Need some help getting my system running again.

jmetal88 · 2007-12-10 16:44:39

So the other day I decided to do a full system upgrade with pacman -Syu. It then asked me to exit X and reload the Nvidia drivers. Now, somehow switching to consoles got broken on my system (the ctrl+alt+F? key combination does nothing) so instead of exiting X I had to reboot. Something must have gone wrong with the kernel install because when I booted up I got a segmentation fault when trying to mount the local file system. Utilizing the fallback kernel didn't work, probably because I tried to install the kernel twice as the first time pacman gave me some errors. So then I booted up with the install CD and did a chroot back to my hard drive's root directory and tried to reinstall the kernel. What I ended up getting were a bunch of errors regarding line 60 of /lib/initcpio/functions. There was another line mentioned as well, line 132 or something like that, I can't remember exactly. After that I tried to reinstall mkinitcpio but I kept getting the same errors. Finally I just started removing every package I could find references to to reinstall later (which I'll admit was a rather irrational decision) and I apparently ended up removing something that pacman depends on so now I can't remove or install any packages (I really wish I actually knew what I was doing sometimes). Anyway I was wondering if any of you had any bright ideas as to how I can get my system up and running again without doing a clean install. I have a lot of stuff on there that I don't want to lose but I'm not sure where it all is so I'd have a tough time trying to back it up.

Leigh · 2007-12-10 18:14:28

wow, sounds like you got a big mess! Once I had really screwed things up and decided to reinstall base (over the top of my messed up system) with the ftp install cd. Just mount your partitions, but don't let the installer format them. Run through a base install. It will basically just update your system and shouldn't change any config files, but check them to make sure when the install asks you to verify them. When I did it, I skipped the bootloader and set password portion of the install. Basically after base and kernel installed, I checked to make sure my config files didn't change and exited out of the install and I was back to normal. It was a last resort for me and I got lucky. I can't guarantee it will fix your problems, but would be worth a try before reinstall from scratch.

Last edited by Leigh (2007-12-10 18:28:36)

jmetal88 · 2007-12-10 18:44:07

Thanks. I thought about that but I hadn't wanted to try it until I heard it from someone else. I did manage to get pacman working again somehow, but so many other things are broken now that I think I will still have to reinstall base.

jmetal88 · 2007-12-10 19:58:08

Hmm, my Alt+F? and Ctrl+Alt+F? keys aren't working on the install CD either. I wonder if there's something wrong with my keyboard?

jmetal88 · 2007-12-10 20:40:15

Reinstalling the base totally worked, and I still have everything here! Dunno what was up with that first kernel upgrade but everything seems to be fine now. Still no Ctrl+Alt+F? but I'm definitely starting to think my keyboard's to blame. It's a Honeywell manufactured for Tandy in the 386 era.

Misfit138 · 2007-12-10 20:47:12

jmetal88 wrote:

It's a Honeywell manufactured for Tandy in the 386 era.

All I can say is "WOW".
You're probably as old as me.

jmetal88 · 2007-12-10 22:05:55

Misfit138 wrote:

jmetal88 wrote:
It's a Honeywell manufactured for Tandy in the 386 era.
All I can say is "WOW".
You're probably as old as me.

Actually I'm 19. I just found it out in the garage one day while I was collecting parts for my system build.

EDIT: OK yeah, now I'm sure it's my keyboard that's the problem. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and the combinations worked for 3-4 minutes then stopped again.

EDIT 2: I just did some more experimentation and it turns out my alt keys don't work at all. Why it's only my alt keys and why it's both of them, I have no idea.

Last edited by jmetal88 (2007-12-11 03:54:41)

Leigh · 2007-12-11 08:57:22

Glad the reinstall fixed your boot problems.

My keyboard was acting up for a while. Every time I rebooted, it would just stop funtioning and I would have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it working. After about a month, just when I was going to buy a new one, it mysteriously started working fine, even after rebooting. very strange! It's a very old one too. half of the keys are so faded I can just barely make out the print on them.

byte · 2007-12-11 12:11:42

Leigh: it probably felt your intentions to replace it.

Misfit138 · 2007-12-11 14:12:47

Why, hello, Leigh!
Long time no see!

Leigh · 2007-12-12 06:40:11

It's funny how stuff seems to have a mind of it's own! Maybe that's why every time I rebuild my custom kernel, I feel like I need to coax it along... like "come on baby, you can do it! just alittle more! your such a pretty little kernel, just a littttttle bit more! keep going keep going. Good kernel good kernel!
Somehow I think it mysteriously helps!:P

Hi Misfit! It seems I spend so much time in the fast lane. Always rush rush rush! never much free time *sigh*

Last edited by Leigh (2007-12-12 06:44:19)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-12-10 16:44:39

Need some help getting my system running again.

#2 2007-12-10 18:14:28

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#3 2007-12-10 18:44:07

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#4 2007-12-10 19:58:08

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#5 2007-12-10 20:40:15

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#6 2007-12-10 20:47:12

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#7 2007-12-10 22:05:55

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#8 2007-12-11 08:57:22

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#9 2007-12-11 12:11:42

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#10 2007-12-11 14:12:47

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

#11 2007-12-12 06:40:11

Re: Need some help getting my system running again.

Board footer