[arch-general] Can't boot, root device not found

[Jayesh Badwaik]

On Sunday 18 Mar 2012 23:58:59 Josh Silard wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> I recently performed an update of udev and my kernel and after this I am
> unable to boot the normal kernel or the fallback. When I try I get this
> error:
> 
> ERROR: Unable to find root device
> '/dev/disk/by-uid/03619a2f-908f-4724-ba4b-1fb3985e382b'
> You are being dropped to a recovery shell
> Type 'exit' to try and continue booting
> sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
> 
> Typing exit results in me dropping to another shell and if done repeatedly
> a kernel panic. I attempted to boot via the grub console using the sda
> device block but I came up with the same error. When I look in /dev through
> the recovery console that comes up the sda* blocks aren't present.
> 
> I need to know if there is a way to do this without entirely reformatting
> my system, I also don't have easy access to another computer but I have an
> android phone. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Josh

This appears to be a problem in initramfs. Do you remember configuring hooks 
for mkinitcpio?  

Take an ArchLinux Installer CD and boot into it. Configure network using aif -p 
partial-configure-network. Mount your original system partitions as fgr as 
described. 

mkdir /mnt/lx
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/lx
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/lx/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/lx/dev
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/lx/sys
chroot /mnt/lx/ /bin/zsh
grub-install /dev/sda [--recheck]


Now, edit the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file and make sure the followings hooks 
appear in the proper order. 

HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems "

Regenerate the initramfs using the command
mkinitcpio -p linux

Try booting again 
-- 
Jayesh Badwaik