Safe Mode Parameters

[busprof]

I have an older Dell Inspiron (Pentium 4M-512Mb RAM) that refuses to boot kernels past 2.6.37 except in "Safe" mode.  This is fine, but would someone please list the parameters that are passed to the kernel by Grub in Safe so I'll know how it differs from the normal boot instruction?  I'd Ike to keep this old system going as long as I can, and understanding the parameters might help.

Thanks in advance.

[Old-Polack]

I have an older Dell Inspiron (Pentium 4M-512Mb RAM) that refuses to boot kernels past 2.6.37 except in "Safe" mode.  This is fine, but would someone please list the parameters that are passed to the kernel by Grub in Safe so I'll know how it differs from the normal boot instruction?  I'd Ike to keep this old system going as long as I can, and understanding the parameters might help.

Thanks in advance.

In what manner do you define "refuses to boot kernels past 2.6.37 except in "Safe" mode"?

[busprof]

It seems to hang (screen goes blank with flashing cursor in upper left corner) after vmlinuz is loaded and the init daemon starts loading the default system daemons.  This happens without exception on all post 2.6.37 kernels regardless of distribution or customization.  Since the PCLOS kernel will load and runs just fine booting in Safe, I was hoping to learn something by understanding how the Safe parameters might differ from default.

Hope this explains things adequately.

[Old-Polack]

It seems to hang (screen goes blank with flashing cursor in upper left corner) after vmlinuz is loaded and the init daemon starts loading the default system daemons.  This happens without exception on all post 2.6.37 kernels regardless of distribution or customization.  Since the PCLOS kernel will load and runs just fine booting in Safe, I was hoping to learn something by understanding how the Safe parameters might differ from default.

Hope this explains things adequately.

If you get as far as a black screen with flashing cursor, You are fully booted, but your X server is not loading. Ctrl+Alt+F1should get you to a VT and login prompt. Log in as root, and enter the command init 3. When the prompt is returned, try startx. If the X server again fails to start you will at least be given an error message that will tell you why. Post that error message.

[busprof]

Sorry for the delay.

OK...The boot process is not getting as far along as I thought.  The boot sequence is failing before any init scripts have run - or at least before they have completed.  Keying CTL+ALT+F1 does not give a virtual terminal.

I ran with 'quiet' removed from grub - the process is halting after 'PCI bridge to [bus 02-02]'.  The last displayed process is 'PCI 0000:00:1e:0:bridge window [mem 0x20000000-0x25ffffff pref]'  - then the process halts.

Is "bus 02-02" some kind of FDDI network interface?  (Probably not - but if so...why?)

Here are the current default grub settings for the 2.6.39 kernel I'm trying to boot:

insmod
insmod part ms-dos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fsuuid --set=root 72019f94-2460-4317-a4bc-10ee\47b86d41
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686
root=UUID=72019f94-2460-4317-a4bc-10ee\47b86d41 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686

[Old-Polack]

Sorry for the delay.

OK...The boot process is not getting as far along as I thought.  The boot sequence is failing before any init scripts have run - or at least before they have completed.  Keying CTL+ALT+F1 does not give a virtual terminal.

I ran with 'quiet' removed from grub - the process is halting after 'PCI bridge to [bus 02-02]'.  The last displayed process is 'PCI 0000:00:1e:0:bridge window [mem 0x20000000-0x25ffffff pref]'  - then the process halts.

Is "bus 02-02" some kind of FDDI network interface?  (Probably not - but if so...why?)

Here are the current default grub settings for the 2.6.39 kernel I'm trying to boot:

insmod
insmod part ms-dos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fsuuid --set=root 72019f94-2460-4317-a4bc-10ee\47b86d41
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686
root=UUID=72019f94-2460-4317-a4bc-10ee\47b86d41 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-686

This is not a PCLinuxOS configuration file, so obviously not PCLinuxOS you are trying to boot. It also appears to be a grub2 configuration file, which we don't use. Why are you asking for help here? We provide support for all official release versions of PCLinuxOS, not other OS distros which we have no connection to, or control of.

You need to ask your questions on the forum of the OS you are trying, unsuccessfully, to boot.

[busprof]

I was afraid I'd get this.  I should have added an explanation to my last post.  Here it is...

I'm using PCLinuxOS on two other machines and have been since last December, and I'm a contributor to the project since last February.  I happen to have a different distro loaded on this machine at the moment - but I will most likely restore PCLinuxOS shortly - since (as I mentioned in the original post) - I can boot into post-2.6.37 kernels using the PCLinuxOS version, but only in safe mode.  My goal is to understand why safe mode works when the 'normal' mode does not - regardless of distro or kernel customization.  That's why I asked what the safe mode parameters are.

I replied using the currently installed information to save some time - I don't have a live disk that will work on this 32-bit machine and a live disk would have a pre-2.6.37 kernel installed (unless the live images have been updated since I last checked).

I thought that a list of the safe mode settings might help me reconfigure the boot process once I do reinstall PCLOS - to avoid having to drop into safe mode manually each time I boot.

Thanks.

[Old-Polack]

I was afraid I'd get this.  I should have added an explanation to my last post.  Here it is...

I'm using PCLinuxOS on two other machines and have been since last December, and I'm a contributor to the project since last February.  I happen to have a different distro loaded on this machine at the moment - but I will most likely restore PCLinuxOS shortly - since (as I mentioned in the original post) - I can boot into post-2.6.37 kernels using the PCLinuxOS version, but only in safe mode.  My goal is to understand why safe mode works when the 'normal' mode does not - regardless of distro or kernel customization.  That's why I asked what the safe mode parameters are.

I replied using the currently installed information to save some time - I don't have a live disk that will work on this 32-bit machine and a live disk would have a pre-2.6.37 kernel installed (unless the live images have been updated since I last checked).

I thought that a list of the safe mode settings might help me reconfigure the boot process once I do reinstall PCLOS - to avoid having to drop into safe mode manually each time I boot.

Thanks.

The latest release is now pclinuxos-kde-2011.6.iso, which uses the 2.6.38.8 kernel. I would d/l that and try it in your problem machine.

Any kernel that will boot to a command line, "Safe Mode", is a working kernel. What you are most likely experiencing is an X server not loading, which is totally different from a kernel not booting. You need to learn, and use, the proper terms when troubleshooting problems, or you'll most likely get improper answers and poor results.

There are a number of graphics drivers that have been deprecated with the latest kernels and X server, so your problem may just be you need to reconfigure your graphics card to use different drivers.  

[busprof]

I'll do it.  I'll let you know what I find after booting into the newer .iso.

[Hootiegibbon]

I'll do it.  I'll let you know what I find after booting into the newer .iso.

The older dells have always needed a cople of bootcodes like ide-nodma or ide-noirqpoll (iirc) or similar

in this case I would agree with O-P that it sounds like its  graphical server issue (again popular with older dells) in which case you can try booting to runlevel 3 and troubleshoot from there

Jase