Jaunty lpia installer fails with hd-media kernel on dell mini 9

[Brandon Williams]

I have attempted a USB stick install for an lpia system (Dell Mini9) using the Jaunty lpia alternate install CD following the Manual Procedure detailed here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick#Manual%20Approach

I also tried the procedure describe in this forum post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4404569

In both cases, I used the vmlinuz and initrd.gz files found here: http://ports.ubuntu.com/dists/jaunty/main/installer-lpia/beta/images/hd-media/

When I boot from the USB stick and start the installer, it enters a recursive loop of failing attempts to detect hard drives. Each time it tries, it gets to about 95% and then the progress bar disappears for a few seconds before the detection process starts again.

Additional details are here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/66241

[Arnaud Soyez (weboide)]

I confirm this for the HP Mini 1000 (1120NR with SSD drive) with the alternate lpia ISO.

The kernel module necessary to recognize SSD drives isn't loaded as it is not available on the ISO.
This is a regression from previous iso for 8.10.
The Jaunty MID Live CD has the module and works fine with the SSD drive.
I think the kernel module name is: ssb

I believe this bug only affects Ubuntu, not usb-creator nor the dell mini project.

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

Thank you for the confirmation. I'm glad we've finally narrowed it down to a problem in Ubuntu/Linux itself.

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

During the installation can you both toggle to a different session / tty (via ALT + F<number>) [i.e. ALT + F7] and help us by giving the full output of 'sudo lspci -vv' and 'sudo lspci -vvn' from the Linux kernel. This will help us troubleshoot.

Thanks,

Craig

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

The problem that I'm experiencing is specific to the hd-media kernel and initrd.gz, so I'm changing the description back. I do not experience the same problem with the kernel and initrd.gz that is on the alternate install CD. If I boot with the kernel and initrd.gz from the alternate install CD, it makes it through HD detection just fine. It does not begin recursively looping through HD detection like the hd-media kernel and initrd.gz. I think the issue with the SSD is a different problem, and probably needs a separate bug report.

I agree, however, that this is not a dell-mini problem, since the dell-mini launchpad project is specifically related to the Dell OEM Ubuntu version.

I also agree that this is not related to usb-creator, since I can use the method described in the linked question to build a working Intrepid USB-based installer.

Unfortunately, the problem with the installer loop prevents me from doing anything in a different session. When I try to switch to an alternate tty, the looping installer status dialog takes over the screen again a few seconds later. The only way that I can make it stop is a reboot with Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Any suggestions for getting around this problem so that I can get the lspci output would be welcome.

[Arnaud Soyez (weboide)]

Okay I created another bug report. #355376

[Arnaud Soyez (weboide)]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/355376

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

When booting from this, *if possible* (since you may or may not be able to get to a separate tty), can you post the output of the following commands (as an attachment -- again, if possible):

lspci -vvnn
/var/log/Xorg.0.log

Also, if you've made customizations to /etc/X11/xorg.conf can you attach it as well? Thank you in advance.

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

In this case, I'm attempting the alternate install, so there is no Xorg log or conf to deal with. If it were an X install, I expect that I would be able to get to a console prompt.

As it is, I can't get to a usable alternate tty with the lpia hd-media vmlinuz/initrd.gz, so I can't get the lspci output.

For what it's worth, I don't have this problem with the i386 hd-media vmlinuz/initrd.gz. With the i386, the installer gets far enough to start looking for the ISO, and it is able to mount both the SSD and USB drives. Is there any useful information I could gather after booting with the i386 media that could help in figuring the lpia meda issue?

[Loïc Minier (lool)]

I have good hopes that this is fixed with the latest kernels, however this needs an upload of debian-installer to rebuild the hd-media file.

[Michael Casadevall (mcasadevall)]

Are you sure that this is still an issue with the dailies? The fix for the lpia kernel went past beta, so it should be working with a current daily (and I tested it with an alternate ISO written to a pendisk). If its broken with the latest dailies, then the lpia kernel config has regressed.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Right, please try a current build of the installer, which has elsewhere been reported to fix a similar problem, and specifically *not* the beta.

  http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/jaunty/main/installer-lpia/current/images/hd-media/

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

I believe this bug should be added to the "Known Issues" page on the Wiki if it is not fixed or added to the Beta build image being distributed to users since it does affect a wide enough audience. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JauntyJackalope/TechnicalOverview#Known%20issues>

[Loïc Minier (lool)]

We believe this is fixed; please comment if not.

