Initdr problems

Rafael

I made a update in the system, and see that initdr dont updated, because of some problem.
I rebooted, but the system dont start.
Can someone help me?

https://paste.ee/p/7jCRJcNS (Pacman log)

ATUALIZATION:

I Can mount my Kaos System, and made a partial update do Initdr.
Aparently, I have lass space, in /boot, to perform a complete update.
My /boot is just 100mb.

demm

Rafael My /boot is just 100mb.

You have a Windows install too? Seems that is default setting for Microsoft, so there is not enough room to actually add another OS to boot from.
Since you can still chroot, while in the chroot, remove the fallback kernel image sudo rm /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
Then re-install the kernel to have dracut generate the needed initramfs-linux.img

See your log:

[2025-05-28T06:42:28-0300] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] dracut[I]: *** Creating image file '/boot/initramfs-linux.img.tmp' ***
[2025-05-28T06:42:31-0300] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] cp: error writing '/boot/initramfs-linux.img.tmp': No space left on device
[2025-05-28T06:42:31-0300] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] dracut[F]: Creation of /boot/initramfs-linux.img.tmp failed

Rafael

I, demm, thanks for your return.

Yes, I have a Windows, and a Biglinux install, too.
Windows came pre-installed, so probably it made my /boot so small, and I didnt know that it will need more space.

I tried your sugestion, but the re-install need even more space; I can't finish the processo to re-install (mkinitcio -P, isn't?), but the system booted, after all.

Now, I'm trying to expand this /boot, whitout sucess.

demm

To re-create the kernel .img, just re-install the kernel:

sudo pacman -S linux

mkintcpio is not used here for normal install, dracut is.

Can you list how space you have left? df -h /dev/sda1 (or whatever partition /boot is on). Make sure to really check the log, dracut will first create the linux .img, then it will create the linux-fallback, which will certainly fail with 100 Mb /boot and 3 OS. If it only fails on the fallback .img, you will be able to boot fine with the regular boot entry. There is a good change, that the first part of the dracut output will show a successful .img creation.

Rafael

Hi, demm, sorry for the delay.
Here’s the output of the df -h command:

Sist. Arq. Tam. Usado Disp. Uso% Montado em
/dev/nvme0n1p1 96M 85M 12M 89% /boot

I tried deleting the initramfs from /boot, but it still seems there isn’t enough free space to complete the pacman -S linux command.
It runs until it fails due to lack of space.
Even so, the system is still booting.

demm

Are you sure the main initramfs-linux.img is not created after removing the fallback.img? Seems it did create the former fine (if the system boots again), the fail you see now is most probably on the second, fallback .img creation.

But all speculation, without the full log from the pacman -S linux command. Also helps to actually see what files are now in /boot: ls -l /boot

Rafael

[root@rafael-sei rafael]# ls -l /boot
total 51538
drwx------ 9 root root 1024 mai 31 16:54 EFI
-rwx------ 1 root root 31772561 mai 31 16:57 initramfs-linux.img
drwx------ 3 root root 1024 mai 30 13:18 loader
-rwx------ 1 root root 282 abr 30 18:09 refind_linux.conf
drwx------ 2 root root 1024 mar 25 05:32 syslinux
drwx------ 2 root root 1024 ago 22 2023 'System Volume Information'
-rwx------ 1 root root 20997120 mai 22 12:21 vmlinuz-linux

And, here, the Log:
https://paste.ee/p/ngr36lKm

demm

As expected, the creation of initramfs-linux.img is successful, it fails on the fallback .img.

But, I was in a similar situation, only 100 Mb for /boot on a Windows laptop. Since I have not used Windows on that system in 7+ years, I used one of the Windows backup partitions and use that now for /boot. Just formatted that partition to fat32 & adjusted /etc/fstab to point to the UUID of that new partition for /boot.

Rafael

demm, I tryed something like this, but it's probably away of my "tech powers"...

My boot is coordinate for another linux distribution (BigLinux); so, I need, first, change that control to Kaos, and, later, change my /boot, like your suggestion.

Can you help me whit that? How can I change what linux distribution is "in charge"?

After all, the system is alive, so... is not a rush, anymore. Thank for your help.

demm

If BigLinux uses grub as bootloader, then it is nowhere near as simple, you can't just copy the needed boot .img files from the old /boot partition to the new and have grub pick that up, my instructions were for the (the much simpler to use) systemd boot.
So I need to know, is it using grub? systemd-boot? refind?

Rafael

efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0004,0006,0008,0001,0002,0003,0005
Boot0000* BigLinux      HD(1,GPT,7dd7339a-e9a9-4791-ad03-0fa403ff9749,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\BIGLINUX\GRUBX64.EFI
Boot0001* UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell      VenMedia(5023b95c-db26-429b-a648-bd47664c8012)0000424f
Boot0002  debian        VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0003  ubuntu        VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,7dd7339a-e9a9-4791-ad03-0fa403ff9749,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000052000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0005  rEFInd Boot Manager   VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot0006* Linux Boot Manager    HD(1,GPT,7dd7339a-e9a9-4791-ad03-0fa403ff9749,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\SYSTEMD\SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI
Boot0008* Windows Boot Manager  HD(9,GPT,aefb4afc-f540-4945-9d31-82c42481caa6,0x32800,0x96000)/\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI0000424f

(= Grub?)

demm

Efibootmgr shows 5 Boot ID's as boot options, might be GRUB, no idea what VenMedia is.