[SOLVED] Fedora 17 fresh install - then software update - won' boot to new kernal

[DBateham]

Linux noob here ... Booted up a Live CD of Fedora 17 (64 bit). Pleasantly surprised it booted right up without needing a second monitor due to nVidia graphics card (other distros didn't play as nice). I did a fresh install from the Live CD and rebooted, so far still OK.

Played with system for a while, liked what I saw, so next performed the Software Update (all) and rebooted. I noticed in the GRUB menu there is a new choice, along with the "Fedora 17" which has kernal 3.3 something or other, there is a boot option to Fedora 17 with kernal 3.4 something.

The older kernal (3.3) boots up fine ---- The problem is when attempting to boot to the new "updated" kernal (3.4). The system requires a second monitor to even view the spash screen? (the circle with an "F" in the middle of the screen), It then boots to where the log-in dialog should be, i.e. the wallpaper with fireworks and hangs there. No log-in dialog, no mouse, nothing but the fireworks picture. Have to reboot by holding the down the power button. Can only fully boot into the older kernal.

What might the cause of not booting into the "updated" fresh install? What might be the fix?
As I am new to linux (2 months) and Fedora (2 days) step by step detailed instructions are geatly appreciated.

System is a Dell Precision M4500 with nVidia graphics FX1800m, 250gb SSD drive, 8gb ddr3 ram.

[george_toolan]

Why would you need two monitors?

Did you install the nvidia proprietary drivers?

Since kernel 3.4 is very new you could just continue to use the old kernel.

[droidhacker]

Sounds like a bug in the nouveau driver that popped in with 3.4.

You could try kernel 3.5RC2 from rawhide to see if that bug is removed.....

yum install fedora-release-rawhide; yum --enablerepo=rawhide update kernel

[DBateham]

Originally Posted by droidhacker

Sounds like a bug in the nouveau driver that popped in with 3.4.

You could try kernel 3.5RC2 from rawhide to see if that bug is removed.....

yum install fedora-release-rawhide; yum --enablerepo=rawhide update kernel

Thanks, droidhacker! This did the trick and the problem is resolved.

I can now boot up with this latest kernel (x86_64 3.5.0-0.rc2.git0.1.fc18). And I can do so without installing the proprietary nVidia driver or connecting a second monitor first.

---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------

Originally Posted by george_toolan

Why would you need two monitors?

Did you install the nvidia proprietary drivers?

Since kernel 3.4 is very new you could just continue to use the old kernel.

Hi George,

I have not yet installed the proprietary nVidia driver, and my experience with other distro's was that if the nVidia driver was really needed, I would need the second monitor to see anything on the screen during and after bootup - until I had installed a driver from nVidia.

And yes, the older kernal 3.3 something does work, but I figured there was good reason for the availability of an update to a newer 3.4 kernal right after installing the new Fedora 17.

Turns out the problem must have lied with the 3.4 kernel and the nouveau driver. Updating to the 3.5 (rc2) kernal from rawhide has resolved the problem.

[Yora0]

I seem to have the same kernel issue. After removing the graphics driver and creating a new xorg.conf file, I still can't restart getting a kernel error message that also mentions something about 2 monitors.
I did update kernel to 3.4 I think a few days ago.

Now I tried the solution listed here, but I got an error message when attempting yum install fedora-release-rawhide that said something about server not found. I think it went to a very long list of servers at very high speed, making me think that maybe there is no internet access in repair mode.

I can access the drive with the installation through a liveUSB drive and have internet access, but I think using yum install would only attempt to install the repository on the liveUSB drive and not the hard drive.

Can I use the yum commands on the hard drive using a console on the liveUSB drive?
Or would I have to enable internet access in repair mode?

Or how would I just revert to kernel 3.3?

[secipolla]

Run
systemctl start NetworkManager.service
to start network service.

[Yora0]

Turned out to be a lot easier: Just select another of the options in GRUB. ^^

So that's what the multiple versions of Fedora 17 are for...


Like DBateham I now wonder whether or not to make a clean install of 3.4 and go back to it, or use the rawhide version of 3.5?

[LoidJ]

Installing akmod did the thing for me.

sudo yum install akmod-nvidia
ps. this is for nvidia cards