Cannot Boot After Timeshift Restore

Ask Fedora
1

recently lost the use of my trackpad after a system update, and tried to restore to a timeshift backup from the previous day. after completing the process the computer boots to three dots on a grey screen. when i press escape i get a long list of errors.

systemd[1]: Unable to fix SELinux security context of *: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:device_t:s0 for /dev/core: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:device_t:s0 for /dev/fd: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:device_t:s0 for /dev/stdin: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:device_t:s0 for /dev/stdout: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:device_t:s0 for /dev/stderr: Permission denied
systemd[1]: Failed to set SELinux security context system_u:object_r:init_var_run_t:s0 for /run/systemd: Permission denied

where * seems to be everything in /dev/
(see screenshot)

473789265_559456950413179_5304830431417173766_n
473789265_559456950413179_5304830431417173766_n1536×2048 587 KB

running Fedora 41 KDE on a 2017 12" Macbook

i’ve done some poking around and haven’t found anything particularly helpful

my first time attempting to use timeshift
all of the other boot options in grub result in the same issue
can boot from a live usb

any way to save this installation?

2

placing an .autorelabel file on the filesystem of the broken system seems to have no effect

3

The problems with the timeshift restore and reboot may be related to the initial trackpad failure. In such cases it is best to start by checking that the drive is healthy and the filesystem is in good shape. Use Gnome DIsks or similar (e.g., in the Fedora Live Workstation installer) to check the health of the drive, then use btrfs tools to check the filesystem. You can use journalctl to view the journals for Fedora system on the non-booting drive (you will want to become familiar with man journalctl). Look for issues around the times of the trackpad problem and also the failed boots.

4

the filesystem seems to check out just fine

looks like timeshift erased all logs prior to the backup point except what appears to be the last boot when i ran timeshift

i can see the usual spi errors i’ve seen before when i’ve been unable to get the trackpad working on a previous version of this laptop

Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi_got_data: 127 callbacks suppressed Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48) Jan 18 03:00:18 goldenapple kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Received corrupted packet (invalid message length 8 - num-fingers 0, tp-len 48)

i found this during boot:

Jan 18 02:37:57 goldenapple systemd[1]: selinux-autorelabel-mark.service - Mark the need to relabel after reboot was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionSecurity=!selinux).

i dunno if that’s just the normal status for things without .autorelabel present

aside from that i’m not really sure what i should be looking for

i do recall the system did not want to reboot to finish the timeshift restore until i removed the usb hub i was using to connect an external mouse (it then promptly rebooted, i didn’t think much of it at the time) and at the end of the log appears to be about 80mb of repeating errors over the course of a few minutes

i’ve included the end of the log from when i started timeshift to until the errors start- as far as i can tell they just repeat until the end of the log file (80mb of text worth)

Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple pkexec[5276]: emma: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/home/emma] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/timeshift-gtk] Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Created slice session.slice - User Core Session Slice. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Starting dbus-broker.service - D-Bus User Message Bus... Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.dolphin.FileManager1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.FileManager1'. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.kscreen.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.kde.KScreen'. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +31: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +33: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.plasma.Notifications.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.Notifications'. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Started dbus-broker.service - D-Bus User Message Bus. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Ready Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Finished unity-gtk-module.service - Unity GTK Module Environment variables. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Reached target default.target - Main User Target. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Startup finished in 658ms. Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: App config loaded: /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json Jan 18 03:09:23 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Mounted '/dev/nvme0n1p3' at '/run/timeshift/5276/backup' Jan 18 03:09:47 goldenapple systemd[1]: fprintd.service: Deactivated successfully. Jan 18 03:09:47 goldenapple audit[1]: SERVICE_STOP pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=fprintd comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success' Jan 18 03:09:47 goldenapple audit: BPF prog-id=74 op=UNLOAD Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Backup Device: /dev/nvme0n1p3 Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Snapshot: 2025-01-17_10-00-01 ~ Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Comparing Files (Dry Run)... Jan 18 03:09:53 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Syncing files with rsync... Jan 18 03:11:00 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:01 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:02 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:04 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:07 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:08 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:10 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:12 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:13 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:14 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [164B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:15 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [161B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:16 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:18 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:20 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:21 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [161B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:23 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [160B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:24 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:25 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:26 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:37 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [165B blob data] Jan 18 03:11:37 goldenapple timeshift-gtk[5276]: [155B blob data] Jan 18 03:13:25 goldenapple PackageKit[5125]: daemon quit Jan 18 03:13:25 goldenapple systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Deactivated successfully. Jan 18 03:13:25 goldenapple audit[1]: SERVICE_STOP pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg='unit=packagekit comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success' Jan 18 03:13:25 goldenapple systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Consumed 8.938s CPU time, 201.1M memory peak. Jan 18 03:14:58 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Created slice background.slice - User Background Tasks Slice. Jan 18 03:14:58 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Starting systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of User's Temporary Files and Directories... Jan 18 03:14:58 goldenapple systemd[5319]: Finished systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of User's Temporary Files and Directories. Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Backup Device: /dev/nvme0n1p3 Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Snapshot: 2025-01-17_10-00-01 ~ Jan 18 03:15:30 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: ****************************************************************************** Jan 18 03:15:31 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Restoring snapshot... Jan 18 03:15:31 goldenapple timeshift-launcher[5276]: Syncing files with rsync... Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Noticed file-system modification, trigger reload. Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.dolphin.FileManager1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.FileManager1'. Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +31: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +33: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.kscreen.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.kde.KScreen'. Jan 18 03:15:43 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[5333]: Service file '/usr/share//dbus-1/services/org.kde.plasma.Notifications.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.Notifications'. Jan 18 03:15:51 goldenapple rsyslogd[881]: imjournal: journal files changed, reloading... [v8.2312.0-5.fc41 try https://www.rsyslog.com/e/0 ] Jan 18 03:16:29 goldenapple kernel: perf: interrupt took too long (3160 > 3145), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 63000 Jan 18 03:16:59 goldenapple dbus-broker-launch[854]: Noticed file-system modification, trigger reload. Jan 18 03:17:08 goldenapple NetworkManager[1865]: <info> [1737188228.5707] manager: kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware' changed Jan 18 03:17:14 goldenapple NetworkManager[1865]: <info> [1737188234.1775] manager: kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware' changed Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple audit[5455]: AVC avc: denied { map } for pid=5455 comm="systemd-userwor" path="/etc/ld.so.cache" dev="nvme0n1p3" ino=2100873 scontext=system_u:system_r:systemd_userdbd_t:s0 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:etc_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0 Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[5455]: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-userwork: error while loading shared libraries: libsystemd-shared-256.11-1.fc41.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[612]: Worker 5455 died with a failure exit status 127, ignoring. Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple audit[5456]: AVC avc: denied { map } for pid=5456 comm="systemd-userwor" path="/etc/ld.so.cache" dev="nvme0n1p3" ino=2100873 scontext=system_u:system_r:systemd_userdbd_t:s0 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:etc_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0 Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[5456]: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-userwork: error while loading shared libraries: libsystemd-shared-256.11-1.fc41.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[612]: Worker 5456 died with a failure exit status 127, ignoring. Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple audit[5457]: AVC avc: denied { map } for pid=5457 comm="systemd-userwor" path="/etc/ld.so.cache" dev="nvme0n1p3" ino=2100873 scontext=system_u:system_r:systemd_userdbd_t:s0 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:etc_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0 Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[5457]: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-userwork: error while loading shared libraries: libsystemd-shared-256.11-1.fc41.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[612]: Worker 5457 died with a failure exit status 127, ignoring. Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[5458]: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-userwork: error while loading shared libraries: libsystemd-shared-256.11-1.fc41.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple audit[5458]: AVC avc: denied { map } for pid=5458 comm="systemd-userwor" path="/etc/ld.so.cache" dev="nvme0n1p3" ino=2100873 scontext=system_u:system_r:systemd_userdbd_t:s0 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:etc_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0 Jan 18 03:17:21 goldenapple systemd-userdbd[612]: Worker 5458 died with a failure exit status 127, ignoring.