I changed hardware and now my system doesn't start

Before your start link

For this procedure, you need:

• A Solus live USB
• Your disk encryption password, if your system is encrypted

Procedure link

1. Shut down your system.

2. Boot from a Solus live USB.

3. Mount the partitions of your Solus system.

   To recover your system, you need to mount the Solus root (/) partition and all other partitions your system uses.

   1. Open a terminal.

   2. Mount the Solus root partition:

      1. Access as the root user by using the following command:

         sudo su

      2. Create a directory to serve as the mount point for your Solus system:

         mkdir /target

      3. Find the drive and partition of your Solus system using the lsblk command.

         After running the command, the system displays a list of all the drives in your computer:

         NAME                  MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
         sda                     8:0    0 238.5G  0 disk
         ├─sda1                  8:1    0   512M  0 part
         ├─sda2                  8:2    0   234G  0 part
         └─sda3                  8:3    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]
         sdb                     8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk
         ├─sdb1                  8:17   0     1G  0 part
         └─sdb2                  8:18   0 464.8G  0 part
           ├─SolusSystem-root  253:0    0 234.3G  0 lvm
           ├─SolusSystem-swap  253:1    0   3.7G  0 lvm  [SWAP]
         sdc                     8:32   1  14.9G  0 disk
         ├─sdc1                  8:33   1   4.2G  0 part /cdrom
         └─sdc2                  8:34   1   4.1M  0 part
         nvme0n1               259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
         ├─nvme0n1p1           259:1    0   500M  0 part
         ├─nvme0n1p2           259:2    0    16M  0 part
         ├─nvme0n1p3           259:3    0   475G  0 part
         └─nvme0n1p4           259:4    0   1.4G  0 part

         You can use drive size or the number of partitions in each drive to determine which one is your Solus drive.

         info

         If you installed Solus on a SATA drive, the name of the drive might be sdX (For example, sda). If you installed Solus on an NVMe drive, the name of the drive might be nvme#n# (For example nvme0n1).

         Write down the name of the drive and the type.

      4. If the type of your drive is lvm or if your drive is encrypted:

         1. Check if the drive is encrypted.

            Encrypted drives do not have the label decrypted after the drive name:

            sdb                     8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk
            ├─sdb1                  8:17   0     1G  0 part
            └─sdb2                  8:18   0 464.8G  0 part
              ├─SolusSystem-root  253:0    0   100G  0 lvm
              └─SolusSystem-swap  253:1    0     8G  0 lvm  [SWAP]

            Decrypted drives have the label decrypted after the drive name:

            sdb                     8:16     0 465.8G  0 disk
            ├─sdb1                  8:17     0     1G  0 part
            └─sdb2                  8:18     0 464.8G  0 part
             └─decrypted           253:1    0   238G  0 crypt
                ├─SolusSystem-root  253:0    0 234.3G  0 lvm
                └─SolusSystem-swap  253:1    0   3.7G  0 lvm  [SWAP]

         2. If your drive is encrypted, use cryptsetup to decrypt it.

            cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/partitionName decrypted

            For example

            cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb2 decrypted

      5. Mount the Solus root partition:

         • If your drive’s type is lvm

           mount /dev/mapper/SolusSystem-Root /target

         • Otherwise:

           mount /dev/sdX# /target

   3. If your computer uses UEFI, mount the EFI system partition:

      In new installations, the EFI system partition (also known as ESP) is usually 1 GB in size. For older installations, the partition is usually 512 MB in size.

      1. Use fdisk to check the partitions of your drive:

         • If you have a SATA drive:

           fdisk -o Device,Size,Type -l /dev/sdX

         • If you have an NVMe drive:

           fdisk -o Device,Size,Type -l /dev/nvme0nX

           The system displays something similar to this:

           Device       Size Type
           /dev/sda1    512M EFI System
           /dev/sda2  111.3G Linux filesystem

           In this case, the EFI system partition is /dev/sda1

   4. Mount the EFI system partition:

      mount /dev/sdX# /target/boot

      For example:

      mount /dev/sda1 /target/boot

   5. Mount other partitions your system might have (for example, /home):

      mount /dev/sdX# /target/home

   6. Chroot to your Solus system:

      Chroot allows you to execute commands and use utilities from your main system directly. This is necessary to do specific repairs like fixing the bootloader.

      1. Run the following commands:

         mount --types proc /proc /target/proc
         mount --rbind /dev /target/dev
         mount --rbind /sys /target/sys
         mount --make-rslave /target/dev
         mount --make-rslave /target/sys

      2. Chroot into your system:

         chroot /target

4. Update the system configuration to address the hardware changes.

   1. Re-run system-wide configuration triggers

      sudo usysconf run -f

   2. If you use an UEFI system, update the boot entries for your EFI menu:

      sudo clr-boot-manager update

5. Unmount all the Solus partitions.

   1. Exit the chroot environment by pressing CTRL + D

   2. Unmount the Solus partitions:

      umount -R /target

   3. If your drive is encrypted:

      1. Deactivate your logical volumes and volume groups:

         lvchange -a n /dev/SolusSystem/Swap
         lvchange -a n /dev/SolusSystem/Root
         vgchange -a n SolusSystem

      2. Close the LUKS partition:

         cryptsetup luksClose decrypted

What to do next link

Restart your system and verify if the problem persists.

If you are still unable to access your Solus system after following this guide, contact us through any of the support channels.