Bug 632811 - anaconda hangs during installation (workaround: "nohz=off highres=off")
Summary: anaconda hangs during installation (workaround: "nohz=off highres=off")
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: kernel
Version: 13
Hardware: x86_64
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: 2010-09-11 04:52 UTC by Eric Rawdon
Modified: 2012-06-28 19:41 UTC (History)
9 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-06-28 13:03:14 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Eric Rawdon 2010-09-11 04:52:22 UTC
Description of problem: 

I'm trying to install FC13 on a Dell Optiplex 760.  I have a fresh hard drive in there (1TB WD Caviar black) although I've tried this from a 1TB Seagate (and I think a 250GB or 500GB drive that came with it) as well. I choose "Install a new system ..." and the install hangs on "Initializing network drop monitor service".  If I wait maybe 30 seconds and hit the reset button on the front of the machine, it will go down to a line that reads "ata1.00: 1953525168 sectors, multi 0: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32), AA".  If I wait a few more seconds and press the reset button again, I'll get "ata2.00: configured for UDMA/100".  Wait a while longer and press the reset and I get a line that says "sda:" preceded by "sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA".  A while longer it pops on its own to lines that say:
"scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM  HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH30N  A102 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
 unknown partition table
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk".

I wait a while longer and press the reset and I get Greetings and that I'm using anaconda 13.42.  Then it hangs at "mounting /tmp as tmpfs... done".  Wait a little and press reset and I get "running /sbin/loader".  I wait a while longer (I just went with 4 minutes and it still hadn't moved) and sometimes it bumps out on its own and sometimes I hit reset twice and it goes to "waiting for hardware to initialize".

I wait a while longer (about 1 minute), press reset, and after about a minute I get the graphical version saying "Looking for installation images on CD device /dev/sr0".  I've had this appear as the full screen and as the top left quarter of the screen when I've tried different times.  

After about 2:30, the screen goes blue-blank and then 5 minutes later I get the screen asking if I want to test the media.  I tried to test the media once and it took about 5 minutes to get to the screen where it actually starts testing but then didn't get beyond 0% in the 5 or so minutes I let it sit there. 

In the past I've gotten to the graphical version asking about language.  Then it takes forever to move from screen to screen.  But now I've been waiting for 10 minutes and I can hear the disk spinning but nothing is happening.  My nerves are shot, don't know what to do, beaten.

I've tried to install FC12 before with the same problems.  I did get FC10 to work on the machine, but whenever I'd reboot I would get a kernel oops that I would ignore.  I've also tried to upgrade using the yum preupgrade, etc from FC10, but got the same set of problems.  I've let the install sit all night (when I tried installing and upgrading to FC12) and it never moved past the "Initializing network drop monitor service".  I have a Dell usb keyboard and mouse, both of which are connected to the usb ports in the front of the machine.  Initially I had them connected through the monitor's usb ports and then when I got to the graphical screens the keyboard didn't work.  I've also tried to use the dummy video driver installation but get the same set of problems.  I have a GeForce GT220 graphics card in there now but in the past I had the on-board graphics card that came with the stupid machine.  The new graphics card doesn't appear to change anything.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Whatever anaconda is on the DVD version for x86_64, both for FC12 and FC13

How reproducible:
Every time.  Try to install FC12 or FC13 x86_64 from DVD on this machine.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Put in the DVD
2. Follow what I say above, I've tried everything I can think of (with my limited knowledge) to get around this
3.
  
Actual results:
I've described this above.

Expected results:
The install would work.

Additional info:
I'm not a total rube but not exactly a kernel hacker either.  I've been installing Fedora versions for 4 years on my own and another 5 years before that with help from a CS professor.  Back in those years, we would always have to hack around some problem.  But in the last 4 years (except for this), I've always been able to do things on my own with a little help from the web.  But I can't find anything related to this problem

Thanks much to anyone who replies, and my wife and kids indirectly thank you as well.

Comment 1 Eric Rawdon 2010-09-12 00:33:32 UTC
Okay, I seem to have gotten the installation to work.  I added the acpi=off and mem=1000M to the vmlinuz command and then the install worked swimmingly.  I'm not sure which of these commands actually did the magic though.

In retrospect, I should have tried this earlier, but I get worried when I'm changing lines like that and I don't really know what's happening.

Comment 2 Chuck Ebbert 2010-09-14 00:45:59 UTC
Does adding just "nohz=off highres=off" to the boot options work?

Comment 3 Eric Rawdon 2010-09-14 15:53:39 UTC
I did a sort of mock install and "nohz=off highres=off" did seem to be working.  Then I changed my grub.conf file to use these options instead of "acpi=off".  I don't know what they mean, but I'm assuming your suggestion was made because these two options are less disruptive than the acpi=off one.  Is that correct?

Comment 4 Chuck Ebbert 2010-09-15 02:25:33 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> I did a sort of mock install and "nohz=off highres=off" did seem to be working.
>  Then I changed my grub.conf file to use these options instead of "acpi=off". 
> I don't know what they mean, but I'm assuming your suggestion was made because
> these two options are less disruptive than the acpi=off one.  Is that correct?

Yes, acpi=off is only a last resort.

Comment 5 Eric Rawdon 2010-12-27 15:06:40 UTC
Is it possible to use "nohz=off highres=off" with preupgrade or do I need to go back to a DVD?

Comment 6 Bug Zapper 2011-05-31 13:51:07 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 13 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 13.  It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained.  At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 
'version' of '13'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 13's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that 
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 13 is end of life.  If you 
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this 
bug to the applicable version.  If you are unable to change the version, 
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events.  Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Comment 7 Bug Zapper 2011-06-28 13:03:14 UTC
Fedora 13 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2011-06-25. Fedora 13 is 
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further 
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of 
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.

Comment 8 Stuart Blackburn 2012-06-28 19:41:28 UTC
I encountered the same problem installing Fedora 17 on a Dell Optiplex 760. The "nohz=off highres=off" kernel parameters during the installation solved the problem for me as well.

Thanks!


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