[SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

0xj0n · 2026-01-18 13:21:44

looking similar to https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=311718
I just performed a system upgrade on my machine running Arch (Intel Thinkpad X11), boot hang at the "loading initial ramdisk"

When I temporarily edit the GRUB configuration to remove the "quiet" parameter, the message during the boot hang reads:

A start job is running for /cef08ad0-dxxx-xxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxx (4min 15s / no limit)

I'll try to regenerate initramfs.

Last edited by 0xj0n (2026-01-19 12:58:25)

V1del · 2026-01-18 13:41:10

Post the same data from there, e.g. what your fstab/general partition layout looks like.

0xj0n · 2026-01-18 14:06:12

unable to boot, so just pasting content of fstab (read from a live img)

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/nvme0n1p3
UUID=97d2ecda-5df7-4c26-b07c-16eef457e5ea	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 1

# /dev/nvme0n1p1
UUID=E806-5B20      	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro	0 2

# /dev/nvme0n1p2
UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

sorry for bothering you with this. Not sure where to look at...

Last edited by 0xj0n (2026-01-18 14:44:33)

Scimmia · 2026-01-18 14:24:15

Did you retype that or is that the actual file? If it's the actual file, you're trying to mount your swap partition to /?

Last edited by Scimmia (2026-01-18 14:26:55)

0xj0n · 2026-01-18 14:35:30

unable to boot, so typed (I know... please forgive the handmade copy-paste, it was faster to me than juggling between computers, I swear content is accurate)
looks indeed like the swap partition is being mounted to /
Didn't touch anything, just did system upgrade

seth · 2026-01-18 14:37:38

Didn't touch anything, just did system upgrade

:colbertemoji:
But that won't work for sure, fix the entry ("none") and see whether your problems stop with it.
(Switching from busybox to systemd might have exposed that though I'd assume it to be the exact same fstab mount service generator)

Scimmia · 2026-01-18 14:37:42

For future reference: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_o … n_services

Could very well be that systemd was ignoring that previously and it's not now or something like that. Either way, it's not valid. Does that UUID even exist?

0xj0n · 2026-01-18 19:23:55

Thank you both very much for your answers. Helps a lot.
Was able to boot after removing

resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8

from GRUB configuration

Scimmia wrote:

Does that UUID even exist?

strangely, yes

$ ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Jan 18 19:44 97d2ecda-5df7-4c26-b07c-16eef457e5ea -> ../../nvme0n1p3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Jan 18 19:44 cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8 -> ../../nvme0n1p2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Jan 18 19:44 E806-5B20 -> ../../nvme0n1p1

$ fdisk -l
Device           Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1    2048   1050623   1048576  512M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 1050624   3147775   2097152    1G Linux swap
/dev/nvme0n1p3 3147776 500117503 496969728  237G Linux root (x86-64)

Scimmia wrote:

Could very well be that systemd was ignoring that previously and it's not now

maybe yes...

seth wrote:

But that won't work for sure, fix the entry ("none")

I'm not sure what's wrong with the entry.
UUID points to my swap partition, isn't that supposed to be ok?
from https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Swap and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fstab
I see syntax is

UUID=device_UUID none swap defaults 0 0

seth · 2026-01-18 20:52:27

I'm not sure what's wrong with the entry.
I see syntax is
UUID=device_UUID none swap defaults 0 0

befrore your edit wrote:

UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8	/      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

Does re-adding "resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8" break the boot again??

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.

0xj0n · 2026-01-19 08:38:07

befrore your edit wrote:
UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8 / swap defaults 0 0

Ugh... Apparently I'm too stupid to copy one line accurately by hand. I knew it was a bad idea and I did it anyway. I'm very sorry.

Version after edit is the current fstab running on my system.
I should have created a new message. I'm sorry about that. I'm a bit stressed by this.

Does re-adding "resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8" break the boot again??

No, unfortunately this doesn't work.

sorry again for misleading you with the typo error. Fstab does look OK to me. I don't know why it doesn't work.

seth · 2026-01-19 09:33:14

No, unfortunately this doesn't work.

ie. it *does* break the boot process?
If that's not a transcription error again, the correct syntax would be "resume=UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8"

0xj0n · 2026-01-19 12:53:10

"resume=UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8"

Oh! That's it! Thanks so much for your help and bearing with my mistakes.

Now it boots again but I'm confused about what went wrong and what solved the problem.
I should have copied the original fstab (first boot KO after upgrade), sorry again about that, lesson learned...

Basically we went from
- system upgrade
- boot stuck at

A start job is running for /cef08ad0-dxxx-xxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxx (4min 15s / no limit)

- first boot ok by removing

 resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8

from GRUB cmdline
- remove

 resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8

from

/etc/default/grub

- regenerate grub config with

 grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

- disable swap with

systemctl mask 'dev-disk-by\x2ddiskseq-1\x2dpart2.swap'

- undo the changes to grub cfg and restore unmask swap service
- in grub cfg, fix typo

 s/resume=/resume=UUID=

- regenerate grub config again
- boot OK

during our exchanges I didn't do manual changes to fstab swap entry.

So either "none" was here from the beginning, and boot was KO for other reason.

or there was indeed a

 UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8    /          swap

after upgrade but I don't get how it would have been changed to "none" without manual intervention.
Is that possible that fstab was regenerated somehow?

Thank you again so much for your help and patience.

Last edited by 0xj0n (2026-01-19 21:08:11)

seth · 2026-01-19 14:56:12

Now it boots again but I'm confused about what went wrong and what solved the problem.

"resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8" has always been wrong and makes the system search for a drive at /cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8 (instead of eg. /dev/sda3 or whatever)
Either switching from busybox to systemd or a systemd setup raised the "pickyness" about that, exposing the misconfiguration through a prolonged delay.
If there's ever been a bogus fstab entry it's not been related to this.

0xj0n · 2026-01-19 21:02:28

"resume=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8" has always been wrong and makes the system search for a drive at /cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8 (instead of eg. /dev/sda3 or whatever)
Either switching from busybox to systemd or a systemd setup raised the "pickyness" about that

Ah yes, this explains the sudden break after upgrade... And this explains why

"resume=UUID=cef08ad0-d7fa-4a16-a9d9-43a2d5d296b8"

fixed it.

Thanks again so much for your help.

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-18 13:21:44

[SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#2 2026-01-18 13:41:10

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#3 2026-01-18 14:06:12

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#4 2026-01-18 14:24:15

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#5 2026-01-18 14:35:30

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#6 2026-01-18 14:37:38

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#7 2026-01-18 14:37:42

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#8 2026-01-18 19:23:55

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#9 2026-01-18 20:52:27

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#10 2026-01-19 08:38:07

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#11 2026-01-19 09:33:14

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#12 2026-01-19 12:53:10

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#13 2026-01-19 14:56:12

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

#14 2026-01-19 21:02:28

Re: [SOLVED] System hangs "loading initial ramdisk" on boot after upgrade

Board footer