yum update to ...162.. kernel hosed me!

olwe · #1 9th December 2009, 05:06 AM

I've been away from computers/Linux for a while so I'm not up on the unix wrangling anymore. So what happened is I started yum extender and it wanted to update. Fine. I let it. I then notice a new kernel is going in so I decide to reboot. I notice different graphics behavior, then I go into my KDE and the graphics are hosed -- as they were when I tried Kubuntu 9.10, which made me come back to my old favorite Fedora. I freak, calm down, reboot (I don't get the old grub? screen offering me kernel boot choices, it just goes into its "ribbon run" at the bottom of the screen) and go into Gnome. Okay, Gnome works -- but no network, i.e., no eth0, i.e., no Internet to come whining to y'all. I then grab the live install disk, get Internet back -- but I don't know how to access the drive or make any changes! I cry, dry my eyes, try rebooting and banging like a monkey on the keyboard during startup to see if I can get some sort of rescue mode or grub kernel choice list. Yes! After fifth reboot a random pawing of the F keys produces a grub list, I choose 2.6.31.6-145.fc12.i686 and get back to my previous functionality: KDE and Internet work. Culprit is no doubt 2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686. I would therefore like to know how to boot to the grub manager and get a choice list of kernels to boot, please. Also, I'd like some info on how to put together a rescue disk. Until I get some help I daren't shut puppy (IBM Thinkpad R51) down.

***Hlingler*** · #2 9th December 2009, 05:16 AM

Quote:

I would therefore like to know how to boot to the grub manager and get a choice list of kernels to boot, please.

Edit (as root-user) the file /boot/grub/grub.conf and comment out the 'hiddenmenu' line item. You should also add a timeout of at least, say, five seconds. All like so:

Code:

[...]
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=8
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
[...]

Quote:

Also, I'd like some info on how to put together a rescue disk.

Isn't there one available for download anymore ? Hmm... well, the install DVD will serve as a rescue DVD too.

V

olwe · #3 9th December 2009, 02:12 PM

Thanks! So what's up with kernel 162 and when can I trust kernel upgrades again? Fedora site doesn't seem to have a specific download for a rescue disk...

CSchwangler · #4 9th December 2009, 03:09 PM

This chapter of the Installation Guide may help with respect to the rescue disc:

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/instal...all-bootloader

***Hlingler*** · #5 9th December 2009, 08:08 PM

Quote:

So what's up with kernel 162...

I have no idea. Works here (F12-LXDE.i686 [installed]) as a VM Guest.

Quote:

...and when can I trust kernel upgrades again?

Umm... these things happen with Fedora. I would expect the very next kernel update to fix anything that this one may have busted. Maybe. Hopefully. Cross your fingers. Get over it.

V

duende · #6 9th December 2009, 10:09 PM

I wonder if your problem was not the same that I had. I used yumex to update the kernel (with selinux enabled). Many things were not working after that (e.g. wireless). What happened was that some files in /lib/modules/[kernel version]/ were missing. For example there was no file 'modules.dep'. I booted with an older kernel, removed the new kernel, disabled selinux and installed the new kernel again (again using yumex). Then everything was fine.
Perhaps using yum instead of yumex would also help? Yumex is reported to have some issues with kernel updates recently.

olwe · #7 10th December 2009, 02:43 AM

Good. I'll try that. So what do I do to disable SELinux and remove the 162 kernel?

***Hlingler*** · #8 10th December 2009, 02:49 AM

Quote:

So what do I do to disable SELinux...

Disabling SELinux is not recommended, but may be required to fix stuff; don't forget to re-enable when you're done:
su
setenforce 0

=> 1 to re-enable.

Quote:

...and remove the 162 kernel?

su
yum remove kernel-2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686

V

olwe · #9 10th December 2009, 03:30 PM

Followed your sage advice, duende, (uninstall 162, setenforce 0, and do command line yum) and it worked: network and video are just fine, although a strange set of messages flashed by:

Installing : kernel-2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686 24/54
W: Possible missing firmware ql8100_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql2400_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql2322_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql2300_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql2200_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql2100_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware aic94xx-seq.fw for module aic94xx.ko

Not sure what that means... Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 523365 talks about it, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do...

duende · #10 10th December 2009, 04:39 PM

I'm glad that it helped. I actually found another thread on this problem
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=235453
They say that using yum works, as I understand, even without the need of disabling selinux, which only seems to be necessary when one uses yumex.

I got the warnings about the missing firmware, too. This is also mentioned in the thread above as nothing to worry about.

***Hlingler*** · #11 10th December 2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Not sure what that means... Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 523365 talks about it, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do...

The missing pieces were intentionally omitted. You may safely and blissfully ignore the messages.

REF: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=232348
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=233262
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpo...78&postcount=7

V

terry_g · #12 11th December 2009, 02:06 PM

I had a similar problem with the last two kernel updates
kernel-2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686
kernel-2.6.31.6-166.fc12.i686

If I hit the Esc key while booting into the newly installed kernel a large amount of text flew by then it stopped at
"sleeping forever"

I uninstalled the new kernel set selinux to permissive and reinstalled the new kernel again and it booted properly then I set selinux back to enforcing.

Terry