Upgrading Kernel Troubles

[Paradox]

Quite a long time ago, I installed my Debian system via Knoppix 3.3.

Since then, I've upgraded and what not many many times- my system, for example, is now mainly unstable packages, including KDE 3.2.2, which I love.

The only thing I haven't been able to upgrade is my kernel. I'm wondering if any baggage from Knoppix has to do with it. Or perhaps because it's a 2.6 kernel.

Specifically:

1. I apt-get install an appropriate kernel-image (kernel-image-2.6.6-1-686), it installs fine.
2. I edit Lilo to include the new kernel, pointing vmlinuz and initrd to the right locations. I update lilo.
3. I reboot. Lilo menu shows my new kernel choices.
4. I select the new kernel.
5. Lilo informs me that the kernel loaded successfully.
6. Screen goes blank, never changes.

Any clue what could be happening? I previously tested a different 2.4 kernel, which boats fine (although I never got X working on it).

Thank you for any help steering me in the right direction.

--Paradox

[Markus]

Did you apt-get as well:
kernel-headers-2.6.6-1-686
module-init-tools

You also need this line in /etc/fstab: sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0

If you have a i810 video chipset you may need to compile your own kernel due to a experimental,... hmm, what was it now,.. ummm.. some kernel module that is incompatible with i810.

[Paradox]

Tried your advice:

Still no luck. It says "Loading Linux26........................................... . BIOS data check passed" (or something of the sort)

then the screen goes blank and the system becomes unresponsive.

Thanks for the idea, though! Got any more?

--Paradox

[Paradox]

It's working!

The blank screen was due to a VGA / framebuffer issue.

I resolved it, saw the simple error LILO was giving, fixed THAT.. booted up, re-installed the NVIDIA driver, and bam--

I'm now running kernel 2.6.6, with KDE 3.2.2

Life is sweet.

So in short-- besides some simple errors, installing a new kernel was completely painless. wow. Go Debian (and Knoppix, for introducing me to Debian).

--Paradox

[Frost]

hi,
I'm also trying to install the kernel-image with apt-get. I installed all the packages mentionned above, changed vga=(a number) to vga=normal and changed my lilo.conf making the new kernel selectable at boot.

But there are problems...when the kernel is loading I get a message like this:


Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount fs on unknown-block(3,8)


It's also saying that I must check the root="" in my lilo.conf, but that seems to be ok. The 3 and the 8 are also the right numbers since I installed Knoppix to hda8.



If you have a i810 video chipset you may need to compile your own kernel due to a experimental,... hmm, what was it now,.. ummm.. some kernel module that is incompatible with i810.


I have no i810 video chipset but my audio is. Could this be the problem? Or is there just something wrong with my lilo.conf? Can you post your working lilo.conf Paradox...plz?

thx,
F.

[Linuxshark]

Tried your advice:

Still no luck. It says "Loading Linux26........................................... . BIOS data check passed" (or something of the sort)

then the screen goes blank and the system becomes unresponsive.

Thanks for the idea, though! Got any more?

--Paradox

I have the very same problem that Paradox had: I apt-get installed (on a Knoppix 3.4 04-05-17) kernel-image-2.6.5-1-k7 and the corresponding headers and the tools mentioned above. I want to step back to the 2.6.5 kernel because 2.6.6 does not support my Reiser4 pertition.

My fstab is also containing the line mentioned above.

My lilo.conf is pointing to the correct initrd.img and vmlinuz.

I do not have the strange graphics card mentioned above.

On my bootup it also says "Loading Linux26........................................... . BIOS data check passed", then the screen goes black and the system freezes.

Is there any step that I have missed? How exactly did you solve the issue?

Thanks in advance for your support!

Linuxshark

[Markus]

I think Paradox was talking about a line in lilo.conf, namely vga=791, which can cause trouble. Try changing this to vga=0 or vga=normal and run lilo -v.

EDIT: btw, do you actually need to get kernel-headers or do they come with the image?
It's not overly complicated either to compile your own kernel with make oldconfig which takes care of most configurations.

