Problems with updating Fedora 11

[jbyram82]

First off, this thread is a two-part "problem," and I'm somewhat new to Linux, so please bear with me.

The first problem, which leads into the second problem, has to do with the bootloader. I currently have Windows 7 RC1 and Fedora 11 installed on a secondary computer, and had the GRUB setup properly, and was not experiencing any problems. The other day, I checked for some updates after I logged in, and there were plenty. I downloaded and applied them (it updated the kernel or file from '2.6.29.6-217.2.8.fc11.x86_64' to '2.6.30.9-90.fc11.x86_64'). When I rebooted the computer, on my boot menu, it listed two entries for Fedora 11: one for the older kernel and one with the newer kernel. When I selected the newer kernel, I would get this error:

rt61pci 0000:05:08.0: firmware: requesting rt2561s.bin

And it would just freeze at the screen with that error. So I rebooted and selected the older kernel, and Fedora loaded up just fine, with all the downloaded updates applied and everything up-to-date. My first question/problem -- why are there two entries for Fedora, and what's causing that? The only thing I can think of is I went into the grub.conf file and changed the title of the Fedora option (I changed it to just Fedora 11), and maybe that's affecting other things, but I'm not sure. I asked a friend that uses another distro of Linux, and he's never had this problem.

Now, the second problem. The last time I updated Fedora, I had this same problem, and I just edited the grub.conf file and removed the entry that froze up -- didn't have any problems after that. So this time, I did the same thing, but I accidentally deleted the wrong entry in the file. Gave me all sorts of problems with loading up Fedora, but I figured "No problem, I'll use the Fedora DVD and repair GRUB." I did so, but I still can't load up Fedora, and I've seen 2 error messages associated with it. The first message I saw (and I've only seen it once) is this:

ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

I rebooted, and since I've gotten this message:

rt61pci 0000:05:08.0: firmware: requesting rt2561s.bin

Yup, the same message as in the first problem. And the screen just stays on that message. Now, I think this has something to do with my wireless network card (the rt61 and rt2561 looks familiar, as I had to use Ralink drivers for my Linksys NIC), but I wouldn't think a problem with the NIC would cause Fedora not to boot up at all. That, and I've never had problems with the NIC, aside from getting it recognized when I initially installed and setup Fedora.

So in short, any and all help would be greatly appreciated. While there's nothing important on the Fedora partition that makes a reinstallation a "no-go," I would like to avoid that option if at all possible.

Thanks.

[ozjd]

When the kernel is updated the old kernel is kept and there are options in grub for each one. Fedora is not unique in this. You have found the reason, if there is a problem with the new kernel you can use the older one. The number of new kernels kept can be changed but it defaults to 3.

As for your other problems it appears that the Ralink driver needs to be updated to match the new kernel. If you installed them manually you will need to re-install after each kernel update.

[jbyram82]

See, this confuses me a little then. I've updated Fedora twice since installing it (from 2.6.29.4-167 to 2.6.29.6-217.2.8 and then from 2.6.29.6-217.2.8 to the current one), and each time I've had to select the older kernel in order to boot into Fedora, because of this same error (presumably, due to my NIC). But, to my knowledge, all the downloaded and applied updates were there in the older kernel. If I was selecting an older kernel, wouldn't my other updates not be applied to it? Or is that just my Windows System Restore mindset of thinking?

As for the Ralink driver, to my knowledge, there aren't regular updates for the driver. In fact, the last updated driver was on 1/23/09. So does this mean I just have to reinstall the drivers?

Even still, why would this prevent Fedora from booting up at all? When I installed it initially, my NIC wasn't recognized, but I was still able to boot into Fedora -- I just didn't have internet access.

[ozjd]

Reinstall the drivers and it should be okay. Others apps aren't affected by the kernel version, they will run with whatever kernel you have.

It appears to me, others may give a better explanation, that the drivers are trying to load and getting lost when they didn't find the matching files for your new kernel.

[jbyram82]

Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do then. I'd still like to know why the NIC is causing everything else to freeze up, so to speak.

Well, back to searching on Google. I'm not at all familiar or comfortable with copying and moving files in the Linux command line. I just remember using 'yum' the last time I installed those drivers...I think. Or was it with installing Nvidia drivers...

