Upgrading to 4.15.0-33 caused the system to fail to boot

[Connor Shearwood]

A routine upgrade upgraded the kernel to 4.15.0-34 upon which the machine would not boot and instead booted to initramfs. Attempts to boot into recovery mode resulted in the error "Warning failed to connect to lvmetad. Falling back to device scanning."

Reverting to 4.15.0-33 allowed me to boot.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: linux-image-4.15.0-33-generic 4.15.0-33.36
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-33.36-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: connor 4127 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed Sep 12 12:30:06 2018
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=af5bdbd9-e688-4d55-a263-0d649f9b59d4
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-07-23 (51 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
MachineType: LENOVO 20HNS1KE00
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 EFI VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.0-33-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro recovery nomodeset
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.15.0-33-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.15.0-33-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.173.1
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/20/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: R0IET52W (1.30 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20HNS1KE00
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0J40697 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrR0IET52W(1.30):bd03/20/2018:svnLENOVO:pn20HNS1KE00:pvrThinkPadX270:rvnLENOVO:rn20HNS1KE00:rvrSDK0J40697WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad X270
dmi.product.name: 20HNS1KE00
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X270
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

I built a 4.15.0-35 test kernel.

The test kernel can be downloaded from:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~jsalisbury/lp1792100

Can you test this kernel and see if it resolves this bug?

Note about installing test kernels:
• If the test kernel is prior to 4.15(Bionic) you need to install the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.
• If the test kernel is 4.15(Bionic) or newer, you need to install the linux-modules, linux-modules-extra and linux-image-unsigned .deb packages.

Thanks in advance!

[Michael Richey (stutteringp0et)]

Same issue here. Upgrade to 4.15.0-34 gave this error:

VFS Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

choosing the previous version in grub works.

I re-ran update-initramfs and update-grub, no changes. Removed and reinstalled 4.15.0-34, no changes.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Were you able to test he -35 kernel posted in comment #3?

[Julien Thomas (jthys-sso)]

Good afternoon.

I faced a similar issue today and installed the suggested -35 kernel.

Tt did not fix the issue for me however it seems to be an EFI related issue:

1. the grub was always empty (could get grub console from a USB install)
2. the grub console (or menu) was not available without the USB thumb (had to add manually some instructions on /etc/default/grub file to make this visible)
3. it does not seems to be a nomodeset issue as putting it on the boot options made then the graphic card stuck to 1024*780 and removing nomodeset option "fixed" the graphic card behavior

The only two other options I tweaked were
1. disabling secure boot (but here again, I doubt this is the cause)
2. switch EFI from "windows EFI" to "other OS" on the UEFI BIOS settings (naming may be a little different as I am not on the BIOS status screen of this computer right now)

Hope this helps.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the proposed kernel and post back if it resolves this bug?
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed.

Thank you in advance!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]