Boot failure with errors / hangs at "three dots"

[nano2]

Dear Forum Members,

Boot fails, and I’m getting the following two error messages:

• sparse file not allowed
• grub_is_shim_lock_enabled

Mod edit:- Please avoid long and unwieldy thread titles; title has been changed for you and the error messages made more prominent in your post as preformatted text. No charge.

Precursor notes: Upon an attempt at a system update, I had the “community.db”
and “lib32-libcap” problems that others have recently experienced. I then had a fresh problem with graphics drivers, and I added a new SSD. All that said, this problem only came to light after a reboot.

Attempts to fix:

I used a fresh live CD and performed the usual fixes for grub. I believe this improved a few things. For example, in lsblk, the “EFI system,” etc., partition type notations were missing but showed up afterwards. Still no boot, just with different messages.

To fix the “sparse file not allowed” message, I performed the suggestions found here:
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/grub-error-sparse-file-not-allowed/20267, namely the edits to /etc/default/grub per Deebble’s response, and then rebuilding grub again. However, the error persists.

The “shim_lock” message is more obscure. Perhaps “secure boot” is involved somehow? I am not positive, but I don’t believe my early 2021 system has that new “secure boot” hardware.

Here is the lsblk data. Note that nvme0n1 is the problematic drive, while nvme1n1 has a separate, fresh, installation of Manjaro on it which works fine.

lsblk -o PATH,PTTYPE,PARTTYPE,FSTYPE,PARTTYPENAME                         ✔ 
PATH           PTTYPE PARTTYPE                             FSTYPE  PARTTYPENAME
/dev/sr0       dos                                         iso9660 
/dev/nvme0n1   gpt                                                 
/dev/nvme0n1p1 gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b vfat    EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 ext4    Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 gpt    0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f swap    Linux swap
/dev/nvme1n1   gpt                                                 
/dev/nvme1n1p1 gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b vfat    EFI System
/dev/nvme1n1p2 gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 ext4    Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p3 gpt    0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f swap    Linux swap

And here is fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1:

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1.82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB            
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3255D9C0-C9CD-9545-A7CD-A62AB40C1E61

Device              Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1       4096     618495     614400  300M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2     618496 3835126110 3834507615  1.8T Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 3835126111 3907024064   71897954 34.3G Linux swap

This all seems normal, right?

Anyway, any insights would be appreciated. Let me know what other information might help.

Thank you.

[Aragorn]

@nano2

The “shim_lock” message is more obscure. Perhaps “secure boot” is involved somehow? I am not positive, but I don’t believe my early 2021 system has that new “secure boot” hardware.

All x86-64 motherboards with a UEFI have a provision for Secure Boot in the firmware. My advice is to disable it.

[linux-aarhus]

@nano2

“sparse file not allowed”

This is caused by having /boot/grub on a file system that grub cannot write.

@nano2

The “shim_lock” message is more obscure.

Indeed - Manjaro does not deploy Secure Boot at all.

As mentioned above - the recommandation is to disable secure boot.

If you - for some reason - need to enable secure boot, you should now it is possible using a manual setup.

[nano2]

Thank you for the comments.

First, I checked, and secure boot is not enabled.

I looked around for solutions, but would need advice about how to approach the “/boot/grub on a file system that grub cannot write” issue.

Something odd: I find two entries in the bios boot screen for the problem drive. One starts with “UEFI OS” and the other starts with “manjaro”.

If I boot from the UEFI entry, I get a text-only splash screen followed by the two errors in the title.

If I boot from the “manjaro” entry, I get no explicit errors. The graphical splash screen appears followed by a change in the screen resolution, followed by the system hanging at the “three dots” stage.

Something even more odd: At times, “/dev/nvme1n1” has identified the problem drive, as seen in the above fdisk output, and sometimes it’s identified as “/dev/nvme0n1”. That is, I just did another fdisk, and the drive’s appear reversed! This can’t be good!

One nagging suspicion I have is that I erred somewhere when I added the new drive, e.g. perhaps at some point I accidentally referred to the original drive instead of the new one.

Any ideas?

Thank you again.

(Edited as new info came up.)

