[opensuse] Kernel upgrade gone bad
Hi, I just did a software update via yast after being away from home on a two-week business trip. One of the patches installed was an upgrade to the 2.6.37 default kernel. After a reboot, I can't get to a working desktop anymore. I have tried for several months to upgrade to the 2.6.37 kernel in the various release candidate iterations, as each appeared. But each installation was unsuccessful, and the operatiing system wouldn't boot to desktop with the same symptoms as I am about to describe in the subsequent paragraphs. I ended up downgrading my kernel back to the 2.6.34 version to allow the operating system to boot up properly. I did this by using the failsafe mode to boot up, then using yast to downgrade the kernel-default to 2.6.34.7-0.7.1. The other installed kernel packages, kernel-default-base, kernel-default-devel, kernel-devel, and kernel-source remained at version 2.6.37 but everything worked. I am using opensuse 11.3 with kde4.5.5 release 1. I have an Nvidia graphix card and am using the linux Nvidia graphics driver. Now, I can't boot with the normal operating system or with failsafe mode into kernel 2.6.37, so I can't downgrade the kernel-default. When I try to boot, I get several messages. These are: 1. Pressing escape during the boot up to read the boot messages provides one message reading "Unable to cannocalize /lib/modules/2.6.37/default/system/I can't read the rest of the path because the message flashes by too quickly. 2. When kde would normally boot to the kde login screen, I get a message: Cannot enter home directory using /. My cursor is frozen, so by pressing enter I receive the following message on a new screen: 3. In a terminal window about 1x4 inches appearing on a black background on my monitor, I get the following partial message: kstartupconfig4 does not exist or fails. The error code is 3. Check My cursor is frozen on the black portion of the screen, and the computer won't boot any farther. I have to press and hold the start button to reboot at this point. Can anyone help me restore the operating system to normal operation with the new kernel? I wonder if the Nvidia graphics driver didn't upgrade to match the new kernel, and if that is the source of the problems? If so, how does one upgrade it by booting to runlevel 3 and using command line when booting the 2.6.37 kernel? Thanks in advance, Mark -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 On 2011-01-09 23:54, Mark Misulich wrote:
I have tried for several months to upgrade to the 2.6.37 kernel in the various release candidate iterations, as each appeared. But each installation was unsuccessful, and the operatiing system wouldn't boot to desktop with the same symptoms as I am about to describe in the subsequent paragraphs. I ended up downgrading my kernel back to the 2.6.34 version to allow the operating system to boot up properly. I did this by using the failsafe mode to boot up, then using yast to downgrade the kernel-default to 2.6.34.7-0.7.1. The other installed kernel packages, kernel-default-base, kernel-default-devel, kernel-devel, and kernel-source remained at version 2.6.37 but everything worked.
You can have several kernels installed. If an update fails, you simply boot the previous kernel. /etc/zypp/zypp.conf ## ## Packages which can be installed in different versions at the same time. ## ## Packages are selected either by name, or by provides. In the later case ## the string must start with "provides:" immediately followed by the capability. ## ## Example: ## kernel - just packages whith name 'kernel' ## provides:multiversion(kernel) - all packages providing 'multiversion(kernel)' ## (kenel and kmp packages should do this) ## Valid values: ## Comma separated list of packages. ## ## Default value: ## empty ## multiversion = provides:multiversion(kernel) That's in 11.3, in 11.2 is a bit more difficult.
