Error: you need to load the kernel first

[pjbrunet]

error: file ‘/boot/vmlinuz-4.4-x86_64’ not found.
error: you need to load the kernel first

Pacman upgrade was fine, no errors… Then I reboot and now I’m stuck with this error. None of my kernels work. Now I wish I had not upgraded. I assume I need a new kernel?

I’m thinking maybe the solution is to boot a new Manjaro off USB and try to install from the USB to the laptop?

[pjbrunet]

I have the live USB booted, now I’m not sure how to add a new kernel to the laptop (without starting from scratch.)

[pjbrunet]

Well the XFCE image comes with an Architect option, which is nice… Architect has an option to “rescue” so I’m trying that now… I was able to chroot my cryptoluks drive and I’m installing linux-lts right now… fingers crossed. Also I think it updated my grub as well.

[pjbrunet]

OK that solved it. Architect saved the day. Trying to mount the cryptoluks drive the hard way was going to be a nightmare. Architect mounted the drive easily… Summary of the steps I took:

1. Boot LIVE USB XFCE and launch Architect, or I suppose you could boot Architect by itself.
2. Mount the laptop’s disk in Architect. I wasn’t sure which partition had grub, but it probably wasn’t “swap” so I just chose the largest one.
3. Under “Rescue” there is an option to upgrade grub, and I chose the “os prober” option (not sure if that was necessary or not.)
4. In Architect there’s a chroot option. Once in, I did ‘pacman -Ss kernel lts’ and chose to install the first one, I think it was “kernel-lts”
5. exit the chroot… then Architect went into some weird infinite loop (definitely a bug in Architect, but whatever…)
6. Shut down the live USB.
7. Rebooted to a new grub screen that looks very nice.
8. Everything booted correctly, as expected.

In conclusion, was the problem an old kernel, or an old grub, or both? I don’t know…