The boot process get stuck with 3.5.0.20 from proposed

[Andrea Corbellini]

With the 3.5.0.20 kernel from proposed, lightdm does not start. The boot get stuck somewhere, but the system is responsive.
The six getty processes are correctly started and I can login from there. I cannot however reboot/halt neither using /sbin/shutdown nor with Ctrl+Alt+Del. When I do so, the process get stuck just after stopping udev.

Sometimes (very few times) lightdm starts, but the only available resolution is 1024x768 (and my screen supports other more adequate resolutions).

I could investigate more and provide useful information, however the mainline kernel fixes the issue:

  http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.7-rc8-raring/linux-image-3.7.0-030700rc8-generic_3.7.0-030700rc8.201212031649_amd64.deb
  http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.7-rc8-raring/linux-image-extra-3.7.0-030700rc8-generic_3.7.0-030700rc8.201212031649_amd64.deb

(I'm currently using that kernel, this is why I haven't use apport to report the bug.)

I'm sure this is a problem with the kernel because this problem happens just with 3.5.0.20 (not with 3.5.0.19, and not with 3.7.0).

linux-generic:
  Installed: 3.5.0.20.23
  Candidate: 3.5.0.20.23
  Version table:
 *** 3.5.0.20.23 0
        500 http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/ubuntu/ quantal-proposed/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.5.0.19.22 0
        500 http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-security/main amd64 Packages
     3.5.0.17.19 0
        500 http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/ubuntu/ quantal/main amd64 Packages

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 1089003

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Just to confirm, this bug goes away if you boot back into 3.5.0.19?

Can you follow the "Boot options" instructions on the following wiki to enable additional output on boot:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingKernelBoot

As mentioned on the wiki, it would be great if you can attach a log file which may have captured any messages you see. If you are unable to capture a log file, a digital photo will work just as well. As a last resort you can even copy messages down by hand.

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

The boot log does not contain anything useful (I can attach it, though). The most useful information come from dmesg, syslog and kern.log.

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

For completeness: I do not have any "Unknown symbol" message in my log files when using 3.5.0.19 or 3.7.0.

[Luis Henriques (henrix)]

Andrea, I believe this is a duplicate of bug #1087622. Could you please test the kernel I've uploaded here:

http://people.canonical.com/~henrix/lp1087622/

There are 2 versions, one for amd64 (64bits) and other for i386 (32bits). Please give it a try to see if it solves the problem and, if possible, report back with a dmesg. Thanks.

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

I've given a quick look at the other bug and reading the various log files it does not seem a duplicate (though, I've just given a quick look).

Anyhow, the 3.5.0.20 from http://people.canonical.com/~henrix/lp1087622/ works fine. Attached there's the boot dmesg from that kernel.

[Luis Henriques (henrix)]

If you look at your dmesg (attached to this bug report), you will see:

[ 20.004672] BUG: unable to handle kernel paging request at ffffffffa0392318

(Although the real problem happens before this, when the i915 module is loaded)
Thus, I'm tagging this bug as a duplicate.

Thank you a lot for testing.

[HENRY Florian (bientotlaferme)]

With 3.5.0.20 one time of two my conputer to not start (stuck on black screen). tty1 is functionnal, bit not responding correctly.
When I rty to upgrade to new kernel 3.5.0.21 dpkg crash. I have to boot with 3.5.0.19 to run dpkg --configure -a correctly and now with 3.5.0.21 the computer strat correctly each times. I don't know what was wrong the the 3.5.0.20, but now the porblem seems to be solved.