Updating to latest manjaro release results in (potentially) corrupting kernel image

Support System Updates
1

Hello everyone from a live USB.

I’ve tried a couple times now to upgrade my manjaro desktop to the latest 25.0.7. Twice now, once pacman reaches to portion of upgrading a kernel, the following error appears:

[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] error: could not extract /usr/lib/modules/6.12.41-1-MANJARO/vmlinuz (Truncated tar archive detected while reading data)
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] error: problem occurred while upgrading linux612
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux612 (6.12.39-1 -> 6.12.41-1)
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] transaction failed

At this point, if I reboot my system, I get the dreaded in grub:

error: file `/boot/vmlinux-6-x' not found
error: you need to load the kernel first

The first time I ran into this, I followed this guide to rescue my system.

This only got me so far on my next reboot, as kdeplasma would not start in the default multi user mode. After fiddling around and trying different kernels (and thinking my gpu driver was borked), I decided to restore from that days timeshift snapshot.

Voila - I’m back on my desktop. I decided to run the update again figuring the previous update was a freak accident. Even if not, I’ll try and document it in case I needed to submit a ticket. The error did appear again, and for ■■■■■ and gigs, I decided to keep running “sudo pacman -Syyu” each time this error appeared. It looks like every time pacman would get to the kernel portion, it would error out, then on subsequent retries, it tried to update the next kernel that was installed, until there were none left.

[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] error: could not extract /usr/lib/modules/6.12.41-1-MANJARO/vmlinuz (Truncated tar archive detected while reading data)
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] error: problem occurred while upgrading linux612
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux612 (6.12.39-1 -> 6.12.41-1)
[2025-08-17T18:34:07-0500] [ALPM] transaction failed
[2025-08-17T18:35:39-0500] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syyu'
[2025-08-17T18:35:39-0500] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2025-08-17T18:35:39-0500] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2025-08-17T18:35:52-0500] [ALPM] running '00-timeshift-autosnap.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:35:52-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
[2025-08-17T18:35:52-0500] [ALPM] running '60-mkinitcpio-remove.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:35:52-0500] [ALPM] running '71-dkms-remove.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:35:52-0500] [ALPM] transaction started
[2025-08-17T18:35:55-0500] [ALPM] error: could not extract /usr/lib/modules/6.12.41-1-MANJARO/build/vmlinux (Truncated tar archive detected while reading data)
[2025-08-17T18:35:55-0500] [ALPM] error: problem occurred while upgrading linux612-headers
[2025-08-17T18:35:55-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux612-headers (6.12.39-1 -> 6.12.41-1)
[2025-08-17T18:35:55-0500] [ALPM] transaction failed
[2025-08-17T18:45:56-0500] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syyu'
[2025-08-17T18:45:56-0500] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2025-08-17T18:45:57-0500] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM] running '00-timeshift-autosnap.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM] running '60-mkinitcpio-remove.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM] running '71-dkms-remove.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM] transaction started
[2025-08-17T18:46:04-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux612-nvidia (575.64.03-5 -> 575.64.05-5)
[2025-08-17T18:46:05-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux615 (6.15.7-1 -> 6.15.9-2)
[2025-08-17T18:46:08-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux615-headers (6.15.7-1 -> 6.15.9-2)
[2025-08-17T18:46:08-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux615-nvidia (575.64.03-5 -> 575.64.05-8)
[2025-08-17T18:46:09-0500] [ALPM] error: could not extract /usr/lib/modules/6.16.0-5-MANJARO/vmlinuz (Truncated tar archive detected while reading data)
[2025-08-17T18:46:09-0500] [ALPM] error: problem occurred while upgrading linux616
[2025-08-17T18:46:09-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux616 (6.16.0rc6-1 -> 6.16.0-5)
[2025-08-17T18:46:09-0500] [ALPM] transaction failed
[2025-08-17T18:46:29-0500] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syyu'
[2025-08-17T18:46:29-0500] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2025-08-17T18:46:30-0500] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2025-08-17T18:46:36-0500] [ALPM] running '00-timeshift-autosnap.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:46:36-0500] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
[2025-08-17T18:46:36-0500] [ALPM] running '71-dkms-remove.hook'...
[2025-08-17T18:46:36-0500] [ALPM] transaction started
[2025-08-17T18:46:38-0500] [ALPM] error: could not extract /usr/lib/modules/6.16.0-5-MANJARO/build/vmlinux.h (Truncated tar archive detected while reading data)
[2025-08-17T18:46:38-0500] [ALPM] error: problem occurred while upgrading linux616-headers
[2025-08-17T18:46:38-0500] [ALPM] upgraded linux616-headers (6.16.0rc6-1 -> 6.16.0-5)
[2025-08-17T18:46:38-0500] [ALPM] transaction failed

