Live USB updated kernel will not boot

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BV206
Posts: 597
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:55 am

Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#1 Post by BV206 »

I made a MX 23.6 Xfce persistent live USB (UEFI mode) a couple months ago. Right after I made it I enabled ahs repo, installed the latest lquorix kernel (the 6.1 kernel is still there), remastered, updated the kernel, rebooted and it was fine until now.

Today I installed the 6.16 liquorix kernel on the live USB, remastered, updated the kernel, and it won't boot past the grub menu.

The top grub menu choice and check integrity of live media just cause a reboot.
The boot rescue menus work with the hard drive but not the live USB.

I booted another MX USB and tried to roll back the kernel but it says "no linuxfs file found" even though there is a linuxfs and linuxfs.new.

Is there a way to fix this?
The /Live-usb/antiX folder has:

Code: Select all

drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Jul 26 12:17 state/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Jul 26 12:17 state.new/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   37 Jul 22 11:13 bios-dev-uuid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.0G Sep 14 12:38 homefs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15M Jul 16 09:14 initrd.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   44 Jul 16 09:14 initrd.gz.md5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Jan  7  2025 .keep
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.4G Sep  9 15:50 linuxfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   30 Sep 14 12:37 linuxfs.info
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   42 Sep  9 15:50 linuxfs.md5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   42 Sep 14 12:37 linuxfs.md5.new
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.9G Sep 14 12:37 linuxfs.new
-rw------- 1 root root  512 Sep 14 12:31 random-seed
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.0G Sep 14 12:38 rootfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.9M Jul 16 09:14 vmlinuz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   42 Jul 16 09:14 vmlinuz.md5

User avatar
fehlix
Developer
Posts: 12937
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:09 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#2 Post by fehlix »

I'd try first rollback bootparameter which you could select within the Advanced boot options menu further down.

User avatar
dolphin_oracle
Developer
Posts: 22775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#3 Post by dolphin_oracle »

I don't think its anything particular to the 6.16 kernel. I do have a working snapshot with that kernel, although I guess Ihaven't gone through a straight remaster with it.
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.
Live system help document: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-antix-live-usb-system/

User avatar
dolphin_oracle
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Posts: 22775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#4 Post by dolphin_oracle »

from the looks of the file system, I'm not sure the rollback option will work, as linux.old does not exist, and won't until the first reboot after a remaster.

possibly, possibly, you could rename linuxfs linuxfs.old, and linuxfs.new linuxfs, then try booting.

I am setting up a test run just to make sure there isn’t something up with that 6.16 kernel.
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.
Live system help document: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-antix-live-usb-system/

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m_pav
Developer
Posts: 1909
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 3:02 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#5 Post by m_pav »

You can try running MX Boot repair from a working system with the Live USB plugged in and select it when asked. I have repaired one of my Live USB's using this method in the past, though I can not remember exactly what the issue was with the boot error I needed to fix.
Mike P

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BV206
Posts: 597
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:55 am

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#6 Post by BV206 »

dolphin_oracle wrote: Sun Sep 14, 2025 4:19 pm possibly, possibly, you could rename linuxfs linuxfs.old, and linuxfs.new linuxfs, then try booting.
I just tried that and the same thing happens so I changed back to the original names.


Something else I just noticed is when I made the live USB I encrypted it and the boot menu choices don't even get far enough to ask for the password. Usually when you remaster it asks for the password at the stage before copying the files and asking for root an home sizes.

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dolphin_oracle
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Posts: 22775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#7 Post by dolphin_oracle »

you can use live-kernel-updater to update the kernel on a target device, so perhaps you can roll the kernel back. check out "live-kernel-updater --help" for info on the -d switch
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.
Live system help document: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-antix-live-usb-system/

BV206
Posts: 597
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:55 am

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#8 Post by BV206 »

dolphin_oracle wrote: Sun Sep 14, 2025 6:01 pm you can use live-kernel-updater to update the kernel on a target device, so perhaps you can roll the kernel back. check out "live-kernel-updater --help" for info on the -d switch
That doesn't work.
Here is the lsblk and live-kernel-updater results. I tried it with the GUI and it says it can't find anything on sdb. Then I tried the command line live-kernel-updater -d on all the sdb partitions.