2. When kde would normally boot to the kde login screen, I get a message: Cannot enter home directory using /.
Boot to runlevel 3. It seems your home is not mounted. - -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" GM (Minas Tirith)) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.12 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iF4EAREIAAYFAk0ripsACgkQja8UbcUWM1y8cQEAh+BsuG5ypWSf5/2818Xo1dMi 2tyr+xM5qnsx74+3ujcA/1WSYXAZ1Bv4ca1hwHAxPlD/s67Vs16TDB77ygfjzPjI =ar4I -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Mon, 2011-01-10 at 23:39 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256
On 2011-01-09 23:54, Mark Misulich wrote:
I have tried for several months to upgrade to the 2.6.37 kernel in the various release candidate iterations, as each appeared. But each installation was unsuccessful, and the operatiing system wouldn't boot to desktop with the same symptoms as I am about to describe in the subsequent paragraphs. I ended up downgrading my kernel back to the 2.6.34 version to allow the operating system to boot up properly. I did this by using the failsafe mode to boot up, then using yast to downgrade the kernel-default to 2.6.34.7-0.7.1. The other installed kernel packages, kernel-default-base, kernel-default-devel, kernel-devel, and kernel-source remained at version 2.6.37 but everything worked.
You can have several kernels installed. If an update fails, you simply boot the previous kernel.
/etc/zypp/zypp.conf
## ## Packages which can be installed in different versions at the same time. ## ## Packages are selected either by name, or by provides. In the later case ## the string must start with "provides:" immediately followed by the capability. ## ## Example: ## kernel - just packages whith name 'kernel' ## provides:multiversion(kernel) - all packages providing 'multiversion(kernel)' ## (kenel and kmp packages should do this) ## Valid values: ## Comma separated list of packages. ## ## Default value: ## empty ## multiversion = provides:multiversion(kernel)
That's in 11.3, in 11.2 is a bit more difficult.
2. When kde would normally boot to the kde login screen, I get a message: Cannot enter home directory using /.
Boot to runlevel 3. It seems your home is not mounted.
- -- Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next? Mark -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tuesday 11 January 2011 16:48:14 Mark Misulich wrote:
On Mon, 2011-01-10 at 23:39 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256
On 2011-01-09 23:54, Mark Misulich wrote:
I have tried for several months to upgrade to the 2.6.37 kernel in the various release candidate iterations, as each appeared. But each installation was unsuccessful, and the operatiing system wouldn't boot to desktop with the same symptoms as I am about to describe in the subsequent paragraphs. I ended up downgrading my kernel back to the 2.6.34 version to allow the operating system to boot up properly. I did this by using the failsafe mode to boot up, then using yast to downgrade the kernel-default to 2.6.34.7-0.7.1. The other installed kernel packages, kernel-default-base, kernel-default-devel, kernel-devel, and kernel-source remained at version 2.6.37 but everything worked.
You can have several kernels installed. If an update fails, you simply boot the previous kernel.
/etc/zypp/zypp.conf
## ## Packages which can be installed in different versions at the same time. ## ## Packages are selected either by name, or by provides. In the later case ## the string must start with "provides:" immediately followed by the capability. ## ## Example: ## kernel - just packages whith name 'kernel' ## provides:multiversion(kernel) - all packages providing 'multiversion(kernel)' ## (kenel and kmp packages should do this) ## Valid values: ## Comma separated list of packages. ## ## Default value: ## empty ## multiversion = provides:multiversion(kernel)
That's in 11.3, in 11.2 is a bit more difficult.
2. When kde would normally boot to the kde login screen, I get a message: Cannot enter home directory using /.
Boot to runlevel 3. It seems your home is not mounted.
- -- Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next?
Mark
It seems to me that you installed only the kernel, but not the necessary modules, which come with the new kernel.
I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is your experience level with linux? Keep in mind that the (final) 2.6.37 only has been released last week by Linus. Altough there were development stages before, don't consider this one quite stable yet under openSUSE.
Here is what you are going to have to find out: Did you install all the corresponding kernel modules with the new kernel?
"Unable to cannocalize /lib/modules/2.6.37/default/system/I..."
