Description of problem: I've same problem at bug#176969 but I'm using RHEL 5.3. If there is no network or a network failure during boot time, specific on network setup stage, the system hangs completely. An easy way to reproduce it is to not plug any network cable at all and wait it to try to boot and hang. It hapens with static IP, and specified Gateway, and dynamic IP, DHCP. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): kernel-2.6.18-128.el5 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Use a SiS 190/191 network adapter; 2. Let network service enable at boot time; 3. Do not connect any cable or, in my case, turn off your DSL modem; 4. Wait it to starts up. Actual results: The system hangs completely. Expected results: It could say that there is no network service avaiable but let the system going on with the rest of it. Additional info: I'm try the kernel by Linville but proved the same result
The only upstream patch that looks relevant is this one: commit c014f6c8f870271a8dcfe6e4139d6a651633aaf4 Author: Francois Romieu <romieu.com> Date: Thu Feb 15 23:37:29 2007 +0100 sis190: RTNL and flush_scheduled_work deadlock Signed-off-by: Francois Romieu <romieu.com> Signed-off-by: Jeff Garzik <jeff> Have you tried this with any other kernel (like a recent Fedora or other upstream kernel)? The bug you referenced (bug 176969) was fixed with an update 2.6.15, so I suspect this code already has that fix. Can you disable networking ('chkconfig network off') and see if you can reproduce this problem when you type 'service network start' after the system boots? If that does hang the system, it would be nice to know when, so typing these commands one at a time and detecting which command caused the hang would be great. # ifconfig eth0 # ethtool eth0 # ifconfig eth0 up # ethtool eth0 # dhclient eth0 # ping -c 10 <some IP address on the network> Thanks!