Code: Select all

demo@mx1:~
$ lsblk
NAME                                          MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0                                           7:0    0   2.2G  1 loop /live/linux
sda                                             8:0    1 114.6G  0 disk 
├─sda1                                          8:1    1  90.6G  0 part 
│ ├─ventoy                                    254:0    0   2.2G  1 dm   /live/boot-dev
│ └─sda1                                      254:1    0  90.6G  0 dm   
├─sda2                                          8:2    1    32M  0 part 
└─sda3                                          8:3    1   954M  0 part /media/demo/zzz
sdb                                             8:0    1 114.6G  0 disk  
├─sdb1                                          8:1    1   149M  0 part  /media/demo/MX-LUSB
├─sdb2                                          8:2    1    32G  0 part  
│ └─luks-fb54477d-d486-469d-83b8-0981ec06befd 252:1    0    32G  0 crypt /media/demo/Live-usb
├─sdb3                                          8:3    1    49M  0 part  
└─sdb4                                          8:4    1    50G  0 part  
  └─luks-52d43163-f7d9-4d03-82c2-cb66525745ed 252:2    0    50G  0 crypt /media/demo/BACKUP
sr0                                            11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
nvme0n1                                       259:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─nvme0n1p1                                   259:1    0   243M  0 part 
├─nvme0n1p2                                   259:2    0   977M  0 part 
├─nvme0n1p3                                   259:3    0 200.6G  0 part 
└─nvme0n1p4                                   259:4    0   200G  0 part 


[sudo] password for demo:     
LIVE_MP is /live/boot-dev
===============================================================================
Starting live-kernel-updater
===============================================================================

Please select the system to update                                                                   
  > sda     114.6G USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1
  = sdb     114.6G USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1
 Press <Enter> to select the highlighted entry

Use 'h' for help, 'r' to redraw, 'q' to quit                                                         

Will use live-usb device /dev/sdb1
Error: No linuxfs file found in any directory in /run/live-kernel-updater/usb
Paused at Exit
Press <Enter> to continue


demo@mx1:~
$ sudo live-kernel-updater -d /dev/sdb
LIVE_MP is /live/boot-dev
===============================================================================
Starting live-kernel-updater
===============================================================================
Will use live-usb device /dev/sdb1
Error: No linuxfs file found in any directory in /run/live-kernel-updater/usb


demo@mx1:~
$ sudo live-kernel-updater -d /dev/sdb1
LIVE_MP is /live/boot-dev
===============================================================================
Starting live-kernel-updater
===============================================================================
Will use live-usb device /dev/sdb1
Error: No linuxfs file found in any directory in /run/live-kernel-updater/usb


demo@mx1:~
$ sudo live-kernel-updater -d /dev/sdb2
LIVE_MP is /live/boot-dev
===============================================================================
Starting live-kernel-updater
===============================================================================
Error: Could not mount /dev/sdb2 at /run/live-kernel-updater/usb


demo@mx1:~
$ sudo live-kernel-updater -d /dev/sdb3
LIVE_MP is /live/boot-dev
===============================================================================
Starting live-kernel-updater
===============================================================================
Will use live-usb device /dev/sdb3
Error: No linuxfs file found in any directory in /run/live-kernel-updater/usb
Last edited by BV206 on Sun Sep 14, 2025 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BV206
Posts: 597
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 10:55 am

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#9 Post by BV206 »

When I made the live usb I changed the default volume label and also saved some space on it for another partition. I don't think that can break remastering because I did that a few years ago and had no problems.

User avatar
Stevo
Developer
Posts: 14888
Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:07 pm

Re: Live USB updated kernel will not boot

#10 Post by Stevo »

There is also the question of where and why you got the 6.16 kernel, since we still have it in ahs-staging until we can make sure most dkms packages will build with it. I think we are just about there, though.
MXPI = MX Package Installer
QSI = Quick System Info from menu
The MX Test repository is mostly backports; not the same as Debian testing

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