(SOLVED) external usb drive errors

s-rod · 2017-08-11 15:22:01

New install of Debian 9.1. With no external usb drive attached the pc boots fine. Once the system is up the external drive can be plugged in and shows as /dev/sdb. If I try to boot the pc with the external drive attached I get dropped to an "initramfs" prompt.

Lines preceeding the prompt are
/dev/sda1: clean
mount: mounting /dev/ on /root/dev/ failed: no such file or directory
run-init: opening console: no such file or directory.
No init found. Try Passing init= bootarg.

After this error I booted with a live dvd (with the external drive attached). This time the external drive was /dev/sda with the internal drive being /dev/sdb. Fstab uses UUID to mount / and swap. Gparted was used to check both sda and sdb. The fsck did not resolve the issue.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting a fix so I can boot with the external drive attached?

Last edited by s-rod (2017-08-11 20:07:40)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-11 16:11:10

Please post the full content of /boot/grub/grub.cfg & /etc/fstab and the output of:

sudo blkid

(with the USB drive attached)

s-rod · 2017-08-11 17:47:52

On another reboot I noticed an error message, that did not affect the normal boot up.

A tpm error (7) occurred attempting to read a pcr value

This lead me to look at the BIOS settings. For the external drive I was using a usb3 PCIx1 card. Under the BIOS security settings - I found that "Slot Security" had been enabled - disabling it resolved the issue.

s-rod · 2017-08-11 19:14:59

Spoke too soon. The bios setting I changed, actually disabled the slot completely - no external usb.

boot/grub/grub.cfg

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=30
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=menu
    set timeout=5
  # Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  else
    set timeout=5
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
	set gfxpayload="${1}"
}
set linux_gfx_mode=
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda1 ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa' {
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.0-3-amd64-advanced-623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda1 ro  quiet
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64
	}
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.0-3-amd64-recovery-623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda1 ro single 
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

/etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=a2b4c11b-a5ed-46ef-8191-a22b29b99258 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0

blkid

/dev/sda1: UUID="623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="69dce16f-01"
/dev/sda5: UUID="a2b4c11b-a5ed-46ef-8191-a22b29b99258" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="69dce16f-05"

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-11 19:26:07

s-rod wrote:

boot/grub/grub.cfg

menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa' {
	[...]
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda1 ro  quiet

I think that is your problem — the kernel is being instructed to find the root filesystem on /dev/sda1 but that has been assigned to your USB drive instead of your internal drive.

Test this theory by adding a stanza to /etc/grub.d/40_custom (*do not* overwrite the file, just add this to the end):

menuentry 'Debian (PARTUUID)' {
    set root=(hd0,msdos1)
    linux /vmlinuz root=PARTUUID=69dce16f-01 ro  quiet
    initrd /initrd.img
}

Once the file is saved, use this command to update grub.cfg:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub/cfg

If that doesn't work, try root=UUID=623e1cac-3eba-4278-8208-149d2a8186fa instead (the PARTUUID stays the same if the partition is re-formatted and so should probably be preferred).

EDIT: changed 40_custom to point to /vmlinuz & /initrd.img rather than the numbered images in /boot

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-08-11 19:29:58)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-11 19:40:52

Thinking about this, /etc/default/grub has an option to use UUIDs so you should probably do that.

Looks like you have to set GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID to "false", see https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manua … figuration

@others, please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't trust `grub-mkconfig` enough to use it myself...

s-rod · 2017-08-11 20:07:15

Appending /boot/grub.d/40_custom as directed worked.

To test second solution I went back to orginal 40_custom file and updated grub. Setting GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID to false also worked.

I never cease to be amazed by the wealth of knowledge there is on this forum - THANKS

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-11 20:09:07

You're welcome, glad you got it working

DeepDayze · 2017-08-12 00:35:11

UUID's are very useful as when you set these UUID's in fstab kernel will look for the partition identified by that UUID rather than for a specific device. This makes it easy as partitions can and will change assignment order as devices are assigned in the order they are found.

damo · 2017-08-12 06:40:24

^ Don't forget though, that installing another distro on a separate partition may overwrite the swap UUID, so check that the swap in every fstab is matching.

#1 2017-08-11 15:22:01

(SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#2 2017-08-11 16:11:10

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#3 2017-08-11 17:47:52

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#4 2017-08-11 19:14:59

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#5 2017-08-11 19:26:07

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#6 2017-08-11 19:40:52

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#7 2017-08-11 20:07:15

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#8 2017-08-11 20:09:07

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#9 2017-08-12 00:35:11

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

#10 2017-08-12 06:40:24

Re: (SOLVED) external usb drive errors

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