.

I also want to note I've tried manually mounting /boot, setting /boot mount options in fstab to noauto, and reupdating the system, but all to no avail.

So... any ideas?

Last edited by steven.gubler (2016-06-16 07:03:05)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Sounds like your boot partition wasn't mounted properly last time you upgraded.

Try chroot'ing into your installation and reinstalling the kernel.

Last edited by Slithery (2016-06-16 00:14:37)

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Thanks for the quick reply!

I tried reinstalling the current kernel, but that didn't change anything... should i try rolling back to a previous one?

mrunion

Member

From: Jonesborough, TN

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 1,938

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

chroot into your system and post your fstab. Then make sure it matches your actual drives (lsblk).

Anyway, it really does sound like your "real" /boot was not mounted when you updated the Kernel. Lots of threads here about that with more detailed instructions and information.

---

Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Your advice is very much appreciated!

Alright, I've booted with my USB installation media, mounted all my drives, chrooted into my system, and reinstalled my kernel (multiple times actually), however, /boot still will not mount at boot time. I'm starting to think that my problem isn't with my kernel, but that my system won't recognize vfat, but then again, I'm new to arch.

Here's the some useful info:

fstab:

# UUID=e18859fd-6dda-40b7-86e0-2ed241af56c9
/dev/sda6           	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

# UUID=ef592298-7051-416d-a7e0-1ba0c3a866ce
/dev/sda7           	/var      	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

# UUID=855b5d1b-0112-4b5d-8adf-510d7aa4a097
/dev/sda8           	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

# UUID=4067-8F4A LABEL=SYSTEM
/dev/sda1           	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro	0 2

gdisk -l /dev/sda:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 8C6871E7-2FFF-4558-9D7E-D08503B9EDE4
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3437 sectors (1.7 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048          206847   100.0 MiB   EF00  EFI system partition
   2          206848         2050047   900.0 MiB   2700  Basic data partition
   3         2050048         2312191   128.0 MiB   0C01  Microsoft reserved ...
   4         2312192       783718399   372.6 GiB   0700  Basic data partition
   5      1922045952      1953523711   15.0 GiB    2700  Basic data partition
   6       783718400       993433599   100.0 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   7       993433600      1035376639   20.0 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   8      1035376640      1922045951   422.8 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

lsblk:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part /boot
├─sda2   8:2    0   900M  0 part 
├─sda3   8:3    0   128M  0 part 
├─sda4   8:4    0 372.6G  0 part 
├─sda5   8:5    0    15G  0 part 
├─sda6   8:6    0   100G  0 part /
├─sda7   8:7    0    20G  0 part /var
└─sda8   8:8    0 422.8G  0 part /home
sdb      8:16   1  63.6G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   1  63.6G  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1   7.2G  0 rom  
loop0    7:0    0 310.6M  1 loop

All of these were taken from chroot in case that matters.
And again, thanks for all your help!

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,559

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

What is the output of uname -r and pacman -Q linux? I'm betting they don't match.

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Wow, very fast reply! Props to you

uname -r gives me '4.4.1-2-ARCH'

pacman -Q Linux gives me 'linux 4.6.2-1'

(Also done in chroot if that matters)

Good call there. So what exactly does this mean?

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,559

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

This means that your bootloader is loading an old kernel from somewhere. That kernel doesn't have any modules installed, so it can't load the vfat module.

Fix your bootloader.

Edit: wait, if you did uname -r in the chroot, you got the name of the kernel on the install disk. You have to boot the system for that one.

Last edited by Scimmia (2016-06-16 04:37:25)

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Thank you so much! I'll get right on that.

steven.gubler

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Sweet! I arch just booted up again! Thanks a million everyone.

icancto

Member

Registered: 2017-03-15

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

This means that your bootloader is loading an old kernel from somewhere. That kernel doesn't have any modules installed, so it can't load the vfat module.

Fix your bootloader.

Edit: wait, if you did uname -r in the chroot, you got the name of the kernel on the install disk. You have to boot the system for that one.

I have a very similar error, where my kernel versions don't match and I can't boot /boot/efi.
Sorry, what do you mean by "fix your bootloader"?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,736

Re: [SOLVED] Arch fails to mount /boot partition on startup

Do not necrobump solved threads.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … bumping.22

Chroot in a live environment and reinstall the linux package, making sure that the /boot partition is properly mounted (and mount to /boot using the /efi subdirectory just adds unnecessary manual work), if you still need assistance open your own thread.

Closing.

Last edited by V1del (2017-07-29 17:21:11)