Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:31:37

I can not get my laptop to boot unless the install USB is plugged in. I saw something mention the kernel not loading, but cant figure out how to go about finding the issue before I try to resolve it.

I did modprobe and got this output

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ modprobe efivars
efibootmgr -v
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivars not found in directory /lib/modules/6.18.2-arch2-1
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* EFI Hard Drive (22400V805419-WD Blue SN570 500GB)     PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1a,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,00-1B-44-8B-4E-9A-22-DC)/HD(1,GPT,5710e82c-e15a-469c-9e00-b45e44a42fcb,0x800,0x200000)RC
      dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 00 1a / 01 01 06 00 00 00 / 03 17 10 00 01 00 00 00 00 1b 44 8b 4e 9a 22 dc / 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 2c e8 10 57 5a e1 9c 46 9e 00 b4 5e 44 a4 2f cb 02 02 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 52 43
Boot0001* EFI USB Device (Generic)      UsbWwid(58f,6387,0,20B815B)/CDROM(1,0x2602e0,0x7d840)RC
      dp: 03 10 1a 00 00 00 8f 05 87 63 32 00 30 00 42 00 38 00 31 00 35 00 42 00 34 00 / 04 02 18 00 01 00 00 00 e0 02 26 00 00 00 00 00 40 d8 07 00 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 52 43
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
      dp: 7f ff 04 00
    data: 52 43
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
      dp: 7f ff 04 00
    data: 52 43
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC
      dp: 7f ff 04 00
    data: 52 43

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 19:34:18)

system72 · 2025-12-29 19:40:37

maybe because you or a script made that usb hold the esp, unless you have an extra partition, or boot partition on your main drive then you will have to do some resizing and make an esp on that main drive. or ur kernel images and initramfs files are held on that usb instead

Last edited by system72 (2025-12-29 19:47:43)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:48:41

system72 wrote:

maybe because you or a script made that usb hold the esp, unless you have an extra partition, or boot partition on your main drive then you will have to do some resizing and make an esp on that main drive

It booted fine for a month or so before this started happening. How would I go about changing it? Is it a remount? I am computer illiterate for the most part besides gaming and some basic things from tutorials and am trying to learn linux, but Im kinda to dumb to make sense out of the documentation all the time.

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 19:49:32)

system72 · 2025-12-29 19:52:02

NominalSum wrote:

It booted fine for a month or so before this started happening. How would I go about changing it? Is it a remount? I am computer illiterate for the most part and am trying to learn linux, but Im kinda to dumb to make sense out of the documentation all the time.

well i don't know, some bootloaders provide filesystem drivers to read from non fat partitions, i have a few questions: is this actually arch? who set this system up for you? and is that usb mounted currently, whats inside of it? what bootloader are you using?

also the output of lsblk -f

Last edited by system72 (2025-12-29 19:53:32)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:53:29

system72 wrote:

NominalSum wrote:
It booted fine for a month or so before this started happening. How would I go about changing it? Is it a remount? I am computer illiterate for the most part and am trying to learn linux, but Im kinda to dumb to make sense out of the documentation all the time.
well i don't know, some bootloaders provide filesystem drivers to read from non fat partitions, i have a few questions: is this actually arch? who set this system up for you? and is that usb mounted currently, whats inside of it? what bootloader are you using?

It is actually Arch. I did the graphical install a month ish ago due to my manual install bricking and me house sitting and wanting to play games in a time crunch.

Does this lsblk help at all to figure out how I may solve it? I am EFI system, I know that for sure.

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda           8:0    1  58.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1        8:1    1   1.2G  0 part 
└─sda2        8:2    1   251M  0 part 
zram0       253:0    0     4G  0 disk [SWAP]
nvme0n1     259:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0     1G  0 part /boot
└─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0 464.8G  0 part /
nvme1n1     259:3    0   1.8T  0 disk 
└─nvme1n1p1 259:4    0   1.8T  0 part /home

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 19:54:54)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:55:47

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ lsblk -f
NAME       FSTYPE  FSVER           LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda        iso9660 Joliet Extensio ARCH_202512 2025-12-01-16-13-59-00                              
├─sda1     iso9660 Joliet Extensio ARCH_202512 2025-12-01-16-13-59-00                              
└─sda2     vfat    FAT32           ARCHISO_EFI 692D-BEC7                                           
zram0      swap    1               zram0       402c8a9e-3cb5-44c1-ad71-ac9ba607a323                [SWAP]
nvme0n1                                                                                            
├─nvme0n1p1
│          vfat    FAT32                       34C7-BC8A                             851.3M    17% /boot
└─nvme0n1p2
           ext4    1.0                         64e3e2b3-44aa-4a75-b594-6c53b8429410  420.6G     3% /
nvme1n1                                                                                            
└─nvme1n1p1
           ext4    1.0                         df4e3aa4-f65a-4bcb-aeeb-4c0b1131217b    1.3T    21% /home

system72 · 2025-12-29 19:55:50

answer all of the questions please, and more preferably instead of just lsblk provide lsblk -f

show whats inside of /boot, and the usb drive as well

and to get a more readable efibootmgr output you can use the -u flag:

efibootmgr -u

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:57:10

I know I made partitions ion the graphical install for 4 partitions, but I think im onlky seeing 2 here? If im seeing it correctly

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:58:33

I answered in an edit, sorry, will answer again for clarity.

