System update of 5-14-2025 had a problem, I made it worse

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 21:58

Once again!

manjaro-cinnamon /]# lsblk -f:

NAME   FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0                                         
loop1                                         
loop2                                         
loop3                                         
sda                                           
|-sda1                                        
|-sda2                                        
|-sda3                           50.1G    51% /
`-sda4                                        
sdb                                           
|-sdb1                                        
`-sdb2                                        
sr0

Mod edit:- Corrected borked preformatted text box.

anon33601770 · 2 June 2025 22:01

To check what is in /boot from within chroot would be:

ls -l /boot

I guess I’m out of here for now - this get’s too confusing to follow.

Why not just run the update:
pacman -Syu
…

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:03

Ah, yes, that won’t work while inside the chroot. But okay, then just show us the output of…

ls -l /boot

That command does not tell you that your machine has a legacy BIOS, but whether the machine is currently booted up in either UEFI mode or legacy BIOS mode.

Your firmware is probably a UEFI, but considering that Windows 7 was still by default installed in legacy BIOS emulation mode, your Manjaro system should either way be set up to boot in the same manner.

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:06

@anon33601770

Thank you for clarifying. The ls ls -l /boot returned:

total 12992
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root     4096 May 31 23:40 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13286400 May 12 10:56 intel-ucode.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       23 May  2 00:36 linux510-x86_64.kver
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       22 Feb  9 08:27 linux54-x86_64.kver
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 Feb 11 09:32 memtest86+
[manjaro-cinnamon /]#

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:08

Aha! I see your problem, Sir.

Okay, here’s what you do…

rm -f /boot/*.kver
pacman-mirrors -f 10 && pacman -Syu linux510 linux54
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:12

@Aragorn

Thank you, I misunderstood the use of the script. The laptop is almost 20 years old.

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:13

If it works, it works. No need to dispose of a perfectly working laptop.

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:24

@Aragorn

“Aha! I see your problem,” Please enlighten me to what you see? With the new ls command I am on the edge of recognizing meaning of the data displayed…

If I understand, you are asking me to remove all files at the boot level that have the .kver extension. Then update the mirrors and update my kernals, reconstructing and updating Grub?
I will do this, but is there a way I could have seen this in the previous display?

I always feel like I’m halfway there with Manjaro

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:26

@Aragorn

Just to be clear:
These commands are typed one line at a time with after each one…

soundofthunder · 2 June 2025 22:27

Quick tip:

When pasting command output make certain the three backticks (```) are on the lines immediately before and after the pasted text, like this;

```
Requested command output
```

