Boot problems

7 respostas [Última entrada]
amuza
Desconectado
Joined: 02/12/2018

Hello,

I have a dual boot computer. One of the systems is Trisquel9, and that's the one I am having problems with.

I am going to try to tell the whole story, but I might forget some steps in between.

My Trisquel9 installation is encrypted and it has a partition for home.

I was using both apt and guix as package managers.

I once did a linux-libre kernel upgrade.

Lately I started to have problems with both package managers, some errors were stopping me from installing things. I did not investigate but I thought the reason could be related to the fact that I was running out of space in the root partition. The cause could be related to other things, like some dirty workarounds I made to fix some Python stuff, I don't know.

I started to investigate how to resize a disk-encrypted partition and I cannot remember whether I actually did something. I guess so because I think that was when the booting problems started.

Anyway, this is the situation I am in now:

When booting the computer I see the dual-boot GRUB menu, I choose Trisquel9 and it quickly shows me (among other messages):


Error Communicating to TMP chip
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

So it does not boot.

I boot from a USB-live system, install Timeshift in it and then restore a snapshot I had from 9 days ago.

It makes no difference, it does not boot, I get the same errors and kernel panic.

On the Internet I find this suggestion for a a similar error:

You are missing the initramfs for that kernel. Choose another kernel from the GRUB menu under Advanced options for Ubuntu and run sudo update-initramfs -u -k version to generate the initrd for version (replace version with the kernel version string such as 4.15.0-36-generic) then sudo update-grub

I follow it. I have:


Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 5.10.29-gnu
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 5.10.29-gnu (recovery mode)
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 5.10.19-gnu
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 5.10.19-gnu (recovery mode)
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 4.15.0-140-generic
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 4.15.0-140-generic (recovery mode)
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 4.15.0-134-generic
Trisquel GNU/Linux, with Linux-Libre 4.15.0-134-generic (recovery mode)

I choose 5.10.19-gnu. I am happily asked to enter my decrypting passphrase, and then my user password. Triquel 9 finally boots. But I get into a new profile, my home is empty. Somehow my encrypted home partition is not automatically mounted. Anyway, I run the suggested sudo update-initramfs -u -k 5-10-19-gnu

I try to reboot. It does not boot, I get back to the beginning, again the same messages, among them:


Error Communicating to TMP chip
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

Then I think my time to ask for help has arrived, before I make things even worse.

Please help!

amuza
Desconectado
Joined: 02/12/2018

See attached all the messages.

IMG_20210620_145747.jpg
nadebula.1984
Desconectado
Joined: 05/01/2018

The TPM is irrelevant here. The real problem is that the root partition (/) couldn't be mounted, probably because some of its parameters changed.

Since you used full-disk encryption, you should have been using logical volume manager (LVM). Resizing logical volumes using LVM (lvm2) shouldn't cause such problems. How did you "resize the partitions" exactly?

amuza
Desconectado
Joined: 02/12/2018

I am remembering something now. I think I opened gparted to see if I could resize partitions after decrypting them through cryptsetup open, but I think in the end I did not execute anything because gparted did not allow me to resize anything.

I'm not sure if I did something, but I know I did not resize any partition.

amenex
Desconectado
Joined: 01/03/2015

After several years of dealing with mainly my own errors during OS installations, I've come
to realize that the most efficient method of fixing things is to reformat the bad OS's
partition and then install the OS again, perhaps in a less complex configuration.

Of course, it's important that no irretrievable information or data are in that root partition,
lest it be obliterated by the reformatting step.

From live CD's or live USB sticks, I've developed a preference for "something else" at the
initialization of the file transfer process, as it gives you opportunities to make sure you
are told what's about to happen. Do not let the installer touch any other partition.

amuza
Desconectado
Joined: 02/12/2018

That message is ok, but I'm asking for help here : )

My partitions are there and they are healthy (as far as I know). And my system is bootable, as I described in my first post (when choosing a different kernel).

I just need some help to make my home partition mount automatically while keeping my system bootable.

Is anyone familiar with fstab and crypttab? I'm not sure if my configuration is correct.

amuza
Desconectado
Joined: 02/12/2018

I just want to try a bit more. If I don't make it, I will go for your solution, amenex.

amenex
Desconectado
Joined: 01/03/2015

Regarding fdisk: there's a lot of potential for damage.
I would not dare to go beyond
fdisk -l
which means to list what's there and exit.
Try a trisquel.info blog search on fdisk [and] Magic Banana
I trust what he writes on Terminal operation.