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

Fixed in a daily build or the in the main .ISO being distributed for download via Canonical's site/mirrors?

[Steve Beattie (sbeattie)]

On Wed, Apr 08, 2009 at 04:27:06PM -0000, Craig Huffstetler wrote:
> Fixed in a daily build or the in the main .ISO being distributed for
> download via Canonical's site/mirrors?

We believe it's fixed in the daily build (again at
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/jaunty/main/installer-lpia/current/images/hd-media/
) which is newer than the beta image and closer to what will be in the
actual supported release. It would be very helpful if you could test
the daily image and confirm that it is indeed fixed for you. Thanks!

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

I confirm that this problem is fixed in the current hd-media vmlinuz/initrd.gz. I will update my question 66241 with the details of what I did to successful install from USB with the lpia alternate-install media.

There is still one problem with the installation. When the installer gets to the point where it would install the kernel, it fails, with the following message:

"No installable kernel was found in the defined APT sources. You may try to continue without a kernel, and manually install your own kernel later. ..."

I selected to continue. The installer completed installation of the rest of the system. When it got to the grub installation step, it failed again, but with no indication of the problem. At this point, I pressed Alt-F2 to get to a terminal, used chroot to set /target as the filesystem root, and then ran apt-get install linux-lpia.

After this was complete, I returned to the installer and repeated the failed grub installation step. It worked and installation was now complete. On reboot, the system works as expected (so far :-)

I'll assume that we will continue to track the "No installable kernel" issue with this bug. Please let me know if you prefer me to open a new one.

[Arnaud Soyez (weboide)]

It would be better to create a new bug report as this one is set to "fix released" and I think the "no installable kernel" bug also concerns iso's.

[Michael Casadevall (mcasadevall)]

It should be noted that hd-param is, despite the name, NOT what you need to use for USB installs. If you want to use a USB installation, download an lpia alternate, then use the USB Startup Disk Creator program to automatically turn a pendisk into usable media. The kernel installation bug was fixed a few weeks ago, and latest images should have it resolved; my last test on real hardware properly installed a kernel.

[Emmet Hikory (persia)]

Brandon,
    Would you mind trying again from the current daily alternate ISO, and skipping the step of copying the hd-media kernel & initrd.gz? The remaining issue sounds like bug #291670 , which is believed to resolved for the case where usb-creator is used directly on the alternate ISO, with no additional changes.

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

I was using the hd-media vmlinuz and initrd.gz due to bug 355376, and the fact that the USB stick guide seems to suggest that the hd-media installer is required to use the alternate install ISO from USB.

Since bug 355376 is fixed and Arnaud says that the ISO install "works perfectly", I expect that all of the core lpia install issues with the alternate install are now resolved.

I will try the alternate install ISO again at some point over the weekend, and I will open a new bug report if I experience any problems.

Thanks for all the help.

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

I tried the current alternate install ISO, after installing it with usb-creator version 0.1.10~hardy1. It works now without any special steps required. Simply boot from the USB stick and follow the prompts.

Thanks again for the help.

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

After rebooting the newly installed system, I discovered that the linux-lpia meta package was not installed. Without this package, the kernel module for my wireless card was not available.

Should the linux-lpia module have been installed as part of the standard installation? Or is it reasonable that I was required to install it after reboot?

[Loïc Minier (lool)]

Brandon, could you please file a separate bug no this issue? Also, I'd like to know if it happens with other lpia install mediums, or only hd-media.

[Brandon Williams (opensource-subakutty)]

I opened bug 359174 to continue tracking the issue from my last comment.

[Craig Huffstetler (xq)]

Yes, it would be nice if someone could test this against solid state drives.

[JP Vossen (jp-jpsdomain)]

I have a 16G SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609413&Tpk=FEM16GHDL and used the 2009-04-11 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/daily/current/jaunty-alternate-lpia.iso, "burned" to a DataTraveler 2G USB key using Intrepid usb-creator (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick), and everything mostly Just Worked.

I had no network (wired or wireless) during the install, but wired worked fine after reboot. I had to manually install linux-restricted-modules-lpia after which I got the new sta driver and then wireless worked (where "worked" is defined as, "at least as well as that crappy Broadcom card ever works). I also updated bug 359174 with this same info.

Brightness, battery, volume keys all work, and I have the LPIA kernel (2.6.28-11-lpia).