Arch Linux

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,158

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Sorry about that, I didn't pay attention!

That's not an answer…

Assuming this is a parabola issue:
boot an install iso, mount and chroot into parabola (which has supiciously conflicting images on two partitions), mount the boot partition (or not), edit the mkinitcpio.conf and set the compression option to "cat". "mkinitcpio -P" and try to reboot.

This will create an uncompressed image (could get a little tight on the boot partition) and should™ allow you to boot (or at least not yell that error for sure)
I've no idea which compression algos are enabled in the parabola kernel and nobody else here has and that's why https://bbs.archlinux.org/misc.php?action=rules

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rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Assuming this is a parabola issue:
boot an install iso, mount and chroot into parabola (which has supiciously conflicting images on two partitions), mount the boot partition (or not), edit the mkinitcpio.conf and set the compression option to "cat". "mkinitcpio -P" and try to reboot.

I'll have to try that out. I'll return here with a separate post containing my results.

This will create an uncompressed image (could get a little tight on the boot partition) and should™ allow you to boot (or at least not yell that error for sure)
I've no idea which compression algos are enabled in the parabola kernel and nobody else here has and that's why https://bbs.archlinux.org/misc.php?action=rules

Yeah... maybe I should read the rules have gone to another, more relevant forum board instead... sorry about that

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Update: using COMPRESSION=cat in the parabola iso didn’t work. The kernel can’t mount block 259,3.

Last edited by rhearmas (2021-02-25 18:46:13)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,158

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Check filesystem and smart status, what's the updated error message?
(It cannot say "Initramfs unpacking failed" anymore…)

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rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

The only text that appears are a bunch of ACPI BIOS errors (I am booting using UEFI), and this is all I see below that:

[        0.772683] List of all partitions:
[        0.772714] 103:00000 500107608 nvme0n1
[        0.772715]  (driver?)
[        0.772756]   103:00001     266240  nvme0n1p1  eeff6aa8-f7a7-4afc-8c53-6012d6cb3425
[        0.772757]
[        0.772810]   103:00002  432731136  nvme0n1p2  0693acf3-5b01-2145-a375-faf00674ce50
[        0.772810]
[        0.772863]   103:00003   67108864  nvme0n1p3  46Zaadoc-4c1b-4569-bfed-faa4a9eee2fa
[        0.772864]
[        0.772916] No filesystem could mount root, tried:
[        0.772916]
[        0.772956] Kernel panic not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(259,3)
[        0.773004] CPU: 7 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.4.85-gnu-1-lts #1
[        0.773042] Hardware name: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X512FL_F512FL/X512FL, BIOS X512FL.303 08/26/2019
[        0.773099] Call Trace:
[        0.773140]  dump_stack+0X64/0x88
[        0.773164]  panic+0x10b/0xZe1
[        0.773188]  mount_block_root+0x2b8/0x2dc
[        0.773216]  prepare_namespace+0x136/0x16c
[        0.773243]  ? rest_init+0xa4/0xa4
[        0.773266]  kernel_init+0xa/0x10c
[        0.773290]  ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x40
[        0.773371] Kernel Offset: 0x21000000 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffffbfffffff)
[        0.773432] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(259,3) ]---

The ACPI error repeats quite a few times -- this is what it says:

ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Failure creating named object [\_SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB.SS04._UPC], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20190816/dswload2-326)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20190816/psobject-220)

Last edited by rhearmas (2021-02-25 20:29:52)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,158

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Can you mount the parabola root partition from arch?
Did you check its integrity?

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rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Yes, I am able to mount the Parabola partition through Arch. I can do it through both the Arch live environment and in my main Arch partition, P2. How can I check the integrity of the partition?

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,158

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fsck
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SMART

Edit: though if you can mount it, that's probably not the problem.
More likely a bug in the parabola kernel.

Last edited by seth (2021-02-25 22:09:23)

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rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

I ran fsck -a /dev/nvme0n1, and this was my output:

fsck from util-linux 2.35.1
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1
/dev/nvme0n1:
The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 <device>

/dev/nvme0n1 contains `DOS/MBR boot sector; partition 1 : ID=0xee, start-CHS (0x0,0,2), end-CHS (0x3ff,255,63), startsector 1, 1000215215 sectors, extended partition table (last)' data

If I run the same command but on P3, I get an output similar to above. P3 uses btrfs, and P2 uses ext4. I don't know where to go from here, and I'm unsure of what I should do with SMART since no errors appear when I run the commands offered on the Wiki page.

