Kernel >=2.6.22 hangs on boot

[Selecter]

Yesterday I upgraded my system to ubuntu 7.10

After reboot the loading process hung on the very start(2 lines above and nothing else). I happened before on other systems with this kernel version(gentoo). So, it is definitely a bug in kernel.

Now I am unhappy windows user again :( What info do you need and how do I get it if it's not even in the logs?

[Selecter (selecter)]

I googled a bit and found some victims of the same problem with kernel-2.6.9 and 2.6.21. So, running with initcall_debug and without 'quiet' and 'splash' gave me this output(the last lines):
calling initcall 0xc03c63a0 : populate_rootfs + 0x0/0x100()
checking if image is initramfs ... it is

With noapic and acpi=off:
calling initcall 0xc01eae70 : pci_init + 0x0/0x30()

Changing the io scheduler via elevator= option didn't help
irqpoll and idle=poll didn't help either

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron kernel was recently uploaded for testing. We'd really appreciate it if you could try testing with this newer kernel and verify if this issue still exists. Unfortunately, the Hardy Heron Alpha1 LiveCD was released with the older 2.6.22 kernel. You'll have to manually install the newer Hardy Heron kernel in order to test. This should not be the case for Alpha2 which is set to come out around Dec 20. However, here are the instructions to install if you choose to do so, otherwise just wait for Alpha2 to come out:

1) edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy main restricted

2) sudo apt-get update
3) sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic
4) reboot and select the new kernel from the grub menu

After you've tested, please feel free to revert back - ie boot into the old kernel, sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic, and remove the line from /etc/apt/sources.list . Please update this report with your results. Thanks in advance!

[Selecter (selecter)]

The cause of the bug - the patch has been found. You can find out more at http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9303

[Peter Hawkins (hawkinsp)]

Hi...

I have also experienced what appears to be the same bug on a dual x86-64 Xeon machine. Symptoms are:
1) Using kernel linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic (package version 2.6.22-14.47) from Gutsy my system hangs at during kernel startup.

With "nosmp" added to the kernel commandline the kernel hangs after printing:
checking if image is initramfs... (not sure whether it got to the "it is" or not)

With SMP enabled, the crash is after a line related to TSC synchronization between CPUs.

2) If I disable USB in the BIOS, then the system boots fine using SMP and kernel 2.6.22, which appears to agree with the kernel bugzilla entry. My system uses a combined UHCI/EHCI usb host controller.

3) Kernel 2.6.24-2 from Hardy (package version 2.6.24-2.4) boots fine using SMP and with USB enabled in the BIOS, so this issue appears to be fixed in Hardy.

Hope this helps,
Peter

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks for the update Peter. This sounds promising for the newer Hardy release.

For anyone else interested, Hardy Heron Alpha2 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha2 release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-2/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha2 . Thanks!

[Selecter (selecter)]

Leann, this bug has not been even fixed in vanilla kernel. The cause(exact patch that appeared for 2.6.21) has been found but the patch that fixes the bug wasn't released yet.

I will try the live-cd you suggested but I don't believe it works on my PC. If it does, I will post a comment tomorrow.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

Unfortunately, the patch, as-is, cannot be accepted into a released kernel. It affects pretty much all OHCI systems, and there's no good way to test for regressions in places where the patch isn't needed.

Also, someone needs to actually test the 2.6.24 kernel. I know this patch isn't accepted there, but there was an important race that looks suspiciously like this bug that was fixed in 2.6.24

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

This bug report is being closed because we received no response to the last inquiry. Please reopen it if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Please don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future, we really appreciate it. Thanks again!

[Slightcrazed (randall-walls)]

I can confirm that this bug is NOT fixed in 2.6.24 (Hardy). I experienced the same issue when upgrading from 2.6.20 (which boots) to 2.6.22 (which hangs immediately), and upgrading to 2.6.24 exhibits the exact same behavior.

Status of this bug appears to be 'confirmed', so I'm not sure if I should change anything per Leann's post above....

[Ben Ruyl (benruyl)]

I too can confirm that this bug is NOT fixed in Hardy. The kernel hangs if I start it in general, 386 works fine.

[Ben Ruyl (benruyl)]

Reinstalling the generic kernel worked for me!

[Selecter (selecter)]

linux-image-2.6.24-16-386 in hardy doesn't hang :-) Didn't try generic...