[dmt]

@nano2

Something even more odd: At times, “/dev/nvme1n1” has identified the problem drive, as seen in the above fdisk output, and sometimes it’s identified as “/dev/nvme0n1”. That is, I just did another fdisk, and the drive’s appear reversed! This can’t be good!

Device IDs are assigned in the order the devices are detected at boot. The order can change.

Label your drives for easier recognition.

[nano2]

OK, I had never noted that before because I only had one drive. Thank you for that little bit of info.

Still stuck, though.

[soundofthunder]

@nano2

Still stuck, though.

Please provide system information.

System Information

Output of this command (formatted according to forum requirements) may be useful for those wishing to help:

inxi --filter --verbosity=8

or the short form:

inxi -zv8

Be prepared to provide more information and outputs from other commands whenever asked. It’s equally important to provide as much actionable information as possible in your first post, rather than simply indicating there is a problem.

Privacy:- Those with privacy concerns please note that when -z or --filter is used, personally identifiable information is filtered from the resulting inxi output.

---

This might be related; particularly if you’re using Nvidia graphics. While it’s unclear whether this will solve your particular issue, it may go some way toward addressing a possible contributor;

Relevance: Testing and Stable branches.

Please see the Stable Update 2025-03-24 announcement, under Known Issues and Solutions; specifically, the item System may hang during splash screen when Nvidia 570 drivers are used:

A lot of users with older Nvidia cards report system hanging on Plymouth splash screen after installing Nvidia 570 drivers. In the past we had issues with plymouth in general combined with Nvidia drivers. Therefore we didn’t update plymouth in our stable and testing branch.

See the linked item for a workaround.

Regards.

[ehhen]

@nano2

@nano2

Something even more odd: At times, “/dev/nvme1n1” has identified the problem drive, as seen in the above fdisk output, and sometimes it’s identified as “/dev/nvme0n1”. That is, I just did another fdisk, and the drive’s appear reversed! This can’t be good!

One nagging suspicion I have is that I erred somewhere when I added the new drive, e.g. perhaps at some point I accidentally referred to the original drive instead of the new one.

The solution for me is to turn off the power, do some light exercises (insert delay ), and then turn it on. It may be silly, but it’s my best effort. In my opinion, Manjaro is unrelated. It may be due to the number of PCIe Cards with NVMe I have. like this

timeshift list

0n1p4(valid) 1n1p4

1    >  2025-03-20_17-39-29  O     🍊🍊🍊  0n1p4 ext4  6.13.7-1-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 testing🍊🍊🍊 
13   >  2025-03-24_04-40-04  O     🍊🍊🍊  1n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-rc7-1-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_cinnamon 6.4.8-2                                                                                                                                                                                                              
15   >  2025-03-25_04-04-56  O     🍊🍊🍊  0n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-rc7-1-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊                                                                                                                                                                       
16   >  2025-03-25_07-30-33  O M   🍊🍊🍊  0n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-0-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸_zish_cinnamon                                                                                                                                                                          
17   >  2025-03-25_10-22-11  O     🍊🍊🍊  1n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-0-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_removed ZFS-dkms_zish_cinnamon                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
18   >  2025-03-25_19-45-25  O     🍊🍊🍊  0n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-0-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_grub 前_zish_cinnamon                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
21   >  2025-03-26_07-00-22  O     🍊🍊🍊  1n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-0-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_nvme1n1p4_ext4_CINJARO_                                                                       
30   >  2025-03-27_22-24-29  O     🍊🍊🍊  0n1p4 ext4  6.14.0-1-MANJARO Cinnamon 6.4.8  nemo 6.4.5 🌲 unstable🍊🍊🍊_grub  grub          2:2.12.r260.gaae2ea619-1  (2:2.12.r248.gff7f55307-1)  core
  install-grub  2:2.12.r260.gaae2ea619-1  (2:2.12.r248.gff7f55307-1)  core
  update-grub   2:2.12.r260.gaae2ea619-1  (2:2.12.r248.gff7f55307-1)  core_zish_cinnamon  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

I’m not actually having any problems, so I’m just presenting an example for reference. Please don’t misunderstand. I not need HELP.

[nano2]

Sound of thunder:

Yes, the symptoms in that thread sounds similar.

Maybe not pertinent, but mentioned in the thread: I recently had no display port output with a new monitor, resulting in a black screen, until I updated the kernel to the latest stable one. Then everything was fine.

