Failed to mount /boot/efi

Euler-Maskerony · 2020-09-09 14:34:12

Yesterday I updated my kernel and today arch couldn't boot. There are such entries in journal

Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: Mounting /home...
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: Finished File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/3BD5-EF23.
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: Mounting /boot/efi...
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch mount[273]: mount: /boot/efi: unknown filesystem type 'vfat'.
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: boot-efi.mount: Mount process exited, code=exited, status=32/n/a
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: boot-efi.mount: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: Failed to mount /boot/efi.
Sep 09 16:41:36 arch systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Local File Systems.

I tried to downgrade kernel to 5.8.6 but problem still remains.
I'll appreciate any help.

Scimmia · 2020-09-09 14:39:51

What bootloader?

This usually happens when you're loading an old kernel instead of the new one.

Euler-Maskerony · 2020-09-09 14:43:31

Scimmia wrote:

What bootloader?

GRUB. Can you clarify, how can I boot old kernel? I mean is there more than one kernel to boot?

Last edited by Euler-Maskerony (2020-09-09 14:45:08)

Scimmia · 2020-09-09 14:51:28

So if you look at grub.cfg, where is it loading the kernel from?

Euler-Maskerony · 2020-09-09 15:00:15

Scimmia wrote:

...where is it loading the kernel from?

/boot/vmlinuz-linux

Head_on_a_Stick · 2020-09-09 16:22:54

Compare the kernel version:

file /boot/vmlinuz-linux

With the installed modules:

ls /usr/lib/modules

Either chroot in from the live ISO or just mount the relevant partition(s) and run the commands with the correct path.

Euler-Maskerony · 2020-09-09 16:58:58

I ran this commands from emergency mode and versions match (5.8.7-arch1-1). Is it a problem if I have only "5.8.7-arch1-1" entry as an output of

ls /usr/lib/modules

?

zpg443 · 2020-09-09 20:11:22

Euler-Maskerony wrote:

I ran this commands from emergency mode and versions match (5.8.7-arch1-1). Is it a problem if I have only "5.8.7-arch1-1" entry as an output of
ls /usr/lib/modules
?

No.

Provide more detail what you were doing before this happened, provide your grub.cfg, and explain whether you re-ran mkinitcpio -p linux and grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg. You have a "Dependency failed for Local File Systems". How long ago did you upgrade before this last time? Please explain the issue in detail if anyone is to help.

Last edited by zpg443 (2020-09-09 20:16:43)

Cthulu201 · 2020-09-11 10:44:01

I'm getting the same thing after updating this morning. I use systemd-boot, though. I also get the option to Ctrl-D to continue booting, but it fails. I'm still troubleshooting, going to USB boot Arch.

Cthulu201 · 2020-09-11 12:49:58

**UPDATE**
To add that I booted off the latest AL USB ISO image to download and then arch-chroot /mnt to do the rest.

OK, I'm back in business. Had to go to AL Archive and downloaded:
linux-5.8.7.arch1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
linux-docs-5.8.7.arch1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
linux-headers-5.8.7.arch1-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

# rm -rf /lib/modules/5.8.*     # If I don't, mkinitcpio -p linux still uses 5.8.8 even if dir wasn't there
# cd <download_dir_path>
# pacman -U linux*
# mkinitcpio -p linux           # Just to make sure I still didn't get the kernel mod errors
<rebooted>

Back in business.

Last edited by Cthulu201 (2020-09-11 13:00:53)

V1del · 2020-09-11 12:53:46

And since you are back in business did you mount the ESP to /boot and add a corresponding entry into your fstab so that you can properly update again?

Cthulu201 · 2020-09-11 13:02:15

V1del wrote:

And since you are back in business did you mount the ESP to /boot and add a corresponding entry into your fstab so that you can properly update again?

I forgot to add that I booted off of an AL USB drive - which I updated.

I didn't have to mount anything since my /etc/fstab was still good. I downgraded and everything worked fine.