It seems like something is going haywire during this upgrade every time a kernel package is being upgraded, with the same error as above. All other packages seem fine.

I’m now in a live CD again and restoring from a timeshift backup for the second time. This doesn’t feel like a coincidence anymore, and I’m a little concerned that my system won’t successfully update due to this issue. I assume I must’ve messed up something good in order for this to happen.

Any idea what is going on here?

2

A couple of ideas, yes, but nothing conclusive. :thinking:

First things first, don’t use -Syyu. Use -Syu.

Secondly, if you are using btrfs, edit your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, comment out all the lines at the bottom referring to compression, and then add the following line underneath… :point_down:

COMPRESSION=cat

Thirdly, refresh your mirrors before updating… :point_down:

sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syu

Please report back on failure or success. :crossed_fingers:

1 Like
3

The circumstances are strange … I give you that …

In the logs you have the message: “skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap …” which indicates a non-btrfs filesystem.

As packages apparently pass the GPG signature check the packages has not changed neither during transport nor during storage.

But does appear like there is errors on the file system level so please confirm the file system used.

2 Likes
4

I would also check the filesystem from a live image (since it has to be unmounted).

5

The file system is ext4. I thought it was strange in the logs that it was calling out that it wasn’t btrfs.

6

That was an informational message, only.

After checking for a BTRFS file system and finding none, it simply issued the result of that check.

That’s nothing too strange, albeit unnecessary, maybe;
but that’s a whole other conversation. :wink:

7

Running fsck on the primary ext4 partition from a live usb shows no errors:

sudo fsck /dev/nvme0n1p1
fsck from util-linux 2.41.1
e2fsck 1.47.3 (8-Jul-2025)
/dev/nvme0n1p1: clean, 3452672/60260352 files, 136472825/241032576 blocks

Just so you guys don’t take my word for it:

image
image2061×752 52.9 KB

Anything else I could check?

8

Can you please provide system information as described (below) - even if its only from a Manjaro Installer live environment terminal.

From your pasted image it seems your system is installed as Legacy rather than UEFI; unless, of course, if the $ESP happens to be on a separate disk. Otherwise, it gives no useful information.

What was the result of doing as @Aragorn suggested?

System Information

Output of the inxi command with appropriate parameters (formatted according to forum guidelines) will generally be useful for those wishing to help:

inxi --filter --verbosity=8

or the short form:

inxi -zv8
1 Like
9

I have already ran

sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syu

When I first booted into the live usb after running manjaro-chroot following this guide. However, I did run it again just now. Since I had already fully updated the packages by repeatedly running pacman prior to reboot, there are no updates other than ventoy, which I assume is because an update was released since last time I tried updating yesterday.

[manjaro ~]# manjaro-chroot -a
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.
==> Mounting (ManjaroLinux) [/dev/nvme0n1p1]
 --> mount: [/mnt]

[manjaro /]# sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syu
::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
  0.291 United_States  : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.149 United_States  : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.555 United_States  : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.437 United_States  : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.159 United_States  : https://mnvoip.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.220 United_States  : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.190 United_States  : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.253 United_States  : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.391 United_States  : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.570 United_States  : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.480 United_States  : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  0.438 United_States  : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
::INFO Writing mirror list
::United_States   : https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://mnvoip.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra                      8.5 MiB  25.0 MiB/s 00:00 [############################] 100%
 multilib is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
warning: ksystemstats: local (6.4.0-1) is newer than extra (6.3.6-1)
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) ventoy-1.1.07-1

Total Download Size:   15.73 MiB
Total Installed Size:  18.13 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       0.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
:: Retrieving packages...
 ventoy-1.1.07-1-x86_64    15.7 MiB  46.8 MiB/s 00:00 [############################] 100%
(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%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) upgrading ventoy                                [############################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Refreshing PackageKit...
Error connecting: Could not connect: No such file or directory
error: command failed to execute correctly
(3/3) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[manjaro /]#

I’d like to point out (since I forgot to originally), that following the aforementioned guide this time around, update-grub doesn’t appear to detect any kernels:

[manjaro /]# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
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 10 on /dev/sda1
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
done

Usually, I would see a “vmlinuz” image populate. The /dev/sdb1 drive is not a linux device (is running windows) so that output can be ignored.

