[PROBLEM] Xbian doesn't boot

[Antonio]

Hi everyone,

I have a problem with my RPi3. Two days ago, I had a electric problem in my home (we had a blackout) and since then my RPi doesn't boot.

I detail what I've try:

- From other RPi I've checked the filesystem with this steps (http://forum.xbian.org/thread-3557-page-2.html) and it says me that there isn't problems in the file system:

Code:

xbian@xbian ~ $ sudo btrfsck /dev/sda2
Opening filesystem to check...
Checking filesystem on /dev/sda2
UUID: 0c0e5a6b-9df5-4731-9ac7-50fa8a432ae7
[1/7] checking root items
[2/7] checking extents
[3/7] checking free space cache
[4/7] checking fs roots
[5/7] checking only csums items (without verifying data)
[6/7] checking root refs
[7/7] checking quota groups skipped (not enabled on this FS)
found 11490336768 bytes used, no error found
total csum bytes: 10977548
total tree bytes: 210714624
total fs tree bytes: 184729600
total extent tree bytes: 11288576
btree space waste bytes: 42859573
file data blocks allocated: 15133605888
referenced 16848740352

- From the other RPi I can see my old files in /dev/sda2 and they seems corrects

- I've modified config.txt file and I've uncomment the line "initramfs initramfs.gz followkernel". After that, when I boot the RPi I can see the loading screen but after "Network started" message it doesn't anything. Neither I can access through SSH or Telnet

- I've modified cmdline.txt with "loglevel=2" but I can't find logfile in anywhere. The rest of my cmdline.txt file is this:

Code:

telnet zswap.enabled=1 zswap.compressor=lz4 console=tty1 partswap root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootflags=subvol=root/@,autodefrag,compress=lzo rootfstype=btrfs rootwait logo.nologo quiet noswap loglevel=2 startevent=mountall selinux=0 splash nohdparm net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0 --startup-event mountall

- I can't access to recovery pressing the Shift key.

- My SD is a Sandisk 64GB.

Could you help me?

Thank you in advance!

[Nachteule]

You could do two things:

1) remove splash parameter from /boot/cmdline.txt (or change it to nosplash)

2) add rescue to /boot/cmdline.txt, this forces Pi to enter rescue mode (enabled initramfs required oc)

See http://wiki.xbian.org/doku.php/cmdline

[Antonio]

Hi! Thank you for your help!

I've switch on my RPi without splash option and I can see start information but I don't see what is the problem:



I can access to rescue mode with "rescue" option but I don't know what can I do here. I've checked that the rootfs contains the xbian files. I don't find my home directory but I think that this is normal.



Any ideas??

[Nachteule]

Ok, you can enter into rescue mode, thats good.

Unfortunately you can not do so much there, but what you could do is

1) run rch to chroot into your normal system. so, you can check if your home is mounted (it should)
2) you can mount root fs as follows and enter into root subvol folder:

Terminal

'reb' to unmount all filesystems, sync writes and reboot
'rum' to unmount all filesystems
'rch' to chroot into your XBian installation in /rootfs

/ # mount /dev/root /mnt
/ # cd /mnt
/mnt # cd root
/mnt/root # ls -la
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 348 May 18 10:41 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 52 Apr 14 11:43 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 May 16 11:12 @
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 May 16 11:12 @btrfs-auto-snap_apt-run-2020-05-17-2323
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 May 16 11:12 @btrfs-auto-snap_daily-2020-05-18-1240
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 Apr 25 18:28 @btrfs-auto-snap_monthly-2020-04-26-2014
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 May 16 11:12 @btrfs-auto-snsnapap_weekly-2020-05-18-1241
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 May 16 11:12 @last_good_known
/mnt/root #

Then you could try to activate older snapshot (hopefully you have them) by

Terminal

mv @ @-bad
mv @btrfs-auto-snsnapap_weekly-2020-05-18-1241 @
sync
reb

Those commands moves away broken root subvol (@), activates a weekly done snapshot (@btrfs-auto-snsnapap_weekly-2020-05-18-1241), stores everything on disk and reboots

Of course you can do the same with home subvol, just cd home instead of cd root

and last but not least

3) you can test the network by issuing commands described in the intro text

[Antonio]

Hi!

When I do this I can't see my home directory:

Terminal

/ # rch
root@xbian:/# ls
bin core etc lib mnt proc run selinux srv sys usr xbmc-backup
boot dev home media opt root sbin snap storage tmp var
root@xbian:/# ls /home
root@xbian:/# ls -a /home
. ..

Using the steps that you told me I can see home directory in /mnt/home/@/xbian:

Terminal

/ # mount /dev/root /mnt
/ # cd /mnt/
/mnt # ls
data home modules root
/mnt # ls home/@
rslsync xbian
/mnt # ls home/@/xbian
EmulationStation connectwiimote.sh mail
[...]

I've tried to change the snapshots of root and home directory but the result is the same

Terminal

/mnt # cd home
/mnt/home # mv @ @error_20200520
/mnt/home # mv @btrfs-auto-snap_weekly-2020-05-16-0959 @
/mnt/home # ls -l @
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 999 999 54 Sep 5 2019 rslsync
drwxr-xr-x 1 1000 1000 1428 May 16 2020 xbian
/mnt/home # sync
/mnt/home # reb

After reboot I run 'rch' but the result is the same and the RPi doesn't boot:

Terminal

/ # rch
root@xbian:/# ls /home
root@xbian:/# ls -a /home
. ..

Thank you in advance!

