My system won't start up after crashing during an update

LithoUser · Yesterday 09:07:54

Hello,

There was a brief power outage during an Arch update. Since then, it won't start up: the system boots up, but then it stops with several errors saying "[FAILED] Failed to start D-Bus System Message Bus." and then "[FAILED] Failed to start Light Display Manager."

I chrooted and ran the update again before rebooting, but it still doesn't work.

Here is the result of the command `sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk 2>&1 | grep -v ', 0 altered files'`:

warning: database file for 'core' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'extra' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: amd-ucode: /boot/amd-ucode.img (No such file or directory)
warning: filesystem: /etc/resolv.conf (File type mismatch)
warning: filesystem: /etc/shadow (File type mismatch)
warning: filesystem: /usr/lib/os-release (Modification time mismatch)
warning: filesystem: /usr/lib/os-release (Size mismatch)
warning: filesystem: /usr/lib/os-release (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
amd-ucode: 17 total files, 1 altered file
backup file: filesystem: /etc/group (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/group (Size mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/group (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/gshadow (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/gshadow (Size mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/gshadow (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/passwd (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/passwd (Size mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/passwd (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shadow (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shadow (Size mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shadow (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shells (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shells (Size mismatch)
backup file: filesystem: /etc/shells (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
filesystem: 127 total files, 3 altered files
fuse-common: 2 total files, 0 warning: intel-ucode: /boot/intel-ucode.img (No such file or directory)
ltered files
intel-ucode: 161 total files, 1 altered file
libpipeline: 80 total files, 0 altewarning: libutemper: /usr/lib/utemper/utemper (GID mismatch)
warning: libutemper: /usr/lib/utemper/utemper (Permissions mismatch)
warning: memtest86+: /boot/memtest86+ (No such file or directory)
warning: memtest86+: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin (No such file or directory)
warning: memtest86+-efi: /boot/memtest86+ (No such file or directory)
warning: memtest86+-efi: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi (No such file or directory)
red files
libutemper: 20 total files, 1 altered files
memtest86+: 6 total files, 2 altered files
memtest86+-efi: 6 total files, 2 altered files
backup file: open-iscsi: /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: open-iscsi: /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi (Size mismatch)
backup file: open-iscsi: /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
backup file: pacman-mirrorlist: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (Modification time mismatch)
backup file: pacman-mirrorlist: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (Size mismatch)
backup file: pacman-mirrorlist: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
python-rich: 251 twarning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (GID mismatch)
warning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (Permissions mismatch)
warning: systemd: /var/log/journal (GID mismatch)
shadow: 576 total files, 1 altered file
systemd: 1670 total files, 1 altered file

It looks really bad... and I'm nowhere near capable of fixing it myself.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me!

Last edited by LithoUser (Yesterday 09:09:49)

Everything2067 · Yesterday 17:25:06

You are in luck.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman … ed_upgrade
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman … c_packages

LithoUser · Yesterday 19:11:08

Thank you for your help!

But the following code:

grep "\[2025-12-24.*\] \[ALPM\] upgraded" /var/log/pacman.log

only outputs the following error: "grep: /var/log/pacman.log: binary file matches".

And the following code:

LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 pacman -Qk 2>/dev/null | grep -v ' 0 missing files' | cut -d: -f1

outputs nothing at all... so there's nothing to reinstall, unfortunately.

seth · Yesterday 21:08:19

I chrooted and ran the update again before rebooting, but it still doesn't work.

warning: intel-ucode: /boot/intel-ucode.img (No such file or directory)

Forgot to mount the boot partition?

warning: database file for 'core' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'extra' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)

In what context did you run that? The chroot?

Boot the install iso, mount your root partition into /mnt and your boot partition into /mnt/boot, then arch-chroot /mnt, then re-install all packages

LithoUser · Today 07:45:34

Forgot to mount the boot partition?

Yes. But I can't find my boot partition:

1. There is a boot folder in the root partition, but the command "lsblk -o NAME" does not list any boot partitions.

2. grub no longer launches automatically (my system is BIOS, not UEFI): the motherboard firmware launches first, then grub; it seems that there is no longer a boot sector.

Last edited by LithoUser (Today 07:46:40)

seth · Today 09:21:31

Yes. But I can't find my boot partition:

Before any chrooting check

lsblk -f

and also check the contents of /mnt/etc/fstab

t seems that there is no longer a boot sector.

From the chroot and when all partitions are properly mounted, re-install grub and make sure to direct it to the proper ESP mount (which can but does not have to be /boot!)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation

LithoUser · Today 16:42:52

Thank you for helping me!

lsblk -f

Only three partitions appear on my hard drives (I have two encrypted hard drives, each of which hosts part of my home/ folder):
- /dev/sda1 -> crypto_LUKS
- /dev/sdb1 -> root partition (ext4) including my boot/ folder
- /dev/sdc1 -> crypto_LUKS

and also check the contents of /mnt/etc/fstab

UUID=9e69dc04-0dce-48d4-8001-c6cb59e8446e   /               ext4    rw,relatime	0 1
/dev/mapper/vgroup_new-lv_home_new          /home           ext4    rw,relatime,no_prefetch_block_bitmaps,x-systemd.device-timeout=120	0 2
/dev/mapper/vgroup(-lv_home                  /mnt/old_HDD    ext4    defaults,nofail,no_prefetch_block_bitmaps,x-systemd.device-timeout=120    0 2

re-install grub and make sure to direct it to the proper ESP mount (which can but does not have to be /boot!)

So I have done this:

pacman -S grub
grub-install /dev/sdb
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

And then I have rebooted, but it hasn't changed anything. I guess these commands are wrong, or I forgot something...

seth · Today 16:58:38

You don't have an ESP??

(lsblk -f; fdisk -l /dev/sdb) | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

So I have done this:

Before or after the chroot?

LithoUser · Today 17:28:15

You don't have an ESP??

Sorry for the silly question, but isn't that standard with BIOS? (My system doesn't have UEFI.)

(lsblk -f; fdisk -l /dev/sdb) | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

The output is here: https://0x0.st/PijT.txt

So I have done this:
Before or after the chroot?

That was *after* the chroot.

Arch Linux

#1 Yesterday 09:07:54

My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#2 Yesterday 17:25:06

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#3 Yesterday 19:11:08

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#4 Yesterday 21:08:19

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#5 Today 07:45:34

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#6 Today 09:21:31

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#7 Today 16:42:52

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#8 Today 16:58:38

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

#9 Today 17:28:15

Re: My system won't start up after crashing during an update

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