Note that this;

```Requested command output```

often prevents horizontal scrolling.

Regards.

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:28

@Aragorn

It didn’t like the key , in my last post, for some reason…

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:29

Yes. They are only plain text files for kernels you do not currently have installed, and they prevent you from actually installing those kernels.

Usually, this scenario is the result of an interrupted update. During the update of an Arch-based distribution such as Manjaro, the kernel images and their initramfs — a small RAM-based filesystem containing an archive of the driver modules needed at boot time — get deleted first, then all of the new packages are installed, including the updated kernels, and then, only in the final stage, are the `initramfs’ images and the compressed kernel images recreated, and the boot loader configuration updated.

That is correct. You can even copy and paste them on the command line one at the time.

(In order to paste with the mouse, just use the middle-click. In order to paste into a terminal by way of the keyboard, you need either ShiftIns or CtrlShiftV.)

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:30

@soundofthunder

Thank you.
I was wondering why my posts didn’t look so neat. I will do better.

soundofthunder · 2 June 2025 22:32

Welcome. It might be beneficial for you to follow the links given in my initial post; once your current issue is resolved. Cheers.

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:35

@Aragorn

[manjaro-cinnamon /]# pacman-mirrors -f 10 && pacman -Syu linux510 linux54
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json
::INFO => Mirror status: https://repo.manjaro.org/status.json
::INFO Using custom mirror file
::INFO Querying mirrors - This may take some time
  0.919 United_States  : https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/manjaro/
  0.324 United_States  : https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/manjaro/
  0.569 United_States  : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/
::INFO Writing mirror list
::United_States   : https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$ar
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
:: Synchronizing package databases...
error: failed to synchronize all databases (unable to lock database)

Before I get to the third command. Is error message about the locked data bases a concern?

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:38

Yes. Issue this command below…

rm -f /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

Then, proceed with the following commands…

pacman -Syu linux510 linux54
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 22:47

@Aragorn

I type the rm command and ran the command. It returned a number of errors. I could’ve mistyped? It’s kind of long :(

[manjaro-cinnamon /]# pacman -Syu linux510 linux54
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra                   8.3 MiB  10.7 MiB/s 00:01 [----------------------] 100%
 multilib is up to date
warning: linux510-5.10.237-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: linux54-5.4.293-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (3) thunderbird-139.0-1  linux510-5.10.237-1  linux54-5.4.293-1

Total Download Size:    67.30 MiB
Total Installed Size:  407.05 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:        3.42 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
 thunderbird-139....    67.3 MiB  22.3 MiB/s 00:03 [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) checking keys in keyring                     [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) checking package integrity                   [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) loading package files                        [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) checking for file conflicts                  [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) checking available disk space                [----------------------] 100%
warning: could not get file information for boot/linux510-x86_64.kver
warning: could not get file information for boot/linux54-x86_64.kver
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Remove Thunderbird Distribution Settings
:: Processing package changes...
(1/3) reinstalling linux510                        [----------------------] 100%
(2/3) reinstalling linux54                         [----------------------] 100%
(3/3) upgrading thunderbird                        [----------------------] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/7) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/7) Updating module dependencies...
(3/7) Updating linux initcpios...
^C
Interrupt signal received
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux510.preset: 'default'
==> Using configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64.img
==> Starting build: '5.10.237-1-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64.img'
  -> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful
==> Initcpio image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux510.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: '5.10.237-1-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'ast'
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64-fallback.img'
  -> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful
==> Initcpio image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux54.preset: 'default'
==> Using configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-5.4-x86_64 -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-5.4-x86_64.img
==> Starting build: '5.4.293-1-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: No module containing the symbol 'drm_privacy_screen_register' found in: 'drivers/platform'
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-5.4-x86_64.img'
  -> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful
==> Initcpio image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux54.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-5.4-x86_64 -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-5.4-x86_64-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: '5.4.293-1-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'ast'
==> WARNING: No module containing the symbol 'drm_privacy_screen_register' found in: 'drivers/platform'
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-5.4-x86_64-fallback.img'
  -> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful
==> Initcpio image generation successful
(4/7) Updating Grub-Bootmenu
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-5.10-x86_64-fallback.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-5.4-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-5.4-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/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
Found Windows Recovery Environment on /dev/sda1
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
done
(5/7) Updating icon theme caches...
(6/7) Copy Thunderbird Distribution Settings
(7/7) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...

It doesn’t look like it saw the windows7 on sda2, only the recovery sections (that has NEVER been used). Are the grub errors toward the bottom problematic?

Aragorn · 2 June 2025 22:53

Why did you interrupt?

That’s probably because of the pacman hook calling install-grub — which is an optional script — from within the chroot environment.

However…

This could be due to the drive having been set to RAID in the UEFI settings. It should be set to AHCI.

Given how old your machine is, it is possible that the CMOS battery has died, resulting in a return to the factory settings.

anon33601770 · 2 June 2025 23:00

It can’t “see” your Windows from within chroot, you have to boot Linux once you are done
and do update-grub (sudo update-grub) again from the real working system.

Ozzydog · 2 June 2025 23:03

@Aragorn

I was too quick, I saw the errors to by and tried to copy it. I didn’t realize it would cause an interrupt.
It is possible the cmos battery died. I did look at the settting this morning and they were good (the same as I checked when I loaded Manjaro originally). I can look at them again, but it takes almost 10 minutes to boot from the USB. My Bios is quite simple, what settings would I look to change? I don’t remember a RAID option.