Then I did the last update, and video-nvidia immediately stopped working. Instead, Wayland was being used. I did get Nvidia back installed and working.

I tried the suggestion in that thread to comment out the “quiet splash” line from /etc/default/grub file, which some said fixed the problem, but this made things worse, causing a panic at the start of booting. I will look at this again, but I haven’t tried any of the scarier ideas yet.

At this point, I have the same symptoms as before (three dots forever, or else the original error messages, depending on how I boot).

Yes, thank you, I’ll provide whatever might be of help. Here is inxi -zv8:

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.19-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
    root=UUID=136b230c-4f33-488f-b150-7068a18ec683 rw quiet splash
    resume=UUID=46cba7f5-ffc3-4766-8a28-67d3d4cd976e udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.3 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.12.0
    wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX Z490-G GAMING (WI-FI) v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0607 date: 05/29/2020
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i9-10850K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Comet Lake
    gen: core 10 level: v3 note: check built: 2020 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0xA5 (165) stepping: 5 microcode: 0xFC
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 10 cores: 10 threads: 20 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 640 KiB desc: d-10x32 KiB; i-10x32 KiB L2: 2.5 MiB
    desc: 10x256 KiB L3: 20 MiB desc: 1x20 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/5200 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800
    8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 13: 800 14: 800 15: 800 16: 800
    17: 800 18: 800 19: 800 20: 800 bogomips: 144040
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB:
    conditional; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence; BHI: SW loop, KVM: SW
    loop
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA AD102 [GeForce RTX 4090] driver: nvidia v: 570.133.07
    alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550/565.xx+
    status: current (as of 2025-01) arch: Lovelace code: AD1xx
    process: TSMC n4 (5nm) built: 2022+ pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: none off: DP-1
    empty: DP-2,DP-3,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2684
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 141 s-size: 692x392mm (27.24x15.43")
    s-diag: 795mm (31.31") monitors: <missing: xrandr>
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Gigabyte AORUS FO32U2P serial: <filter> built: 2024
    res: 3840x2160 dpi: 141 gamma: 1.2 size: 699x395mm (27.52x15.55")
    diag: 793mm (31.2") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 3840x2160 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia gbm:
    drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.133.07 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 23.43 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.304 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:2684
    surfaces: xcb,xlib
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo,xprop
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:06c8 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD102 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22ba class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Texas Instruments PCM2704 16-bit stereo audio DAC
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-11:6 chip-ID: 08bb:2704 class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.19-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.1 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:06f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I225-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 05:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:15f3 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp5s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-14:8 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 9.1 TiB used: 3.06 TiB (33.7%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:4 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD BLACK SN850X 8000GB size: 7.28 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 638201WD temp: 40.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
    model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 46.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 7.27 TiB size: 7.21 TiB (99.20%) used: 1.52 TiB (21.1%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:6
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:5
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:7
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 46 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.23 GiB used: 4.71 GiB (15.1%)
  Processes: 390 Power: uptime: 22m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.46 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1210 libs: 346 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: N/A Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: konsole
    inxi: 3.3.37

Thank you again.

[ehhen]

@nano2

@nano2

I tried the suggestion in that thread to comment out the “quiet splash” line from /etc/default/grub file, which some said fixed the problem, but this made things worse, causing a panic at the start of booting. I will look at this again, but I haven’t tried any of the scarier ideas yet.

Please excuse me if it’s just my illusion, eye strain, or a simple misunderstanding.

??? quiet splash

but,your system said.

root=UUID=136b230c-4f33-488f-b150-7068a18ec683 rw quiet splash

reconfirm: may you type this.
cat -n /etc/default/grub | grep 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT'

[BG405]

I’d suggest a full output in case anything else is screwed up:

cat /etc/default/grub

… so we can help if this is the case.

OT: I am finding it rather difficult to type at present, as there is a on my right hip, so I can’t sit straight

[soundofthunder]

@nano2

I tried the suggestion in that thread to comment out the “quiet splash” line from /etc/default/grub file, which some said fixed the problem, but this made things worse

It also mentioned to run update-grub after editing /etc/default/grub (naturally, followed by a reboot);

did you do that?

[nano2]

The “quiet spash” is the fourth line found in grub. (I uncommented it again after it didn’t help.)

