Some kernels don't boot from USB disk

[Antonio M]

2009/9/23 Paul <jpb at entel.ca>:
> Antonio M wrote:
>> I updated a F11 system and now I have four kernels installed...:
>> kernel-PAE-2.6.29.3-155.fc11.i686
>> kernel-PAE-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i686
>> kernel-PAE-2.6.30.5-43.fc11.i686
>> kernel-PAE-2.6.30.6-53.fc11.i686
>>
>> Only kernels (29) make the system start, while 30 kernels stops at a
>> certain point of booting...
>>
>> I found these lines in dmesg when working:
>>
>> scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
>> usb-storage: device found at 3
>> usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
>> usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
>> USB Mass Storage support registered.
>> usb-storage: device scan complete
>> scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Hitachi  HTS541680J9AT00  0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 27 00 00 00
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 27 00 00 00
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
>>  sdb: sdb1 sdb2
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
>> sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
>> EXT4-fs: barriers enabled
>> kjournald2 starting: pid 88, dev dm-0:8, commit interval 5 seconds
>> EXT4-fs: delayed allocation enabled
>> EXT4-fs: file extents enabled
>> EXT4-fs: mballoc enabled
>> EXT4-fs: mounted filesystem dm-0 with ordered data mode
>> SELinux:  Disabled at runtime.
>> SELinux:  Unregistering netfilter hooks
>> type=1404 audit(1253663261.664:2): selinux=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295
>> udev: starting version 141
>> ACPI: WMI: Mapper loaded
>> tg3.c:v3.97 (December 10, 2008)
>>
>> But when system doesn't boot I see last lines on my screen :
>>
>> scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
>> usb-storage: device found at 3
>> usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
>> usbcore: registered new interface driver cms-cypress
>> USB Mass Storage support registered.
>> usb-storage: device scan complete
>> scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Hitachi  HTS541680J9AT00  0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
>> sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
>>
>> I note this big difference:
>> usbcore: registered new interface driver cms-cypress
>>
>> Please note that I have another system with Philips external USB disk
>> running fine....
>>
>> Any comment???
>>
> It looks as if the newer kernel is recognizing (or perhaps mistakenly
> recognizing) the actual chip driving the unit, but the driver it has for
> that chip doesn't work, while the generic usb-storage driver does work
> with it. You may have to pass a parameter to the boot loader somehow.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> --
>
>
> Paul
>
>
> --
tnx Paul

I filed a bug:
 Bug 524998 -  System doesn't boot off an USB disk

I have been running Fedora from a Usb disk for a long time, this is my
first experience of this ssytem not booting from a particular disk,
that is my experimental disk dedicated to rawhide. o now I have to
wait before switching to F12 :-(


-- 
Antonio Montagnani
Skype : antoniomontag
SIP: antoniomontag at ekiga.net