Arch Linux

Plaxon

Member

Registered: 2025-01-14

Posts: 12

Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

Hello everyone,

I've come to see you because, following a linux-zen kernel update, I was no longer able to use the mouse, so I wanted to downgrade the kernel to get back to a stable system.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to actually remove the kernel version causing the problem (see commands below), so it was impossible to restore a stable system.

I have a kernel-lts that works correctly, so I'm using it to send you this message.

Kernel version causing problems: linux-zen-6.12.8.zen1-1
Version of kernel I installed with downgrade: linux-zen-6.12.7.zen1-1

Here are the commands and their feedback:

 uname -r
6.12.8-zen1-1-zen 

pacman -Q | grep linux-zen

linux-zen 6.12.7.zen1-1
linux-zen-headers 6.12.9.zen1-1
 

journalctl -b | grep linux

janv. 14 17:38:15 archlinux kernel: Linux version 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen (linux-zen@archlinux) (gcc (GCC) 14.2.1 20240910, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.43.0) #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 02 Jan 2025 22:52:21 +0000
janv. 14 17:38:15 archlinux kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=7caeb33f-f824-4b69-8d94-a824ae2c4b0a rw zswap.enabled=0 rootfstype=ext4 loglevel=3 quiet
janv. 14 17:38:15 archlinux kernel: Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=7caeb33f-f824-4b69-8d94-a824ae2c4b0a rw zswap.enabled=0 rootfstype=ext4 loglevel=3 quiet
janv. 14 17:38:15 archlinux kernel: Unknown kernel command line parameters "BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen", will be passed to user space.
janv. 14 17:38:15 archlinux kernel:     BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen
janv. 14 17:39:12 archlinux sudo[815]:  arawaks : TTY=tty2 ; PWD=/home/arawaks ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/pacman -R linux-zen-6.12.8.zen1-1
 

dmesg | grep -i 'linux\|kernel'

[    0.575021] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[    0.688613] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.689098] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.690225] usb usb3: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.690641] usb usb4: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.692709] usb usb5: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.693192] usb usb6: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.695349] usb usb7: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.695659] usb usb8: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.698285] usb usb9: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.698597] usb usb10: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen xhci-hcd
[    0.718726] Loaded X.509 cert 'Build time autogenerated kernel key: 8010046fe2c6e31b6725169f6a56afe0886cf57e'
[    0.749452] Freeing unused kernel image (initmem) memory: 4388K
[    0.749483] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 34816k
[    0.749998] Freeing unused kernel image (rodata/data gap) memory: 260K
[    0.798584]     TERM=linux
[    0.798585]     BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen
[    3.680130] systemd[1]: systemd 257.2-1-arch running in system mode (+PAM +AUDIT -SELINUX -APPARMOR -IMA +IPE +SMACK +SECCOMP +GCRYPT +GNUTLS +OPENSSL +ACL +BLKID +CURL +ELFUTILS +FIDO2 +IDN2 -IDN +IPTC +KMOD +LIBCRYPTSETUP +LIBCRYPTSETUP_PLUGINS +LIBFDISK +PCRE2 +PWQUALITY +P11KIT +QRENCODE +TPM2 +BZIP2 +LZ4 +XZ +ZLIB +ZSTD +BPF_FRAMEWORK +BTF +XKBCOMMON +UTMP -SYSVINIT +LIBARCHIVE)
[    3.938320] systemd[1]: Listening on udev Kernel Socket.
[    3.941185] systemd[1]: Mounting Kernel Debug File System...
[    3.941794] systemd[1]: Mounting Kernel Trace File System...
[    3.942594] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module configfs...
[    3.943311] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module dm_mod...
[    3.943995] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module drm...
[    3.944650] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module fuse...
[    3.945488] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module loop...
[    3.948124] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Modules...
[    3.948894] systemd[1]: Starting Remount Root and Kernel File Systems...
[    3.953378] systemd[1]: Mounted Kernel Debug File System.
[    3.953773] systemd[1]: Mounted Kernel Trace File System.
[    3.954214] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module configfs.
[    3.954748] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module dm_mod.
[    3.955225] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module drm.
[    3.956062] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module fuse.
[    3.956499] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module loop.
[    3.956773] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Modules.
[    3.958912] systemd[1]: Mounting Kernel Configuration File System...
[    3.960358] systemd[1]: Starting Apply Kernel Variables...
[    3.964082] systemd[1]: Mounted Kernel Configuration File System.
[    3.968356] systemd[1]: Finished Remount Root and Kernel File Systems.
[    3.970497] systemd[1]: Finished Apply Kernel Variables. 

 mount | grep efi

efivarfs on /sys/firmware/efi/efivars type efivarfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
systemd-1 on /efi type autofs (rw,relatime,fd=63,pgrp=1,timeout=120,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct,pipe_ino=5324)

lsblk



NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1     259:0    0 238,5G  0 disk 
└─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0 238,5G  0 part 
nvme1n1     259:2    0 476,9G  0 disk 
├─nvme1n1p1 259:3    0   216G  0 part /home
├─nvme1n1p2 259:4    0    16M  0 part 
├─nvme1n1p3 259:5    0 194,6G  0 part 
├─nvme1n1p4 259:6    0   633M  0 part 
├─nvme1n1p5 259:7    0    60G  0 part /
├─nvme1n1p6 259:8    0   1,1G  0 part 
└─nvme1n1p7 259:9    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]
 

pacman -R linux-zen

vérification des dépendances…

Paquets (1) linux-zen-6.12.7.zen1-1

Taille totale supprimée :  142,83 MiB 

   (Of course, I didn't delete anything because I wanted to know what the command would return, and we're on the right kernel version)

Unless I'm mistaken, we can see via journalctl that it still loads version 6.12.8 even though it's no longer supposed to be present, and pacman -Q confirms this ...

I tried to completely remove linux-zen and after making sure via grep that no more mention of linux-zen was made anywhere either in the GRUB files or in the UEFI files, unfortunately even after removing linux-zen it remains!

I also reinstalled the GRUB in its entirety and didn't forget to regenerate initramfs, but the system continued to boot on the wrong kernel version.

Finally, I also checked the GRUB scripts in /etc/grub.d, but there was no mention of linux-zen when it was uninstalled.

I'm going to keep looking but for the moment I've run out of ideas so if anyone has any more ... Thanks in advance!

Last edited by Plaxon (2025-01-16 11:47:21)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,323

Re: Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux-zen tells me that you're using a partition at /boot, but it's not mounted, which is why it didn't get downgraded.

Plaxon

Member

Registered: 2025-01-14

Posts: 12

Re: Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

I don't believe it, it was so simple and stupid, thank you so much!... I feel stupid now ... Indeed, when I sent you the commands I also noticed that the boot was not mounted, but I didn't make the connection ... I naively thought that since the system was booting correctly the problem couldn't come from there and that it wasn't necessary to mount the boot partition ...I guess that if it's not mounted, the system doesn't know explicitly where to look for the right files to regenerate initramfs? but I don't understand why in this case it boots correctly? I must be confusing some notions ...

Last edited by Plaxon (2025-01-14 20:15:06)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,901

Re: Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

It will "boot" but lack all modules that aren't part of the initramfs since you're actually booting the newer kernel but that can't find it's modules since you downgraded the "on-disk" kernel.

Plaxon

Member

Registered: 2025-01-14

Posts: 12

Re: Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

I understand better now, thank you very much!

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 60,807

Re: Kernel not deleted by the system when downgrading [RESOLVED]

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc