Bug 759884

sounds like a malicious kernel module

So if I compile the same 3.0.3 rt source and get the new F16 behaviour, what then?

I believe I found the case of not booting.
The screen still stays blank after starting ramdisk but mounting etc continues now and Xorg is started.

I guess that the contents of /etc/mdadm.conf do matter.
I noticed some lines were added to the original anaconda written config.
So I hashed out the first two ARRAY lines, did a `make modules_install install` and booted successfully.

So problem remaining is the dark screen (fbcon issue I think) and also this bug  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=759842 about Fedora kernels not starting /dev/md1.

The fbcon issue was reproduced with the exact same config as the F15 kernel.

Can a certain part of dmesg output help find the cause?

(In reply to comment #4)
> Can a certain part of dmesg output help find the cause?

I am not a kernel developer, you should seek help there.

If I compile same identical source and config on F15 and F16, in this case kernel 3.0.3 rt, and I get different results w.r.t. probably fbcon working fine (F15) or not (F16) it is of course not a fedora issue.
The only thing changed is the distro.

Also:
I think I see this fbcon issue on my MythTV box (CRT TV via hdmi goes blue) as well as on the audio workstation (LCD monitor goes into powersave).

After asking on #radeon we found that this helps:

# cat /etc/dracut.conf.d/fbcon.conf 
add_drivers+="fbcon"


Then do a new `make modules_install install` and all should be OK after a reboot.

While upgrading (via yum) this very workstation I found:

# diff -urN /etc/dracut.conf /etc/dracut.conf.rpmnew 
--- /etc/dracut.conf	2011-01-11 15:58:21.259948356 +0100
+++ /etc/dracut.conf.rpmnew	2011-11-17 11:22:50.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 # Sample dracut config file
 
-# Specific list of dracut modules to use
-#dracutmodules+="foo bar baz"
+logfile=/var/log/dracut.log
+fileloglvl=6
+
+# Exact list of dracut modules to use.  Modules not listed here are not going
+# to be included.  If you only want to add some optional modules use
+# add_dracutmodules option instead.
+#dracutmodules+=""
 
 # Dracut modules to omit
 #omit_dracutmodules+=""
@@ -10,7 +15,7 @@
 #add_dracutmodules+=""
 
 # additional kernel modules to the default
-add_drivers+="fbcon radeon"
+#add_drivers+=""
 
 # list of kernel filesystem modules to be included in the generic initramfs
 #filesystems+=""


So that explains this problem.
More severely is that the Changelog of this software does NOT mention this change at all, see e.g. http://fr2.rpmfind.net//linux/RPM/fedora/updates/16/x86_64/dracut-013-19.fc16.noarch.html

So who made this change? The author?
I did not find the git commit.
This problem cost me some time, that is why I ask.

(In reply to comment #9)
> While upgrading (via yum) this very workstation I found:
> 
> # diff -urN /etc/dracut.conf /etc/dracut.conf.rpmnew 
> --- /etc/dracut.conf 2011-01-11 15:58:21.259948356 +0100
> +++ /etc/dracut.conf.rpmnew 2011-11-17 11:22:50.000000000 +0100
> @@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
>  # Sample dracut config file
> 
> -# Specific list of dracut modules to use
> -#dracutmodules+="foo bar baz"
> +logfile=/var/log/dracut.log
> +fileloglvl=6
> +
> +# Exact list of dracut modules to use.  Modules not listed here are not going
> +# to be included.  If you only want to add some optional modules use
> +# add_dracutmodules option instead.
> +#dracutmodules+=""
> 
>  # Dracut modules to omit
>  #omit_dracutmodules+=""
> @@ -10,7 +15,7 @@
>  #add_dracutmodules+=""
> 
>  # additional kernel modules to the default
> -add_drivers+="fbcon radeon"
> +#add_drivers+=""
> 
>  # list of kernel filesystem modules to be included in the generic initramfs
>  #filesystems+=""
> 

and? you modified /etc/dracut.conf 

/etc/dracut.conf is %config(noreplace)

so, any changes you made to /etc/dracut.conf are not discarded, but the original dracut.conf template, which comes with the packages, is saved as dracut.conf.rpmnew


> 
> So that explains this problem.
> More severely is that the Changelog of this software does NOT mention this
> change at all, see e.g.
> http://fr2.rpmfind.net//linux/RPM/fedora/updates/16/x86_64/dracut-013-19.fc16.noarch.html
> 
> So who made this change? The author?
> I did not find the git commit.
> This problem cost me some time, that is why I ask.


Which changes did I make? I did _not_ remove your add_drivers+="fbcon radeon" line, nor was it present in the default configuration file shipped with the dracut package.

Thanks for explaining what I did.
I do not remember that I changed this, though I am sure (certain!) that I did not change this on all three boxes where I see this.
Only on this very box I had the rpmnew thing.
On of the other two boxes (that is on) did *not* have an rpmnew for dracut.conf

I did not see this problem there before going to F16.

The combination of this issue, together with the failure to start /dev/md1 and thus no Xorg, no system, made me really look into this on the very first box I migrated to F16.
It made me wait with F16 for this box as it ha encrypted root etc and I really need a console there.

I will also check the 3rd box for dracut.conf.rpmnew, though I doubt it is there.
I did not notice a non-working console there while on F15. (box is used once a month on average)