Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 11:03:16

After updating, I rebooted my system. For some reason it failed and tried to start an emergency shell. It failed to start an emergency shell because I didn't have a root user set up. So, I chroot into my system from an arch install USB. I ran journalctl and I found only one unusual error: systemd (1): Failed to mount /boot.
This is pretty strange because I had no problems manually mounting my /boot partition from my arch install USB to chroot into my system.

Last edited by shayan99999 (2024-10-04 13:00:57)

cryptearth · 2024-10-04 11:14:00

sounds like esp wasn't mounted at time of update - now kernel and modules are out of sync
usual fix: correct arch-chroot and reinstall kernel to get things back in sync
if esp can't mounted check uuid if they match - otherwise fix fstab

Scimmia · 2024-10-04 11:14:12

In that log, what kernel does it say it booted? Does that match what's installed?

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 11:24:40

Scimmia wrote:

In that log, what kernel does it say it booted? Does that match what's installed?

I'm not sure how to check that. I just ran journalctl --priority=3

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 11:27:14

cryptearth wrote:

sounds like esp wasn't mounted at time of update - now kernel and modules are out of sync
usual fix: correct arch-chroot and reinstall kernel to get things back in sync
if esp can't mounted check uuid if they match - otherwise fix fstab

I mounted my boot partition to /boot/efi successfully. But when I reinstalled linux with pacman, it did everything properly until the very end where it gave the error: fatal library error, lookup self.

Not sure how to fix fstab as you suggested

cryptearth · 2024-10-04 11:55:53

your first post mentions an error "failed to mount /boot" - in your current post you state you mounted the esp to /boot/efi
this hints that the fstab contains wrong/conflicting information like fstab tries to mount esp to /boot which fails as /boot contains data and hence isn't a valid mountpoint anymore
hence I suggest to check and fix fstab
if you not sure how: post it along with output of lsblk -f and an ls -alFh /boot so we can check for issues

again: to me this reads like your esp wasn't mounted when you updated which hints the error was there already before the update but not noticed because the was able to boot fine

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 11:56:27

Here is my fstab: https://0x0.st/XEKT.txt

seth · 2024-10-04 12:08:03

I'm not sure how to check that. I just ran journalctl --priority=3

Edit: not uname if you chroot, see the journactl grep

journalctl -b  -1 | grep "GNU/Linux"
pacman -Qs kernel

Last edited by seth (2024-10-04 12:10:00)

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 12:17:08

This is the output of the second command: https://0x0.st/XEKj.txt

The first command had no output. I suspect this is because I have rebooted four times before arch-chrooting.

seth · 2024-10-04 12:49:17

From the chroot run

sudo journalctl -b -1 | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 13:00:32

Thanks everyone but the problem was simpler than I thought it was. I just had to reinstall grub and everything fixed itself.

cryptearth · 2024-10-04 13:44:19

your fstab contains LABEL instead of the usual UUID which should be generated by genfstab -U - how have installed arch? via archinstall? followed any other guide than the official one? how you came up with reinstalling grub and how *exactly* did you do it?

Scimmia · 2024-10-04 13:49:23

There's nothing at all wrong with using LABELs in fstab, and the installation guide even gives that option. Even if it didn't, people can set up fstab however they want. Don't make wild, unwarranted assumptions.

shayan99999 · 2024-10-04 13:53:44

cryptearth wrote:

your fstab contains LABEL instead of the usual UUID which should be generated by genfstab -U - how have installed arch? via archinstall? followed any other guide than the official one? how you came up with reinstalling grub and how *exactly* did you do it?

This installation of Arch was done through a script although not the archinstall script. My grub broke in my last boot a few days ago and I thought I had fixed it. When my laptop booted, it even showed the grub screen before failing so I thought there was nothing wrong with it. But then I looked up the error I got when using pacman and it seemed to be related to grub. I had no other ideas so I reinstalled grub again by reinstalling grub through pacman, then running the grub-install and grub-mkconfig commands. And that fixed it.

cryptearth · 2024-10-04 14:16:19

Scimmia wrote:

There's nothing at all wrong with using LABELs in fstab, and the installation guide even gives that option. Even if it didn't, people can set up fstab however they want. Don't make wild, unwarranted assumptions.

point is: in order to be able to help we (the helpers) require some knowledge of the target system
unless otherwise noted this assumes the user requesting has followed the official arch install guide
two infofmations were not given:
1) the install was done in a different way to the install guide without any further info
2) only now it was given it's a laptop instead of a desktop
both differences usually have sideeffects causing the target system behave differently from what a helper would expect based on the assumption the system was done "the usual way"
the rather big issue: most topics not note these important details which can end up in pages of confusibg and conflicting informations without any progress - and those who are able to file a useful report often figure thier issue themselfs
as just one example: my laptop requires to have the option "legacy usb" enabled to detect boitable usb media - something I not encountered on any other platform I ever dealt with and likely noone would expect to be the issue
without such important information it could caused a rather long thread about testing several media and ways to create them with maybe a wrong assumption of dead hardware
I see it well justified to question anything different from the standard even if it turns out not to be an issue
a system not booting with a specific error about failing to mount a partition fixed by reinstalling the bootloader sounds very odd to me - I still think that the actual root cause was something different and that reinstalling grub and generatimg a new config was done different and caused some sideeffect

Arch Linux

#1 2024-10-04 11:03:16

Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#2 2024-10-04 11:14:00

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#3 2024-10-04 11:14:12

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#4 2024-10-04 11:24:40

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#5 2024-10-04 11:27:14

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#6 2024-10-04 11:55:53

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#7 2024-10-04 11:56:27

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#8 2024-10-04 12:08:03

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#9 2024-10-04 12:17:08

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#10 2024-10-04 12:49:17

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#11 2024-10-04 13:00:32

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#12 2024-10-04 13:44:19

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#13 2024-10-04 13:49:23

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#14 2024-10-04 13:53:44

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

#15 2024-10-04 14:16:19

Re: Failed to boot Arch [SOLVED]

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