Last edited by rhearmas (2021-02-25 22:55:44)

respiranto

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 479

Website

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

I ran fsck -a /dev/nvme0n1, [...]

`/dev/nvme0n1' is your full disk, not a partition.  Use `/dev/nvme0n1pN' instead.

respiranto

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 479

Website

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

The only text that appears are a bunch of ACPI BIOS errors (I am booting using UEFI), and this is all I see below that:

[...]
[        0.772916] No filesystem could mount root, tried:
[...]

That line should list several filesystems.  In `P3:/etc/mkinitcpio.conf', do the HOOKS contain `filesystems'?

Anyways, the errors look very close to the original ones (essentially, only the first line missing); therefore I assume there is still a general problem with the initrd.

Maybe just try the non-LTS kernel?

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

I ran fsck -a /dev/nvme0n1, [...]

`/dev/nvme0n1' is your full disk, not a partition.  Use `/dev/nvme0n1pN' instead.

Here's the output of fsck on:

- P1

fsck.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
/dev/nvme0n1p1: 452 files, 58645/65536 clusters

- P2

e2fsck 1.45.7 (28-Jan-2021)
ARCH: clean, 2238070/27102816 files, 45030756/108182784 blocks

- P3

If you wish to check the consistency of a BTRFS filesystem or
repair a damaged filesystem, see btrfs(8) subcommand 'check'.

That line should list several filesystems.  In `P3:/etc/mkinitcpio.conf', do the HOOKS contain `filesystems'?

Anyways, the errors look very close to the original ones (essentially, only the first line missing); therefore I assume there is still a general problem with the initrd.

Maybe just try the non-LTS kernel?

The contents of HOOKS in P3's /etc/mkinitcpio.conf are:
base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck shutdown

Using the standard, non-LTS kernel still causes the same error with the same logs. I would suppose that drivers might be missing from the device that prevent it from booting.

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,158

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Btrfs#btrfs_check

Do NOT. DO NOT! DO!! NOT!!!!!! use the --repair option at all even ifff it tells you that there's an error.
Again: Do NOTuse the --repair option!
In case that isn't clear by now: DO NOT USE THE --repair OPTION whatever you do!!!

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respiranto

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 479

Website

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Please post your `grub.cfg' and the output of `efibootmgr -v'.

You could try booting P3 using qemu (from P2).  Drivers should not be an issue then.  The simplest way would be:

sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -runas $USER -enable-kvm -m $MEMSIZE -drive=/dev/nvme0n1,format=raw

Be careful though only to boot P3 in the VM and keep P2 unmounted there, and P3 unmounted on the host.

Also, you could downgrade packages (kernel, mkinitcpio, ...) to find the responsible package/version.  The pacman log allows you to identify packages that were upgraded around the time the issue started to appear.