Here is the requested system information running from a live environment:

[manjaro /]# inxi -zv8
System:
  Kernel 6..41-1-MANJARO arch x86_64 bits 64 compiler gcc v 15.1.1 clocksource tsc
    avail hpet,acpi_pm parameters BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-x86_64 lang=en_US keytable=us tz=UTC
    misobasedir=manjaro misolabel=MANJARO_KDE_2507 quiet systemd.show_status=1 splash
    driver=nonfree nouveau.modeset=0 i915.modeset=1 radeon.modeset=1
  Console N/A Distro Manjaro base Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type Desktop System Gigabyte product X570 AORUS ULTRA v -CF serial N/A
  Mobo Gigabyte model X570 AORUS ULTRA serial N/A uuid 032e02b4-0499-05a2-8206-420700080009
    BIOS American Megatrends LLC. v F36d date 07/20/2022
Battery:
  Device-1 hidpp_battery_0 model Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S serial <filter> charge Low
    status discharging
Memory:
  System RAM total 32 GiB available 31.27 GiB used 6.45 GiB (20.6%)
  Array-1 capacity 8 GiB slots 4 modules 4 EC None max-module-size 32 GiB note est.
  Device-1 Channel-A DIMM 0 type DDR4 detail synchronous unbuffered (unregistered) size 8 GiB
    speed 3200 MT/s volts curr 1.2 min 1.2 max 1.2 width (bits) data 64 total 64 manufacturer G.Skill
    part-no F4-3200C16-8GTZR serial N/A
  Device-2 Channel-A DIMM 1 type DDR4 detail synchronous unbuffered (unregistered) size 8 GiB
    speed 3200 MT/s volts curr 1.2 min 1.2 max 1.2 width (bits) data 64 total 64 manufacturer G.Skill
    part-no F4-3200C16-8GTZR serial N/A
  Device-3 Channel-B DIMM 0 type DDR4 detail synchronous unbuffered (unregistered) size 8 GiB
    speed 3200 MT/s volts curr 1.2 min 1.2 max 1.2 width (bits) data 64 total 64 manufacturer G.Skill
    part-no F4-3200C16-8GTZR serial N/A
  Device-4 Channel-B DIMM 1 type DDR4 detail synchronous unbuffered (unregistered) size 8 GiB
    speed 3200 MT/s volts curr 1.2 min 1.2 max 1.2 width (bits) data 64 total 64 manufacturer G.Skill
    part-no F4-3200C16-8GTZR serial N/A
PCI Slots:
  Slot  type PCIe status in use info J10 length short volts 3.3 bus-ID 00:03.1 children 1 0b:00.0
    class-ID 0300 type display 2 0b:00.1 class-ID 0403 type audio
  Slot 13 type PCIe status in use info J3600 length short volts 3.3 bus-ID 00:03.2 children
    1 0c:00.0 class-ID 0200 type network 2 0c:00.1 class-ID 0200 type network
  Slot 2 type PCIe status available info J3708 length short volts 3.3 bus-ID 00:1f.7
CPU:
  Info model AMD Ryzen 7 3800X socket AM4 bits 64 type MT MCP arch Zen 2 gen 2 level v3 note check
    built 2020-22 process TSMC n7 (7nm) family 0x17 (23) model-id 0x71 (113) stepping 0
    microcode 0x8701034
  Topology cpus 1x dies 1 clusters 1 cores 8 threads 16 tpc 2 smt enabled cache L1 5 KiB
    desc d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2 4 MiB desc 8x5 KiB L3 32 MiB desc 2x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz) avg 3592 min/max 550/4560 boost enabled base/boost 3900/4550 scaling
    driver amd-pstate-epp governor powersave volts 1.1 V ext-clock 100 MHz cores 1 3592 2 3592 3 3592
    4 3592 5 3592 6 3592 7 3592 8 3592 9 3592 10 3592 11 3592  3592 13 3592 14 3592 15 3592
    16 3592 bogomips 4618
  Flags 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bpext cat_l3
    cdp_l3 clflush clflushopt clwb clzero cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpb cpuid cqm cqm_llc
    cqm_mbm_local cqm_mbm_total cqm_occup_llc cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic
    extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibpb ibs irperf
    lahf_lm lbrv lm mba mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc
    nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core
    perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse pse36 rapl rdpid rdpru rdrand rdseed
    rdt_a rdtscp rep_good sep sev sev_es sha_ni skinit smap smca smep ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2
    sse4a ssse3 stibp succor svm svm_lock syscall tce topoext tsc tsc_scale umip v_spec_ctrl
    v_vmsave_vmload vgif vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wbnoinvd wdt x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec
