Another grub problem, CMD line instead of menu entry

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 2:16am

Hello everyone,

After my last time a couple of weeks ago I’m stuck again on grub with something I can’t figure out on my own this time.

After turning the PC on, I wasn’t presented with the typical grub menu items to choose from but instead I’m thrown into this screen

Looks like it’s throwing me in the CMD line instead of allowing me to choose the kernel…

Do you have any idea on why this happened and how to solve it?

I already tried chrooting and remaking grub and reinstalling it. Together with updating the system.

As a note, I did update the system today but there was no grub update and I successfully rebooted after the update. I was presented this screen only now

pebcak · August 14, 2023, 4:35am

Perhaps worth trying this once again?

From the live session, could you post the output of the following commands?

sudo parted -l

efibootmgr

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 8:11am

Hey sorry for late reply! So I retried and somehow was able to get to the boot menu again but this time I’m stuck while trying to find a disk.

How can this be possible?
It’s a laptop with a single nvme 3 partitions P1 EFI p2 root on luks.

Also to note i delete /efi which i have no idea how it got there. the correct path and it’s present is /boot/efi/EFI

it’s stuck on the encrypted swap partition

joekamprad · August 14, 2023, 9:44am

arch-chroot again… and check if you are able to LUKS open swap and other encrypted partitions.
Could be also you have done something starnge on repairing grub, or yoiu where try to change to systemd-boot before? (cause of the /efi path ) Would be good to get some more info abou what exactly you have done to repair grub till now.

and show the output @pebcak asked for already will help in addition.

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 9:49am

so i can live boot, decrypt all partitions (nvmen1p1 is EFI, p2 is root, p3 is swap).

i decrypt them the same way the original install named them (luks-correctID)

i mount the root on /mnt, mount EFI on /mnt/boot/efi.

chroot into /mnt and use mount -a.

everything works from chroot.

did grub-install and mkconfig …

The /dev/mapper that’s locking the boot is the swap partition so i tried to comment out of crypttab and fstap the swap decrypt and mounting.

It still gets locked on to `A start job is running for /dev/mapper/(swap-unencrypted-id)

i triple checked crypttab and fstab and they are correct

joekamprad · August 14, 2023, 10:15am

the output of this would tell if it worked…
and this too:

sudo parted -l

efibootmgr

and to disable swap you will need to comment the swap line in /etc/fstab too.
But for now we even do not know the filesystem in use.

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 10:50am

Something strange is the error message (which changes from mapper to byuuid

Writes the byuuid UUID of the root partition and not the swap part UUID

While instead the dev mapper points correctly

pebcak · August 14, 2023, 11:23am

Please post the terminal output as text and not screeshots.

Copy, paste, highlight and press Ctrl-E to format.

In this way, it will be easier to copy/quote to comment on, it will be searchable by the forum search engine and generally easier to read.

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 12:18pm

sorry, i understand.
Situation is not the best as i was about to start for a trip and i’m currently juggling on the move.

here the text

parted -l

Model: VendorCo ProductCode (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 15.7GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size   Type     File system  Flags
 2      1933MB  2049MB  116MB  primary  fat16        esp


Model: WD PC SN735 SDBPNHH-1T00-1002 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1024GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name         Flags
 1      2097kB  1051MB  1049MB  fat32                     boot, esp
 2      1051MB  1007GB  1006GB               endeavouros
 3      1007GB  1024GB  17.5GB

lsblk -f

NAME                                      FSTYPE      FSVER            LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0                                     squashfs    4.0                                                                     0   100% /run/archiso/airootfs
sda                                       iso9660     Joliet Extension EOS_202305  2023-05-28-11-02-36-00                              
├─sda1                                    iso9660     Joliet Extension EOS_202305  2023-05-28-11-02-36-00                     0   100% /run/archiso/bootmnt
└─sda2                                    vfat        FAT16            ARCHISO_EFI 5770-579C                                           
nvme0n1                                                                                                                                
├─nvme0n1p1                               vfat        FAT32                        EB55-00CE                             997.3M     0% /mnt/boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2                               crypto_LUKS 1                            900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd                
│ └─luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd
│                                         btrfs                        endeavouros 93d5c885-df6e-439f-b0f3-6e6e4620cb3f  506.2G    46% /mnt/home/wolf/speedy
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/home/.snapshots
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/.snapshots
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/mnt
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/var/log
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/var/cache
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt/home
│                                                                                                                                      /mnt
└─nvme0n1p3                               crypto_LUKS 1                            2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc                
  └─luks-2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc
                                          swap        1                swap        83c1a51b-2f20-449e-81b7-c4a9268a6df3                [SWAP]

efibootmgr

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0003,0004,0002
Boot0000* endeavouros	HD(1,GPT,3ed12d08-e58b-df40-a3ed-1f34693d67e1,0x1000,0x1f4000)/File(\EFI\endeavouros\grubx64.efi)
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager	VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000000000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0003* UEFI OS	HD(1,GPT,3ed12d08-e58b-df40-a3ed-1f34693d67e1,0x1000,0x1f4000)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)0000424f
Boot0004* UEFI: VendorCoProductCode 2.00	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x8,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x4)/USB(0,0)/CDROM(1,0x399a80,0x37a98)0000424f

