My Laptop had Windows and Manjaro installed for dual boot, since I had to use Windows for school. Since yesterday, I don’t need Windows anymore, so I just removed the windows partitions on my Laptop.
Since my Manjaro installation was buggy, I thought about why not just reinstall Manjaro on the space left, about 50% of the disk. To do this, I first had to move some partitions around because it was a bit messed up (I did that on the old install).
I restarted my laptop, and booted to my Bootstick. I installed Manjaro in the space from windows with 2 partitions, home and root and started installing important software. I also started copying old data from the old home partition (no config).
Problem
When I wanted to boot back to my old installation (to see which apps I’ve installed and needed, backup some data, …) I couldn’t. There was this loading animation for about a minute (before it was about 5 seconds) and then got stuck. About 2 minutes later, this screen appeared:
You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, or "exit" to continue bootup.
Give root password for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):
I tried logging in with the admin password for this install and the new install, but none of them worked. I also tried the passwords with using keys from EN keyboard layouts, since mine is Swiss. Pressing ctrl + d didn’t work either.
Partition Layout
The partition table I changed now looks like this:
I already tried many things I found in this forum and on the internet, like:
manjaro-chroot -a & update-grub
booting up with advanced options
checking fstab
The new installation isn’t ready yet to use for work, since I have to do lots of configs. I have read access to the old partitions, so I can copy all the important data to the new installation already.
Anyone has an idea, why can’t I boot the old Manjaro anymore? How can I resolve this error?
One guess is that your /etc/fstab entries; in particular, the UUID’s; no longer match the intended volumes. Edit those with the correct UUID’s, and see if that makes a difference.
See LSBLK for information on how to find the respective UUID’s.
I also put my money on changed UUIDs. Why else would the OLD partitions have a higher number. Does not matter anymore that it happened unintentionally, what’s done is done.
The other place to check if the UUIDs are correct besides fstab is /etc/default/grub. Update-grub generates the boot entries from the settings in this file.
Jun 11 13:33:54 chraebsli-yo-man kernel: hub 6-0:1.0: config failed, hub doesn't have any ports! (err -19)
Jun 11 13:34:00 chraebsli-yo-man kernel: ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: error -ETIMEDOUT: PPM init failed
Jun 11 13:35:24 chraebsli-yo-man systemd[1]: Timed out waiting for device /dev/disk/by-uuid/E810-DEF6.
-- Subject: A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-E810\x2dDEF6.device has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://forum.manjaro.org/c/support
--
-- A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-E810\x2dDEF6.device has finished with a failure.
--
-- The job identifier is 72 and the job result is timeout.
The first one (selected) matches this boot config, which is, in fact, the old root, but I’m booting to the new actually:
The second one however, matches the new installation but is the option where it fails to boot:
EDIT 2:
I feel bad & stupid to do this edit. The boot config above obviously is from the old installation, but when booting it takes the config from the new installation.
So I checked the old config too and ran sudo update-grub, which only changed the language parts from EN to DE.
When comparing /boot/grub/grub.cfg from the new installation with the new installation, the only changes are the UUIDs and device names.
They likely indicate which CPU generation your mainboard is designed for; in this case, 12th Gen.
This only supports the UUID inconsistency I mentioned earlier. The volume UUIDs should match the entries in /etc/fstab (for each respective installation).
You probably should reinstall grub completely, as the grub package was modified some months agao and a grub reinstall was required in announcement thread.
I’ll look at these when I can, or, someone else will. These outputs will no doubt still be useful.
OS-PROBER:
Note that false is always set. What actually matters is whether or not the line is commented. This line should be uncommented (remove the #) to enableos-prober.
I’m guessing these actions are where the trouble started.
The partition layout (the screenshot you posted) obviously isn’t ideal…
Question:
How do you feel about performing a fresh Manjaro install - using the manual partitioning method - with the ultimate goal of having just one Manjaro installation?
