Root password not accepted after failed to mount /boot

CumbersomeCobra · 2021-07-30 16:36:36

After a kernel upgrade my Arch doesn't boot anymore with the following error message:

[FAILED] Failed to start Load Kernal Modules.
[FAILED] Failed to mount /boot.
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for Local File Systems.
You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl 0-xb" to view
system log, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or "exit"
to boot into default mode.
Give root password for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):

I have had this issue before, and was manage to solve it then by logging in as root and downgrading the kernel (and NVIDIA drivers) from the Pacman cache.

This time, however, when I type in the root password, I am unable to log in and get the following instead:

Reloading system manager configuration
Starting default target
You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl 0-xb" to view
system log, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or "exit"
to boot into default mode.
Give root password for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):

This repeats on every possible input, include Control-D, the root password, or random input.

Any help to log in and restore the kernel is hugely appreciated!

seth · 2021-07-30 19:33:50

help to log in and restore the kernel

Stop doing that, actually.

What happens - most likely - is that the installed kernel and the booted one are running out of sync.
The usual cause is that either you're not mounting the /boot directory during the update or - since the title implies you do - you're actually booting from the root partition, shadow its /boot path with mounting the (wrong) /boot partition.

=> Get and boot a live system (eg. the installation iso or grml) and fix the setup.
Check the unmounted /boot path for vmlinuz-linux and whether that version (you can test it with "file") is the one you keep downgrading to.
If there's a kernel etc. in the unmounted path, Chroot into the installed arch system and update the kernel (and nvidia and maybe other packages) without mountng the supposed /boot partition. Exit the chroot and try to reboot into archlinux.
Alternatively you can fix your bootloader configuration to actually boot from the /boot partition.
If you want to boot from the root partition, unmount /boot and remove the /boot entry from fstab to not run into this again.

loqs · 2021-07-30 20:30:31

Possibly https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/71625 for the login issue.

CumbersomeCobra · 2021-09-30 23:15:40

Sorry for the slow reply.

I managed to fix the login issue by booting a live system and downgrading the kernel.

I haven't upgraded the kernel since to avoid running into booting issues. I was a bit lazy, but it's stupid, I know.

Not being able to boot after a kernel update was actually a recurring issue, the login bug was just new that time. So my bootloader was indeed not properly configured. Somewhat surprisingly sometimes the kernel updates worked and sometimes they failed, so rather than trying to figure out the underlying issue previously I just downgraded when necessary in the hopes that it would work the next time. I think the issue was that with systemd-boot, I wasn't properly updating the boot manager. I'm trying to fix the pacman hook to do that now, so hopefully that'll prevent this issue in the future.

Thanks for your help and patience.

Arch Linux

#1 2021-07-30 16:36:36

Root password not accepted after failed to mount /boot

#2 2021-07-30 19:33:50

Re: Root password not accepted after failed to mount /boot

#3 2021-07-30 20:30:31

Re: Root password not accepted after failed to mount /boot

#4 2021-09-30 23:15:40

Re: Root password not accepted after failed to mount /boot

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