pacman -Qi ethtool
and
pacman -Qi nvme-cli
You have a ton of packages not from the repo (quite a few used to be in, but had been removed, some well over a year ago), are any of those kernel modules? Make sure to rebuild those.

OK Demm,
I have deleted/removed a load of the extraneous packages, stopped all systemd processes (where possible) at boot, tried a clean desktop, ran disk checks, etc,etc. Tried many things and MANY reboots to 5.7.0-1. All hang. Removing "quiet" from command line shows boot stopping at "update UTMP about system Boot/Shutdown" otherwise it shows "reached cleanup hook".
I have rerun mkinitcpio producing no difference.
It may well be video related as the boot text changes to small immediately on starting 5.6 but stays at large on 5.7 where it hangs.
I will find time to install the new ISO on another disk and try that in due course and update you.
Many thanks for your input.

No need to try the ISO, if the extra packages are not kernel modules (and now removed), it clearly is just the new kernel and your hardware (test ISO still has 5.6 on it).
So far no idea yet were the bug is, nor have I seen any related bug reports (similar to what you report).
Linux-next 5.7.1 is about to move to core, 5.7.2 is in build, maybe the fix is already in.....

SUCCESS Demm.
Changed the "/boot/loader/entries/XXX" by removing the " / "in the linux and initrd entries as suggested in some "archlinux posts regarding 5.7.0 "and then rerunning "bootctl update".
Removing the " /" on its own made no difference.
Thanks for the help, happy now.:

EDIT.
It wasn't the "/" that made the difference it must have been "bootctl update". The boot screen text is very small now. I attached a new large screen 3 or 4 months ago so perhaps that what it was hanging on.

EDIT-2.
Scrub all that nonsense. IT WAS "disable CSM Support" in the BIOS that prevents it from loading.

  • demm replied to this.

    I see a lot of issues being reported about linux 5.7 the last 2 days, wonder why so few are hit with it in KaOS so far (yes, active KaOS users do use linux-next 🙂, they report in IRC very often).
    Good to know what fixed your issue.

    5 days later

    nezzie Scrub all that nonsense. IT WAS "disable CSM Support" in the BIOS that prevents it from loading.

    Linux-next moved to 5.7.3, with new intel-ucode, if you have a change, please test again sometime with CSM support disabled and report back if boot still fails then.

      Well I've now tried and there is no difference in the booting.
      If "CSM Support=Yes" it locks up, if nomodeset is on the commandline then it boots completely to a black screen and then the monitor produces a message that it fails to receive to a signal.
      If "CSM Support=No" It boots and operates with no trouble at all, apart from minuscule text on the systemd menu being almost unreadable.

      I hope you don't mind to keep trying with each linux-next update, since this is a blocker for 5.7 to ever be used as stable kernel.

      No trouble Demm. Just wish one could specify a screen resolution in systemd boot.
      I don't know if the efi stub takes its screen size from the one attached so my next effort is
      going to try connecting a smaller monitor and then reinstalling the efi and then swapping monitors back.

      • demm replied to this.

        nezzie specify a screen resolution in systemd boot.

        yes you can, see https://jlk.fjfi.cvut.cz/arch/manpages/man/loader.conf.5 for all options, example there:

        max

Pick the highest-numbered available mode

        I have /boot/loader/loader.conf set to console-mode auto.
        Pretty sure you can try settings first in the bootloader menu, type h to see all options there.

          Thanks bit I've tried all options there with little joy. Will persevere though.