Manjaro Kernel Fix Guide | Stuff I'm Up To

I managed to break my Manjaro installation on my home server. The updates failed on me part way through and the terminal died. I had to resort to a repair from a live USB sick.

When Manjaro breaks during updates and shows “need to load kernel first” error.

1. Boot from Live USB/ISO

Create a Manjaro live USB and boot from it.

2. Network Setup (needed for access to repositories)

Check network status

ip addr show
ping -c 3 8.8.8.8

Manual network configuration (if automatic setup fails)

Set IP address

# Replace eth0/wlan0 with your interface name
# Replace 192.168.0.201 with desired IP
# Replace 192.168.0.1 with your router IP
sudo ip addr add 192.168.0.201/24 dev eth0
sudo ip link set eth0 up

Set default route

# Replace 192.168.0.1 with your router/gateway IP
sudo ip route add default via 192.168.0.1

Set DNS servers

# Set Cloudflare DNS
echo -e "nameserver 1.1.1.1\nnameserver 1.0.0.1" | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf

# Or Google DNS
echo -e "nameserver 8.8.8.8\nnameserver 8.8.4.4" | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf

Verify connectivity

ping -c 3 archlinux.org

Alternative: Using NetworkManager

# List connections
nmcli connection show

# Set DNS for connection (replace "connection-name")
nmcli connection modify "connection-name" ipv4.dns "1.1.1.1,1.0.0.1"
nmcli connection up "connection-name"

3. Mount and Chroot

Identify partitions

sudo fdisk -l
lsblk

Mount root partition

# Replace /dev/sdXY with your root partition
sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt

# Mount boot partition if separate (replace /dev/sdXZ)
sudo mount /dev/sdXZ /mnt/boot

# Mount EFI partition if using UEFI (usually /dev/sdX1)
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/boot/efi

Chroot into system

sudo manjaro-chroot /mnt

4. Fix Pacman Database

Clear pacman lock

sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

Fix corrupted database

# Verify database integrity
sudo pacman-db-upgrade

# If that fails, refresh databases
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
sudo pacman -Sy

Check for partial upgrades

sudo pacman -Suu

5. Reinstall Kernel

Check available kernels

mhwd-kernel -li

Install/reinstall kernel

# For LTS kernel
sudo pacman -S linux612 linux612-headers

# For current stable
sudo pacman -S linux614 linux614-headers

# For latest (replace version as needed)
sudo pacman -S linux614 linux614-headers

# Install multiple kernels for backup
sudo pacman -S linux614 linux614-headers linux612 linux612-headers

Update bootloader

# For GRUB
sudo update-grub

# For systemd-boot
sudo bootctl update

# For rEFInd
sudo refind-install

6. Exit and Reboot

exit
sudo umount -R /mnt
sudo reboot

Troubleshooting

If pacman is completely broken

# Download and extract pacman manually
wget http://mirror.archlinux.org/core/os/x86_64/pacman-6.0.2-7-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
sudo tar -xf pacman-*.pkg.tar.zst -C /

If GRUB doesn’t show multiple kernels

# From chroot, reinstall GRUB
sudo grub-install /dev/sdX  # Replace X with your disk (not partition)
sudo update-grub

If still can’t boot

Try selecting older kernel from GRUB advanced options
Check /var/log/pacman.log for what went wrong during update
Consider reinstalling bootloader completely

Prevention Tips

Always install multiple kernels: sudo pacman -S linux54 linux61
Don’t interrupt system updates
Keep live USB handy for emergencies
Regular backups with timeshift or similar

Useful Commands

# Check current kernel
uname -r

# List installed kernels
mhwd-kernel -li

# Check boot entries
sudo efibootmgr  # UEFI systems