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Manjaro"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=8867e950-c703-4a9f-822b-7dc231f8b99f #udev.log_priority=3"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# If you want to enable the save default function, uncomment the following
# line, and set GRUB_DEFAULT to saved.
#GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=false

# Uncomment to disable submenus in boot menu
#GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=y

# 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

# 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 this option to enable os-prober execution in the grub-mkconfig command
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

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

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/usr/share/grub/background.png"
GRUB_THEME="/usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt"

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

# Uncomment to ensure that the root filesystem is mounted read-only so that
# systemd-fsck can run the check automatically. We use 'fsck' by default, which
# needs 'rw' as boot parameter, to avoid delay in boot-time. 'fsck' needs to be
# removed from 'mkinitcpio.conf' to make 'systemd-fsck' work.
# See also Arch-Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fsck#Boot_time_checking
#GRUB_ROOT_FS_RO=true

Yes, I did update grub afterward per the helpful page, and yet again after uncommenting it back to original:

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/GRUB/Restore_the_GRUB_Bootloader

However, there was one part of that process that failed, namely that at one point it failed to mount my other, working drive (“8TB”). I didn’t know what to think about that. The part where it failed was “updating the info directory file.”

Here is what lsblk -l shows now:

PATH           PTTYPE PARTTYPE                             FSTYPE  PARTTYPENAME
/dev/sr0       dos                                         iso9660 
/dev/nvme0n1   gpt                                                 
/dev/nvme0n1p1 gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b vfat    EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 ext4    Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 gpt    0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f swap    Linux swap
/dev/nvme1n1   gpt                                                 
/dev/nvme1n1p1 gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b vfat    EFI System
/dev/nvme1n1p2 gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 ext4    Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p3 gpt    0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f swap    Linux swap
 

I don’t know what to make of soundofthunder’s comment about the UUID.

Is there anything else I can provide that might be helpful?

Thank you all.

---

Mode Note:- I don’t know what to make of the OP’s comment considering at this point no mention of UUID’s had been made;

@nano2

I don’t know what to make of soundofthunder’s comment about the UUID.

[BG405]

@nano2

The “quiet spash” is the fourth line found in grub. (I uncommented it again after it didn’t help.)

The intention is not to comment that line, but to remove those two words, assuming I’m reading this right. So it would read e.g.:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=UUID=8867e950-c703-4a9f-822b-7dc231f8b99f #udev.log_priority=3"

But, that UUID doesn’t appear to be right, according to your last post; I also see that you have the same UUIDs on both disks which will confuse matters. One must be a clone; disconnect it and use UUID

0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f

on the GRUB cmdline.

… what happens then?

[Nachlese]

Indeed, one is a clone of the other - this can’t work.

also:

@nano2

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=8867e950-c703-4a9f-822b-7dc231f8b99f #udev.log_priority=3"

is not right - the # in front of #udev.log_priority=3 needs to go

[nano2]

Wow, I hadn’t noticed the identical UUIDs!

The extra drive was NOT a clone. It was a fresh install from a freshly-downloaded ISO. I don’t know how it happened or how to fix it.

Thanks for spotting the spurious #. However, the last time I tried to restore grub, manjaro-chroot mounted the correct one, but later in the rebuilding process it confused the two drives (no surprise given the above).

I’ll remove the extra drive to eliminate ambiguity and the “cloned” UUIDs. (I also need to make a USB ISO, as the CD ISO is excruciating to use over and over!) After that I’ll report back on your latest suggestions.

Thank you.

[dmt]

@BG405

I also see that you have the same UUIDs on both disks which will confuse matters. One must be a clone

@Nachlese

Indeed, one is a clone of the other - this can’t work.

Actually that’s a PARTTYPE UUID.

@nano2

@nano2

I’ll remove the extra drive to eliminate ambiguity and the “cloned” UUIDs.

That may or may not help narrow things down, but that UUID is expected to be the same.

