Introduction
When we have problems gaining access to our systems it is difficult to gather information, let alone fix any problems. Here we will cover common causes and solutions to ‘cachyos wont boot’.
TTY
If your desktop does not load properly then you might still be able to use most, if not all, functionality by dropping to a non-graphical TTY.
By default your system will have multiple TTYs, with each corresponding to an Fx key. Your desktop is assigned to one as well - most often F1.
You can change TTYs through a combination of Ctrl+Alt+Fx (F1-F6).
Meaning often our first steps would be CTL+ALT+F3.
If greeted with a login prompt then log in with your user name and password.
Bootloaders and Boot Options
If you are never prompted for sign-in you can still take action by changing these options.
Also known as kernel parameters.
Applying boot options
Each boot loader accepts parameters differently.
Please select the corresponding section.
Grub
You can temporarily edit (add, remove, or change) boot options during boot if you hit E at selection.
Find the line beginning with linux that should appear similar to this:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64 root=UUID=0a01099a-1e33-489a-a2de-10104e8492f5 rw quiet
Place options after the boot image and continue by pressing F10 or Ctrl+x.
Limine
You can temporarily edit (add, remove, or change) boot options during boot if you hit E at selection.
Options are on the cmdline line.
rEFInd
You can temporarily edit (add, remove, or change) boot options during boot if you hit Insert, F2, Tab, or + at selection.
Place options on the end of the string usually beginning with root= and continue by pressing Enter.
Systemd-boot
You can temporarily edit (add, remove, or change) boot options during boot if you hit E at selection.
While systemd-boot automatically edits the correct line place options on the end of the string and continue by pressing Enter.
Note: Some systems may have the boot menu hidden by default.
If this is the case tap Esc or Shift to make it appear.
Runlevels and Systemd Targets
Linux systems traditionally have runlevels denoting which services are loaded at boot. With modern systemd systems this has been replaced by targets.
They are defined as follows:
| Runlevel | Target | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | systemd.unit=poweroff.target | Halt (Shutdown) |
| 1 | systemd.unit=rescue.target | Single-user mode |
| 2 | systemd.unit=multi-user.target | User-defined, by default same as 3 |
| 3 | systemd.unit=multi-user.target | Multi-user, non-graphical |
| 4 | systemd.unit=multi-user.target | User-defined, by default same as 3 |
| 5 | systemd.unit=graphical.target | Multi-user, graphical |
| 6 | systemd.unit=reboot.target | Reboot |
| emergency | systemd.unit=emergency.target | Emergency shell |
As shown above, we normally boot into graphical.target or runlevel 5.
But it can be useful, like in cases of broken gfx drivers, to use another such as multi-user.target or runlevel 3.
Simply add the corresponding runlevel number or systemd.unit=choice.target to the boot options (and optionally remove ‘quiet’).
If greeted with a login prompt then log in with your user name and password.
Other options
A handful of other options that may be helpful are:
acpi=off, nolapic, nomodeset, and %driver%.modeset=0 ex: radeon.modeset=0
Chroot
If you are unable to recover using the installed system you can use another medium such as a CD or USB
Create or just reuse an already existing CachyOS Live USB (such as the one you used to install your system).
cachy-chroot
From the live system execute these commands to obtain and start cachy-chroot:
sudo -s
pacman -Sy cachy-chroot
cachy-chroot
Follow the prompts and you should have access to your installed system.
Manual chroot
If for whatever reason the cachy-chroot script does not work for you then manually chrooting may be another option.
Just about everything you would need to know is at the archwiki:
I have access. Now what?
That really depends on the substance of the particular issue you are experiencing.
Some other helpful tutorials will go here at some point.
Good Luck!