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

grub.cfg:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

set menu_color_normal=light-blue/black
set menu_color_highlight=light-cyan/blue

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=1920x1080,auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  4281-C511
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4281-C511
fi
insmod gfxmenu
loadfont ($root)/grub/themes/argon/DejaVuSans_16.pf2
loadfont ($root)/grub/themes/argon/Terminus_16.pf2
insmod png
set theme=($root)/grub/themes/argon/theme.txt
export theme
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_grub-customizer_menu_color_helper ###
### END /etc/grub.d/06_grub-customizer_menu_color_helper ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688' {
	load_video
	set gfxpayload=keep
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  4281-C511
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4281-C511
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux linux-lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 rw  loglevel=5 resume=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 resume_offset=31655936..
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/intel-ucode.img /initramfs-linux-lts.img
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688' {
	menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux-lts' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-lts-advanced-aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688' {
		load_video
		set gfxpayload=keep
		insmod gzio
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod fat
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  4281-C511
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4281-C511
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux linux-lts ...'
		linux	/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 rw  loglevel=5 resume=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 resume_offset=31655936..
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/intel-ucode.img /initramfs-linux-lts.img
	}
	menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux-lts (fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-lts-fallback-aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688' {
		load_video
		set gfxpayload=keep
		insmod gzio
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod fat
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  4281-C511
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4281-C511
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux linux-lts ...'
		linux	/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 rw  loglevel=5 resume=UUID=aeb4402d-be5f-4ace-82de-0ed06a191688 resume_offset=31655936..
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Parabola GNU/Linux-libre (on /dev/nvme0n1p3)' --class parabola --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae' {
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod btrfs
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
	fi
	linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre-lts root=PARTUUID=462aad0c-4c1b-45b9-bfed-faa4a9eee2fa rw loglevel=5
	initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Parabola GNU/Linux-libre (on /dev/nvme0n1p3)' $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-advanced-57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae' {
	menuentry 'Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, linux-libre-lts kernel (on /dev/nvme0n1p3)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-/boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre-lts--57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae' {
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod btrfs
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
		fi
		linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre-lts root=PARTUUID=462aad0c-4c1b-45b9-bfed-faa4a9eee2fa rw loglevel=5
		initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img
	}
	menuentry 'Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, linux-libre-lts kernel (fallback initramfs) (on /dev/nvme0n1p3)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-/boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre-lts--57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae' {
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod btrfs
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root  57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 57a43922-4ce3-490e-bd43-eba98dc6d4ae
		fi
		linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-libre-lts root=PARTUUID=462aad0c-4c1b-45b9-bfed-faa4a9eee2fa rw loglevel=5
		initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-libre-lts-fallback.img
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom #

efibootmgr -v:

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0004,0002
Boot0002* rEFInd Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,eeff6aa8-f7a7-4afc-8c53-6012d6cb3425,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\REFIND\REFIND_X64.EFI)
Boot0004* UEFI OS	HD(1,GPT,eeff6aa8-f7a7-4afc-8c53-6012d6cb3425,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)..BO

I don't know why rEFInd is still a boot option, I don't have it installed!

Also, running sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -runas $USER -enable-kvm -m 4G -drive file=/dev/nvme0n1,format=raw gets SeaBIOS stuck in the Booting from hard drive phase. I had no choice but to abort it completely.

Last edited by rhearmas (2021-02-26 14:13:35)

respiranto

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 479

Website

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

GRUB is still configured to boot linux-libre-lts from P3.  Maybe you changed that back already, though.

I don't know why rEFInd is still a boot option, I don't have it installed!

Likely, you never removed the boot entry.  See `man 8 efibootmgr'.

Also, running sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -runas $USER -enable-kvm -m $MEMSIZE -drive file=/dev/nvme0n1,format=raw gets SeaBIOS stuck in the Booting from hard drive phase. I had no choice but to abort it completely.

Ah, that's probably because you are using EFI, while qemu expects a BIOS setup.  There are ways to boot nevertheless, see the Wiki [0].  Decide yourself whether it's worth the hassle.

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Managed to figure it out. Appended the -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF_CODE.fd flag to the command and it booted. However, I'm thrown into a GRUB shell when I run the command. Tried to manually boot, but GRUB's rescue shell couldn't find the partition. I tried setting variable root to "/dev/nvme0n1p3", and I also tried using the PARTUUID and UUID. None of those three worked, and GRUB couldn't find it.

This all happened after I ran sudo os-prober to attempt to fix the config.

Update: ran grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg, and I'm still getting the issue just described.

Last edited by rhearmas (2021-02-26 15:02:21)

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

Another update: was able to boot the partition through Qemu, but I still get the same error as in the OP. However, the first line is different, as seen below...

acpi PNP0A03:00: fail to add MMCONFIG information, can't access extended PCI configuration space under this bridge.

respiranto

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 479

Website

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

I don't think I can provide any more useful help here.

You should probably get in touch with the Parabola support channels.

Note that booting via qemu was only an attempt at finding out whether the problem is hardware-specific.  Narrowing down the package and version that introduced the error is likely the next best step.

rhearmas

Member

Registered: 2020-09-25

Posts: 52

Re: Unable to boot secondary Arch partition

I don't think I can provide any more useful help here.

You should probably get in touch with the Parabola support channels.

Note that booting via qemu was only an attempt at finding out whether the problem is hardware-specific.  Narrowing down the package and version that introduced the error is likely the next best step.

Alright. I'm very sorry that I wasted your time here, I genuinely feel bad... thank you very much for all the assistance you have given, I'm so grateful that you were able to try to assist me.