Gave up waiting for root file system device upon reboot

Harry Stuart

7/18/24, 2:29 AM

This question has been asked several times already, but there does not appear to be a generic solution. I have tried multiple solutions but can't seem to get anything to work. I have an Ubuntu Server 22.04 machine that has been running perfectly fine over the last 2 weeks. Today I went to reboot the machine but ran into the below error.

Begin: Mounting root file system .. Begin Running /scripts/local-top ...  Volume group "ubuntu-vg" not found
  Cannot process volume group ubuntu-vg
...
mdam: No arrays found in config file or automatically
done.
Gave up waiting for root file system device.  Common problems:
 - Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
   - Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
 - Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls dev)
ALERT!  /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv does not exist.  Dropping to a shell!


BusyBox v1.30.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.30.1-7ubuntu3) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs)

I have a ZFS pool that uses 2 HDDs (which I have disconnected) and an nvme boot drive that had LUKS encryption set up during installation. I have rebooted this machine in the past with no problem. Yesterday, I was screwing around a bit with my Python installation and may have stuffed something up... I can't recall exactly what I did...

(initramfs) blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p3 UUID=<uuid> TYPE="crypto_LUKS" PARTUUID=<uuid>
/dev/nvme0n1p1 UUID=<uuid> BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID=<uuid>
/dev/nvme0n1p2 UUID=<uuid> BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID=<uuid>

(initramfs) ls /dev/mapper
control

I have used a live image to help with debugging. I can decrypt the drive using cryptsetup openLuks /dev/nvme0n1p3 test. When I run blkid I get an entry for both /dev/mapper/test and /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv.

After running vgchange -ay and mount /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv /mnt I can access my files at /mnt. Upon inspecting /mnt/etc/crypttab, I can see that it is empty.

The below outputs are using the same live image after decrypting and mounting the drive:

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If I can provide any more information then please let me know. Thanks

0 + 5

encryption

boot

grub2

luks

initramfs

Hannu

7/18/24, 4:01 PM

May I suggest you add some detail on what `I was screwing around a bit with my Python installation and may have stuffed something up...` really means. If you change the main Python in Ubuntu it is prone to wreak havoc... unless done in the right way.

Harry Stuart

7/18/24, 4:10 PM

I can't recall exactly... My default Python was 3.10 and I went to upgrade to 3.11. I remember mapping `python3` to the 3.11 install but then reverted back to 3.10. I believe that I might have performed an OS update somewhere along the line. I didn't realise I could screw stuff up doing this so I was a bit cavalier... Have learned a lesson. Have updated my question with some debugging results from a live image.

Hannu

7/18/24, 8:48 PM

`/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv does not exist`, indicates to me that the LVM -entry in fstab might be suspect - should(-n't !?) it match the UUID printed by blkid ? Note: Just asking, I would expect a match, but have never used LVM.

Harry Stuart

7/19/24, 12:40 AM

I have updated my answer with some more verbose output. Namely, I get the preceding error `Volume group "ubuntu-vg" not found`

Harry Stuart

7/19/24, 12:56 AM

Is it not related to `crypttab`?

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