Wild Penguin · 2020-09-11 13:06:55

Cthulu201 and Euler-Maskerony: to which Kernel version did you try boot? I'm curious since I'm just about to boot into 5.8.8, and I'm currently running 5.8.7. It is unlikely the Kernel package has a problem with vfat.

That being said, I believe you should be dropped into an emergency shell if the Kernel can not mount all filesystems in fstab.

Either way, the error mentioned in OP is probably caused because the Kernel can not find the VFAT module. VFAT_FS is compiled as a module in the default Arch linux kernel package. I'm not sure if it is included in the initramfs per default, but it is irrelevant AFAIK, as the bootloader will load the Kernel and the Kernel only needs to be able to load rootfs, which will contain rest of the modules to mount other filesystems.

Also, when asked for output of commands, paste the output here. There might be errors in your setup you have missed / have become blind for some reason.

Last edited by Wild Penguin (2020-09-11 13:07:18)

Cthulu201 · 2020-09-11 13:16:25

Wild Penguin wrote:

Cthulu201 and Euler-Maskerony: to which Kernel version did you try boot?

I was initially on 5.8.7 when I booted up this morning. I upgraded to 5.8.8, rebooted, and started getting EFI mount errors. I'm not looking forward to this afternoon when I update my laptop at home, but pacman.conf has the IgnorePkg function.

Scimmia · 2020-09-11 13:20:43

Cthulu201 wrote:

Wild Penguin wrote:
Cthulu201 and Euler-Maskerony: to which Kernel version did you try boot?
I was initially on 5.8.7 when I booted up this morning. I upgraded to 5.8.8, rebooted, and started getting EFI mount errors. I'm not looking forward to this afternoon when I update my laptop at home, but pacman.conf has the IgnorePkg function.

IgnorePkg won't fix anything. This happens when you boot an old kernel, probably because /boot wasn't mounted when you updated. Fix it properly, don't ignore it.

Wild Penguin · 2020-09-11 14:29:49

There is nothing wrong with Linux-5.8.8 indeed, it can mount EFI partitions (vfat) as it should.

Some pointers to fix this: post contents of /etc/fstab and command 'sudo blkid' here. From those, someone here can probably say where things go wrong.

Last edited by Wild Penguin (2020-09-11 14:30:20)

Cthulu201 · 2020-09-14 12:04:38

Looks like 5.8.8 is installing to the /boot directory and not the /efi directory like I setup per the wiki - I use systemd-boot.

Wild Penguin · 2020-09-14 20:06:40

I've never used systemd-boot, but reading the Wiki, this claim:

Cthulu201 wrote:

Looks like 5.8.8 is installing to the /boot directory and not the /efi directory like I setup per the wiki - I use systemd-boot.

is just wrong. Either 1) you need to mount efi partition to /boot or 2) mount EFI partition to /efi and use a boot loader which can load kernels in some other partition than the EFI partition (which systemd-boot can not do) or 3) use Unified kernel images or EFISTUB loaders. See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … figuration , https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … rnel_image and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFISTUB and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar … oot_loader (especially the red box).

AFAIK all kernel packages will install to /boot.

Last edited by Wild Penguin (2020-09-14 20:07:06)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-09-09 14:34:12

Failed to mount /boot/efi

#2 2020-09-09 14:39:51

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#3 2020-09-09 14:43:31

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#4 2020-09-09 14:51:28

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#5 2020-09-09 15:00:15

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#6 2020-09-09 16:22:54

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#7 2020-09-09 16:58:58

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#8 2020-09-09 20:11:22

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#9 2020-09-11 10:44:01

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#10 2020-09-11 12:49:58

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#11 2020-09-11 12:53:46

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#12 2020-09-11 13:02:15

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#13 2020-09-11 13:06:55

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#14 2020-09-11 13:16:25

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#15 2020-09-11 13:20:43

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#16 2020-09-11 14:29:49

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#17 2020-09-14 12:04:38

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

#18 2020-09-14 20:06:40

Re: Failed to mount /boot/efi

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