[SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 13:06:52

Yesterday I performed a kernel upgrade, going from linux-zen 6.16.8-zen3 to linux-zen 6.17.1-zen1. After the upgrade a couple apps didn't open anymore, but I shrugged it off thinking that the system needed a reboot and postponed it to a later moment. Today, during a uni lecture, I rebooted the laptop because one of those apps I needed to take my notes, but the screen got stuck at

Loading Linux linux-zen...
Loading initial ramdisk...

Before doing the chroot i did the following:
- tried to boot with the mainline kernel, also updated to 6.17.1-arch1
- tried to boot with the fallback initramfs of the zen kernel
- tried to boot with the fallback initramfs of the main kernel

I chrooted into the system from an usb drive with a live iso of arch and did the following things:
- rebuilt the initramfs
- regenerated the grub config
- downgraded both the kernels and also the headers, just to be sure

None of these steps worked and I'm still locked with an unbootable system

SOLUTION: gnome 49.1 is bugged af. Downgrading it to version 40.9 will fix the issue

Last edited by Hero478 (2025-10-13 20:19:41)

c>rust · 2025-10-13 16:04:39

you could install "linux-lts"
to clarify
did you mean

Hero478 wrote:

- downgraded both the kernels and also the headers, just to be sure
- rebuilt the initramfs

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=296728

Last edited by c>rust (2025-10-13 16:08:48)

Scimmia · 2025-10-13 16:07:45

Since you mentioned grub, first thing to do is remove 'quiet' from the kernel command line and see what's actually happening.

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 17:32:37

c>rust wrote:

you could install "linux-lts"

i tried with no success, kind of. i forgot to also install the nvidia-lts driver since I have an nvidia gpu and when i tried to boot the system with the lst kernel it stopped completely saying that the nvidia daemon had failed. After I installed the appropriate drivers it got stuck as before though.

c>rust wrote:

to clarify
did you mean
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=296728

the symptoms seem to be the same but the solution they proposed there didn't work for me

Scimmia wrote:

Since you mentioned grub, first thing to do is remove 'quiet' from the kernel command line and see what's actually happening.

Done. It gets stuck on "[OK] Reached target Graphical Interface" and waits there. I'll try attaching a picture but I can't guarantee on its quality since it's been taken with my phone

Edit: nvm, the picture doesn't show up

Last edited by Hero478 (2025-10-13 17:33:14)

Scimmia · 2025-10-13 17:34:38

So it boots fine, it just isn't starting your DM? What DM do you use? Switch TTY2, you should be able to log in and use the system.

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 17:59:50

Yeah apparently the problem is the DM. I'm using Gnome 49, and if I start it from tty2 with gnome-shell --wayland it starts fine

seth · 2025-10-13 19:29:35

Please post your complete system journal for the boot:

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

Edit: after the failing GDM, that is

Last edited by seth (2025-10-13 19:29:52)

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 19:35:35

https://0x0.st/KSTr.txt

meanwhile i was reading the output of

sudo journalctl -b -1 -p 4

and

sudo journalctl -u gdm -b

and i saw a bunch of stuff was failing, but I don't know if it's related to the actual issue. I guess you will see it all in the full journalctl output

seth · 2025-10-13 19:37:25

ott 13 21:30:00 arch systemd[1]: systemd 257.9-1-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)
…
ott 13 21:30:02 arch gdm[736]: Gdm: Failed to listen on userdb socket: Invalid argument

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=309465 - GNOME snafu

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 19:42:24

What a mess... yeah, had the same issue with systemd and downgraded it to version 257.9 a week or so ago. Should I upgrade systemd or downgrade gdm?

Last edited by Hero478 (2025-10-13 19:42:40)

seth · 2025-10-13 19:46:43

Seems the only fully functional setup is gnome 49.0 and systemd 257 - updating to 49.1 and 258 will likely allow you to start GDM, but not sanely suspend.
Pick your poison.

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 19:57:26

49.1? I have gnome 49.0-2 installed and pacman's most recent build is the one I'm using. Unless I somehow rolled back to a previous version without knowing gnome 49.1 never reached my system

Edit: checking /var/log/pacman.log I can confirm that the latest version I have ever installed was the 49.0-2
Edit 2: ok no, i just can't read. it was 49.1, but not for critical packages such as gnome-shell or mutter

Last edited by Hero478 (2025-10-13 19:59:24)

seth · 2025-10-13 20:07:59

it was 49.1, but not for critical packages such as gnome-shell or mutter

Please don't paraphrase, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855 - do you suggest you ran a partial gnome update??

Hero478 · 2025-10-13 20:15:34

Sorry, what I meant is that the only packages updated to 49.1 are the following:

local/epiphany 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gdm 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-calculator 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-characters 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-control-center 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-music 1:49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-session 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-software 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-system-monitor 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/gnome-user-docs 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/orca 49.1-1 (gnome)
local/papers 49.1-1 (gnome)

And just now I'm noticing gdm in there. I don't know how I didn't see it when I was checking earlier. I will try to downgrade everything and see if it works.

By the way, gnome-shell and mutter are still at version 40.9-2 as i mentioned earlier and upgrading the full gnome suite doesn't do anything (no, i didnt set pacman to ignore them)

Edit: it worked. Marked topic as solved

Last edited by Hero478 (2025-10-13 20:18:43)

seth · 2025-10-13 20:25:02

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/mutter/ is still at 49.0-5, gnome-shell at 1:49.0-2 - "40.9-2" would be a massive problem, though.
I bet your right arm downgrading to 49.0 will allow you to start gnome.

Edit: I won

Last edited by seth (2025-10-13 20:25:20)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-13 13:06:52

[SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#2 2025-10-13 16:04:39

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#3 2025-10-13 16:07:45

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#4 2025-10-13 17:32:37

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#5 2025-10-13 17:34:38

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#6 2025-10-13 17:59:50

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#7 2025-10-13 19:29:35

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#8 2025-10-13 19:35:35

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#9 2025-10-13 19:37:25

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#10 2025-10-13 19:42:24

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#11 2025-10-13 19:46:43

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#12 2025-10-13 19:57:26

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#13 2025-10-13 20:07:59

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#14 2025-10-13 20:15:34

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

#15 2025-10-13 20:25:02

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck at "Loading initial ramdisk" after kernel upgrade

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