Boot fails on udev if USB devices are present

[L]

If a USB devices are present (keyboard, mouse, or external drive), grub2 will hang on:

udevd[134]: starting version 175

The system will not boot.

Hardware is a Thinkpad T520.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: grub-pc 1.99-22ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-13.14-generic 3.5.3
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-13-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.5.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Sep 7 19:41:55 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-09-07 (0 days ago)
---
ApportVersion: 2.5.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CustomUdevRuleFiles: 10-vboxdrv.rules
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MachineType: LENOVO 4239CTO
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: udev 175-0ubuntu10
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-13-generic root=UUID=728e7962-8356-4582-b65b-30d43dba3a77 ro nomodeset
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-13.14-generic 3.5.3
Tags: quantal
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-13-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-09-07 (4 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
dmi.bios.date: 12/06/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8AET56WW (1.36 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4239CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8AET56WW(1.36):bd12/06/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4239CTO:pvrThinkPadT520:rvnLENOVO:rn4239CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4239CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[BenHagan (smooth-texan)]

I was not able to reproduce this bug. Can someone else out there give it a shot?

[L (ajsoiasaaso)]

Are there any logs I can provide to help?

[BenHagan (smooth-texan)]

I changed this bug to udev. Run this command from your terminal:

apport-collect 1047688

That may give us what we need.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I have plenty of USB devices, and I guess so do other people, so we need some logs here indeed. Can you please try to select the rescue mode in grub, boot with all devices attached, and see whether this causes any hangs as well? The "starting udev" message does not mean much, as most of the boot process is quiet by default. In rescue mode it's not.

If it's hanging with some more messages appearing, perhaps you can take a photo and attach it here?

[L (ajsoiasaaso)]

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[L (ajsoiasaaso)]

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[L (ajsoiasaaso)]

I attempted to boot with all USB devices plugged in, and received the errors you see in the screenshot.

You'll see a lot about USB devices. See also the errors on /dev/sda (internal SSD) on 3 and 4. I have also been unable to boot because /dev/sda was a problem, as a standalone issue, but for whatever reason I had stopped experiencing that issue.

After the boot you see in the screenshots, I attempted to boot into recovery mode with no devices present. The system repeatedly hang on starting udev with no error messages. I then reconnected a keyboard and mouse, and the system actually booted up mostly fine. I was just unable to use the laptop's native keyboard and trackpad, even if the USB devices were removed.

Strange issue.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Thanks! The second screenshot shows the error message from the ATA kernel driver, as well as the "mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt" line. Reassigning to kernel.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.6 kernel[0] (Not a kernel in the daily directory) and install both the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.

Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. Please only remove that one tag and leave the other tags. 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.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.6-rc5-quantal/

[L (ajsoiasaaso)]

This issue exists on kernel 3.6.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

This issue appears to be an upstream bug, since you tested the latest upstream kernel. Would it be possible for you to open an upstream bug report[0]? That will allow the upstream Developers to examine the issue, and may provide a quicker resolution to the bug.

If you are comfortable with opening a bug upstream, It would be great if you can report back the upstream bug number in this bug report. That will allow us to link this bug to the upstream report.

[0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/kernel

[Hervé Fache (rvfh)]

I have a similar (same?) issue on two of my computers upgraded from precise. Two others are ok. And booting from a USB key of a daily works: it's only 50% of my _upgraded_ systems that fail.

Their hardwares are very different: one is a Dell laptop, heavily Intel-based and the other a HP Microserver which is AMD-based.

If I chmod 644 udevd, the laptop does not crash, hence my search for udev-related hangs in quantal. The server does not completely crash, as hard-disk activity is visible if I connect a USB stick for example. So the behaviours vary slightly.

Also, I use these systems everyday just by booting from the 3.2 kernel from their precise past...

Ah, and removing all USB devices did not help the server in my case (laptop not tried.)

[Hervé Fache (rvfh)]

Latest udev fixes the server and lets the laptop go further. This explains the difference in behaviour: the laptop in fact has two bugs. So I can safely assume that one of the bugs was in fact https://launchpad.net/bugs/1057824.

[Emil Pavlov (emil-p-pavlov)]

I can reproduce the bug with external HDD connected (100%) and usb mouse and keyboard (15%).

[Mark Vardy (mark-vardy)]

I was still getting this last week. Following recommendation from a colleague I disabled the Intel VT-d setting in the BIOS (Security/Virtualisation) and the hang at udevd no longer occurs and startup is successful.

Thinkpad W520, 12.10 64-bit, 3.5.0-22-generic #34-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 8 21:47:00 UTC 2013

[Paul Fisher (thetorpedodog)]

I found that I could boot the computer reliably if I turned off ACPI (acpi=off) in the boot string, unreliably if I set acpi=noirq. I now can boot the computer (apparently) reliably with virtualization disabled in the BIOS.

Thinkpad T520

Linux lambert 3.5.0-22-generic #34-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 8 21:47:00 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Emil Pavlov (emil-p-pavlov)]

Turning virtualization off didn't fix it for me, but acpi=off did.

Sony Vaio FW-250J

Linux ***** 3.5.0-18-generic-tuxonice #29~ppa3-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 9 05:59:09 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Mark Vardy (mark-vardy)]

Following a comment in an apparently related bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/776999), I also tried "nox2apic" in the /etc/default/grub and re-enabled VT-d. This also works and isn't as extreme as turning acpi off completely.

[Phillip Pether (roofox)]

I've been having a similar problem, this happens when during a reboot, but if I start from cold boot it's fine. I have a Sony VAIO VCPEH 2H1E/w, and I have a Hitachi 2TB External HDD plugged in, whenever on a reboot and it's plugged in, the drive would begin to load up like if it was about to boot into something else on the drive, which I don't, except for maybe a few iso files which aren't setup to run in any way.

When I come to a reboot I get past the BIOS start-up spashscreen then it jumps strait to a blank screen with a blinking underline on the screen. Unplugging the external Hard Drive and rebooting seems to fix it temporarily, I even made a check into the BIOS Settings to make sure the main hard drive installed is booting first before everything else which it is.

Linux ***** 3.5.0-31-generic #52-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 16 16:27:05 UTC 2013
x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Christopher M. Peñalver (penalvch)]

L, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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