[SOLVED] Puzzled after kernel update

[wharfhouse]

All,

Sorry to be a pain but I just wanted to check this out... not sure if what I'm about to say is connected to this thread:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,93038.0.html

I don't want to play around at something I don't fully understand and end up breaking something... I've had too much of that lately

On Texstar's and muungwana's advice I installed kernel 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs because of instability on the original kernel after recent updates through Synaptic.

First thing I noticed on rebooting was that in Grub there were an additional two new entries: another entry of the original kernel plus a new entry for the new one.

OK... boot into the new one, gave it time to do its stuff, eventually came to start X... no go.  Tried 3 times then went to the 'configure it yourself' dialog boxes.  Pressed ctrl+alt+F1 to get to a bash prompt and in nano edited menu.lst to include vmalloc=256M in the kernel line as per Texstars' recommendation for NVidia cards, rebooted... no difference.  Not sure what's the best to do

• Do I apply the commands Texstar lists in the thread quoted above i.e. apt-get blah blah blah and see if it fixes the problem?
• What do I do with the original kernel when the new one gets to work... do I uninstall it?
• How come the original is listed twice in Grub with the first "original" one listed now not booting (does the same as the new kernel)?

I rebooted all three listed kernels several times to make sure... only the newly listed "original" continues to boot OK.  Does all this make sense?  Sounds terribly complicated!

[OMSkates]

Hi, I can only answer question on Grub splash;  Leave all other kernels installed, best to NOT uninstall any.  By default you will boot into the most recently installed kernel, otherwise you can go to PCC >> Boot >> then mark any as the default kernel.

[rubentje1991]

After you tried Texstar's commands,
please try this:

Code: [Select]

rm -f /etc/X11/xorg.conf
XFdrake --auto
reboot(or have you done this already?)

[wedgetail]

wharfhouse
The GRUB menu.lst please show that in the thread, a verbal description is not the best for this critter 

[wharfhouse]

Hi Guys and thanks for your responses

'Fraid things are getting from bad to worse

Using the commands on Texstars' post, I booted into the new kernel as far as it would go, to the point of the Xserver trying to start, Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to the bash prompt, login as root, typed the following:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

So far so good, by the verbage on the screen all installed OK except the last few lines when it said something about couldn't locate some Plymouth themes in boot imagrd is it? or something like that (not that familiar with Linux files yet )... nothing too important.  Then went on to:

apt-get install x11-driver-input
apt-get install x11-driver video

Got error messages E: couldn't find packages (Drive E:/ ??)

OK, so I rebooted into the new kernel again to see if anything had changed since the above operations... booted so far... nothing! Just the black screen of death. Pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del (at least the keyboard responded, nothing else would) and tried again... same.  Tried all entries in Grub... same, so now I'm completely screwed.  Don't know how to get into a position where I can find out what's going on or do anything about it!

Wedgetail, I copied my menu.lst using a LiveCD after the disaster above for you to have a look at all my entries (perhaps there's a clue there???):

Code: [Select]

timeout 5
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,7)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=3d2f384e-bcc9-4326-a14d-c83f549081fb  nokmsboot vga=788
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=3d2f384e-bcc9-4326-a14d-c83f549081fb nokmsboot resume=UUID=19dc7e40-f3b7-48c9-b360-0585c8e72896
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=3d2f384e-bcc9-4326-a14d-c83f549081fb failsafe
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title 2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs root=UUID=3d2f384e-bcc9-4326-a14d-c83f549081fb nokmsboot resume=UUID=19dc7e40-f3b7-48c9-b360-0585c8e72896 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs.img

title 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs root=UUID=3d2f384e-bcc9-4326-a14d-c83f549081fb nokmsboot resume=UUID=19dc7e40-f3b7-48c9-b360-0585c8e72896 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img


What do you reckon?
 

[rubentje1991]

E: couldn't find packages (Drive E:/ ??)

just means "Error: couldn't find packages"
(Linux never notates drives by LETTER and ':')

booted so far...

How far does it boot exactly?
Is the kernel being loaded (yes/no)?
Or do you see the full boot sequence, until normally the X-server is started?

More info please 

[kjpetrie]

The menu.lst changes are completely normal. The new kernel becomes the default pointed to by the first entry, but to be sure specific entries are added to the end for each kernel. That's to ensure you can boot unambiguously into any installed kernel.

If either Synaptic or apt-get says it failed to download packages never continue with the upgrade. Doing so is very dangerous. Abort, wait a couple of hours, and try again.

Can you boot into failsafe? If you can, try apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade in there. If not, you will either have to re-install or use a chrooted system from the livecd to repair it.

[wharfhouse]

Hello Ru...

Thanks for your help:

How far does it boot exactly?
Is the kernel being loaded (yes/no)?
Or do you see the full boot sequence, until normally the X-server is started?

Difficult to say, text flies up the screen before going totally black.  I'll try to freeze it at the point the text stops but I shan't hold my breath

Hi KJPetrie! (My mouse is still going )
As I say the apt-get update & apt-get dist-upgrade went fine as far as I could tell (see my post above)... it just failed when it came to the x11 installs.  At that point I didn't go any further and went for a shutdown -r now from root to see if anything had changed.

And, as I say, I tried booting from ALL the Grub entries, all with the same result (except Windows ).

Does it look bad?  There seems to be a few threads revolving around this theme at the moment, and I'm concerned that a post from Texstar stating that the new XServer/Xorg (can't remember) version on upgrades has no support for my NVidia GeForce2-MX400.  I wonder if this is the problem.  I'm certainly not going to replace my graphics card... it's against the whole ethos of Linux isn't it?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 

[Old-Polack]

Hello Ru...