    xsaveerptr xsaveopt xtopology
  Vulnerabilities
  Type gather_data_sampling status Not affected
  Type indirect_target_selection status Not affected
  Type itlb_multihit status Not affected
  Type l1tf status Not affected
  Type mds status Not affected
  Type meltdown status Not affected
  Type mmio_stale_data status Not affected
  Type reg_file_data_sampling status Not affected
  Type retbleed mitigation untrained return thunk; SMT enabled with STIBP protection
  Type spec_rstack_overflow mitigation Safe RET
  Type spec_store_bypass mitigation Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type spectre_v1 mitigation usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type spectre_v2 mitigation Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: always-on; RSB filling;
    PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type srbds status Not affected
  Type tsa status Not affected
  Type tsx_async_abort status Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1 NVIDIA GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate] vendor eVga.com. driver nvidia
    v 575.64.05 alternate nouveau non-free 550-570.xx+ status current (as of 2025-04; EOL~2026--xx)
    arch Ampere code GAxxx process TSMC n7 (7nm) built 2020-2023 pcie gen 1 speed 2.5 GT/s lanes 8
    link-max gen 4 speed 16 GT/s lanes 16 ports active none off HDMI-A-1 empty DP-1,DP-2,DP-3
    bus-ID 0b:00.0 chip-ID 10de:2216 class-ID 0300
  Display server X.org v 1.21.1.18 with Xwayland v 24.1.8 driver X loaded nvidia
    gpu nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch tty 80x40
  Monitor-1 HDMI-A-1 model Samsung Q80A serial <filter> built 2021 res 3840x2160 dpi 81 gamma 1.2
    chroma red x 0.671 y 0.310 green x 0.275 y 0.659 blue x 0.153 y 0.043 white x 0.314 y 0.329
    size 1872x1053mm (73.7x41.46") diag 1388mm (54.6") ratio 16:9 modes 3840x2160, 4096x2160,
    2560x1440, 1920x1080, 1680x1050, 1600x900, 80x1024, 1440x900, 80x800, 1152x864, 80x720,
    1024x768, 800x600, 720x576, 720x480, 640x480
  EDID-Warnings 1 parse_edid: unhandled CEA mode 95 2 parse_edid: unhandled CEA mode 93
    3 parse_edid: unhandled CEA mode 94 4 parse_edid: unhandled CEA mode 98 5 parse_edid: unhandled
    CEA mode 100
  API EGL v 1.5 hw drv nvidia platforms device 0 drv nvidia device 2 drv swrast gbm drv nvidia
    surfaceless drv nvidia inactive wayland,x11,device-1
  API OpenGL v 4.6.0 compat-v 4.5 vendor mesa v 25.1.7-arch1.1 note console (EGL sourced)
    renderer NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080/PCIe/SSE2, llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.8 256 bits)
  API Vulkan v 1.4.321 layers 2 device 0 type discrete-gpu name NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
    driver nvidia v 575.64.05 device-ID 10de:2216 surfaces N/A
  Info Tools api clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor
    gpu nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi wl wayland-info x11 xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1 NVIDIA GA102 High Definition Audio vendor eVga.com. driver snd_hda_intel v kernel pcie
    gen 4 speed 16 GT/s lanes 8 link-max lanes 16 bus-ID 0b:00.1 chip-ID 10de:1aef class-ID 0403
  Device-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor Gigabyte
    driver snd_hda_intel v kernel pcie gen 4 speed 16 GT/s lanes 16 bus-ID 0e:00.4 chip-ID 1022:1487
    class-ID 0403
  API ALSA v k6..41-1-MANJARO status kernel-api with aoss type oss-emulator
    tools alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1 JACK v 1.9.22 status off tools N/A
  Server-2 PipeWire v 1.4.7 status off with 1 pipewire-pulse status off 2 wireplumber status off
    3 pipewire-alsa type plugin tools pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver iwlwifi v kernel pcie gen 2 speed 5 GT/s lanes 1
    bus-ID 05:00.0 chip-ID 8086:2723 class-ID 0280
  IF wlp5s0 state down mac <filter>
  Device-2 Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor Gigabyte driver igb v kernel pcie gen 1
    speed 2.5 GT/s lanes 1 port f000 bus-ID 06:00.0 chip-ID 8086:1539 class-ID 0200
  IF enp6s0 state down mac <filter>
