Systemd swap error at boot

Support Installation & Boot
#1

Hello!

I get an error at boot (it’s not critical) regarding swap and I do not know how to solve since most solutions around do not seem to apply to my case.

This is the error:

$ sudo systemctl --failed
  UNIT                 LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION                                      
● systemd-swap.service loaded failed failed Manage swap spaces on zram, files and partitions.

1 loaded units listed.

Any info?
I used to have a swap partition that later I ditched to use it for / space I needed, and I think this error appeared after this. The thing is I had removed the partition from fstab and had done some other things so I thought I had covered everything.

Anyway, the swapon -s command returns nothing all, and the swap line in my fstab is commented out, I just checked.

Thanks in advance.

#2

You have to also remove the reference to the swap partition’s UUID in /etc/default/grub and then run… :arrow_down:

sudo update-grub
#3

Did you also change the partition type, or just only reformatted the partition for use?

#4

@Chuhtra, I would follow @Aragorn’s recommendations and then stop swap by

sudo swapoff -a

then disable and mask the unneeded service by

systemctl disable --now systemd-swap.service
systemctl mask systemd-swap.service

and finally remove the corresponding package by

sudo pacman -Rsn systemd-swap

After a reboot you should be fine.

1 Like
#5

You should not disable let alone remove systemd portions just because you don’t understand it…

#6

You should not post such unhelpful things if you have no idea of what you are saying… :sneezing_face:

1 Like
#7

Of course uhhu, let’s not start a flamewar and keep on topic to help the OP…

#8

I think I must have done that too, but here is my /etc/default/grub anyway in case you see something relevant:

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Manjaro"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet apparmor=1 security=apparmor 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_SAVEDEFAULT=true

# 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 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"
#9

I reformated the partition entirely. I deleted it and added the free space to the root partition.

#10

Your grub file is clean. You could start with the commands I gave you.

#11

I would like to be on the safe side truth be told since this is my daily machine :eyes:

1 Like
#12

Don’t worry the commands are safe.

#13

Could you provide the output of journalctl -u systemd-swap, so we can see the reason why it failed?

#14

Here:

$ journalctl -u systemd-swap
-- Logs begin at Thu 2020-11-05 21:51:31 EET, end at Thu 2020-11-05 23:20:29 EET. --
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd[1]: Starting Manage swap spaces on zram, files and partitions....
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Removing working directory...
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Removing files in /var/lib/systemd-swap/swapfc/...
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Zswap: backup current configuration: start
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Zswap: backup current configuration: complete
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Zswap: set new parameters: start
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Zswap: Enable: 1, Comp: lz4, Max pool %: 25, Zpool: zbud
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Zswap: set new parameters: complete
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: Writing destroy info...
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: swapD: pick up devices from systemd-gpt-auto-generator
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: INFO: swapD: searching swap devices
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: Traceback (most recent call last):
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 904, in <module>
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     main()
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 892, in main
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     start()
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 733, in start
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     swap_fc = SwapFc(config, sem)
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 156, in __init__
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     self.assign_config(config)
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 289, in assign_config
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     self.swapfc_frequency = config.get("swapfc_frequency", int)
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:   File "/usr/bin/systemd-swap", line 103, in get
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]:     return as_type(self.config[key])
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd-swap[940]: ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '1s'
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd[1]: systemd-swap.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd[1]: systemd-swap.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Νοε 05 22:57:35 Ristvakbaen-L systemd[1]: Failed to start Manage swap spaces on zram, files and partitions..
#15

That means you are using that AUR package (forgot the name of it) to configure a zswap device that uses a partition as filesystem.

So check your config of that…

I would suggest to use Improved zramswap

#16

So searching swap in my Pamac I see only mkinitcpio-openswap and systemd-swap.

For the second package, this is the /etc/systemd/swap.conf

################################################################################
# Defaults are optimized for general usage
################################################################################

################################################################################
# You can override any settings by files in:
# /etc/systemd/swap.conf.d/*.conf
################################################################################

################################################################################
# Zswap
#
# Kernel >= 3.11
# Zswap create compress cache between swap and memory for reduce IO
# https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/zswap.txt

zswap_enabled=1
zswap_compressor=lz4      # lzo lz4
zswap_max_pool_percent=25 # 1-99
zswap_zpool=zbud          # zbud z3fold

################################################################################
# ZRam
#
# Kernel >= 3.15
# Zram compression streams count for additional information see:
# https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/blockdev/zram.txt

zram_enabled=0
zram_size=$(($RAM_SIZE/4))      # This is 1/4 of ram size by default.
zram_streams=$NCPU
zram_alg=lz4                    # lzo lz4 deflate lz4hc 842 - for Linux 4.8.4
zram_prio=32767                 # 1 - 32767

################################################################################
# Swap File Chunked
# Allocate swap files dynamically
# For btrfs fallback to swapfile + loop will be used
# ex. Min swap size 512M, Max 8*512M
swapfc_enabled=1
swapfc_force_use_loop=0     # Force usage of swapfile + loop
swapfc_frequency=1s         # How often check free swap space
swapfc_chunk_size=512M      # Allocate size of swap chunk
swapfc_max_count=8          # 0 - unlimited, note: 32 is a kernel maximum
swapfc_free_swap_perc=15    # Add new chunk if free < 15%
                            # Remove chunk if free > 15+40% & chunk count > 2
swapfc_path=/var/lib/systemd-swap/swapfc/
# Only for swapfile + loop
swapfc_nocow=1              # Disable CoW on swapfile
swapfc_directio=1           # Use directio for loop dev
swapfc_force_preallocated=0 # Will preallocate created files

################################################################################
# Swap devices
# Find and auto swapon all available swap devices
swapd_auto_swapon=1
swapd_prio=1024

I am not very experienced so sorry if there is an error in front of my nose and I don’t see it :stuck_out_tongue:
Maybe this line should have 1 instead of 1s?

swapfc_frequency=1s         # How often check free swap space

I have checked and I don’t see any /etc/systemd/swap.conf.d/*.conf file in my system. Also I see a /usr/share/systemd-swap/swap-default.conf I can include if you think it’s relevant.

#17

As I quoted in previous reply, I would start with that indeed :wink:

It’s now past 1am here so I go sleep, let us know and don’t forget to mark the post that helped to fix the title the most as solution :wink: :+1:

1 Like
#18

It was indeed the removal of this ‘s’ that fixed it! Thank you @TriMoon for your help! Hope you had a nice sleep :grin:

Thank you too @Wollie, but it seems the more investigative approach was the way to go :wink:

#19

This topic was automatically closed 15 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.