Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS fails on Dell Optiplex 960

[Matthew Lye]

The Ubuntu 8.04.2 liveCD will not run on a Dell Optiplex 960.
If a Ubuntu 8.04.2 image is deployed to a Optiplex 960 to get it to boot you have to load an 8.10 live CD, change the root to the local disk, edit the sources to use intrepid releases, update the kernel to 2.6.27.9 (and backports-modules) to get the machine to boot.

This is expected to be due to the sata3 hdd.

It would be good to have some sort of fix for this available so you could just chroot then update to fix the problem.

This is somewhat a problem with the LTS failing on one of the three standard corporate machines. I assume there will be similar problems with the equivalent HP and IBM offerings.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Attempting to boot of a 8.10 live CD succeeds.

Using ghost to dump a raw image of an 8.04 installation to the machine fails to boot, however booting via an 8.10 liveCD then updating the repositories to intrepid and installing the latest kernel allows the machine to boot.

Problem appears to be how the current 8.04.2 kernel handles the sata3 HDD.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Also of note, the alternate CD did not have any further success when tested.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Dell Optiplex GX960 is the current enterprise standard machine on offer from Dell which became available mid to late '08
They will be used in enterprise, and large scale education environments for the next 4 years.

Being that the IBM, HP, and Dell models have historically used almost identical parts it is likely that this problem also exists on the equivalent models from the other major providers.

It appears (at my best guess) that the default 8.04.2 kernel does not cater for sata3 HDD controllers.

[Connor Imes (ckimes)]

Per https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelUpdates , https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance , and the above comments, I am marking this bug as Critical importance. I have added the verification-needed tag and will subscribe ubuntu-sru.

As the reporter stated, this hardware is supported in 8.10 and is used widely in enterprise computing.

Please advise if more is needed for this SRU bug.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Closing the main task since it is reportedly fixed in 8.10 and above; ack'ed hardy task.

Removed verification-needed, since there is no fix in hardy-proposed which can be tested.

I will unsubscribe ubuntu-sru. Please resubscribe once there is an actual fix to be uploaded to hardy.

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

What do you see when you try to boot a 8.04 liveCD on Dell Optiplex 960? Can you please post what exactly you see when you boot.? Please attach lspci -vvnn , dmesg and any log files that are relevant.

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

Also please take a look at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/302644 and make sure you are not seeing the same problem.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Manoj Lyer: Please take a look at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/302644 and make sure you are not seeing the same problem.

Not the same issue.

Manoj Lyer: What do you see when you try to boot a 8.04 liveCD on Dell Optiplex 960? Can you please post what exactly you see when you boot.? Please attach lspci -vvnn , dmesg and any log files that are relevant.

The CD menu loads without a problem and the language options appear. After selecting the live option the screen goes black for a short period then BusyBox v1.1.3 prompt comes up (loading off initramfs). As such most of the requested logs are unavailable. I will however be attaching the results when run off a 8.10 installation (which will not help with dmesg output at all).

Taking a ghost image off another 8.04 configured machine has the same results on boot. However if it is booted on an 8.10 live CD, then have the kernel updated on the local machines off the intrepid repository (including backports modules) the installation will successfully boot. This however causes other issues and as a result we deployed a 8.10 image as a temporary measure.

As said before, I believe its likely to be cause by the SATA3 controller which it appears the GX960's have.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

I dont think that the dmesg output from 8.10 would help, but ive included the output from the current intrepid nstallation anyway.

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

Matthew,

Can you pls post your lspci -vv output ?

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Added output of lspci -vv from Dell GX960.

[dwfallin (dfallin)]

we're having a similar issue with the exception that the machine (gx960) _eventually_ does boot. takes between 8 and 15 minutes. not sure whats going on, initially thought some sort of fsck, but very little drive activity. no errors in dmesg or syslog. have you left (the 8.04 install) the machine long enough to see if it eventually comes up?

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

Been left overnight with no success, it doesn't load off a CD to install using Ubuntu 8.04. If i manually image the machine with Ubuntu 8.04 it boots but drops to initramfs shell instead of loading in.

Post the output of the same commands so that we can check hardware, and please confirm that you are using Ubuntu 8.04.2.

[dwfallin (dfallin)]

OOPS - the machine has been rebuilt from under me! anyway, overnight is definitely long enough. we had 2 250g sata drives, and initially - one had a large reiserfs partition so the thought was that there was some sort of scan going on (even though the machine had been brought down cleanly). i removed the large partition and created few small lvm partitions, got the same results.

it definitely came up eventually, though i did notice some pauses while it was up (type a command in - take 10-15 seconds to come back), and this is a pretty decent machine (2.66ghz, core-duo quad core, 4gb ram), nothing running on it (fresh install - going to be a host for vmware).

the iso for it was probably downloaded in last 2 weeks, so not sure if it was 8.04.2 - definitely 8.04 though.
i believe the guy on site is putting 8.10 on it now...

sorry i don't have more info - when 8.10 comes up, i can post that hardware list (at least you can compare hardware), and let you know if it still takes 10-15 minutes to boot.

dwf

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Matthew Lye <email address hidden>
Reply-To: Bug 322621 <email address hidden>
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:42:18 -0000

>Been left overnight with no success, it doesn't load off a CD to install
>using Ubuntu 8.04. If i manually image the machine with Ubuntu 8.04 it
>boots but drops to initramfs shell instead of loading in.
>
>Post the output of the same commands so that we can check hardware, and
>please confirm that you are using Ubuntu 8.04.2.
>
>--
>Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS fails on Dell Optiplex 960
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/322621
>You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>of the bug.
>
>Status in “linux” source package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
>Status in linux in Ubuntu Hardy: In Progress
>
>Bug description:
>The Ubuntu 8.04.2 liveCD will not run on a Dell Optiplex 960.
>If a Ubuntu 8.04.2 image is deployed to a Optiplex 960 to get it to boot you have to load an 8.10 live CD, change the root to the local disk, edit the sources to use intrepid releases, update the kernel to 2.6.27.9 (and backports-modules) to get the machine to boot.
>
>This is expected to be due to the sata3 hdd.
>
>It would be good to have some sort of fix for this available so you could just chroot then update to fix the problem.
>
>This is somewhat a problem with the LTS failing on one of the three standard corporate machines. I assume there will be similar problems with the equivalent HP and IBM offerings.
>

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

This is a known bug in capser, LP Bug #219192. May be this bug should be marked a dup of 219192.

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

SInce this is not a kernel bug and a known bug in casper I am marking this invalid.

[Matthew Lye (matthew.lye)]

If it is nothing to do with the kernel, how come I can fix it by JUST updating the kernel from the 8.10 repositories?