It is actually Arch. I did the graphical install a month ish ago due to my manual install bricking and me house sitting and wanting to play games in a time crunch.

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ efibootmgr -u
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* EFI Hard Drive (22400V805419-WD Blue SN570 500GB)     PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1a,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,00-1B-44-8B-4E-9A-22-DC)/HD(1,GPT,5710e82c-e15a-469c-9e00-b45e44a42fcb,0x800,0x200000)䍒
Boot0001* EFI USB Device (Generic)      UsbWwid(58f,6387,0,20B815B)/CDROM(1,0x2602e0,0x7d840)䍒
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        䍒
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM 䍒
Boot2003* EFI Network   䍒

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 19:59:49

I also have 2 ssd's installed but I dont see the 1 tb one listed. That was my home partition. I do see it in a different output, just realized

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 20:00:31)

system72 · 2025-12-29 20:02:08

system72 wrote:

show whats inside of /boot

very important!! additionally what is the exact error you're getting? do not paraphrase.. are you able to get into your bootloader without the usb drive? and what bootloader are you even using? you still have not answered that

also please stop spamming messages if someone has not responded after your last sent message, if you want to add more context edit your last sent message, chats are not sent instantly people have to reload to see them

also i realize now that what you mean by only being able to boot when the usb drive is plugged in meaning like booting into the iso instead of your current installation, i made an incorrect assumption at the start of the thread

Last edited by system72 (2025-12-29 20:08:50)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 20:29:33

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ ls /boot
EFI  grub  initramfs-linux.img  intel-ucode.img  vmlinuz-linux

I mentioned earlier I am on EFI, I think thats what you mean by bootloader (very ignorant and still learning correct terminology)?

Will stop the chain comments, sorry.

I am not even seeing an error at all. It goes to grub, then tries to boot but sits at a black screen with a dash or underscore at the top lefthand of the screen. It actually just did it with the usb plugged in when I restared to make sure I didnt have an error flash. But it ran after 2 hard restarts.

On boot i just saw
Loading Linux linux...
Loading initial ramdisk...

followed by
/dev/nvme1n1p2: clean, 267090/30466048 files, 5472959/121833984 blocks

the following screen in just black with the dash in the top left-hand corner.

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 20:31:47)

system72 · 2025-12-29 20:34:27

so your problem is related to your gpu instead of the bootloader, and no the bootloader is not the type of firmware on the device, well technically it is but im talking about the intermediary instead which is more commonly referenced

run this from the iso, OR switch to a tty that isnt killed by your display manager:

lspci -k | grep -A3 VGA | curl -F file=@- 0x0.st

and then send the link here that it outputs so i can see what gpu you have

Last edited by system72 (2025-12-29 20:39:36)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 20:42:32

Ok ok, I know some of those words.. Haha, I will look into what you mean there in an effort to be informed.

As for the GPU

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ lspci -k | grep -A3 VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Raptor Lake-S UHD Graphics (rev 04)
        Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device a650
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915, xe
--
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation AD106M [GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q / Mobile] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device a671
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia
[backalley@archlinux ~]$

I did an update a week or so ago and thats when it started. I did see that it was doing some nvidia things, but I thought I saw it switching to open or something. The gpu stuff has been my main learning experience in linux and I seem to have still not solved it. Good times!

system72 · 2025-12-29 20:46:23

and the drivers you have installed for that 4070 + the kernel

pacman -Qs 'nvidia|kernel' | curl -F file=@- 0x0.st

Last edited by system72 (2025-12-29 20:47:08)

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 20:50:13

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ pacman -Qs nvidia | curl -F file=@- 0x0.st
curl: (6) Could not resolve host: 0x0.st

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ pacman -Qs kernel | curl -F file=@- 0x0.st
curl: (6) Could not resolve host: 0x0.st

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ pacman -Qs 'nvidia|kernel' | curl -F file=@- 0x0.st
[backalley@archlinux ~]$

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 20:51:37)

system72 · 2025-12-29 20:51:30

your isp might be blocking that site, you'll have to upload the output to a different cli paste site that isnt blocked unless you want to type it all out manually

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 20:55:46

system72 wrote:

your isp might be blocking that site, you'll have to upload the output to a different cli paste site that isnt blocked unless you want to type it all out manually

I will type out an input for something manually if needed. Learning experience I guess.

ISP has never blocked a site from me that in the past I dont think but my wifi on this laptop seems to drop on occasion, I have a new router on the way as it also effects the wifes work from home stuff. Is the curl not resolving host something that its trying to do online?

seth · 2025-12-29 21:03:07

curl: (6) Could not resolve host: 0x0.st

You don't have network ?

ping -c1 _gateway
ip a; ip r; rfkill; lspci -k | grep -iA3 net

Is this from booting the iso, that and then chrooting in or booting the system itself?

