Linux updates breaking graphics adn samba

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

OK,

I have no clue what’s going on with Linux but can we stop breaking things every update?

I haven’t changed anything except —> I reformatted 1 drive from NTFS to EXT4.
Thats it.

NTFS update broken NTFS

next update ( or was it the 3rd next update) broke samba

this update uninstalled the NVIDIA graphics driver, 580.xx.xx–I got it reinstalled but the update left me with a 1 resolution driver = 1024x768. Any way we can get the update routine to either

Sigh…OK…the graphics driver is back and working as it should be.

I STILL cannot connect to my samba shares..I am unsure which update broke this.

I have been using the same 4 mount commands for 3 years with zero issues and today they will not mount the shares.

BUT I can mount them in dolphin on both the client and the server.

AT least one of the updates removed a driver (NVIDIA graphics and did not update or reinstall it).

So, it is highly likely that the update also pooched my samba.

This is the commands I have been using for 3 years now with zero issues and none of them work after the latest update

#/bin/bash
#mount Media Server shared drive
sudo mount -t cifs -o username=noobr,pass='mypassword',dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777 //192.168.1.4/Media/ /mnt/MediaShare/
#mount personal data back up folder
sudo mount -t cifs -o username=noobr,pass='mypassword',dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777 //192.168.1.3/dadbackup /home/noobr/shares/dadbackup
#mount personal data back up folder2
sudo mount -t cifs -o username=noobr,pass='mypassword',dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777 //192.168.1.3/dadbackup2 /home/noobr/shares/dadbackup2
#mount personal data back up folder3
sudo mount -t cifs -o username=noobr,pass='mypassword',dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777 //192.168.1.3/dadbackup3 /home/noobr/shares/dadbackup3
exit

If I use dolphin I can browse the shares, copy form them read and write to them etc,etc,etc…but when i try to mount them using the terminal I get an error:

mount error: cifs filesystem not supported by the system
mount error(19): No such device
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg)

below returns nothing:

$lsmod | grep cifs.ko
$

below returns nothing:

$find /lib/modules/ -name cifs.ko
$

 $modprobe cifs
modprobe: FATAL: Module cifs not found in directory /lib/modules/7.1.10-zen1-1-zen
$

I did this twice now: no effect CIFS still missing:

''warning: cifs-utils-7.5-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Package (1)       Old Version  New Version  Net Change

extra/cifs-utils  7.5-1        7.5-1          0.00 MiB

Total Installed Size:  0.28 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                                 [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                               [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                                    [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                              [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) reinstalling cifs-utils                                                                  [--------------------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/2) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/2) Checking which packages need to be rebuilt

I am unsure where to go from here?

Any help would be appreciated and I need to get a better backup system.
I can’t have both my servers being brought down due to updates every 2nd or 3rd update–that’s one of the exact reasons I left Wingarbage.

Can Anyone suggest a software that will track all update changes and revert all updated packages back to their old ones if I need to do that because an update broke something?

2
  1. Install Arch vanilla lts kernel.
    Boot with it. And see if samba fixed.
3

What happens if you run sudo modprobe cifs, then your mount commands? On my system, with the latest 7.1.11 kernel, I got the following:

before

$ pacman -Qs cifs
local/cifs-utils 7.5-1
    CIFS filesystem user-space tools

$ lsmod | grep cifs

$ grep cifs /proc/filesystems

after

$ sudo modprobe cifs
Password for ajgringo619:

$ grep cifs /proc/filesystems
nodev	smb3

Note sure why cifs isn’t being auto-loaded.

4 
sudo modprobe cifs
modprobe: FATAL: Module cifs not found in directory /lib/modules/7.1.10-zen1-1-zen
5

The Arch kernel is installed, let me boot into it.

BRB.

6

Hmmm…it’s in both the 6.18.48 LTS and 7.1.11 Arch kernels. With pkgfile, I’m showing these cifs files in linux-zen:

$ pkgfile --list linux-zen | rg -n --color=auto cifs
6292:extra/linux-zen	/usr/lib/modules/7.2.2-zen1-1-zen/kernel/fs/smb/client/cifs.ko.zst
6294:extra/linux-zen	/usr/lib/modules/7.2.2-zen1-1-zen/kernel/fs/smb/common/cifs_md4.ko.zst
7

Have you updated recently? linux-zen is on 7.2.2 now.

8

I just loaded the main arch kernel and everything is working.

I ran 2 updates today.

Let me try again.

EDIT: just running a quick backup to test the media server, I deleted something and now we’re seeing if it gets restored - yep, that worked great.

I like the idea of the zen kernel, performance for games mostly but, I am unsure if I need it.

9

Yep.

I am already on 7.2.2 zen and after those few reboots it all works once more.

THIS REMINDS ME: At some point the update process stopped notifying me to reboot after a kernel/graphics driver update–or any update that would require a reboot because of changed files.

THAT MIGHT have happened here.

Like I said I ran the update twice today and at some point I saw 7.2.2 being dkms’d but at no point was I notified to reboot - and, I have memory issues so I forget.

I just did a reboot to try the native arch kernel but that reboot probably was what I need to properly load the new 7.2.2 kernel and until I did that reboot well things were weird.

This is not the first time it happened to me in the past month or so.

Can anyone advise me on how to turn that notification back on for when I need to do a reboot after an update?

(I must’ve turned it off without realizing the ramifications)

10

Glad it’s working for you. As a precaution, I would check for unneeded directories in /lib/modules.

11

This notification can get problematic (and actually was before not so long ago fix)
Not sure where it get controlled, in pacman hooks?

Basically, you need to reboot in case of:
kernel update
any sort of dkms package update
mesa update
nvidia stuff update

But sometimes some stuff need reboot also to properly work, you cannot really simple predict what. Some distros like rhel stuff make everything reload properly, even kernel, on updates, so you can avoid reboot for as long as you want. (also server stuff do not have desktop 3d graphical interface so it is simpler)

But on Arch Linux it is user choise to do all this stuff, so reboot is usually simplest and sane solution for any large update.

My advice, update less frequent, and do reboot after.

12

Yep.

Just the 7.2.2-arch1-1 arch native, LTS and zen directories there - all the same versions - tyvm

Was this check because I had a mismatched kernel version at some point which cased this kerfluffle?

I REALLY gotta start thinking Linux more.
Old WIndows thought patterns are very hard to break I am finding out.

Slow but steady wins the race though!

13

TYVM Nyan.

I saw the dkms stuff going on and no reboot prompt and then immediately thought ". I should reboot but where’s the prompt? Huh, myabe they “fixed” that.
LOL.

14

The app eos-reboot-recommended was changed and now requires the username in the .conf file. Details here:

15

thank you very much sir!