Arch Linux

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

[solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

These are the last lines of two previous boots that didn't arrive to login screen (I'm using GDM as login manager):

feb 28 01:58:25 systemd[1]: Mounting /var...
feb 28 01:58:25 kernel: EXT4-fs (dm-6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: data=ordered
feb 28 01:58:25 systemd[1]: Mounted /var.
feb 28 01:58:25 systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage...
feb 28 01:58:25 kernel: EXT4-fs (dm-5): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: data=ordered
feb 28 01:58:25 systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Virtual Machine and Container Storage (Compatibility) being skipped.
feb 28 01:58:26 systemd[1]: Mounting /var/cache/pacman/aur...
feb 28 01:58:26 systemd[1]: Starting Load/Save Random Seed...
feb 28 01:58:26 systemd[1]: Mounted /tmp.
feb 28 01:58:26 systemd[1]: Mounted /var/cache/pacman/aur.
feb 28 01:58:26 systemd-journald[369]: Time spent on flushing to /var is 643.655ms for 1052 entries.

In the first case after a few seconds the machine rebooted itself and it happened again.

feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Mounted /tmp.
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Mounted /var.
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage...
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Virtual Machine and Container Storage (Compatibility) being skipped.
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Mounting /var/cache/pacman/aur...
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Starting Load/Save Random Seed...
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Started File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/de6b6b15-0333-4e98-87c7-efffc35212f3.
feb 28 02:00:42 audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-de6b6b15\x2d0333\x2d4e98\x2d87c7\x2defffc35212f3 comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/>
feb 28 02:00:42 kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1551315642.370:17): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-de6b6b15\x2d0333\x2d4e98\x2d87c7\x2defffc35212f3 co>
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Mounted /var/cache/pacman/aur.
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd[1]: Mounting /srv/deluge/watch...
feb 28 02:00:42 systemd-journald[369]: Time spent on flushing to /var is 12.115ms for 1065 entries.

Boot process apparently goes fine but just before reaching the login screen it gets stucked in an empty black screen with no more than a cursor in the upper left corner.

First time that this happened was about a month ago. I usually left the system in suspend mode but I do reboot it many times.

Last edited by Jason P. (2019-05-03 16:06:33)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,607

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

Boot into the multi-user.target, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … _boot_into and post a complete journal from the last boot (sudo journalctl -b -1), https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pastebin as well as the output of "lspci"

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Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

Sorry but I was not clear enough with my explanation and the title is a bit misleading. I'm not having this issue right now. It only happened a few times. Two in a row last night and one more several weeks ago. To be able to use the computer in graphical mode I just reboot one or two times more and this solves or hides the problem. I'm going to change the title to reflect this before pasting the logs.

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

First boot log: https://termbin.com/6fyx0

Second boot log: https://termbin.com/ac9g

Last edited by Jason P. (2019-02-28 11:12:20)

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

➜ % ~  lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 Display controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 7 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z68 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Desktop SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF106 [GeForce GTS 450] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF106 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 01)
04:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)
06:00.0 USB controller: Etron Technology, Inc. EJ168 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 01)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,607

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

There's no trace of any attempt to start gdm in either log.
=> Lack of entropy?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Haveged

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

What value would be considered low for /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail? Assuming this is the reason... why would it be happening such a thing after years of using my computer normally?

By the way, there are also Rng-tools for using hardware random number generators. Sadly, my processor does not have this feature.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,607

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1108
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke … 001536dd33

I've no idea how much entropy GDM (or whatever stalls at this point) will require, but for an entropy issue, generating a lot of input (keyboard, probably mouse) should forward it.

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1108
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke … 001536dd33

I'm running kernel 4.20. That CVE report affects linux versions up until 4.16.

I've no idea how much entropy GDM (or whatever stalls at this point) will require, but for an entropy issue, generating a lot of input (keyboard, probably mouse) should forward it.

You mean that mouse movements are captured (among other things) while generating entropy at boot?

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,607

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

It is the bugfix to that bug which causes the delay… and HID input is an external source for entropy, yes.

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

Apparently yes. Every other source of randomness (e.g. mouse or keyboard) are used at boot: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1572916#c22

rng-tools for Sandy Bridge: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/458340 RdRand instruction is not available for Sandy Bridge architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RdRand So no point in trying to use rng-tools right?

Last edited by Jason P. (2019-02-28 15:09:03)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,426

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

Yes no point in trying. You don't even need rng-tools if you actually have the instruction, as of kernel 4.19 you can add random.trust_cpu=on to your kernel params to make the kernel trust the CPU, granted of course that your processor supports the instruction.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,103

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

4.20.11 and 4.9.24 backported https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commi … 3f4ce7c7eb so rotational disks add some entropy again which was removed in 4.16.

Jason P.

Member

Registered: 2015-02-26

Posts: 171

Re: [solved] Sometimes boot process gets stucked before login screen

4.20.11 and 4.9.24 backported https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commi … 3f4ce7c7eb so rotational disks add some entropy again which was removed in 4.16.

Probably because of that I don't experience the problem anymore. Thanks for the info.