Seems to me you didn't. Don't think to lightly about this modules. Modules are drivers and they are even needed to mount your file systems. Anyway, you are looking for a way to get out of this shit, so try this: When you see your GRUB screen, go to you entry and type in the command line: "init 3". This boots the system in runlevel 3. When the system is booted, log in as root. Issue command "mount", it will print all mounted partions. Issue command cat /etc/fstab, it will print all that should have been mounted. Probably you will find your Home partition somewhere in there. If you don't know your home partition, try "fdisk -l" this will print all partitions. If your system is still quite standard, home will be on the primary disk and it will be the biggest partition. (Eg. /dev/sdaX, where X is the partition number) Now try "mount /dev/sdaX /home" If you get an error here, post it here, as well the output of the presvious mount and fstab commands. Also I would like you to see the output of the following command: ls -R /lib/modules/2.6.37/default (well basically just want to know if something is there). If the modules are installed, you should get a shit load of file names on your screen. After that, try to modprobe your filesystem module. You can find the type off file system by the previous "cat /etc/fstab" command. Eg for ext4: "modprobe ext4.ko" And try again to mount your home filesystem. (Altough I would say this is only rectifying a symptom, not the disease) Small note: you can always access yast from the command line. If you are logged in as root, just issue "yast". Inside yast you can configure networking (IF THE MODULES ARE INSTALLED!) and install/uninstall software. Greetings, Tim (Muhlemmer) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
It seems to me that you installed only the kernel, but not the necessary modules, which come with the new kernel.
I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is your experience level with linux?
Never great enough to figure out how to fix all the linux problems without help. The ones I know how to fix I don't ask the list for help on.
Keep in mind that the (final) 2.6.37 only has been released last week by Linus. Altough there were development stages before, don't consider this one quite stable yet under openSUSE.
Here is what you are going to have to find out: Did you install all the corresponding kernel modules with the new kernel?
I hired yast and zypper to do that for me. The only modules I ever had to reinstall after a kernel upgrade were the ethernet driver and module, but that was on Opensuse 11.1. Since then the driver for the nic has been included in the kernel on opensuse 11.2 and .3. Anyways, I think that you are right, yast didn't install the modules, see below.
"Unable to cannocalize /lib/modules/2.6.37/default/system/I..."
Seems to me you didn't. Don't think to lightly about this modules. Modules are drivers and they are even needed to mount your file systems.
Anyway, you are looking for a way to get out of this shit, so try this:
When you see your GRUB screen, go to you entry and type in the command line: "init 3". This boots the system in runlevel 3.
When the system is booted, log in as root.
Issue command "mount", it will print all mounted partions. Issue command cat /etc/fstab, it will print all that should have been mounted.
Probably you will find your Home partition somewhere in there. If you don't know your home partition, try "fdisk -l" this will print all partitions. If your system is still quite standard, home will be on the primary disk and it will be the biggest partition. (Eg. /dev/sdaX, where X is the partition number)
Now try "mount /dev/sdaX /home"
#mount /dev/sda7 /home mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4' #mount -a only /root gets mounted, not /home #ls -R /lib/modules/2.6.37/default ls: cannot access /lib/modules/2.6.37/default: no such file or directory #modprobe ext4.ko FATAL: Module ext4.ko not found What's next? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
* Mark Misulich
#mount /dev/sda7 /home mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4'
#mount -a only /root gets mounted, not /home
#ls -R /lib/modules/2.6.37/default ls: cannot access /lib/modules/2.6.37/default: no such file or directory
#modprobe ext4.ko FATAL: Module ext4.ko not found
What's next?
reinstall the kernel, as root from cl: zypper in -f kernel-default-2.6.37-33.1.x86_64 but you need to have multiversion setup in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf to retain your other kernels -- Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA HOG # US1244711 http://wahoo.no-ip.org Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535 @ http://counter.li.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 01/11/2011 09:48 AM, Mark Misulich wrote:
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next?
