1y ago

I am desperate. Linux is not booting

SOLUTION BELOW

I have never been in a more confusing situation regarding Linux.

I have a Dell XPS 15 9560, which had a dual boot Windows 10 / EndeavourOS setup. It was running fine for months. 10 days ago I updated Linux and after restart it couldn't boot anymore. It got stuck at "A start job is running for /dev/disk/by-uuid/..." (which is the root partition).

First, with the help of a friend of mine who is quite knowledgeable about Linux (he runs vanilla Arch, etc), we spent 5 hours trying to fix it but had no luck.

Then I decided to back up everything and do a fresh install. Aaaand the same error happened again on the first boot. Then I though "ok, probably some problem with Arch, lets try Fedora". Nope. Some similar error about not finding the root partition. (Here I must say that the kernel which was shipped with the ISO was working fine, but after updating to the latest one, it failed.) Here I thought "ok, then it might be a problem with the latest kernel, let's install EndeavourOS with the LTS kernel." Nope, LTS kernel also didn't boot. Then I tried Ubuntu and it worked, but that's not solving the problem. Then I decided to put another nvme drive in the laptop and try there. The same error again.

Now the greatest part: If I put the nvme drive into an external usb case, EndeavourOS installs, updates, boots without any problem, no sign of the error.

So now I don't know how to proceed... Maybe there is something wrong with the pcie port in my laptop, but except for the booting problem, windows is working, I can also mount and access every partition in the ssd through a live usb. So no other signs of problem with the port whatsoever.

I would be grateful for any advice as I've lost several days trying to solve this and I am out of ideas...

Solution: The last working kernels are from 11. August 2023 (both linux and linux-lts) linux-6.4.10.arch1-1 and linux-lts-6.1.45-1. You can download them from here: linux / linux-lts and install them with

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sudo pacman -U the_path_to_the_package

Thank you all for the help!

59 comments

What is the output of blkid and the content of /etc/fstab of the installed-but-not-booting system? You will need a live usb to get the those, probably.

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[root@EndeavourOS /]# blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="6903-7FA3" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="86a0a714-815f-45db-ad0e-9eba16861903"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL="endeavouros" UUID="9ae3c50f-be08-4594-ac30-2d094375868d" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTLABEL="endeavouros" PARTUUID="9b52162c-a4bf-4e5e-8096-bb7f144c481a"
/dev/loop0: BLOCK_SIZE="1048576" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="ARCHISO_EFI" LABEL="ARCHISO_EFI" UUID="6121-B369" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="1bdb3cc0-02"
/dev/sda1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="2023-08-05-13-57-43-00" LABEL="EOS_202308" TYPE="iso9660" PARTUUID="1bdb3cc0-01"
[root@EndeavourOS /]# sudo cat /etc/fstab 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
#                      
UUID=6903-7FA3                            /efi           vfat    defaults,noatime 0 2
UUID=9ae3c50f-be08-4594-ac30-2d094375868d /              ext4    defaults,noatime 0 1
tmpfs                                     /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0

Please use tripe backticks to create codeblocks - much easier to read. Like this:

some text

results in
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some text
I'm also curious about the specific UUID it's looking for. Any chance you could take a photo of the screen and upload it somewhere?

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[root@EndeavourOS /]# blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID=“6903-7FA3” BLOCK_SIZE=“512” TYPE=“vfat” PARTUUID=“86a0a714-815f-45db-ad0e-9eba16861903” /dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL=“endeavouros” UUID=“9ae3c50f-be08-4594-ac30-2d094375868d” BLOCK_SIZE=“4096” TYPE=“ext4” PARTLABEL=“endeavouros” PARTUUID=“9b52162c-a4bf-4e5e-8096-bb7f144c481a”
/dev/loop0: BLOCK_SIZE=“1048576” TYPE=“squashfs”
/dev/sda2: SEC_TYPE=“msdos” LABEL_FATBOOT=“ARCHISO_EFI” LABEL=“ARCHISO_EFI” UUID=“6121-B369” BLOCK_SIZE=“512” TYPE=“vfat” PARTUUID=“1bdb3cc0-02”
/dev/sda1: BLOCK_SIZE=“2048” UUID=“2023-08-05-13-57-43-00” LABEL=“EOS_202308” TYPE=“iso9660” PARTUUID=“1bdb3cc0-01”

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[root@EndeavourOS /]# sudo cat /etc/fstab
/etc/fstab: static file system information.
Use ‘blkid’ to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).