[Nachteule]

Have you tested network? (see my point 3))
Do you have spare sd card for trying new image? To make sure that Pi is ok

Otherwise I have no idea what this could be at the moment. I never had the booting stop in the middle of it and I have no idea what could be the reason for it

[Antonio]

Quote:Have you tested network? (see my point 3))
Do you have spare sd card for trying new image? To make sure that Pi is ok

Yes. I didn't say it. I can access via telnet to RPi with the "broken" SD card. Also, I've tried with other SD and Kodi starts correctly.

Quote:Otherwise I have no idea what this could be at the moment. I never had the booting stop in the middle of it and I have no idea what could be the reason for it

Ok! Thank you for you help! I wanted to learn about BTRFS and try to fix this. I'll investigate a bit more for a solution.

[Nachteule]

(20th May, 2020 11:20 PM)Antonio Wrote:  

Quote:Have you tested network? (see my point 3))
Do you have spare sd card for trying new image? To make sure that Pi is ok

Yes. I didn't say it. I can access via telnet to RPi with the "broken" SD card. Also, I've tried with other SD and Kodi starts correctly.

Quote:Otherwise I have no idea what this could be at the moment. I never had the booting stop in the middle of it and I have no idea what could be the reason for it

Ok! Thank you for you help! I wanted to learn about BTRFS and try to fix this. I'll investigate a bit more for a solution.

Hmmm, ok. So I was wondering how you make the screen shots. now I khow it

And for the future, please make system backup (via xbian-config GUI->Backup, preference advanced must be enabled in Extras) from time to time so u have full backup as flushable image

[havilson]

Hi I have a similar problem.
Today I upgraded my RPi3+ but when I tried to boot it stuck on a login prompt.
I SSH to Xbian and used the GUI to update and upgrade.

Any ideas?

[Nachteule]

So, system boots but Kodi does not start, or what

Can you start Kodi manually?

A little bit more information could be very useful, because my crystal ball is in maintenance

[havilson]

(19th Jul, 2020 07:17 PM)Nachteule Wrote:  So, system boots but Kodi does not start, or what

Can you start Kodi manually?

A little bit more information could be very useful, because my crystal ball is in maintenance

Ok sorry.
It boots, but then it keep stucked on a black screen. It appears after initial splash screen. I can't telnet nor ssh. It appears that networking is not working either, I tried to ping it and no response.

[Nachteule]

Hmmm, so still not know what exactly happens.

Sounds to me that the update was not done correctly or that the sd card is somehow broken
You can only try to enter the rescure mode manually by enabling the initramfs in /boot/config.txt and adding the parameter rescue in /boot/cmdline.txt to check the root filesystem

And of course it would be good to know which packages were renewed

[havilson]

(20th Jul, 2020 04:44 AM)Nachteule Wrote:  Hmmm, so still not know what exactly happens.

Sounds to me that the update was not done correctly or that the sd card is somehow broken
You can only try to enter the rescure mode manually by enabling the initramfs in /boot/config.txt and adding the parameter rescue in /boot/cmdline.txt to check the root filesystem

And of course it would be good to know which packages were renewed

I'm with no luck, AFAIK the update was done correctly. How can I enter the rescue mode? I can't telnet to it, is there a way to mount it using another linux distro for example? If so can you help me? Then I can grab more information and post it here. If this can't work I can re-install from a new image and restore my last backup.

[Nachteule]

(20th Jul, 2020 05:10 AM)havilson Wrote:  

(20th Jul, 2020 04:44 AM)Nachteule Wrote:  Hmmm, so still not know what exactly happens.

Sounds to me that the update was not done correctly or that the sd card is somehow broken
You can only try to enter the rescure mode manually by enabling the initramfs in /boot/config.txt and adding the parameter rescue in /boot/cmdline.txt to check the root filesystem

And of course it would be good to know which packages were renewed

I'm with no luck, AFAIK the update was done correctly. How can I enter the rescue mode? I can't telnet to it, is there a way to mount it using another linux distro for example? If so can you help me? Then I can grab more information and post it here. If this can't work I can re-install from a new image and restore my last backup.

Sure, you can. first partition of the sd-card ist a VFAT partition and this can be mouted be each operating system. After mounting this partition, you can see that there are the two mentioned files config.txt and cmdline.txt.
And on linux, in the meantime you can mount second partition without any problems on your linux box if your kernel is not too old

[havilson]

(20th Jul, 2020 05:14 AM)Nachteule Wrote:  

(20th Jul, 2020 05:10 AM)havilson Wrote:  

(20th Jul, 2020 04:44 AM)Nachteule Wrote:  Hmmm, so still not know what exactly happens.

Sounds to me that the update was not done correctly or that the sd card is somehow broken
You can only try to enter the rescure mode manually by enabling the initramfs in /boot/config.txt and adding the parameter rescue in /boot/cmdline.txt to check the root filesystem

And of course it would be good to know which packages were renewed

I'm with no luck, AFAIK the update was done correctly. How can I enter the rescue mode? I can't telnet to it, is there a way to mount it using another linux distro for example? If so can you help me? Then I can grab more information and post it here. If this can't work I can re-install from a new image and restore my last backup.

Sure, you can. first partition of the sd-card ist a VFAT partition and this can be mouted be each operating system. After mounting this partition, you can see that there are the two mentioned files config.txt and cmdline.txt.
And on linux, in the meantime you can mount second partition without any problems on your linux box if your kernel is not too old

Ok, will try later. I use Mint 19, so I'll try the steps you suggested and then post here what happened.
Thanks!