Arch Linux

Chuxclub

Member

Registered: 2021-08-09

Posts: 3

Boot stuck at starting version

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here. I've read the stickied posts before and I'll do my best to comply to the rules. I'm desperate for help as I put a lot of time into the configuration of my system and things went off so fast...

I have a dual-boot archlinux/windows 10 (for the video games). I have 2 different drives: a 1To SSD on which I have my OSes and a 4To HDD for my big files (my video games, pictures, videos, etc.) Everything was working incredibly well until yesterday. I was playing Total War Rome 2 on my windows partition when I suddenly experienced a white screen. My computer immediately crashed afterwards. I always play with the task manager open and I noticed that my GPU was running intensively (95% !) so I rebooted Windows, lowered my graphical settings and thought that it was simply an out of memory kind of crash poorly managed by Creative Assembly. After lowering my graphical settings the game was running at 70% of my GPU capacity (Nvidia GTX 780).

I thought the problem was solved but that's when things went horribly south... Again I experienced the white screen... And the crash... And windows wouldn't boot anymore. Windows tried an autorepair and a diagnostic but it failed. Without any recover disk and because I use the "PIN" system I was left only with the option of completely reinstalling Windows (I don't remember my local password).

Before doing this I wanted to be sure that archlinux was okay. It was not! Now it refuses to boot too... I can't copy-paste the output as I'm writing this on my laptop. It is stuck at "/dev/sdb5: clean, 595059/13729792 files, 10309221/54887424 blocks". I have no tty in which I can log. Worse! When I try to replace the kernal reboot parameter "quiet" by "systemd.debug_shell" which is supposed to provide me with a debug shell (ctrl + alt + f9) I have no such shell! I tried the rescue mode and it got stuck at "[OK] Reached target: Graphical Desktop Manager". I don't even use GDM, I use KDE Plasma and sddm but somehow it's looking for gdm... I've tried using a live usb with archlinux on it but so far no luck... The journal doesn't give me any relevant piece of information.

Back to my Windows partition... I noticed that the fatal error incriminates nvlddmkm.sys, aka. my nvidia drivers. I tried to reinstall them in my archlinux partition with my live usb and an ethernet connection but it didn't work. I tried to reinstall linux but it didn't work too. Nothing works and I'm running out of ideas.

I tried to completely reinstall Windows after all these new elements and it truly stunned me... The complete reinstallation failed! Worse than that I can't reven each the recover environment now (safe mode wasn't working anyway... But come on!)

I don't know what I should do now... Use my Gparted live usb to completely wipe out all the hard work I've done and start all over? I feel genuinely distressed... How could a simple video game do such a thing to my system? What kind of piece of garbage can this game be? I've been barely playing. It was my first 2 hours, I was actually quite enjoying myself and it broke everything in a matter of seconds...

If there's anyone here who could help me it would be amazing!

Thanks for reading me this far.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,368

Re: Boot stuck at starting version

I've tried using a live usb with archlinux on it but so far no luck... The journal doesn't give me any relevant piece of information.

Back to my Windows partition... I noticed that the fatal error incriminates nvlddmkm.sys, aka. my nvidia drivers. I tried to reinstall them in my archlinux partition with my live usb and an ethernet connection but it didn't work. I tried to reinstall linux but it didn't work too. Nothing works

"Does not work" is no usable error description but this sounds as if some system component got toasted.
You can use memtest86+ to check the RAM, but if you cannot even succesfully boot the arch install iso, the damage is probably more massive than that.

If it's a GPU issue, try booting "nomodeset", you also want to check the SMART data on the disks - you might have to do that from a different system if eg. the board or CPU are fried.

I don't even use GDM

"Gnome Display Manager" - the target message is generic and doesn't mean you're attempting GDM.

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d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: Boot stuck at starting version

This sounds like a major hardware problem. Can you access the BIOS at all?

I noticed that the fatal error incriminates nvlddmkm.sys, aka. my nvidia drivers.

If you have integrated graphics, you can try that. Uninstall nvidia and all.

Chuxclub

Member

Registered: 2021-08-09

Posts: 3

Re: Boot stuck at starting version

Hi seth and hi d_fajardo!

Thanks a lot for your answers.

"Does not work" is no usable error description

You are perfectly right on this one. The problem being I've tried so many solutions, read so many error codes that I couldn't recall one of them. Still, I agree it wasn't helpful so I apologize for the vague descriptions.

You can use memtest86+ to check the RAM

Unfortunately my GRUB doesn't offer this option. I'm pretty much sure I could have launched it from the command line though.

I've sent my computer to LDLC (a French company specialized in computers) for a diagnostic. I'm moving out in another city next week so I wanted, for this time, to let others deal with my technical problem.

if you cannot even succesfully boot the arch install iso

I've managed to boot my live USB so that's a good thing I guess. But "nomodeset" didn't work... I didn't check the SMART data before sending it to repair so I guess they'll tell me if there's anything.

Can you access the BIOS at all?

Yes I can access it. My bet is on the GPU which might have fried. If that's the case I'm still pretty much in deep. GPUs are really expansive thanks to COVID and my computer is already 10 years old. If I buy a new GPU it might be compatible with my MoBo but it will cost 400€ just to have its potential bottlenecked by other pieces of hardware (which could fail soon as well).

So what would you do seth and d_fajardo? Buy a new computer or try to fix the old one?

Thanks again to the both of you!

Chuxclub

Member

Registered: 2021-08-09

Posts: 3

Re: Boot stuck at starting version

If you have integrated graphics, you can try that. Uninstall nvidia and all.

I have integrated graphics but for some reason they didn't work (black screen no input detection message). I tried to reinstall my nvidia drivers on my archlinux partition but it didn't solve the problem (I had the following error:

 GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown error 

I don't know if it's related though).

Last edited by Chuxclub (2021-08-10 14:31:27)

d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: Boot stuck at starting version

I have integrated graphics but for some reason they didn't work (black screen no input detection message).

Did you set to use the integrated graphics in the BIOS? There's usually a switch there to disable the discreet graphics, in your case the nvidia card, and use the integrated graphics instead.

You can use memtest86+ to check the RAM

Unfortunately my GRUB doesn't offer this option. I'm pretty much sure I could have launched it from the command line though.

You can install memtest86+ on a USB or CD Rom drive, boot it and run it from there.