Perhaps it would be better to use the more familiar lsblk -f

[nano2]

I corrected the spurious # and changed the UUID to match that provided by BG405. Here’s step by step with restoring grub:

pacman -Syu grub
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
warning: grub-2:2.12-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) grub-2:2.12-3

Total Installed Size:  48.04 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%
(1/1) checking available disk space                [############] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) reinstalling grub                            [############] 100%
:: To use the new features provided in this GRUB update, it is recommended
   to install it to the MBR or UEFI. Due to potential configuration
   incompatibilities, it is advised to run both, installation and generation
   of configuration:
     # UEFI: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation
     # BIOS: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation_2
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Refreshing PackageKit...
Error connecting: Could not connect: No such file or directory
error: command failed to execute correctly
(3/3) Updating the info directory file...

I note the “error connecting” message above, but as grub was seemingly already installed and up to date, I proceeded:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=manjaro --recheck 
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

There are errors and warnings in the next step:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64.
img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64-fallback.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.i
mg
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64-fallback.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.i
mg
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partition
s.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create
new boot entries.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https
://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
done

An “unknown device type nvme0n1” appears in this next step:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64.
img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64-fallback.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.i
mg
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64-fallback.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.i
mg
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partition
s.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create
new boot entries.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https
://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
done

The “verify the existence of efi” step. It is not explained what one should look for, but it does not seem to verify much.

lsblk -o PATH,PTTYPE,PARTTYPE,FSTYPE,PARTTYPENAME
PATH           PTTYPE PARTTYPE FSTYPE PARTTYPENAME
/dev/loop0                            
/dev/loop1                            
/dev/loop2                            
/dev/loop3                            
/dev/sr0                              
/dev/nvme0n1                          
/dev/nvme0n1p1                        
/dev/nvme0n1p2                        
/dev/nvme0n1p3

The “verify efi filesystem step.”

ls /sys/firmware/efi 
config_table  esrt              fw_vendor  runtime-map
efivars       fw_platform_size  runtime    systab

Now one is asked to “try loading the efi system.” This does not look like it worked.

modprobe efivarfs 
modprobe: FATAL: Module efivarfs not found in directory /lib/modules/6.12.4-1-MANJARO

Next, mounting the efi filesystem. This did not return anything.

Finally, “verify that the efi system is loaded:”

ls /sys/firmware/efi 
config_table  esrt              fw_vendor  runtime-map
efivars       fw_platform_size  runtime    systab

Finally, the last statement probably should say “If NOT successful”?

If successfull re-run above installation commands

Also, here’s lsblk -f:

lsblk -f                                                                                       ✔ 
NAME       FSTYPE FSVER LABEL            UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0      squash 4.0                                                               0   100% /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1      squash 4.0                                                               0   100% /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2      squash 4.0                                                               0   100% /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3      squash 4.0                                                               0   100% /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
sr0        iso966 Jolie MANJARO_KDE_2421 2024-12-16-11-21-39-00                     0   100% /run/miso/bootmnt
nvme0n1                                                                                      
├─nvme0n1p1
│          vfat   FAT32                  ADE6-11AF                             299.1M     0% /mnt/boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2
│          ext4   1.0                    fc3e655b-f7ce-407a-8107-00d3073125af  129.2G    88% /mnt
│                                                                                            /run/media/manjaro/fc3e655b-f7ce-407a-8107-00d3073125af
└─nvme0n1p3
           swap   1     swap             8867e950-c703-4a9f-822b-7dc231f8b99f

I’ll wait for any feedback before doing more. (But again, the extra disk was NOT a clone, it was a fresh install from a fresh ISO.)

Thank you.

[soundofthunder]

@nano2

The “quiet spash” is the fourth line found in grub.

Yes, that’s where “quiet splash” can be found.

@nano2

I uncommented it again after it didn’t help.

Commenting the line was not the instruction given.

“quite splash” needed to be removed from the array.

The result should have been:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=UUID=8867e950-c703-4a9f-822b-7dc231f8b99f #udev.log_priority=3"

Yes, I’m basically repeating what has already been said, but’s it’s important you understand;

if you were meant to comment the line you would have been specifically instructed to do so.

Asking to remove something (in this case, two words) is entirely different.

---

With that out of the way;

Two disks with the same UUID (which typically happens when you clone a disk) will always cause grief if you don’t change one of them.

[nano2]

Yes, I understood that. I did fix it before I ran the above commands.

And I also understood the problem with identical UUID’s and how much trouble that can cause. That drive is no longer in the system in order to definitively stop it from being an issue going forward.