Kernel > 2.6.32-20 doesn’t boot, /dev/disk/by-uuid/... not found

[Jens Kubieziel]

I'm using a Compaq nc4200 with
The systems boots all kernel versions up to 2.6.32-20 without any problems. Starting with -21 the laptop didn't boot anymore. From my perspective there is a problem mounting the root file system. Besides the normal kernel output I get

Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount ... done.
Begin: Mounting root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ... done.
[some lines of ethX related kernel output]
Begin: Waiting for root file system ...

After some time the boot process drops to some BusyBox shell:

(initramfs) Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
[some hintsregarding root delay and missing modules]
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/(UUID-of-my-sda1) does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

What can I do to resolve the issue? What more information is needed?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic 2.6.32-24.39
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-20.30-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-20-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: jens 1475 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'ICH6'/'Intel ICH6 with AD1981B at irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 25
   Simple ctrls : 18
Date: Wed Aug 11 21:57:21 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=4e35943a-ef82-47e0-88fd-2c29a7c349e2
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=596e867a-4e9c-4767-8773-7f8a73e31e95 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34.1
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 03/10/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 68DTH Ver. F.09
dmi.board.name: 0938
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: KBC Version 38.59
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: a0102034
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr68DTHVer.F.09:bd03/10/2006:svnHewlett-Packard:pn:pvrF.09:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn0938:rvrKBCVersion38.59:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.version: F.09
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Jens Kubieziel (qbi)]

added name of mainboard

[Jens Kubieziel (qbi)]

I played around with the rootdelay boot option and set it to values up to 150. But all the time I got the same error again.

[Jens Kubieziel (qbi)]

My next try were Mainline-Builds. I download them from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and tried so far:
- v2.6.24
- v2.6.25
- v2.6.30
- v2.6.31
- v2.6.32.18-lucid
- v2.6.35-rc1-lucid

All versions had the same error message and behavior as described in my original bug report. Additionally v2.6.24 and v2.6.25 showed:

udevadm[998]: error sending message: Connection refused ..

[Jens Kubieziel (qbi)]

I found the cause of the problem. The 'root=' entry in grub seems to cause the problems. If I change it to

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32... root=/dev/sda1 ...

the system boots without any problems. The error message from my original report disappears. I can boot any kernel (10.04, mainline, vanilla kernel from Linus' git). Changing the root entry to '.. root=UUID=...' leads to problems in all 10.04 kernels past minor version -20.

[Jens Kubieziel (qbi)]

I upgraded to Natty lately. This bug disappeared/is not rproducible anymore.