Bug 615066 - yum updated kernel v. 2.6.32.16-141 won't boot
Summary: yum updated kernel v. 2.6.32.16-141 won't boot
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: kernel
Version: 12
Hardware: i686
OS: Linux
low
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kernel Maintainer List
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2010-07-15 21:04 UTC by John Michael Williams
Modified: 2010-07-22 11:18 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2010-07-22 11:18:03 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description John Michael Williams 2010-07-15 21:04:14 UTC
Description of problem:
After yum update to latest sw, including kernel, machine will not boot.   Using grub previous kernel version, machine boots normally.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
2.6.32.16-141.fc12.i686.PAE 

Note: may be initrd image rather than kernel:
initrd /initramfs-2.6.32.16-141.fc12.i686.PAE.img

How reproducible:
Always.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Run yum update
2. Reboot, selecting grub default
3. Wait forever for boot.
  
Actual results:
Blinking VGA hyphen cursor; same as one which presents before BIOS screen loads.

Expected results:
Usual bootup text messages, followed by Gnome login.

Additional info:
My machine is  Dell Dimension 1100 (DE051) with stable BIOS v. A01.
Memory is 1.2 GB; plenty of disc space.

grub.conf lines are identical for failing kernel and previous (still working) kernel, except for the version numbers.
Previous (working) kernel version is 2.6.32.14-127.fc12.i686.PAE

Comment 1 John Michael Williams 2010-07-16 17:34:13 UTC
Last night, I yum-updated a Compaq with the same files as in the case above:  The machine booted normally, so this problem seems to be machine-specific and almost certainly can not be because of a bad .rpm file.

Comment 2 Chuck Ebbert 2010-07-18 14:21:20 UTC
Can you edit grub.conf and remove 'rhgb' and 'quiet' from the options for the broken kernel, then try booting and see if any messages show up?

Comment 3 John Michael Williams 2010-07-19 18:28:13 UTC
I always boot without these options, because they slow down the boot.  The only grub option was "text". 

grub.conf apparently never loads, so I think that grub options would have no effect anyway.

Comment 4 John Michael Williams 2010-07-19 18:30:17 UTC
OOPS!  Sorry:  Grub.conf IS loaded, but system does not proceed after allowing the 141 kernel to be booted.

Comment 5 Chuck Ebbert 2010-07-21 04:32:31 UTC
Nothing prints at all, not even the "probing EDD" message?

Comment 6 John Michael Williams 2010-07-21 17:24:53 UTC
To answer your question, there was nothing at all on screen, after selecting the 141 kernel in grub, except a blinking VGA cursor -- horizontal bar or hyphen cursor.

BUT, I found the problem:  After a disc crash yesterday and fsck cleanup (a few zeroed inodes), I reinstalled the 141 kernel rpm's (4 of them) using rpm -iv --force.

This fixed the problem, which apparently was because of a bad block somewhere in the new kernel image(s).

NOTE:  Initially, I did try yum --reinstall, but yum refused to reinstall a kernel, even though the running kernel was not the one to be reinstalled!
This is a limitation in yum with no obvious reason.  Anyway, because of it, I didn't try to reinstall immediately, which SHOULD have been the first thing to do to troubleshoot this problem.

I suggest closing this bug, which seems to have been because of a hard disc defect.


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