Mark
Boot to runlevel 3 and login as root. (1) cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name 8 0 625131864 sda 8 1 1542208 sda1 8 2 83891430 sda2 8 3 1 sda3 8 5 2048256 sda5 8 6 36861111 sda6 8 7 500786181 sda7 hmm... looks like sda7 is the right size for home on my box. (2) confirm that with 'grep home /etc/fstab' grep home /etc/fstab /dev/sda7 /home ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2 yep, /dev/sda7 is /home (3) (as root) mount the home partition: mount /dev/sda7 /home (4) then check that your /home/lxmark is available Post any errors you receive. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 21:37 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 01/11/2011 09:48 AM, Mark Misulich wrote:
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next?
Mark
Boot to runlevel 3 and login as root.
(1) cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name
8 0 625131864 sda 8 1 1542208 sda1 8 2 83891430 sda2 8 3 1 sda3 8 5 2048256 sda5 8 6 36861111 sda6 8 7 500786181 sda7
hmm... looks like sda7 is the right size for home on my box.
(2) confirm that with 'grep home /etc/fstab' grep home /etc/fstab /dev/sda7 /home ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2
yep, /dev/sda7 is /home
(3) (as root) mount the home partition: mount /dev/sda7 /home
(4) then check that your /home/lxmark is available
Post any errors you receive.
-- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
When I run these commands to mount the /home partition, I get the message: mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4' -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Mark Misulich ha scritto:
On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 21:37 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 01/11/2011 09:48 AM, Mark Misulich wrote:
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next?
Mark
Boot to runlevel 3 and login as root.
(1) cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name
8 0 625131864 sda 8 1 1542208 sda1 8 2 83891430 sda2 8 3 1 sda3 8 5 2048256 sda5 8 6 36861111 sda6 8 7 500786181 sda7
hmm... looks like sda7 is the right size for home on my box.
(2) confirm that with 'grep home /etc/fstab' grep home /etc/fstab /dev/sda7 /home ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2
yep, /dev/sda7 is /home
(3) (as root) mount the home partition: mount /dev/sda7 /home
(4) then check that your /home/lxmark is available
Post any errors you receive.
-- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
When I run these commands to mount the /home partition, I get the message:
mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4'
Seems your kernel does not support ext4 filesystem.... you have recompiled it manually? If yes, you are missing the ext4 filesystem kernel support, recompile it another time, this time with the ext4 support! -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Claudio Prono OPST System Developer Gsm: +39-349-54.33.258 @PSS Srl Tel: +39-011-32.72.100 Via San Bernardino, 17 Fax: +39-011-32.46.497 10141 Torino - ITALY http://atpss.net/disclaimer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PGP Key - http://keys.atpss.net/c_prono.asc -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Wed, 2011-01-12 at 17:35 +0100, Claudio Prono wrote:
Mark Misulich ha scritto:
On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 21:37 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 01/11/2011 09:48 AM, Mark Misulich wrote:
Hi, I am not sure how to get home to mount. I know how to boot to runlevel 3, that is how I found out that there was no home for that kernel. What is next?
Mark
Boot to runlevel 3 and login as root.
(1) cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name
8 0 625131864 sda 8 1 1542208 sda1 8 2 83891430 sda2 8 3 1 sda3 8 5 2048256 sda5 8 6 36861111 sda6 8 7 500786181 sda7
hmm... looks like sda7 is the right size for home on my box.
(2) confirm that with 'grep home /etc/fstab' grep home /etc/fstab /dev/sda7 /home ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2
yep, /dev/sda7 is /home
(3) (as root) mount the home partition: mount /dev/sda7 /home
(4) then check that your /home/lxmark is available
Post any errors you receive.
-- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
When I run these commands to mount the /home partition, I get the message:
mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4'
Seems your kernel does not support ext4 filesystem.... you have recompiled it manually? If yes, you are missing the ext4 filesystem kernel support, recompile it another time, this time with the ext4 support!
