Artix Linux Forum

[solved] Kernel fails to boot after update

22 August 2022, 14:48:40

Hi,

Today, after and update, kernel (5.19.2.artix1-2) fails to boot without a trace of information. After kernel is loaded, the computer reboots after a few (1-3) seconds and screen i blank (black) meanwhile.

I do however manage to boot using linux-lts (5.15.60-1) but now I can't load VBox-modules and I need VBox. Installing virtualbox-host-dkms did not result in loadable modules for the lts kernel version.

Observations;
* I did an upgrade just a week ago without flawless
* There is space on boot
* The fallback initramfs is 34M while the new one is 11M exactly the same size as vmlinuz-linux
* Both initramfs-linux.img and initramfs-linux-lts.img fails to boot the same way

Any idea what can be the problem?
I don't recall seeing the mkinitcio run during upgrade.

BR
Erik

Re: Kernel fails to boot after update

Reply #1 – 22 August 2022, 20:43:23

It could be because of gcc update if it updated at the same time as the kernel, try installing the kernel+modules simply again.
are there really no logs in /var/log?

Re: Kernel fails to boot after update

Reply #2 – 23 August 2022, 05:09:44

Add these kernel parameters to kernel (5.19.2.artix1-2) before it boots:

Code: [Select]

rd.debug rd.log=console

This enables debug output from the initramfs, see if you find anything interesting.

>I don't recall seeing the mkinitcio run during upgrade.

Since this was a kernel upgrade, it was automatically run.

Re: Kernel fails to boot after update

Reply #3 – 23 August 2022, 08:14:15

Hi,

I did reinstall linux (kernel + modules) first thing, it made no difference.

The sequence reboots after about a second (syslinux indicates that it loads kernel, initrd, screen goes black, after about a second it reboots). No chance to write anything to any disks, besides my disks are encrypted and that is way later in the boot process.

Adding rd.debug rd.log=console to the kernel boot options made do difference, I think it never reven reaches the initrd.

I know that other distros are shifting compression method on the initramfs, and if not compiled into the kernel it will probably not work. The size is about 1/3 of the size after the last upgrade.

Then again, it works with the lts-kernel.....

Re: Kernel fails to boot after update

Reply #4 – 28 August 2022, 15:25:22

So, i finally understand the problem.

I fails the same from a Gentoo kernel 5.19 and on my laptop and server. Works fine on my wife's laptop.

I use syslinux instead of grub on those places  where it fails and grub on my wife's laptop and, as it seems, syslinux fails to load kernel 5.19.  There are quite a few reports of that in the arch forums;

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=278897
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2052001
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=278856

I've learned a lot pacman-stuff from this and the gap between pacman and emerge/gentookit is closing in some. I also got dkms to work on both linux and linux-lts and can now use the lts-kernel on the server, which is preferable for me on servers.

Next thing is to update syslinux when the sorted out the problem.