  Device-3 Qualcomm WCN785x Wi-Fi 7 320MHz 2x2 [FastConnect 7800] vendor Foxconn Band
    Simultaneous Wireless driver athk_pci v N/A modules athk pcie gen 3 speed 8 GT/s lanes 1
    link-max lanes 2 bus-ID 07:00.0 chip-ID 17cb:1107 class-ID 0280
  IF wlp7s0 state down mac <filter>
  Device-4 Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet driver bnx2x v kernel pcie gen 2
    speed 5 GT/s lanes 8 port N/A bus-ID 0c:00.0 chip-ID 14e4:168e class-ID 0200
  IF enps0f0 state up speed 10000 Mbps duplex full mac <filter>
  IP v4 <filter> type dynamic noprefixroute scope global broadcast <filter>
  IP v6 <filter> type noprefixroute scope link
  Device-5 Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet driver bnx2x v kernel pcie gen 2
    speed 5 GT/s lanes 8 port N/A bus-ID 0c:00.1 chip-ID 14e4:168e class-ID 0200
  IF enps0f1 state down mac <filter>
  Info services No services found.
  WAN IP <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1 Foxconn / Hon Hai driver btusb v 0.8 type USB rev 1.1 speed  Mb/s lanes 1 mode 1.1
    bus-ID 1-6.4:5 chip-ID 0489:e10a class-ID e001
  Report rfkill ID hci1 rfk-id 1 state down bt-service N/A rfk-block hardware no software no
    address see --recommends
  Device-2 Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver btusb v 0.8 type USB rev 2.0 speed  Mb/s lanes 1
    mode 1.1 bus-ID 3-5:3 chip-ID 8087:0029 class-ID e001
  Report ID hci0 rfk-id 0 state down bt-service N/A rfk-block hardware no software no address N/A
Logical:
  Message No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage total 3.76 TiB used 505.11 GiB (13.1%)
  SMART Message Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1 /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min 259:0 vendor Sabrent model N/A size 953.87 GiB block-size
    physical 5 B logical 5 B speed 31.6 Gb/s lanes 4 tech SSD serial <filter> fw-rev RKT303.2
    temp 31.9 C
  ID-2 /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min 259:2 vendor Sabrent model N/A size 1.86 TiB block-size
    physical 5 B logical 5 B speed 31.6 Gb/s lanes 4 tech SSD serial <filter> fw-rev RKT303.3
    temp 28.9 C
  ID-3 /dev/sda maj-min 8:0 vendor Samsung model SSD 850 EVO 1TB size 931.51 GiB block-size
    physical 5 B logical 5 B speed 6.0 Gb/s tech SSD serial <filter> fw-rev 2B6Q
  ID-4 /dev/sdb maj-min 8:16 vendor PNY model USB 3.1 FD size 57.77 GiB block-size physical 5 B
    logical 5 B type USB rev 3.2 spd 5 Gb/s lanes 1 mode 3.2 gen-1x1 tech N/A serial <filter>
    fw-rev PMAP
  Message No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1 / raw-size 919.47 GiB size 903.96 GiB (98.31%) used 505.11 GiB (55.9%) fs ext4
    block-size 4096 B dev /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min 259:10 label N/A
    uuid 869e4728-b5ce-438c-999a-b67e42f28f5b
Swap:
  Alert No swap data was found.
Unmounted:
  ID-1 /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min 259:11 size 34.4 GiB fs swap label swap
    uuid 3993a3f0-8eb9-4e25-9a73-b8de7a0a5645
  ID-2 /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min 259:4 size 100 MiB fs fat (32 bit) label N/A uuid 402C-9851
  ID-3 /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min 259:5 size 16 MiB fs N/A label N/A uuid N/A
  ID-4 /dev/nvme1n1p3 maj-min 259:6 size 1.86 TiB fs ntfs label N/A uuid D8222D97222D7B9E
  ID-5 /dev/nvme1n1p4 maj-min 259:7 size 700 MiB fs ntfs label N/A uuid 2AEC0754EC0719A9
  ID-6 /dev/sda1 maj-min 8:1 size 930.98 GiB fs ntfs label N/A uuid 02C64A50C64A43DF
  ID-7 /dev/sda2 maj-min 8:2 size 545 MiB fs ntfs label N/A uuid 782A1E242A1DDFC4
  ID-8 /dev/sdb1 maj-min 8:17 size 4.17 GiB fs N/A label MANJARO_KDE_2507
    uuid 2025-08--07-04-46-00
  ID-9 /dev/sdb2 maj-min 8:18 size 4 MiB fs N/A label MISO_EFI uuid 3EA4-A0A2
USB:
  Hub-1 1-0:1 info hi-speed hub with single TT ports 6 rev 2.0 speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes 1
    mode 2.0 chip-ID 1d6b:0002 class-ID 0900
  Device-1 1-1:2 info Integrated Express IT8297 RGB LED Controller type keyboard
    driver hid-generic,usbhid interfaces 1 rev 2.0 speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1
