Can't login via ttyUSB console - login: timed out

[iwonbigbro]

Something has failed on my NAS tonight after being okay for about 6-8 months. I have some NFS services setup and NIS, and I am assuming login is failing due to some kind of autofs issue. That's understandable for normal users, but I don't get why root can't login:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Arch Linux 3.12.6-1-ARCH (ttyS0)
login: root
Password:
login: timed out after 60 seconds

Arch Linux 3.12.6-1-ARCH (ttyS0)
login:
')

These messages look interesting...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
[FAILED] Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.
See 'systemctl status systemd-modules-load.service' for details.
...
[FAILED] Failed to start Packet Filtering Framework.
See 'systemctl status iptables.service' for details.
...
')

There are failures that follow, but I am guessing everything stems from kernel modules failing to load. I guess this is the root of my login issue...

Is there a USB rescue image I can boot from using u-boot to save me having to keep taking the HDD out and mounting them elsewhere?

[iwonbigbro]

Oh b*$%"£ks!

A long time ago, in a poorly lit office, far far away...

I must have upgraded the kernel without the /boot partition mounted. All this despite my blindingly obvious reminder...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
root@yellowtail:/mnt/sdb/1# ls -l ../2/boot/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Dec 22 14:29 boot-device-not-mounted
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3964248 Apr 27 09:20 uImage
')

And yet...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
root@yellowtail:/mnt/sdb/2# xxd uImage | head -4
0000000: 2705 1956 f490 5e0a 535c bd4c 003c 7d18 '..V..^.S\.L.<}.
0000010: 0000 8000 0000 8000 7ca7 ee84 0502 0200 ........|.......
0000020: 4c69 6e75 782d 332e 3134 2e32 2d31 2d41 Linux-3.14.2-1-A
0000030: 5243 4800 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 RCH.............
')

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
root@yellowtail:/mnt/sdb/1# xxd uImage | head -20
0000000: 2705 1956 f3b2 ef73 52b6 3cf7 003a 4a58 '..V...sR.<..:JX
0000010: 0000 8000 0000 8000 f910 aeb5 0502 0200 ................
0000020: 4c69 6e75 782d 332e 3132 2e36 2d31 2d41 Linux-3.12.6-1-A
0000030: 5243 4800 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 RCH.............
')

Whooooooooooops!

Well, it ended up being quicker to just take the hard drives out in the end. I wonder if it's possible to make the /boot partition on the root file system immutable without it affecting the /boot mount point? Has anybody tried this?