Arch Linux

abarbarian

Member

Registered: 2012-03-11

Posts: 40

Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

I tried to install and use the zen kernel but it fails to boot.

Installed linux-zen, linux-zen-headers and nvidia-dkms. Everything seemed to go ok and mkinitcpio seemed to generate new

initramfs-linux-zen.img

initramfs-linux-zen-fallback.img

vmlinuz-linux-zen

My rEFInd boot config shows the old linux and the new linux-zen options for booting.

However the pc will not boot linux-zen.

Thinking I had made some mistake I tried to do

-->mkinitcpio -p linux-zen
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-zen.preset: 'default'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen -g /boot/initramfs-linux-zen.img --microcode /boot/intel-ucode.img
==> ERROR: Unable to write to '/boot/initramfs-linux-zen.img'
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-zen.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen -g /boot/initramfs-linux-zen-fallback.img -S autodetect --microcode /boot/intel-ucode.img
==> ERROR: Unable to write to '/boot/initramfs-linux-zen-fallback.img'

As you can see it did not work and neither did trying to boot linux-zen. I use rEFInd as a bootmanager and it found both the normal Arch and the initramfs-linux-zen.img's but the initramfs-linux-zen.img's will not boot.

So what is wrong ?? Can anyone offer advice. Thanks in advance folks. :-)

Last edited by abarbarian (2023-08-08 17:42:52)

Roken

Member

From: South Wales, UK

Registered: 2012-01-16

Posts: 1,360

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

Are you using a user account, or root? You need to be root (or sudo).

---

Ryzen 5900X 12 core/24 thread - RTX 3090 FE 24 Gb, Asus B550-F Gaming MB, 128Gb Corsair DDR4, Fractal Design Define 7 XL, 5 HD (2 NvME PCI, 4SSD) + 1 x optical.
Linux user #545703

/ is the root of all problems.

abarbarian

Member

Registered: 2012-03-11

Posts: 40

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

Are you using a user account, or root? You need to be root (or sudo).

Thanks that was my rookie mistake. Yes "sudo mkinitcpio -p linux-zen" works and creates the files.

However the initramfs-linux-zen.img ,initramfs-linux-zen-fallback.img both still fail to boot. ;-(

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,237

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

How so? Does your graphical environment not start up, can you switch VT with Ctrl+Alt+F2 or similar, can you boot to a terminal with

systemd.unit=multi-user.target

? Did the nvidia module get built properly (sudo dkms status) do you have correctly matching kernel params (e.g. enabled modesetting on the default kernel but not on zen or similar)?

abarbarian

Member

Registered: 2012-03-11

Posts: 40

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

How so? Does your graphical environment not start up, can you switch VT with Ctrl+Alt+F2 or similar, can you boot to a terminal with

systemd.unit=multi-user.target

? Did the nvidia module get built properly (sudo dkms status) do you have correctly matching kernel params (e.g. enabled modesetting on the default kernel but not on zen or similar)?

At the failed boot it seems to start ok with scrolling text. Then it stops for one minute and thirty seconds and does a check, carries on but shows some dependency fails and ends up with,

Started Emergency Shell
Reached Target Emergency Mode
Press Enter to continue

However pressing enter does nothing. I can not do a Ctrl+Alt+F2 or similar. Ctrl+Alt+Delete does not work and the only thing I can do is switch of the pc at the mains.

Nvidia worked and after installing nvidia-dkms graphics seem to work ok too, tried a couple of games and videos with no problems. I used the same mkinitcpio.conf for both kernels.

HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect modconf keyboard keymap consolefont block filesystems fsck)
COMPRESSION="zstd"
MODULES_DECOMPRESS="yes"

In /etc/mkinitcpio.d the presets look almost identical except one uses "linux" and the other uses "linux-zen".

# mkinitcpio preset file for the 'linux' package

#ALL_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
ALL_kver="/boot/vmlinuz-linux"
ALL_microcode=(/boot/*-ucode.img)

PRESETS=('default' 'fallback')

#default_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
default_image="/boot/initramfs-linux.img"
#default_uki="/efi/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi"
#default_options="--splash /usr/share/systemd/bootctl/splash-arch.bmp"

#fallback_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
fallback_image="/boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img"
#fallback_uki="/efi/EFI/Linux/arch-linux-fallback.efi"
fallback_options="-S autodetect"

I can not see anything out of place. The system is always fully updated and is started up each morning it was working fine and all I did was to install the linux-zen stuff which seems to install ok and generate an image etc but does not boot.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,727

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

Phrases like "does a check" and "some dependency fails" should never, ever be used here. If you want help, you have to be specific.

abarbarian

Member

Registered: 2012-03-11

Posts: 40

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

This is the screen I get when trying to boot with the linux-zen image.

https://i.imgur.com/T6o69qc.jpg

Where it states halfway down the output,

"[TIME] timed out waiting for device nvme0n1p2"

Just before that it states a stop job is running for nvme0n1p2. It runs the stop job for one minute and a half and then continues as seen in the photo. at the end where it says to press ENTER I end up with a totally unresponsive pc which I have to turn the power of and on again to start again.

After starting the pc if I choose the normal arch entry in rEFInd then the pc boots as normal.

Last edited by V1del (2023-08-08 16:34:34)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,237

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

Did you setup the extra kernel version strings as mentioned in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/REFInd … _by_rEFInd ? I'm suspecting you are booting the wrong initramfs. Also please don't embed huge images directly and link to them instead.

Last edited by V1del (2023-08-08 16:35:04)

abarbarian

Member

Registered: 2012-03-11

Posts: 40

Re: Linux to linux-zen fail ??? [SOLVED]

Did you setup the extra kernel version strings as mentioned in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/REFInd … _by_rEFInd ? I'm suspecting you are booting the wrong initramfs. Also please don't embed huge images directly and link to them instead.

Yes I had done that,

"extra_kernel_version_strings linux-lts,linux,linux-zen"

re-reading the advisor I see that I should have done,

"extra_kernel_version_strings linux-zen,linux"

I use "refind_linux.conf" to boot with as I had not got around to setting up "refind.conf" fully as I found it a tad confusing. In setting up zen I misread the advisor in "refind.conf".

Sorry about the large picture. If I need to in future I will post links to pictures.

I made the change to the "refind.conf"  and the pc now boots into zen.

Put brain in gear before pressing enter18:21:03-->Tue Aug 08-->~
-->uname -r
6.4.8-zen1-1-zen

So many thanks for the help  this case is solved.