[solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

mysterylie · 2019-10-07 11:38:42

Hey folks,

After taking several days of work I managed to install arch a few months back. After hours and hours of work to even get it booting I was very hesitant to update, but I decided it was time. I ran 'pacman -Syu', rebooted, and now I'm running into a whole bevy of problems.

After searching around for a few hours I believe my first and primary issue is that the kernel didn't actually update. Or, at least, the files in my /boot directory haven't changed despite having installed the newer kernel.

Reading threads like this one I think the issue is that I didn't mount /boot before running the update. My EFI boot partition is /dev/sda2, but I'm getting the

mount: /boot: unknown filesystem type 'vfat' error

when I try to mount it now logged in as root.

I know this is probably a very easy fix, so thank you in advance to anyone who can help out this newbie.

A few more details:
I'm running a dual boot with windows and using grub (although I can't find my grub folder anymore). I'm unable to access the internet, even through USB tethering, which worked in the past when I was doing my initial install.

Last edited by mysterylie (2019-10-08 12:44:02)

cirrus · 2019-10-07 12:35:43

-This could be the common faux pas where the /boot partition was not mounted during the kernel update, if you have a separate /boot partition ensure it is mounted and reinstall kernel. To avoid future faux pas of this nature add /boot to /etc/fstab-
EDIT

The boot partition is not set up properly

Last edited by cirrus (2019-10-07 12:38:18)

Trilby · 2019-10-07 12:37:00

The vfat error may be due to a version mismatch between the running kernel and on-disk kernel modules. Downgrade the kernel (the previous one should be in your package cache), then mount sda2 appropriately, then update the kernel again (then ensure sda2 is properly listed in fstab as noted above) and reboot.

Last edited by Trilby (2019-10-07 12:45:46)

cirrus · 2019-10-07 12:44:11

Trilby wrote:

The vfat error may be due to a version mismatch between the running kernel and on-disk kernel modules.

Regards Trilby I learned a new thing.

mysterylie · 2019-10-08 12:43:15

Thanks so much for the quick reply. After removing the thumb drive with the live files on it I booted back in, and both uname -r and pacman -Q linux output matched now, so that seems like progress.

I was able to tether my phone (which didn't work before this!). I mounted /dev/sda2 to /boot and then re-ran pacman -Syu. Rebooted, and I'm now showing uname -r and pacman -Q with the updated kernel (5.3.5)! Also, my wireless card has re-appeared. Thanks so much for your help! It seems like a ton of progress really quickly. I think we can consider this issue solved.

However, I'm now running into an issue with xorg not starting--I'm sure it's related to the update, but not specifically the mismatched kernels. Would it be more appropriate to start a new thread for that one or shall I go ahead and share the problem here?

V1del · 2019-10-08 12:50:38

It'd be more appropriate to start a new thread yes, however check the boards whether the error is not the race condition (error message in xorg log something like drmSet Master failed) in which case you will want to enable early KMS

Last edited by V1del (2019-10-08 12:57:38)

Arch Linux

#1 2019-10-07 11:38:42

[solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

#2 2019-10-07 12:35:43

Re: [solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

#3 2019-10-07 12:37:00

Re: [solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

#4 2019-10-07 12:44:11

Re: [solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

#5 2019-10-08 12:43:15

Re: [solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

#6 2019-10-08 12:50:38

Re: [solved] uname -r hasn't updated after a kernel update

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