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 21:37:27

seth wrote:

curl: (6) Could not resolve host: 0x0.st
You don't have network ?
ping -c1 _gateway
ip a; ip r; rfkill; lspci -k | grep -iA3 net
Is this from booting the iso, that and then chrooting in or booting the system itself?

Im just booted normally. Grub then into desktop

Should I copy paste the return for the input you suggested? If so, should I do something about my ip and what not being visible?

seth · 2025-12-29 21:47:47

Can you ping the _gateway?
If yes, can you "ping google.com" or "ping 8.8.8.8" ?

If you can't ping the _gateway we shall see the output.
Private IP addresses aren't sensitive data, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network
But you might have a globally routable IPv6 in there you might want to obfuscate.

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 21:54:02

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ ping -c1 _gateway  
ip a; ip r; rfkill; lspci -k | grep -iA3 net
PING _gateway (192.168.40.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from _gateway (192.168.40.1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=6.01 ms

--- _gateway ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 6.011/6.011/6.011/0.000 ms
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp0s31f6: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether d4:93:90:2b:b0:b4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname enxd493902bb0b4
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 30:05:05:dd:c6:d3 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.40.173/24 brd 192.168.40.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0
       valid_lft 38922sec preferred_lft 38922sec
    inet6 fe80::e03:c621:c90c:6cad/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
default via 192.168.40.1 dev wlan0 proto dhcp src 192.168.40.173 metric 600 
192.168.40.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.40.173 metric 600 
ID TYPE      DEVICE      SOFT      HARD
 0 bluetooth hci0   unblocked unblocked
 1 wlan      phy0   unblocked unblocked
00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation 700 Series Chipset CNVi WiFi (rev 11)
        Subsystem: Rivet Networks Device 1672
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
        Kernel modules: iwlwifi
00:15.0 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Raptor Lake Serial IO I2C Host Controller #0 (rev 11)
--
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 0dc8 (rev 11)
        Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 0000
        Kernel driver in use: e1000e
        Kernel modules: e1000e

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ ping google.com
ping: google.com: Temporary failure in name resolution

I am typing this all from the laptop i question so I assumed my connection has been fine for the most part.

seth · 2025-12-29 22:00:31

I am typing this all from the laptop i question so I assumed my connection has been fine for the most part.

However you cannot resolve google.com, so something's clearly off.

resolvectl status
cat /etc/resolv.conf
dig google.com
dig @8.8.8.8 google.com

dig is in the bind package - "drill" from ldns would do for this as wellö

NominalSum · 2025-12-29 22:08:43

Yeah, when I tried the google ping and got nothing, I had to pause life foor a few seconds and look at my wifi icon and test a few sites. I know nothing about networks yet.
I am keeping notes on all this to look up and clarify formyself what some of it means though, so yay?

[backalley@archlinux ~]$ resolvectl status
cat /etc/resolv.conf
dig google.com
dig @8.8.8.8 google.com
Failed to get global data: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.resolve1': activation request failed: unknown unit
# Generated by NetworkManager
search lan
nameserver 192.168.40.1
bash: dig: command not found
bash: dig: command not found
[backalley@archlinux ~]$ resolvectl status
Failed to get global data: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.resolve1': activation request failed: unknown unit

Last edited by NominalSum (2025-12-29 22:09:56)

seth · 2025-12-29 22:13:26

bash: dig: command not found

seth wrote:

dig is in the bind package - "drill" from ldns would do for this as well

You're using the _gateway (likely ISP issued routermodemswitchcombo) as DNS server

I had to pause life foor a few seconds and look at my wifi icon and test a few sites. I know nothing about networks yet.

Sanity check, please post the output of

find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f

Arch Linux

#1 2025-12-29 19:31:37

Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#2 2025-12-29 19:40:37

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#3 2025-12-29 19:48:41

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#4 2025-12-29 19:52:02

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#5 2025-12-29 19:53:29

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#6 2025-12-29 19:55:47

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#7 2025-12-29 19:55:50

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#8 2025-12-29 19:57:10

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#9 2025-12-29 19:58:33

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#10 2025-12-29 19:59:49

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#11 2025-12-29 20:02:08

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#12 2025-12-29 20:29:33

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#13 2025-12-29 20:34:27

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#14 2025-12-29 20:42:32

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#15 2025-12-29 20:46:23

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#16 2025-12-29 20:50:13

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#17 2025-12-29 20:51:30

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#18 2025-12-29 20:55:46

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#19 2025-12-29 21:03:07

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#20 2025-12-29 21:37:27

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#21 2025-12-29 21:47:47

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#22 2025-12-29 21:54:02

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#23 2025-12-29 22:00:31

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#24 2025-12-29 22:08:43

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

#25 2025-12-29 22:13:26

Re: Black screen on boot unless iso usb is plugged in.

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