[Linuxshark]

lol, the vga command helped to make me see what happens and now I get the same error that Frost mentioned above:

Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount fs on unknown-block(3,8)

argh. Is there any way to work around this?

[Markus]

Do you have a SATA disk?
In the Lilo splash screen try with: vmlinuz root=/dev/sda8 (if necessary change vmlinuz to what you have).
How did you make the initrd? mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd-2.6.6.img 2.6.6

[Linuxshark]

No SATA disk.

Sorry I do not understand what you mean by "How did you make your initrd". I made my initrd by creating a link from initrd.img-2.6.5-1-k7 to initrd.img via the "ln -s ..." command.

The passage in my lilo.conf is:


image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1-k7
label="Linux(2.6.5)-1"
initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.5-1-k7
append="ramdisk_size=100000 lang=us ramdisk_size=129000 dma apm=power-off hda=scsi nomce "
read-only

[Markus]

Hmm, do you actually need initrd. You also have 2 ramdisk sizes. Try with:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1-k7
label="Linux(2.6.5)-1"
# initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.5-1-k7
append="lang=us ramdisk_size=129000 dma apm=power-off hda=scsi nomce "
read-only

Umm, no. I meant the creating of an initrd but if you already have one it's ok.
Does /boot/System.map point to System.map-2.6.x?

[Linuxshark]

I did all that you said above and still the same dilio.

It says:


VFS:Connot open root device "302" or unknown-block(3,2)

Maybe I have to try to manually copy the Knoppix 2.6.5 kernel off the 04-05-10 CD :(

[Markus]

I'm getting out of ideas here :(
How about appending root for 2.6 in lilo and leaving initrd as it was:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1-k7
label="Linux(2.6.5)-1"
initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.5-1-k7
append="root=/dev/hda2 lang=us ramdisk_size=129000 dma apm=power-off hda=scsi nomce "
read-only

BTW, 2.6 kernels don't really make a speed difference if you aren't running some cluster server. For a desktop 2.4 is fine, unless it's one of those gotta have things :D

[Frost]

I've been messing around with the settings but without result. I really need a 2.6 kernel because my tv tuner card doesn't seem to work with older kernels :?.

Same error with or without initrd. Seems it can't access the HD or something like that...damn...I really need a new kernel...I want lirc to work...

Would it be possible to use the initrd from my 2.6.5 kernel when booting 2.6.6? Kernel 2.6.5 is booting fine (it's the knopix one).

Here's the part for the 2.6.6 kernel from lilo.conf:


image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.6-1-k7
label="Linux226"
#initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.6-1-k7.img
append="lang=nl keyboard=be ramdisk_size=129000 dma apm=power-off nomce "
read-only


thx for your assistance so far,
Frost

[Markus]

Well as I said I'm getting out of ideas. Starting to look like the kernel-image has some difference in ide or filesystem for say ext3 compiled into the kernel. Module support won't do much good when booting up a disk.
I don't think you can use a different initrd from another kernel, but I've never tried it either.
If someone has installed a 2.6.6 debian kernel-image, could you post lilo.conf incl. appends?
Worst case scenario, you have to compile your own kernel. Install the source and headers, copy the config from /boot to /usr/src/linux/.config , run make oldconfig and make menuconfig.
Here's some links for that:
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2949&page=1
http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/tutorials/kernel-pkg/index-kernel-pkg.html.en
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/799

[Linuxshark]

oh, I should have mentioned that my root partition is a ReiserFS. Maybe that causes the trouble?

I will today try to install the Knoppix custom 2.6.5 kernel. Maybe this will do the trick.

