"Search" line causes kernel panic on fresh 10.10 install

[cactaur]

Background:
The hardware I am installing on is a Sony VAIO PCG-FRV26. It previously had Ubuntu 10.04 running on it without any problems. The previous partitioning scheme was
/dev/sda2 | /boot | 2 GB | ext2
/dev/sda3 | / | 36 GB | ext4
/dev/sda1 | swap | 2 GB | swap
In the spirit of testing, I decided to try Maverick Beta.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Download and burn Ubuntu Maverick Beta. Do the checksum and CD Integrity checks to make sure the disk isn't corrupted.
[These steps may or may not be relevant]
2. Boot from the CD, and when prompted, use "Try Ubuntu"
3. Set up a wireless connection to the internet.
4. Once the connection is established, double click "Install Ubuntu 10.10" to begin the installation procedure.
5. Select the default values until reaching "Partitioning"
[Probably where something odd happens]
6. Choose a custom partitioning scheme.
7. Edit /dev/sda2, set it as an ext2 /boot partition. Format it.
8. Edit /dev/sda3, set it as an ext4 / partition. Format it.
9. Click next and choose the defaults for the rest of the installation.
10. Once the installation finishes, restart the computer and remove the CD.
11. When the GRUB bootloader comes up, select the newly installed Ubuntu 10.10.

What should happen:
Since this is a fresh install of Ubuntu, there shouldn't be any problems booting it after the install. After all, there hasn't been an opportunity to screw around with anything.

What happens:
Right after selecting Ubuntu from the GRUB menu, a kernel panic appears and the Caps/Scroll lock lights start flashing. The computer does not do anything after that. When booting in recovery mode, there is more verbose output. Here's the output that results from that:

[0.761431] VFS: Cannot open root device "UUID=3f45a729-2066-4d4f-ae80-3cb2a7c6c4f7" or unknown-block(0,0)
[0.761491] Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
[0.761562] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[0.761662] Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 2.6.35-19-generic #28-Ubuntu
[0.761671] Call Trace:
[0.761730] [<c05c572a>] ? printk+0x2d/0x33
[0.761780] [<c05c5685>] panic+0x5a/0xd2
[0.761832] [<c0817d8d>] mount_block_root+0x1d3/0x26c
[0.761886] [<c02247bc>] ? sys_mknod+0x2c/0x30
[0.761935] [<c0817e7f>] mount_root+0x59/0x5f
[0.761985] [<c0817fd3>] prepare_namespace+0x14e/0x192
[0.762037] [<c0217435>] ? sys_access+0x25/0x30
[0.762086] [<c0817467>] kernel_init+0x18e/0x19d
[0.762134] [<c08172d9>] ? kernel_init+0x0/0x19d
[0.762185] [<c010363e>] kernel_thread_helper+0x6/0x10

Workaround: Right after a power-on, press shift to enter the GRUB menu. Highlight Ubuntu from the GRUB menu and press 'e' to edit the entry. Navigate to the line that starts with "search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ..." and delete that line. Press Ctrl+x to boot with the revised entry and Ubuntu should boot up normally.

Other information:
The first time I tried installing 10.10, I selected btrfs as the root partition filesystem to try it out. I got a similar error message, except with "UUID=..." replaced with "root=/dev/sda3". So it looks like the underlying problem is still the same. I figured that btrfs was a beta filesystem and that might be causing problems, so I installed again using ext4 as the root filesystem, and got the error output above.

I also haven't been able to find any similar reports of this so my system might somehow be an exception situation. But I can't imagine why, and someone new to Ubuntu might not like being greeted with a kernel panic on their first boot. So it would be really nice to figure out what the cause of this might be. Thanks!
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: A5451 [ALI 5451], device 0: ALI 5451 [ALI 5451]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 Cannot stat file /proc/5738/fd/36: Stale NFS file handle
 Cannot stat file /proc/5738/fd/37: Stale NFS file handle
                      USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 2549 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'A5451'/'ALI 5451 at 0x8800, irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 28
   Simple ctrls : 20
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Beta i386 (20100901.1)
Lsusb:
 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
MachineType: Sony Corporation PCG-FRV26(UC)
Package: linux (not installed)
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   3.3V 32-bit PC Card
ProcCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-19.28-generic 2.6.35.3
Regression: Yes
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.38
Reproducible: Yes
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
StagingDrivers: ramzswap
Tags: maverick kernel-config regression-potential needs-upstream-testing staging
Title: [STAGING]
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-19-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 08/13/2003
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: R0108K7
dmi.board.name: Q-Project
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: 01
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 9J5L00000000A8B06759F0285811
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrR0108K7:bd08/13/2003:svnSonyCorporation:pnPCG-FRV26(UC):pvr01:rvnSonyCorporation:rnQ-Project:rvr01:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: PCG-FRV26(UC)
dmi.product.version: 01
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi cactaur,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/ . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 647128

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[cactaur (vahag1991)]

Thanks Jeremy,

I downloaded the image from September 29, 2010, with 2.6.35-22 and still encountered the same problem. Unfortunately, I cannot run apport from the installation because the kernel panics before the operating system can load up. However, I'll run apport from the Live CD in case you need some of the system information. Keep in mind that this is the Live CD, so Ubuntu-specific information might be different than what is actually installed on the machine. When I look at /var/log/dmesg, the file is empty, but the error message was pretty much exactly the one in the original report.

I will try the mainline testing builds now, and get back to you on whether it fixes the problem.

[cactaur (vahag1991)]

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[cactaur (vahag1991)]

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[cactaur (vahag1991)]

I just found out that this might not be a kernel issue at all, and might be a grub2 issue. When booting from GRUB, when I removed the line that said

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f7aea5f9-577b-40b0-ab63-f58240cc94e1

Ubuntu boots up just fine on both the mainline kernel and the updated kernel. When I boot with this line intact, the above error occurs with the updated kernel, and an "Out of partition" error occurs with the mainline kernel. So it seems like the search command is what is screwing around with the kernel on boot. For more details on what might exactly be the problem, I'll attach the grub.cfg file. In this system, the f7aea5f9-577b-40b0-ab63-f58240cc94e1 UUID is the /boot partition on sda2 and 4cff9e74-9091-425f-95e8-dee6b63da0f3 UUID is the root partition on sda3. I hope this issue can be resolved since it doesn't appear like most people have had this kind of problem. For the one in the few people who this might happen too, it might be a doozy.

[cactaur (vahag1991)]

Source of problem more correctly identified as a pathological line in the grub menu.

[cactaur (vahag1991)]

The workaround steps seem awfully familiar to those in Bug #403408. However, the root causes seem to be different because this is in 10.10, while the previous one was fixed in 10.04, and that this bug causes a kernel panic, and is not evidenced by a "disk not found" error.

Another odd behavior is that if the UUID is changed in the GRUB menu to something which does not exist, Ubuntu boots up just fine. It is only the correct UUID that causes the problems with the kernel panic. Additionally, I tried removing the "set root=(hd(0,2)) entry in hopes that maybe it's conflicting with the search line. However, this does not fix the problem, so the culprit appears to be the search line alone.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

That search command looks just fine to me (certainly not "pathological"!), and I don't see why it should affect the kernel - at most it should merely influence whether the kernel is found or not.

[cactaur (vahag1991)]

Well, yes. The search command by itself is correct. However, I'm not sure what it does, but when it's included in the grub entry, it causes the kernel to panic. So, something is most definitely not right here. But I guess pathological wasn't the right word. It's just that, when that search command finds the partition, something happens that throws off the kernel. Is there anything more I can do to help figure this out?

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

I am having the exactly same problem after upgrading from 10.10 to 11.04.

Right after selecting Ubuntu from the GRUB menu, a blank screen appears, the cursor is blinking int the top-left corner of the screen and the Caps/Scroll lock lights start flashing. The computer does not do anything after that.

When booting in recovery mode, the computer halts at the following line:
VFS: Cannot open root device "sda3" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
"Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)".

The following workarounds did not work:

1. booting into an older kernel and run:
sudo update-initramfs -k all -c -v

2. booting into an older kernel and run:
sudo update-initramfs -u

When I try to follow the workaround suggested in this post (deleting the line starting with "search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ..." from the GRUB menu entry), after pressing CTRL+X I get the following message:

Booting a command list
error: no such disk.
Press any key to continue...

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]