    power 100mA chip-ID 048d:8297 class-ID 0301
  Hub-2 1-6:3 info Genesys Logic Hub ports 4 rev 2.0 speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 2.0
    power 100mA chip-ID 05e3:0608 class-ID 0900
  Device-1 1-6.3:4 info NZXT Kraken X type HID driver nzxt-kraken2,usbhid interfaces 1 rev 2.0
    speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1 power 100mA chip-ID 1e71:170e class-ID 0300
    serial <filter>
  Device-2 1-6.4:5 info Foxconn / Hon Hai type bluetooth driver btusb interfaces 2 rev 1.1
    speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1 power 100mA chip-ID 0489:e10a class-ID e001
  Hub-3 2-0:1 info super-speed hub ports 4 rev 3.1 speed 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes 1
    mode 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID 1d6b:0003 class-ID 0900
  Hub-4 3-0:1 info hi-speed hub with single TT ports 6 rev 2.0 speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s)
    lanes 1 mode 2.0 chip-ID 1d6b:0002 class-ID 0900
  Device-1 3-2:6 info Holtek USB-HID Keyboard type keyboard,HID driver hid-generic,usbhid
    interfaces 3 rev 1.1 speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1 power 100mA chip-ID 04d9:0207
    class-ID 0300
  Device-2 3-5:3 info Intel AX200 Bluetooth type bluetooth driver btusb interfaces 2 rev 2.0
    speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1 power 100mA chip-ID 8087:0029 class-ID e001
  Hub-5 3-6:4 info Genesys Logic Hub ports 4 rev 2.0 speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 2.0
    power 100mA chip-ID 05e3:0608 class-ID 0900
  Device-1 3-6.2:5 info Logitech Unifying Receiver type keyboard,mouse,HID
    driver logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces 3 rev 2.0 speed  Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 1.1
    power 98mA chip-ID 046d:c52b class-ID 0300
  Hub-6 4-0:1 info super-speed hub ports 4 rev 3.1 speed 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes 1
    mode 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID 1d6b:0003 class-ID 0900
  Hub-7 5-0:1 info hi-speed hub with single TT ports 4 rev 2.0 speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s)
    lanes 1 mode 2.0 chip-ID 1d6b:0002 class-ID 0900
  Hub-8 6-0:1 info super-speed hub ports 4 rev 3.1 speed 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes 1
    mode 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID 1d6b:0003 class-ID 0900
  Device-1 6-4:2 info PNY USB 3.1 FD type mass storage driver usb-storage interfaces 1 rev 3.2
    speed 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes 1 mode 3.2 gen-1x1 power 896mA chip-ID 154b:00ed class-ID 0806
    serial <filter>
Sensors:
  System Temperatures cpu 37.5 C mobo N/A gpu nvidia temp 40 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm) fan-1 0
Repos:
  Packages 1441 pm pacman pkgs 1418 libs 384 tools pamac pm flatpak pkgs 23
  Active pacman repo servers in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1 https: //southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    2 https: //mnvoip.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3 https: //ohioix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    4 https: //nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    5 https: //forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    6 https: //cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    7 https: //nnenix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    8 https: //ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    9 https: //opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    10 https: //codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    11 https: //volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    12 https: //irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  Message No process data available.
Info:
  Processes 0 Power uptime 17h 0m states freeze,mem,disk suspend deep avail s2idle wakeups 0
    hibernate platform avail shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume image .46 GiB Init systemd
    v 257 default graphical tool systemctl
  Compilers gcc 15.1.1 Client systemd inxi 3.3.38

