Bug 64718

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Description of problem:
When performing a kickstart install of RHL 7.3 to a Sony Vaio PCG-F350 laptop
machine, the install finishes normally and then when the machine reboots for the
first time gpm generates an oops message. The oops occurs during the boot
sequence and KDE is unable to come up. Minor screen flickering can be observed
for some time. The machine can be rebooted with a CTRL-ALT-DEL sequence. The
specific gpm oops message is "gpm: oops too many levels of symbolic links.
Console mouse services failed." I am attaching the kickstart file used by
anaconda. I am also attaching the XF86Config-4 file generated by anaconda. 

Some background: this laptop machine uses an ALPS Glidepoint touchpad. However I
dislike using the touchpad as a pointing device and I have a standard, older
model, 3-button Microsoft Intellimouse plugged into the mouse port at the back
of the machine. The mouse protocol that works best with this in XF86Config is
"IMPS/2". If I don't use this protocol the mouse arrow "flies off the screen"
and becomes totally disabled as a pointing device.

As it happens, I had already installed RHL 7.3, but wanted to do a kickstart
install on this same machine. I took the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg, copied it to
ks.cfg, and customized this file. First I tried changing the mouse to IMPS/2 and
the device to --device mouse from psaux. However anaconda didn't like this and
aborted the installation, citing the mouse IMPS/2 language as causing a problem.
I changed this to "imps/2" (lowercasing the letters) and this also caused the
kickstart install to abort. Finally, I changed it to "mouse generic3ps/2
--device mouse" and this allowed the install to proceed, however the gpm oops
occured immediately after.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Use attached ks.cfg file on a pcmcia boot disk.
2. Type linux ks=floppy at the boot:prompt.
3. Load the pcmciadd.img disk when prompted.
4. Install completes normally but without prompting you to create a boot disk.
One reaches the final screen instructing you to remove all diskettes and press
enter to reboot the system.

Note that the KDE desktop is being installed.
5. The system appears to boot normally until very late in the non-interactive
startup sequence. An error message "gpm: oops too many levels of symbolic links
" is generated.
6. KDE login screen does not come up. Instead, the screen goes black. One can
observe some flickering.
 
	

Actual Results:  I had to reboot the system because I couldn't get a graphical
KDE login as I should have. I used my boot floppy to boot into single user mode
and try to replace the XF86Config-4 file with the backup file which I know works
for this mouse.

Expected Results:  A graphical KDE login screen should have come up. I should
have beenable to log into a user or root account graphically.

Additional info:

Replacing the XF86Config-4 file with one that I know works and had ready in case
of need still triggered a gpm oops message, the same one given above. However,
this time the graphical KDE login came up. Both the touchpad and the Microsoft
Mouse were useless, though.