FC4 can't boot after updates

[Claude Jones]

A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a recent 
kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent FedoraNews about 
this, but he stresses that the workaround of running Kudzu to fix 
modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has anyone been able to 
fix a  system after the fact? 
-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Claude Jones wrote:

>  A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a
> recent
>  kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent FedoraNews about
>  this, but he stresses that the workaround of running Kudzu to fix
>  modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has anyone been able to
>  fix a  system after the fact? 
You still have the old kernel.  When you see the startup splash screen on 
bootup, press a key.  That takes you to a menu of kernels.  Choose the 
second-most recent option.

Then rpm -e the new kernel, run kudzu, and reinstall the new kernel.

-- 
 		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs

[Claude Jones]

On Mon August 1 2005 7:14 am, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
>  On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Claude Jones wrote:
>  > A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a
>  > recent kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent
>  > FedoraNews about this, but he stresses that the workaround of running
>  > Kudzu to fix modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has
>  > anyone been able to fix a  system after the fact?
>
>  You still have the old kernel.  When you see the startup splash screen on
>  bootup, press a key.  That takes you to a menu of kernels.  Choose the
>  second-most recent option.
>
>  Then rpm -e the new kernel, run kudzu, and reinstall the new kernel.
>  
Thanks, Matthew. I thought of the same thing, although I'd suggested he try to 
boot into a previous kernel. His problem is that the boot gets stuck right 
before the blue splash screen, when the word "grub" briefly flashes in the 
upper left hand corner of the screen - right at that point, his machine just 
stops. Any other suggestions? 

-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA

[David Niemi]

From: "Claude Jones" <claude_jones(a)levitjames.com&gt;


>  On Mon August 1 2005 7:14 am, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> > On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Claude Jones wrote:
> > > A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a
> > > recent kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent
> > > FedoraNews about this, but he stresses that the workaround of running
> > > Kudzu to fix modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has
> > > anyone been able to fix a  system after the fact?
> >
> > You still have the old kernel.  When you see the startup splash screen on
> > bootup, press a key.  That takes you to a menu of kernels.  Choose the
> > second-most recent option.
> >
> > Then rpm -e the new kernel, run kudzu, and reinstall the new kernel.
> >
>  
>  Thanks, Matthew. I thought of the same thing, although I'd suggested he try to 
>  boot into a previous kernel. His problem is that the boot gets stuck right 
>  before the blue splash screen, when the word "grub" briefly flashes in the 
>  upper left hand corner of the screen - right at that point, his machine just 
>  stops. Any other suggestions? 
>   
boot using the rescue CD, chroot /mnt/sysimage, cd /boot/grub.

edit the grub.conf file using your favorite editor (I use joe) and remove the
"#" in front of hidemenu and increase the timeout option from 5 to 15 or 20.

[Claude Jones]

On Monday 01 August 2005 7:43 am, David Niemi wrote:
>  From: "Claude Jones" <claude_jones(a)levitjames.com&gt;
>  > .................................... Any other suggestions?
>
>  boot using the rescue CD, chroot /mnt/sysimage, cd /boot/grub.
>
>  edit the grub.conf file using your favorite editor (I use joe) and remove
>  the "#" in front of hidemenu and increase the timeout option from 5 to 15
>  or 20. 
David: Could you explain this a bit more? What's your thought behind doing 
this? What is it expected to accomplish? 
-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA

[Tony Nelson]

At 10:36 AM -0400 8/1/05, Claude Jones wrote:
> On Monday 01 August 2005 7:43 am, David Niemi wrote:
> > From: "Claude Jones" <claude_jones(a)levitjames.com&gt;
> > > .................................... Any other suggestions?
> >
> > boot using the rescue CD, chroot /mnt/sysimage, cd /boot/grub.
> >
> > edit the grub.conf file using your favorite editor (I use joe) and remove
> > the "#" in front of hidemenu and increase the timeout option from 5 to 15
> > or 20.
>
> David: Could you explain this a bit more? What's your thought behind doing
> this? What is it expected to accomplish? 
It will give you enough time to press the "Any" key.  Alternatively, you
could press the "Any" key during the previous 4 seconds before your monitor
syncs and displays "grub".
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'                       <mailto:[e-mail]>
      '                              <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005, Claude Jones wrote:

>  On Mon August 1 2005 7:14 am, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> > On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Claude Jones wrote:
> >> A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a
> >> recent kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent
> >> FedoraNews about this, but he stresses that the workaround of running
> >> Kudzu to fix modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has
> >> anyone been able to fix a  system after the fact?
> >
> > You still have the old kernel.  When you see the startup splash screen on
> > bootup, press a key.  That takes you to a menu of kernels.  Choose the
> > second-most recent option.
> >
> > Then rpm -e the new kernel, run kudzu, and reinstall the new kernel.
> >
>
>  Thanks, Matthew. I thought of the same thing, although I'd suggested he 
>  try to boot into a previous kernel. His problem is that the boot gets 
>  stuck right before the blue splash screen, when the word "grub" briefly 
>  flashes in the upper left hand corner of the screen - right at that 
>  point, his machine just stops. Any other suggestions? 
*Before* the first splash screen?  Then apparently GRUB is hosed.  So I 
would try:

(1) Boot from Rescue CD.  It will find your installation and offer to 
mount it under /mnt/sysimage.  Mount it r/w.

(2) chroot /mnt/sysimage

(3) rpm -e the newest kernel.  Verify that /etc/grub.conf makes sense.

(4) Reboot into the latest still-installed kernel.

(5) Run kudzu, then update the kernel again.

If (4) fails, post your /etc/grub.conf (you can read it if you carry out 
(1)-(3) again).

-- 
 		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs