Over the weekend, I succeeded in installing Slackware Arm --current on my Raspberry Pi 4. I followed the directions exactly from the SARPi Project, except that I chose NOT to use the rpi-update because of all the warnings about it.

Everything was working perfectly until I ran the slackpkg update, install-new, upgrade-all, clean-system this morning (5/26/2020) and rebooted. During the update, I noticed that the kernel was upgraded too.

Upon reboot, I got a very scary screen that said that the autoboot.txt can't be found. Evidently, I messed up the boot process somehow.

Questions are: Do I have to start all over or can I repair the boot partition (process) so that it will work again? And what did I do wrong during the update/upgrade process?

I have access to other computers so that if the autoboot.txt file is something I can get at or add, I can. Would appreciate any help. First time setting up a Raspberry and wanted to use my favorite distro.

A reinstall should be a last resort. When you did the upgrade-all, were there kernel packages updated? If yes, that most likely created your problem.

Go to the Download page for Sarpi, there are four packages you need. Here is the link. -->https://sarpi.fatdog.eu/index.php?p=rpi4getcurrent You need the kermel, kernel modules, firmware, and the hacks package. The kernel version does not always exactly match the kernel from the official download site. I check about once a month, and look for updates.

I did not understand this when I first started with my Pi 3. The kernel, modules, source from the update site will not boot a pi, the one on the Sarpi site are modified to work on Pi's unique hardware.

Thank you, Cliff! Yes, the updates included kernel updates, so I’ll remember to watch SARPi instead for those files.

How do I get that SARPi kernel and its associated files onto my boot when all I see is the boot error screen? Do I need to mount my boot drive on a different machine and download them there? Install them somehow? If install, how?

It’s such a relief that I don’t have to start over. Thank you. You have been a great help.

- Michael

This is the tough part. If this was a regular PC, you could boot from install media, and chroot into the install, and run upgradepkg on the 4 files. Not sure if there is a way on a Pi. It's possible another Pi user can help.

If you are comfortable with another install, that may be the faster, and easier route to go.

Next time, afer you get yhe Pi to boot, run slackpkg, and de-select the kernel packages only. The rest of the upgrqde should be fine. Then copy the four files from sarpi, and run upgradepkg on each.

Hi Cliff,

I'll plan on reinstalling then and learn my lesson. Thank you for your assistance. I'll mark this as resolved.

I kinda figured this out, and got proficient at performing abuses on X86

1. mount the sdcard root partition under /somewhare
2. mount the /boot partition under /somnewhere/boot (only if you need it).
3. The Syntax is: installpkg --root /somewhare …
4. But ROOT=/somewhere upgradepkg … &
5. ROOT=/somewhere removepkg …