Hi, no, I didn't recompile the kernel manually. This problem was created by yast as it installed a kernel upgrade patch from suse repositories. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 01/12/2011 08:25 AM, Mark Misulich wrote:
When I run these commands to mount the /home partition, I get the message:
mount: unknown filesystem type 'ext4'
Claudio nailed it. For some reason your new kernel isn't loading the ext4 module on boot. You can try and manually load it with: modprobe -v ext4 and see what errors/messages you receive. You can also check to see what your system thinks is loaded with: lsmod | grep ext4 which should return something like: 12:55 zephyr:~> lsmod | grep ext4 ext4 343457 1 jbd2 74521 1 ext4 crc16 1411 1 ext4 if ext4 is loaded. Now you know what the issue is, you may want to start a new thread something like "kernel 2.6.37 fails to load ext4 -- help?"" which may get fresh eyes on the problem. In the mean time, you may also want to add: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.3/ as a repository and install the latest kernel from there. The Kernel:/HEAD repo generally has reliable kernels and I have used them since 11.3 was released to get around an atheros bug in 2.6.34. Good luck! -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 01/12/2011 08:00 PM, David C. Rankin wrote:
In the mean time, you may also want to add:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.3/
as a repository and install the latest kernel from there. The Kernel:/HEAD repo generally has reliable kernels and I have used them since 11.3 was released to get around an atheros bug in 2.6.34.
define reliable for who ; for what. IMHO it is better to stay with the official updates if one is new to Linux. You may find it useful but that does not mean it is for someone else also. Togan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 01/12/2011 01:31 PM, Togan Muftuoglu wrote:
define reliable for who ; for what. IMHO it is better to stay with the official updates if one is new to Linux. You may find it useful but that does not mean it is for someone else also.
Togan
YMMV Togan, Bug the default kernel would lock up on my wifi driver. Others have had similar problems with the 11.3 2.6.34 kernel (see multiple lengthy threads on upgrading your kernel in the past 4 months). The OP has multiversion set, or has been advised to set it, so given the relative risk between running 2.6.37 which the OP was attempting or running the 2.6.36 variant from HEAD, the latter seems like the lesser or two evils :p -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Wed, 2011-01-12 at 20:31 +0100, Togan Muftuoglu wrote:
On 01/12/2011 08:00 PM, David C. Rankin wrote:
In the mean time, you may also want to add:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.3/
as a repository and install the latest kernel from there. The Kernel:/HEAD repo generally has reliable kernels and I have used them since 11.3 was released to get around an atheros bug in 2.6.34.
define reliable for who ; for what. IMHO it is better to stay with the official updates if one is new to Linux. You may find it useful but that does not mean it is for someone else also.
Togan
Hi, I haven't been able to reply to this thread for a while because I was away from home for work. Just before I left I was able to get the computer working properly again, and haven't messed with the kernel upgrade since as I have a newsletter to put out and don't want to interfere with that by trying another kernel upgrade. The way that I got the computer to work properly was really a fluke. I hadn't been able to get konsole to display on the desktop, nor could I get yast to display either, for several days. I tried multiple times to get konsole to start, and after maybe 10 reboots and multiple tries to start konsole, it displayed on the desktop. Then I typed in yast2 as superuser, and got yast to display. I got software management to display in yast, then typed kernel in the search box. I found that for no good reason, kernel-default-devel had downgraded from 2.6.37 to 2.6.34. I hadn't applied that in yast when I tried to upgrade the kernel. That was the problem, I think. I downgraded kernel-default, kernel-default-devel, kernel-devel, and kernel-source to version 2.6.34 with yast, and now everything works again. For what its worth, I did have the kernel:Head repository installed prior to David Rankin's suggestion. I haven't found it to be a problem. I have checked and zypper wants to upgrade all the kernel programs again. I haven't tried the changes yet as I don't want to chance messing up the operating system again until I have time to play with it if it goes awry. That is for the near future. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (8)
-
Carlos E. R. -
Claudio Prono -
David C. Rankin -
Mark MIsulich -
Mark Misulich
-
Patrick Shanahan -
Tim Mohlmann -
Togan Muftuoglu