Re: Boot process is stuck with "A start job ... "

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My kernel build process is very similar to the Installation guide:
$ make menuconfig
$ make all
$ make modules_install install

Additionally, the filesystem for sda1 is ext4 and this is completed in the
kernel so initrd wouldn't be needed for that part. However, you gave me a
good hint. It could be something else I disabled that prevented the disk
from being recognized.
I think this narrows it to a level where I can continue investigation.
Thank you.



On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 5:16=E2=80=AFPM Michael <[email protected]> =
wrote:

> On Wednesday, 17 June 2026 21:42:32 British Summer Time Mansour Al Akeel
> wrote:
> > I am installing a new gentoo, with systemd. I have installed a kernel
> > with the automatic process using "installkernel" which I will refer
> > to kernel-dist. Then installed another kernel from "gentoo-sources".
> > This is to be able to manually compile modules I need and optimize
> > the kernel to my needs. The second manually installed kernel is
> > kernel-6.18.35-r1.
> >
> > When booting with the customized kernel, the boot process hangs with a
> > message like:
> > "A start job is running for /dev/disk/by-uuid/6008cf.... ".
>
> What is partition is this?
>
> How did you install the custom kernel?
>
> Did you configure the root filesystem driver in the kernel, as opposed
> to having it as a module?
>
> Is there an initrd for it?
>
> How was the bootloader configured/updated?
>
> It may help if you take a look here:
>
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel
>
>
> > I tried to wait for the process to end, but I took 36 minutes and was
> > still running without showing what was happening.
>
> It wasn't happening.  TBH, 36 seconds would have been more than enough
> to boot the whole system, let alone initialise and load a partition.  It
> seems the system was hanging because it couldn't load the block device
> it detected - perhaps a missing filesystem driver.
>
>
> > Journalctrl and
> > dmesg didn't give me anything relevant. When I boot with kernel-dist,
> > everything works fine. Searching the web for an answer, I found
> > others talking about fstab, and udev, which doesn't make sense to me
> > because the other kernel can boot properly. So I thought some
> > configuration missing from the customized kernel is the only
> > conclusion. I just can't pin point the issue clearly so left with
> > trail and error option which is time consuming.
> >
> > Any idea what could be going wrong with the manually installed kernel
> > or how to find the root cause ?
> > By the way /etc/fstab is empty on my machine.
>
> As far as I know when systemd-boot is used as a bootloader, then an
> fstab is not necessary, because systemd will check the GPT partition
> type to find out what each partition is used for.  However, I'm not
> particularly familiar with systemd and I do not use it with Gentoo.
>
> If you changed the bootloader and did not create /etc/fstab, or systemd-
> boot wasn't updated correctly to take account of the new kernel and
> initrd (if you are using an initrd), then this may have caused the
> problem you experienced at boot.
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div>My kernel build process is very similar to the Instal=
lation guide:</div><div>$ make menuconfig</div><div>$ make all <br></div><d=
iv>$ make modules_install install <br></div><div><br></div><div>Additionall=
y, the filesystem for sda1 is ext4 and this is completed in the kernel so i=
nitrd wouldn&#39;t be needed for that part. However, you gave me a good hin=
t. It could be something else I disabled that prevented the disk from being=
 recognized. <br></div><div>I think this narrows it to a level where I can =
continue investigation. Thank you.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div=
><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" clas=
s=3D"gmail_attr">On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 5:16=E2=80=AFPM Michael &lt;<a hre=
f=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrot=
e:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0=
.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On Wednesday,=
 17 June 2026 21:42:32 British Summer Time Mansour Al Akeel <br>
wrote:<br>
&gt; I am installing a new gentoo, with systemd. I have installed a kernel<=
br>
&gt; with the automatic process using &quot;installkernel&quot; which I wil=
l refer<br>
&gt; to kernel-dist. Then installed another kernel from &quot;gentoo-source=
s&quot;.<br>
&gt; This is to be able to manually compile modules I need and optimize<br>
&gt; the kernel to my needs. The second manually installed kernel is<br>
&gt; kernel-6.18.35-r1.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; When booting with the customized kernel, the boot process hangs with a=
<br>
&gt; message like:<br>
&gt; &quot;A start job is running for /dev/disk/by-uuid/6008cf.... &quot;.<=
br>
<br>
What is partition is this?<br>
<br>
How did you install the custom kernel?<br>
<br>
Did you configure the root filesystem driver in the kernel, as opposed <br>
to having it as a module?<br>
<br>
Is there an initrd for it?<br>
<br>
How was the bootloader configured/updated?<br>
<br>
It may help if you take a look here:<br>
<br>
<a href=3D"https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel"=
 rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook=
:AMD64/Installation/Kernel</a><br>
<br>
<br>
&gt; I tried to wait for the process to end, but I took 36 minutes and was<=
br>
&gt; still running without showing what was happening.<br>
<br>
It wasn&#39;t happening.=C2=A0 TBH, 36 seconds would have been more than en=
ough <br>
to boot the whole system, let alone initialise and load a partition.=C2=A0 =
It <br>
seems the system was hanging because it couldn&#39;t load the block device =
<br>
it detected - perhaps a missing filesystem driver.<br>
<br>
<br>
&gt; Journalctrl and<br>
&gt; dmesg didn&#39;t give me anything relevant. When I boot with kernel-di=
st,<br>
&gt; everything works fine. Searching the web for an answer, I found<br>
&gt; others talking about fstab, and udev, which doesn&#39;t make sense to =
me<br>
&gt; because the other kernel can boot properly. So I thought some<br>
&gt; configuration missing from the customized kernel is the only<br>
&gt; conclusion. I just can&#39;t pin point the issue clearly so left with<=
br>
&gt; trail and error option which is time consuming.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Any idea what could be going wrong with the manually installed kernel<=
br>
&gt; or how to find the root cause ?<br>
&gt; By the way /etc/fstab is empty on my machine.<br>
<br>
As far as I know when systemd-boot is used as a bootloader, then an <br>
fstab is not necessary, because systemd will check the GPT partition <br>
type to find out what each partition is used for.=C2=A0 However, I&#39;m no=
t <br>
particularly familiar with systemd and I do not use it with Gentoo.<br>
<br>
If you changed the bootloader and did not create /etc/fstab, or systemd-<br=
>
boot wasn&#39;t updated correctly to take account of the new kernel and <br=
>
initrd (if you are using an initrd), then this may have caused the <br>
problem you experienced at boot.<br>
</blockquote></div>

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