As for kernel-compiling... here comes my next issue (I've tried it before ): I followed the steps in a kernel compiling tutorial. When I typed "make menuconfig" or "make xconfig" I get this:


root@dkserver:/usr/src/linux# make xconfig
HOSTCC scripts/basic/fixdep
In Datei, eingef?gt von /usr/include/sys/socket.h:35,
von /usr/include/netinet/in.h:24,
von scripts/basic/fixdep.c:107:
/usr/include/bits/socket.h:305:24: asm/socket.h: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
make[1]: *** [scripts/basic/fixdep] Fehler 1
make: *** [scripts_basic] Fehler 2
root@dkserver:/usr/src/linux#

("In Datei, eingefügt von" means "In file, inserted by"; "Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden" mean "file or directory not found"; "Fehler" means "error").

You see, my machine is really screwed up.

[Frost]

try


ln -s asm-i386 asm

in your includes directory, that helped for me.

I'll check what the installer makes of the lilo.conf, but because of windows etc, I don't let it overwrite my old one, so I'll backup it and reinstall the kernel-image...and then I'll tell you what it has created.

btw, my hd is ide Ext3 formatted. Woulnd't it be kind of stupid when the kernel-image wouldn't support that?

[Linuxshark]

Thanks again for all your help. First off, I now have another problem that occured during the kernel changes. When my system boots (whatever kernel), it does not mount my partitions (VFAT, NTFS) anymore. When I do "mount -a" after boot, I get an error saying "mount: no medium found", just as if the system didn't find my hda anymore. Yet, if i manually do "mount - vfat /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3" it works! What could this be due to?

As for compiling a new kernel, thank you Frost, your hint worked, but I get another error: when making the modules I get


CC [M] fs/reiser4/as_ops.o
fs/reiser4/as_ops.c: In Funktion >>move_inode_out_from_sync_inodes_loop<<:
fs/reiser4/as_ops.c:570: error: structure has no member named `dirtied_when'
make[2]: *** [fs/reiser4/as_ops.o] Fehler 1
make[1]: *** [fs/reiser4] Fehler 2
make: *** [fs] Fehler 2
.

Although I have patched the raw 2.6.5 kernel by the textbook (instrutions from reiser website), this error occurs.

As for other kernels, I got the 2.6.5 knoppix kernel that I downloaded from linuxtag to run successfully, but this version did/does not support Reiser4.

I think I'll have to wait until an official kernel (debian or knoppix) comes out that supports Reiser4.

[Markus]

The filesystem support not built into the kernel was just a guess while I can't think of anything else to try for booting up. Yes, they most probably are built in.

[Linuxshark]

As I wrote above, I now have a new/related issue:


First off, I now have another problem that occured during the kernel changes. When my system boots (whatever kernel), it does not mount my partitions (VFAT, NTFS) anymore. When I do "mount -a" after boot, I get an error saying "mount: no medium found", just as if the system didn't find my hda anymore. Yet, if i manually do "mount - vfat /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3" it works! What could this be due to?


This heppens even if I use my old, initial Knoppix 3.4, 2.6.6 kernel. Everything works smoothly as before, it's just that my partitions won't mount anymore.

Is there still hope for my system?

[Markus]

Can you post your fstab? Strange though that it used to mount ok, but there's always hope...
Are you quite sure your hda is physically ok?

[Linuxshark]

I think it is physically ok. I can mount it manually and it works flawless then.

Here is my fstab:


# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hda2 / reiserfs defaults 0 1

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,showexec,umask=022 0 0
usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sr1 /dvd iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,unhide 0 0
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 auto,ro,user,noexec,unhide 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 ntfs noauto,users,exec,ro,umask=000 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda6 none swap defaults 0 0


EDIT: darn, now that I read it... who did set them to noauto? grrr, not me

[Linuxshark]

Now that I've set them to auto again, it works. I really do not know how they came to be set to noauto. I have not modified it, nor anyone with access to my machine. Strange, must be Bill G. who had his fingers hin it.

[Markus]

Sorry, but you can't blame Bill for this one, everything else YES. :D
I think Knoppix recreates your fstab under the lines saying # Added by KNOPPIX.
You can either comment out the part about rebuilding fstab in /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig, or add nofstab to the append line in lilo.conf.