You would probably need another disk (USB?) to copy your /home partition content to. You could then perform a fresh install, and specify a larger / partition (beneficial), more dedicated swap space (if desired), and use the remainder of the disk for a new (and more sizable) /home partition.
This might be the fastest way to get back to a working computer, and solve the partition inconsistencies, at the same time.
Or we can continue trying to find solutions for as long it takes.
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat FAT32 EFI F77E-F348 479.7M 6% /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 ext4 1.0 home a9d9371b-c67f-4478-92dc-8024ab04cde5 292.7G 14% /home
├─nvme0n1p3 ext4 1.0 d71f9690-630c-48cc-8da3-a08b762ed1ac 40.4G 30% /
├─nvme0n1p6 swap 1 Swap 4ac66a8b-278b-4f71-87e4-7b795b633648 [SWAP]
├─nvme0n1p7 ext4 1.0 root old 2f541754-0b09-4f85-8c82-5aad1b11a0bc
└─nvme0n1p8 ext4 1.0 home old 71a590ee-9a82-4329-bada-514ff5352041
sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,UUID,LABEL,MOUNTPOINT
NAME FSTYPE UUID LABEL MOUNTPOINT
nvme0n1
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat F77E-F348 EFI /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 ext4 a9d9371b-c67f-4478-92dc-8024ab04cde5 home /home
├─nvme0n1p3 ext4 d71f9690-630c-48cc-8da3-a08b762ed1ac /
├─nvme0n1p6 swap 4ac66a8b-278b-4f71-87e4-7b795b633648 Swap [SWAP]
├─nvme0n1p7 ext4 2f541754-0b09-4f85-8c82-5aad1b11a0bc root old
└─nvme0n1p8 ext4 71a590ee-9a82-4329-bada-514ff5352041 home old
/etc/fstab on old install
# /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=E810-DEF6 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 2
UUID=2f541754-0b09-4f85-8c82-5aad1b11a0bc / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
UUID=71a590ee-9a82-4329-bada-514ff5352041 /home ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
/etc/fstab on new install
# /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=F77E-F348 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 2
UUID=d71f9690-630c-48cc-8da3-a08b762ed1ac / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
UUID=a9d9371b-c67f-4478-92dc-8024ab04cde5 /home ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
/etc/default/grub
# GRUB boot loader configuration
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Manjaro"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash udev.log_priority=3"
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 'menu' to change timeout behavior,
# press ESC key to display menu.
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
# 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-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 make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires
# setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above.
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
# Uncomment to disable submenus in boot menu
#GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=y
# Uncomment this option to enable os-prober execution in the grub-mkconfig command
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
# 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
That’s what I meant with “GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER is already set to false.”, otherwise I’d said it’s unset, but thank you.
Yes I think that too.
I see your point, but please let me explain.
A few days ago, my goal was to have a new, clean installation of Manjaro. Since I don’t have to use Windows any more I removed the partition. And because the partition table was messy due to Windows, I moved the existing partitions to make space for the new installation.
And since I needed the then current installation (now the old) for work, I had to keep this installation until I have a working environment on the new install with all the data copied and software configured.
The plan was that I still can work at any time on the old installation and configure the new installation in my free time, just by booting to the other. After everything works on the new installation, I could just copy a few local documents to the new installation and continue there, flawlessly.
The current install was made with manual partitioning and is a working installation, with about 80% of data copied and configuration made. After I have everything, I won’t need the old installation anymore and then could use the space for something else.
Currently, I can work and use the new installation just like the old, I only would like to boot to the old, so I can check which software I have there which I don’t have yet on the new. Also, I’d like to check some settings and configuration I made for customization.
Since I don’t need the space from the old partition at the moment, I’m fine with trying to get it back to work. But if it doesn’t, it isn’t as bad since I’ll find the missing software again if I need it and I could still try every customization option until I like it again. Also, I’d find missing data by just searching and clicking through the old partitions and copy them to the current. It would just take some more time compared to solving the booting issue.