And I think Linksys wireless NICs are the bridge between Windows and Linux -- it's given me problems in both OSes (what with manual installs and setup).

Thanks!

[Nokia]

Post

rpm -qa |grep -e rt61pci-firmware -e rt73usb-firmware

[jbyram82]

Alright. I entered the above command and it unpacked the two listed files/packages. I then used 'yum install' with both packages and got a message saying that both were already installed (wasn't sure if I needed to do that next step). I rebooted and tried to boot into Fedora. Now, I'm getting a combination of the two error messages I was getting before:

rt61pci 0000:05:08.0: firmware: requesting rt2561s.bin
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

And it just stays there. I can switch to another console and log in through the command line; I just can't log in via the GUI and get a desktop or anything.

[Nokia]

1. Try

su
yum reinstall rt61pci-firmware rt73usb-firmware
reboot

2. If still doesn't work, file a bug report here https://bugzilla.redhat.com

[jbyram82]

Did that. I get an error message concerning downloading the packages.

I was able to find and download the drivers (Ralink's website leads to dead links, oddly enough). Don't know if that would help at this point.

Please tell me all this trouble is just because I have a wireless NIC installed. It really wouldn't surprise me, given the similar problems I've had trying to configure it in Windows Vista and 7 RC1.

[Nokia]

Originally Posted by jbyram82

Did that. I get an error message concerning downloading the packages.

Please post the full output here. It's the only way we can help you. Otherewise we can assure you have our sincere sympathy and deepest regret we couldn't guess any better...

Please tell me all this trouble is just because I have a wireless NIC installed. It really wouldn't surprise me, given the similar problems I've had trying to configure it in Windows Vista and 7 RC1.

I don't know about Vista, but I suspect it should have handled your nic without problems. As for 7 RC1 it isn't a final product therefore it's irrelevant evaluating it.

[jbyram82]

I should have clarified concerning Vista and 7 RC1; in short, it didn't recognize it right off the bat. I had to go hunting for the appropriate Ralink drivers and install it manually.

As for the error message, sorry. I would have posted the output, but it's several pages long (I'm only able to catch the last part of the message on my screen). From what I can see at the end of the message, it looks like it's trying various mirrors to download the packages from, but it's unable to because I have no internet connection.

[Nokia]

Download this file http://ftp.ines.lug.ro/fedora/linux/...2-5.noarch.rpm
Copy it to your home folder, open a terminal

su
rpm -Uvh --force rt61pci-firmware*rpm

[jbyram82]

Copied the file, entered the command, and rebooted. When I boot into Fedora, I don't get the error messages anymore -- I just get a blank screen. Nothing comes up. I can bring up another console and log in through the command line, but like before, no GUI.

***EDIT***

Actually, I take that back. Just rebooted again and tried to boot into Fedora. I get the same message as before:

rt61pci 0000:05:08.0: firmware: requesting rt2561s.bin
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Also, if I remember correctly, when I first installed Fedora, I don't remember having to download any additional drivers for my NIC, just graphics drivers. I ended up just fiddling with Network Manager some, and finally got it working. I really hope this isn't going to be an issue anytime I update Fedora, where my NIC whacks out and causes everything to come to a halt.

[Nokia]

Originally Posted by jbyram82

Copied the file, entered the command, and rebooted. When I boot into Fedora, I don't get the error messages anymore -- I just get a blank screen. Nothing comes up. I can bring up another console and log in through the command line, but like before, no GUI.

***EDIT***

Actually, I take that back. Just rebooted again and tried to boot into Fedora. I get the same message as before:

rt61pci 0000:05:08.0: firmware: requesting rt2561s.bin
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Also, if I remember correctly, when I first installed Fedora, I don't remember having to download any additional drivers for my NIC, just graphics drivers. I ended up just fiddling with Network Manager some, and finally got it working. I really hope this isn't going to be an issue anytime I update Fedora, where my NIC whacks out and causes everything to come to a halt.

rpm -qlp rt61pci-firmware-1.2-5.noarch.rpm |grep rt2561
/lib/firmware/rt2561.bin
/lib/firmware/rt2561s.bin

The file exists. Post

rpm -ql rt61pci-firmware |grep rt2561

[Demz]

using the force command you use at your own risk