UUID=6903-7FA3 /efi vfat defaults,noatime 0 2
UUID=9ae3c50f-be08-4594-ac30-2d094375868d / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

I assume it should look like this

What are the kernel parameters? cat /proc/cmdline
EDIT actually that will show the live system config. Assuming you're using grub, what is the content of /etc/default/grub?
Or /boot/loader/loaders/something.conf if you're on systemd-boot

So this occurs after an update. Is it not possible to boot into the prior kernel?
If possible to boot into the prior kernel, can you inspect logs or the journal to see where your error is cropping up?
This issue sounds like a regression of sorts with a driver, but log/debug would help confirm. This would be one worth reporting to upstream if you can rescue some logs (I gather you can if you can boot the disk from another enclosure).
If you can boot into the machine, investigate note from the journal:
journalctl --list-boots
journalctl -b -1,
where -1 was the prior boot, -2, the one before that, etc

-- If you are booting into a live environment or are otherwise mounting the disk:
journalctl -D /var/log/journal/ID_GOES_HERE
example path: /var/log/journal/2dff8304d5114c44bfb1311357a3cd87
-- Keep us posted.
If truly a driver regression, but you can boot from the prior kernel (if you don't have it, install it via livecd or so), definitely report this one and remain on the prior kernel until resolved. Bleeding edge things.
- I have already wiped everything, so no logs... The only way to have it booting is to install EndeavourOS using the offline installer, which is using kernel 6.4.8. There is an option to install the LTS kernel alongside. So the system is booting with 6.4.8, but after updating, neither the new 6.4.12, or the LTS, which is 6.2, doesn't boot. I haven't tried booting with the LTS kernel before updating, to see if the same kernel is working before and after or not. I will try to reinstall it using the offline installer and then try to gather some logs after updating.
  
  If you do go this route - try to update the kernel only, not the rest of the system. Yes, it's bad under normal circumstances, but I think we're way past those.
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  sudo pacman -Syy linux
  This would rule out some other part of system getting in the way - like systemd.

According to your logs when installing the kernel, your nvme modules are nowhere to be found, and basic system tools are unavailable. Your core system seems severely borked... can you do a memtest (broken ram can corrupt your storage and your attemps at finding the problem) and check your smartctl --all of that ssd?

Try adding "PCIE_ASPM=off" to the kernel boot commandline.
- This didn't help :/

AHAHAHA that is a proper insane bug. One PCIe device shouldn't be able to slap others off of the "bus", "we're not on a bus all you did was mess up your own personal lanes mate".
- I lost 3 days of my life + now I need reinstall everything 🥲

when it gets stuck on something like that, it's because of a hardware related change; did you update or modify your bios recently or change hardware drivers?

Use a live USB to back up your home directory and a list of your packages, then reinstall. I don't think it's worth the trouble.

That's a weird issue. Do you have encryption on by any chance? I had a similar error pop-up when I didn't have the correct systems hooks for the kernel so that after install update of kernel would make the system not boot.
- No, I have never used encryption
  
  Still might be worth it to check that you're not missing any kernel modules.

Share the errors you are experiencing, please
- Could you please take a look at the comments from abrer and Illecors, I have shares a lot of info there.
  
  Could you link to them or quote them, please?

Shot in the dark: Did SecureBoot get re-enabled somehow? Could you check the UEFI?
- Hard to not sound condescending in text, so forgive me.
  If systemd is trying to mount the drives, we're at a point where the (most likely) ramdisk has already booted the kernel - secure boot would've prevented that.
  
  I won't take it as condescending then! Thank you for the input :)

I had se similar issue but with bluetooth, worked on windows not on linux. Fixed it by resetting the BIOSwith the CMOS battery thing

the help of a friend of mine who is quite knowledgeable about Linux (he runs vanilla Arch, etc)
Contrary to popular belief using and maintaining arch is a novice exercise. The btw crowd likes to believe their actions are '1337' 'minimal' 'no bloat', etc. and they've sure got the neofetch receipts to prove it!
The truth of it is that arch is easy, that's the whole allure. It is the most convenient distro for experienced users with specific (yet broad) set of needs.
The btw crowd are simply misled kooks deserving of pity and mercy, but not trust.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence
- If you're so smart and competent, help OP

Note to future self: Don't dual boot any system EVER.
- Dual (or triple or quad) booting isn't the problem, I did it for a long time, until I had a machine that could handle more than one virtual machine while leaving the base OS also usable.
- laugh in quad boot
- I always dual boot and have never had an issue in many years. I wonder what I am doing differently.
  
  The only way I could dual boot without Windows breaking things was to unplug the Windows drive, install Linux on another drive, plug the Windows drive back in, and boot to Windows by selecting it in the BIOS.
  Trying to use grub would always have issues eventually after booting into Windows.

59 comments