TL4 edit - formatting

I appreciate ya’lls help thus far. This is an odd one for sure.

10

Well, this system definitely has some oddities. And you should remove Packagekit.
It seems you have an ESP, but it is not mounted or detected by manjaro chroot (which explains why install grub fails.
Could it be that the live usb is made or started in bios mode? Or maybe the ESP is corrupt? We can check those things, But it still would not explain why your kernels are getting corrupted, it shouldn’t be related…in theory. Unless you installed a kernel on the corrupt esp, but that is not very probable.
You can check the Esp (100mb fat32 n1p1) for errors as next. Just to be sure. Then you can try to manually mount it. But maybe first check if in efi mode, or install-grub will make a mess (
The easiest way to find out if you are running UEFI or BIOS is to look for a folder /sys/firmware/efi . The folder will be missing if your system is using BIOS)

But still, i have no idea what is happening with the kernels.

11

This system is in UEFI mode currently. I’ve made it a habit of booting USB’s in non-UEFI mode for various reasons. I’ve rebooted the USB into UEFI successfully.

That EFI partition is attached to my Windows 11 disk. Yes - I have two windows disks (/dev/sdb is an old windows 10 system that I have been lazy to decommission). I can boot onto both systems just fine, and I did run an fsck on it

[manjaro firmware]# sudo fsck /dev/nvme1n1p1
fsck from util-linux 2.41.1
fsck.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)
/dev/nvme1n1p1: 198 files, 34450/98304 clusters

I was able to successfully mount it as well:

[manjaro firmware]# sudo fsck /dev/nvme1n1p1
fsck from util-linux 2.41.1
fsck.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)
/dev/nvme1n1p1: 198 files, 34450/98304 clusters

[manjaro mount]# mount
....
/dev/nvme1n1p1 on /run/mount type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)

(The above is missing the part where I manually mounted the ESP to /run/mount, but I promise I did it).

After I rebooted into the live environment with UEFI, I can see the /sys/firmware/efi directory. I imagine I may have unknowingly installed this original system in a not-recommended way, given your last response. I’ll chalk that up to inexperience.

I must be blind, but I’m not sure how you guys can see the ESP from the gparted screenshot. That screenshot is of the drive where manjaro lives.

Given that, any new directions?

Alternatively, would it make sense to restore this system via timeshift to get back to a working state, and collect some information that way? I don’t really mind breaking the kernels again knowing I have working backups (thank you, Timeshift!). I also don’t mind blowing this system up and starting from scratch, but it would be nice/fun to figure out what is buggering up the system update.

12

I saw the esp in the inxi (100 mb fat can only be esp), for the record. For the rest we have to wait someone else to give new ideas.