Thanks for your help:

How far does it boot exactly?
Is the kernel being loaded (yes/no)?
Or do you see the full boot sequence, until normally the X-server is started?

Difficult to say, text flies up the screen before going totally black.  I'll try to freeze it at the point the text stops but I shan't hold my breath

Hi KJPetrie! (My mouse is still going )
As I say the apt-get update & apt-get dist-upgrade went fine as far as I could tell (see my post above)... it just failed when it came to the x11 installs.  At that point I didn't go any further and went for a shutdown -r now from root to see if anything had changed.

And, as I say, I tried booting from ALL the Grub entries, all with the same result (except Windows ).

Does it look bad?  There seems to be a few threads revolving around this theme at the moment, and I'm concerned that a post from Texstar stating that the new XServer/Xorg (can't remember) version on upgrades has no support for my NVidia GeForce2-MX400.  I wonder if this is the problem.  I'm certainly not going to replace my graphics card... it's against the whole ethos of Linux isn't it?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 

That card was covered by the nVidia 96.43.19 driver who's support ends with the 1.9 X server. Unless they add support for the 1.10 X server you will need to use the open source nouveau driver.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-ia32-96.43.19-driver.html

[wharfhouse]

Update...

Ru, as best as I could, the last line before the screen goes black is:
starting udev
There seems to be a fairly extended amount of hard disk activity after this before it goes quiet.

O-P thanks for the info.  I've downloaded the driver from NVidia ready for when you guys can figure out how I can get to a screen when I can do something

In anticipation...

[Old-Polack]

Update...

Ru, as best as I could, the last line before the screen goes black is:
starting udev
There seems to be a fairly extended amount of hard disk activity after this before it goes quiet.

O-P thanks for the info.  I've downloaded the driver from NVidia ready for when you guys can figure out how I can get to a screen when I can do something

In anticipation...

We just remover that driver as it no longer works. If nVidia updates it to work with newer X servers, it will again be installable through Synaptic, and won't be the broken one you downloaded. You seem to have missed the point.

Configure your card through pcc --> display after logging in as root, from the login prompt. Use the arrow and Tab keys to navigate, space bar to select, and Enter key to execute. It's a little different, but not any harder than configuring in the full GUI version of PCC

[kjpetrie]

That's the card I have in my old computer, now out on loan. With xorg 1.9.5 and the nouveau driver it does work, but without 3d. Don't know whether you'll get 3d with xorg 1.10.2. If not, it's too bad, as nvidia have dropped support for the card so nouveau is the best available now.

The nouveau driver is under "xorg" so you'll have to arrow down quite a way.

If pcc --> display doesn't work for some reason, you can also try XFdrake, which is another route to the same program.

[wharfhouse]

O-P and kjpetrie thanks for your comments,

O-P thanks for the info.  I've downloaded the driver from NVidia ready for when you guys can figure out how I can get to a screen when I can do something

I'm afraid all this talk on NVidia drivers are rather academic at the moment... I think if you read back I can't even boot into any Grub listed PCLos so I can't do anything (I downloaded the driver using XP and this is also being typed out in Windows)

[Old-Polack]

O-P and kjpetrie thanks for your comments,

O-P thanks for the info.  I've downloaded the driver from NVidia ready for when you guys can figure out how I can get to a screen when I can do something

I'm afraid all this talk on NVidia drivers are rather academic at the moment... I think if you read back I can't even boot into any Grub listed PCLos so I can't do anything (I downloaded the driver using XP and this is also being typed out in Windows)

It kind of depends on definition as to what boot and black screen means. A black screen may indicate a system crash, or just a failure of the X server to start. When you get to the black screen, what happens if you press Ctrl+Alt+F1? If nothing, the system really did crash. If you get a VT screen on tty1, the system is still running and you just need to configure your display.

You may have jumped the gun on the x11 installation and shutdown while it was actually still installing. Whatever came next would also have not been installed, so the whole system could be in disarray. It's hard to say, having not witnessed what was happening first hand. If the system will still run, albeit from the command line only, it can probably be fixed. It may also be possible to fix it from a chroot environment from another running system, ie the liveCD. To know how to proceed we need more feedback from you.

[wharfhouse]

Hi O-P!

Thanks for being my guardian angel! 

Ru, as best as I could, the last line before the screen goes black is:
starting udev
There seems to be a fairly extended amount of hard disk activity after this before it goes quiet.

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del when it does go quiet... and I mean waiting something like 5 minutes after the screen goes black watching for the HDD LED to light up just in case (which it doesn't), will reboot the system for a repeat performance.  As a reminder of the last input I made before this catastrophy:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

So far so good, by the verbage on the screen all installed OK except the last few lines when it said something about couldn't locate some Plymouth themes in boot imagrd is it? or something like that (not that familiar with Linux files yet Grin)... nothing too important.  Then went on to:

apt-get install x11-driver-input
apt-get install x11-driver video

Got error messages E: couldn't find packages (Drive E:/ ??)

OK, so I rebooted into the new kernel again to see if anything had changed since the above operations... booted so far... nothing! Just the black screen of death. Pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del (at least the keyboard responded, nothing else would) and tried again... same.  Tried all entries in Grub... same, so now I'm completely screwed.  Don't know how to get into a position where I can find out what's going on or do anything about it!

Let me know if you need any more info.  What do you reckon 

Thanks.