[Solved] System not booting correctly

[Stuarte]

Hi,

Since my last full install of Debian Bookworm, I have had a small problem with accessing /dev/sda7 which is my /usr partition. Somehow, this partition was mounted on /media/stuart/_usr instead of /usr as it should have been. This meant that at every boot up I had to supply my password in order to access the partition. I got fed up with this and, using KDE Partition Manager, I edited the mount point for /dev/sda7 so that it should have mounted on /usr. What I had not realised was that /etc/fstab used UUID codes for the various partitions. This UUID code for /dev/sda7 was then lost. When the system boots, it displays the following at the start of the boot text.

[ ... ] systemd[1]: Failed to find module 'autofs4'
[UNSUPP] Starting of proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.automount - Arbitrary File Formats File System Automount Point Unsupported


Steps I have taken

I booted into recovery mode.
I used "blkid" to recover the uuid of/dev/sda7 (/usr).
Using Vi, I manually edited /etc/fstab to re-enter the the details for /dev/sda7, using spaces between the various fields. I based the layout of this entry on those for the other partitions already listed in the file.

The result of the above is that the system is still not booting to the password/login screen.

The only entry in /etc/fstab that has a different format from the other entries therein is that for the optical drive /dev/sr0 which has the following form.

Code: Select all

/dev/sr0                               /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660             0 0

Could this be the cause of the above noted failure ?
It can be clearly seen that this entry does not use a UUID code. Also, when I used "blkid" this did not produce any details at all for /dev/sr0.

I just noticed that on webpage https://askubuntu.com/questions/154180/ ... e%20end%3A
user MahendraUnlimited states that "Please note, UUID is used only when Disk is GPT. Incase of MBR Disk, use /dev/sdaX ." However, I am using an MSDOS-based partition setup which also uses UUID codes for the various partitions.

I know that I should show the current contents of /etc/fstab. However, that is not an option at this time. This posting was generated using a computer in the local library.

Stuart

[arzgi]

/dev/sr0 is a drive, not a partition, that is why it has no UUID.

Your fstab should contain only UUIDs, I am not an expert, but I would say that your 'sda7' gets mounted to /media as it could not be parsed from fstab.

Code: Select all

#
# systemd generates mount units based on this file, see systemd.mount(5).
# Please run 'systemctl daemon-reload' after making changes here.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=d4bbc22d-897b-4ba9-9786-2cb09f64cf1e /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=3E35-20AB  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
# /home was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=cd71ca5b-8af3-46ad-bbed-be2dbd841217 /home           ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=7de46528-9321-4fc0-8b7d-9ab48bb6e2f5 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0

[dilberts_left_nut]

MahendraUnlimited is a moron.
You can use UUID or Label or /dev/sdX (although X may be assigned different on different boots, so one of the persistent names is preferred).

What happens if you comment it out, so /dev/sda7 doesn't get mounted?

[Stuarte]

Hi,

@argzi : Thanks for such a very(!!) swift reply. The form of the entries in the specimen /etc/fstab that you supplied are almost identical to the entries in my /etc/fstab, except of course for the actual values of the UUID codes which as would be expexted are different.

/dev/sr0 is a drive, not a partition, that is why it has no UUID.

So, UUIDs apply strictly to partitions only, or to other thing as well ?

@dilberts_left_nut : Thanks for such a very(!!) swift reply. When the entry in /etc/fstab for /dev/sda7 is commented out, the system boots to the password/login screen. At this point the system recognises/responds to neither input by the mouse nor entry to the password text entry box. After about half a minute, the system appears to enter screen lock mode. With the system no longer responding to the mouse, the only way of getting back to recovery mode is to crash out by pressing and holding the power button, and then doing another cold boot.

Stuart

[dilberts_left_nut]

But no complaints about missing /usr ... ?
I don't think /dev/sda7 is your current /usr

Somehow, this partition was mounted on /media/stuart/_usr instead of /usr as it should have been.

Probably you should elaborate on this.
What did you do before this happened?

[Stuarte]

Hi,

@dilberts_left_nut : Thanks for another swift reply.

But no complaints about missing /usr ... ?

No, not even one.

I don't think /dev/sda7 is your current /usr

It was, until I commented it out in /etc/fstab.

Probably you should elaborate on this.
What did you do before this happened?

I performed a clean install, manually setting up partitions. The mount points for the partitions were chosen from a drop down list so it was not possible to supply an incorrect partition mount point "name". Also pertinent is that I used KDE Partition Manager to change the mount point for/dev/sda7 from /media/stuart/_usr to /usr. That, I believe, is when the UUID for /dev/sda7 was temporarily lost.

Stuart

[dilberts_left_nut]

So with it NOT mounted, look in /usr
I bet you will find all the usual suspects.

[Stuarte]

Hi,

UPDATE: I was able to boot the system to the desktop using the previous kernel. Having done so, the system received a software update notification. Lo and behold, this centred on a kernel update. This was duly installed and the system rebooted to activate the new kernel. Result: Problem solved/sidestepped(?). Anyway, I'm now back to a working system. Thanks to all who replied/helped. It is much appreciated.

Stuart

[dilberts_left_nut]

With or without /dev/sda7 mounted on /usr?