Note: I’ve seen many post about this, but was not able to find/apply a working solution for my problem.
I restarted my pc after a big update, and now when I boot I only see a black screen with no TTY. I can reach grub, but I’m not sure about what to do there.
This is what I have in advanced options, I can copy the command if needed :
Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.6.80-1-MANJARO x64)
Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.6.80-1-MANJARO x64 - fallback initramfs)
If i’m correct, the update contained “linux66”, so maybe that’s what caused this black screen, but I’m not sure about it, but I thought I could tried to install the previous version (I’m not sure which one was installed before tho).
I’ve seen a post that suggest to boot on a usb, use manjaro-chroot -a and install a new kernel, but when I did that I got an error “grub not found”, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to clear this step.
Can someone help me with this ? Is there anyway to debug to find what cause this ? I guess it also could be a graphic drivers thing ?
Thanks !
Remember that these are tutorials – not step by step instructions – you will be required to make choices according to your needs.
I hope these are helpful.
Regards.
I’ll take this opportunity to suggest an alternative to physically writing a Manjaro ISO to random USBs (which is often prone to failure); With Ventoy you only need to write a Ventoy USB – once – and simply copy or drag any ISO files to the USB.
Is there a way to know which one might help ? If my problem is related to the bootloader or to a failed update/upgrade ? Or I just need to blindly try both ?
I don’t have a “a failure message during boot” so I guess the bootloader might not be corrupted, but I don’t have a “no kernel found” message either, I just have a black screen when I boot on manjaro, no messages or anything that could tell me what’s the problem.
Anyway I’ll check both solutions tomorrow, thanks, let’s hope one of them works
but, considering you had just performed a large update, it also possible the sync was interrupted before updates had finished installing.
I’d likely assume the latter, and try to run the updates again via chroot. If Manjaro still won’t boot after successful completion of that tutorial, and the problem seems to indicate it’s GRUB related, I’d then try to restore (replace) GRUB.
We had a sizable update just yesterday which might actually solve a few issues some have been having (which included ‘black screens’). So, if that wasn’t the “big update” you referred to, that’s another reason to try the update again using the second tutorial.
Some system information (see below) might be useful whenever it’s possible to run inxi.
Regards.
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.
Something I did not thought about is that my boot partition and manjaro session are both encrypted, so I first need to figure out how to decrypt them, it’s probably why grub was not found in the first place.
[manjaro-gnome ~]# manjaro-chroot -a
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
==> ERROR: No Linux partitions detected!
I trie to do the Manual chroot part of the first guide, but I’m not sure which partition is which. I just know that /dev/sdyC is my ext4 as mentionned in both guides.
Edit: just saw your message I tried the wrong command to mount my decrypted disk, thanks
You cannot use manjaro-chroot -a with an encrypted setup.
the -a option (for “automatic”) will not work
You have to do it like I described - assemble the file system “by hand” before chroot:
mount the partitions to /mnt (for example)
(in order - the EFI partition then to /boot/efi)
then manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
or just: manjaro-chroot /mnt
the vfat is your EFI partition, the other your / - already opened/decrypted
Yes sorry for that I edited my previous message. Thanks, I was not sure about the efi one. I mounted both partitions and followed the 2nd guide, here is the last command :
update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
I need to reboot to see if it worked, else I guess I’ll have to try the first guide next.
Yes I did, and it went through without any error.
I followed the other guide about grub, here is the full backtrace, rebooting again.
backtrace
sudo su - 4 ✘
[manjaro-gnome ~]# cryptsetup open /dev/nvme0n1p2 root
Enter passphrase for /dev/nvme0n1p2:
[manjaro-gnome ~]# lsblk --fs
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
sda iso966 Jolie MANJARO_GNOME_2421 2024-12-16-11-22-51-00 0 100% /run/miso/bootmnt
├─sda1
│ iso966 Jolie MANJARO_GNOME_2421 2024-12-16-11-22-51-00
└─sda2
vfat FAT12 MISO_EFI 990A-716C
nvme0n1
│
├─nvme0n1p1
│ vfat FAT32 8102-5A51
└─nvme0n1p2
│ crypto 1 6d06ed65-fa62-4852-b755-95880ec8f171
└─root
ext4 1.0 84c2c4a3-d503-49a9-b9e2-006813adc134
[manjaro-gnome ~]# mount /dev/mapper/root /mnt
[manjaro-gnome ~]# mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi
[manjaro-gnome ~]# manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
[manjaro-gnome /]# lsblk --fs
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0
loop1
loop2
loop3
sda
|-sda1
`-sda2
nvme0n1
|-nvme0n1p1 262.8M 12% /boot/efi
`-nvme0n1p2
`-root 671.9G 23% /
[manjaro-gnome /]# pacman -Syu grub
:: Synchronizing package databases...
manjaro-sway 10.3 KiB 57.5 KiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
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]
(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%
:: 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) Updating the info directory file...
(3/3) Signal an update to the waybar pacman module after each update
waybar not started, nothing to do
[manjaro-gnome /]# 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.
[manjaro-gnome /]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
update-grub just does this - it updates the grub configuration file
perhaps you also should - to be sure - install another kernel
and then have the initrd’s regenerated
(as of now, they where not regenerated - it was just used what was already there)
Should I stay on this one ? or reinstall the new one ? (linux66 was it ?) I got a notification “a new kernel is available” after booting on my session, but I’m not sure whcih one I should use.
I’d use the latest LTS one.
Just because it will be valid and working for the longest time without intervention needed.
Now that the system works again, you can use the graphical tool to select and install it - it’ll tell you which is LTS and so on.
The last LTS seems to be the one you told me to install (6.12.17-1), so I’m assuming the notification is telling me to install 6.13.5-2, which is not lts, so I guess I can ignore it (or it still think I’m on 6.6.80-1, which is still installed (?))
You need to start paying attention once the LTS period is over and the kernel no longer supported - then you need to act and install a supported one.
With 612 LTS this will be years from now.