13

Translating the inxi

  • The first disk nvme0n1 a mounted partition ext4 (ID-1) and unmounted swap partition (ID-1)

  • The second disk nvme1n1 appears to contain a Windows installation (ID-2…5)

  • The third disk sda contains a single ntfs partition (ID-6)

  • The fourth disk sdb is a live ISO (ID-7,8)

Your efi partition is the Windows efi - which is located on /dev/nvme1n1p1

To be able to enter chroot which can work with your grub boot loader

You already checked the file system - no apparent errors

See → [root tip] [recovery] Basic Manjaro Linux Rescue and Recovery

First mount the root - then the $esp (do not mount on /run)

mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi

Then you can chroot into the mounted root

manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Then you attempt to fix the system

pacman -Syu
2 Likes
14

That may be part of the problem. To install Manjaro as UEFI the Installer medium (in your case Ventoy) must also boot as UEFI. See [HowTo] Create a Ventoy USB to launch Manjaro (and other) ISO’s.

It’s possible to inadvertantly create a hybrid booting system which is booting similar to MBR, but using a GPT partitioning scheme. Whether that’s the case here, I can’t say.

When installing Manjaro as UEFI using Calamares (the Manjaro installer) an $ESP is created on the Manjaro disk (usually the first partition) - yours is absent, as you have shown by way of the image you posted.

Your Windows version on nvme1n1 appears to be booting as UEFI (presumed by virtue of an $ESP being on your Windows disk). The second Windows installation (on sda) is harder to guage, but it looks like both Windows are sharing the one $ESP.

Never use fsck on an M$ NTFS file system. There is only one reliable tool for checking/repairing NTFS - Microsoft’s own tool chkdsk - from an elevated command prompt run:

chkdsk /f c:

Please see [Primer] NTFS on Linux.

Your existing $ESP (on the Windows disk) was extrapolated from the inxi output you finally gave us. As mentioned, the disk you have installed Manjaro to - the same disk as the screenshot you gave us - has no $ESP at all.

“There are none so blind as those who will not see” :wink:
A famous quote from some historical figure; maybe it was an :alien: who can say?!

Most of this was more or less informational; I’m no closer to understanding precisely what the issue is.

However;

It seems apparent there are inconsistencies with the way you have your system(s) setup. If it were me, I’d consider doing just that “starting from scratch” - it’s certainly faster.

I’ll note that if you are likely to do that anyway, it would also save a lot of potentially wasted time and effort on the part of those wishing to help.

Let us know your plans.

Regards.

15

If there is no kernel, the update might have been interrupted.
At the start of an update the kernel gets removed and it is only put back at the very end.

Just install one - in chroot you need to use pacman for that
(not mhwd-kernel - it doesn’t work in chroot for some reason).
pacman -S linux615 (for example)
mkinitcpio -P
update-grub

5 Likes
16

Just install one - in chroot you need to use pacman for that

This got me back into my system without a timeshift restore, and kdeplasma launched normally too. I installed kernel 616 which was my main kernel I was running prior (mainly because it better supports my wifi-7 card I have now). When I initially restored my system the first time, kdeplasma wasn’t launching. Now I’m back in and all seems normal. My system is fully updated to 25.0.7 as well - no issues so far.

but it looks like both Windows are sharing the one $ESP.

This sounds like what I inadvertently configured on this machine.

If it were me, I’d consider doing just that “starting from scratch” - it’s certainly faster.

I think at this point, even though I’ve got my system back up and running in a normal state, I’m going think about rebuilding this system properly. I’m not sure what happened with my previously installed kernels and why the updates were breaking them, but I’m happy I’m back in and didn’t have to resort to a timeshift restore that wasn’t in a good state. I was worried this was unrecoverable.

If there’s anything that you guys think is worth collecting from the recovered system, I can do that now in case there’s anything to glean from the peculiar situation. Hell, I’d even be willing to go back if you guys think it has any merit, knowing I have a path to recovery. Otherwise, I can solve this thread out.

Thank you guys again for the valued input, and I appreciate the helpful tips along the way.

17

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The size of the $ESP that Windows creates (only 100 MB) is a potential bottleneck, however, when sharing it between multiple operating systems.

Manjaro creates a 300 MB $ESP by default; something strangely missing from your Manjaro disk.

I dare say, nothing overly useful at this stage. :wink:

When you do eventually decide to start from scratch, this might be useful; note in particular points made about disconnecting unused disks temporarily while installing each OS.

I’ve taken the liberty of assigning the solution mark for you. Naturally, if you disagree with my choice, you can change it.

Regards.

1 Like
18

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