[arch-general] unable to boot up

[Martín Cigorraga]

On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 7:24 AM, Tom Rand <tom at tomsbox.co.uk> wrote:

> the initial issue was caused by systemd trying to load cdemu kernel module
> which was removed by vmware!
> once i removed the .conf file from /etc/modules.d/ normality crept back BUT
>  my nic was not being initialised as the r8169 was refusing to load.
> I then assumed most of my modules were corrupted some how hence why they
> were failing to load (even modprobe was failing), a possibility that me
> running vmware-modconfig [...] as stated in my initial post caused this
> but i have no way to disprove or prove this but i resolved this by
> re-installing the kernel & headers.
>
> thanks for time taken in reading this.
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 01, 2012 at 03:31:13PM +0200, Thomas Rand wrote:
> > Hey Archers,
> > my issue begins with me trying to patch vmware for 3.6.3-1-arch
> > I tried using vmware & this told me the modules were not present for
> > 3.6.3 so I went to grab latest from AUR (vmware-patch), the comments
> > on there suggested that the ones for 3.5.x still worked but needed to
> > be rebuilt.
> >
> > so I read these instructions:
> > https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/VM … stallation
> >
> > I noticed that in the finishing up section it gave a warning that if I
> > update the kernel need too issue the following:
> >
> > vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
> >
> > so I ran this & tried to run vmplayer
> > this opened but crashed as soon as i tried to play a VM, I then
> > decided that as I had not used it for some time I would just remove
> > it:
> >
> > vmware-installer --uninstall-product vmware-player
> >
> > this finished & so I ran:
> >
> > pacman -R vmware-patch
> >
> > all was ok (so I thought) a while later I had to reboot to do
> > something in my win7 install (non volatile) upon completing I rebooted
> > back to arch & now my install refuses to boot & I see:
> >
> > Failed to start load Kernel Modules [FAILED] see 'systemctl status
> > systemd-modules-load.service' for details
> >
> > obviously systemd fall's over & offers to enter password or control-D
> > to continue
> >
> > well the system refuses to go any further & locks up totally (no
> > flashing kbd lights like a panic though!)
> > the exact same happens when I boot the fallback kernel
> >
> > I can chroot into it using the old media (CORE 2011.08.19) which is
> > the most recent I have, whilst chrooted in I thought perhaps the old
> > vmware modules did not get removed correctly so I blacklisted them in:
> >
> > /etc/modprobe.d/vmware.conf
> >
> > blacklist vmmon
> > [...]
> >
> > I have managed to get into the system using the following boot parameter:
> >
> > systemd.unit=rescue.target
> >
> > I then ran:
> >
> > systemctl status systemd-modules-load.service
> >
> > this provided the default message about the service not starting but
> > no reason why or what caused it to fail
> >
> > So any advice or way forward would be appreciated as I am totally lost
> > & have googled everything I can think of which may help but this is
> > the first time I have b0rk3d the modules & am lost as to what to do.
> >
> > --
> > Regards
> > Thomas Rand
>

Good to know, I use VMware on one install, thanks for posting this :)