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).
#
# <file system>             <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
UUID=EB55-00CE                            /boot/efi      vfat    defaults,noatime 0 2
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /              btrfs   subvol=/@,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /home          btrfs   subvol=/@home,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /var/cache     btrfs   subvol=/@cache,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /var/log       btrfs   subvol=/@log,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
#/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /var       btrfs   subvol=/@var,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /mnt       btrfs   subvol=/@mnt,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /run/media       btrfs   subvol=/@media,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /.snapshots       btrfs   subvol=/@snapshots,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /home/.snapshots       btrfs   subvol=/@snapshots_home,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
/dev/mapper/luks-2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc swap           swap    defaults  0 0
tmpfs                                     /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0



# mount root
# /dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /mnt/.btrfs       btrfs   subvol=/,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0

# mount speedy if present
/dev/mapper/luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd /home/wolf/speedy          btrfs   subvol=/@speedy,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd 0 0
# UUID=B482-48E9 /mnt/speedy exfat defaults,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=10,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.idle-timeout=10m,uid=wolf,gid=wolf 0 0
UUID=B482-48E9 /home/wolf/speedy exfat defaults,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=10,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.idle-timeout=10m,uid=wolf,gid=wolf 0 0

crypttab

# /etc/crypttab: mappings for encrypted partitions.
#
# Each mapped device will be created in /dev/mapper, so your /etc/fstab
# should use the /dev/mapper/<name> paths for encrypted devices.
#
# See crypttab(5) for the supported syntax.
#
# NOTE: You need not list your root (/) partition here, but it must be set up
#       beforehand by the initramfs (/etc/mkinitcpio.conf). The same applies
#       to encrypted swap, which should be set up with mkinitcpio-openswap
#       for resume support.
#
# <name>               <device>                         <password> <options>
luks-900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd UUID=900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd     /crypto_keyfile.bin luks
luks-2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc UUID=2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc     /crypto_keyfile.bin luks

/etc/defult/grub

# GRUB boot loader configuration

GRUB_DEFAULT="EndeavourOS Linux, with Linux linux-zen"
GRUB_TIMEOUT="5"
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="EndeavourOS"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nowatchdog nvme_load=YES rd.luks.uuid=900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd rd.luks.uuid=2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc resume=/dev/mapper/luks-2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc loglevel=7 lsm=landlock,lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor,bpf audit=1"
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nowatchdog nvme_load=YES rd.luks.uuid=900288ed-a475-4001-bf41-54e379ea3fbd loglevel=7 lsm=landlock,lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor,bpf audit=1"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"

# Uncomment to enable booting from LUKS encrypted devices
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK="y"

# Set to 'countdown' or 'hidden' to change timeout behavior,
# press ESC key to display menu.
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE="menu"

# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT="console"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="console"

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `videoinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE="auto"

# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX="keep"

# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID="true"

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors.  Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only.  Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
GRUB_BACKGROUND="/usr/share/endeavouros/splash.png"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"

# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

# Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires
# setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above.
#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="false"

# Uncomment to disable submenus in boot menu
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU="false"

# Probing for other operating systems is disabled for security reasons. Read
# documentation on GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER, if still want to enable this
# functioality install os-prober and uncomment to detect and include other
# operating systems.
#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER="false"

the error

1 of 2 a start job is running for /dev/dis/by-uuid/93d5c885-439f-b0f3-6e6e4620cb3f
2 of 2 a start job is running for /dev/mapper/luks-2e427ab1-0cad-4174-ab69-b379a0f2e1bc

what happened

this morning i booted normally and was presented by grub cmdline instead of grub menu.

after numerous attempts, i successfully chrooted and reinstalled grub with install and mkconfig.

i noticed an /efi folder and deleted it, no idea why it was there

checking etckeeper, there are no differences in etc files from yesterday. ysterday it was booting perfectly

specifically, i searched closely for fstab, crypttab changes and nothing is there.

i did update the system which contained the kernel but there was no grub update

additionally, dracut rebuild was triggered.

this was on the 12 of august, the pc worked just fine on the 13th. only a daily autocommit was made by etckeeper with no changes

etckeeper git diff from aug 12th commit to todays show no relevant changes

this is EOS on btrfs on LUKS encryption.

question

why is systemd stuck on those 2 jobs when i can perfectly open the crypto partition from live usb and furthermore i can mount it and use mount -a when i chroot into it?

i’m a bit discomforted, was just about to go on a trip and looks like i’m fucked right on time

updated text @pebcak @joekamprad

gipo355 · August 14, 2023, 12:45pm

Ok so got no idea what happened but it worked now. I don’t think i changed anything

Thanks for the help anyways

pebcak · August 14, 2023, 12:48pm

That’s great!
The ways of Arch are inscrutable!

petsam · August 14, 2023, 3:18pm

I suggest a backup strategy for your valuable data.

system · August 16, 2023, 3:18pm

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