[18.04] Failed to start Load Kernel Modules

Support & Help Requests Raspberry Pi
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#1

I did a dual migration recently: Ubuntu MATE 16.04 to 18.04, and Raspberry Pi 3 to 3B+.

Because the out-of-the-box 16.04 can’t run on the 3B+, I decided to go with a clean install of 16.04 and then make certain adjustments. Those adjustments are ones which concur across the UM, raspberrypi.org, ubuntu, and other distro forums, as being successful. After preparing the card (which I then tweaked the partition sizes of to overcome the “small /boot” issue), I:

  • PI3: ran first boot of 16.04
  • PI3: updated the firmware via sudo BRANCH=stable rpi-update
  • PI3: transferred Raspbian’s /boot and /lib/firmware/brcm
  • 3B+: started 16.04 and made it current
  • 3B+: migrated to 18.04 with do-release-upgrade

Now, when the 16.04 image booted on the 3B+, it did so normally (i.e. no errors). But since the migration to 18.04, the boot sequence has been throwing a Failed to start Load Kernel Modules error.

The output from systemctl status systemd-modules-load.service is:

systemd-modules-load.service - Load Kernel Modules
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-modules-load.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2018-11-02 23:42:39 EDT; 9h ago
Docs: man:systemd-modules-load.service(8)
man:modules-load.d(5)
Process: 446 ExecStart=/lib/systemd/systemd-modules-load (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 446 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Modules...
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd-modules-load[446]: Failed to find module 'lp'
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd-modules-load[446]: Failed to find module 'ppdev'
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd-modules-load[446]: Failed to find module 'parport_pc'
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd-modules-load[446]: Failed to find module 'bcm2708_rng'
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd[1]: systemd-modules-load.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd[1]: systemd-modules-load.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Nov 02 23:42:39 strauss systemd[1]: Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.

Regarding lp, ppdev, and parport_pc: /etc/modules-load.d/cups-filters.conf lists these, and says it’s the result of LOAD_LP_MODULE was 'yes' in /etc/default/cups. However, there is no /etc/default/cups. I don’t have a printer connected to the Pi3, but plan to get a wifi-enabled printer down the road.

Question: Will disabling those modules by commenting them out in cups-filters.conf prevent me from setting up that networked printer later?

Regarding bcm2708_rng: I can’t seem to find anything that’s both recent and relevant on it (most items are 1+ years old and talk about removals, deprecations, and its being superceeded). The only thing I was able to find out is that it’s related to the random number generator.

Question: What’s the story here? Can this module be disabled without adverse effect? What’s the easiest way to do so if yes?

FYI, I am also going to incorporate the solution(s) into my guide for getting Ubuntu MATE to work on the 3B+, so that others may benefit from the knowledge. :innocent:

Thank you in advance!