Hangs on startup

[Shashmik]

Just upgraded from 7.10 to alpha 6 using update-manager. The new system never completes startup. It simply cycles endlessly with ata messages (having to copy this from the screen):

ata2.00: status {DRDY}
ata2: soft resetting link
ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata2: EH complete
ata2.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen
ata2.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:24:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 pio 36 in
cdb 12 00 00 00 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)

[Andrew Ash (ash211)]

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kubuntu-devel/2008-March/002229.html

It appears that there are currently some bootup issues with Kubuntu dailies. Do you happen to be running Kubuntu?

[Shashmik (philbinj)]

No, this is standard Ubuntu. If I go into my dell BIOS and set the SATA mode from IDE to RAID, then everything boots ok. I think there seem to be some problems with the new libata library. Is there any way to use the legacy IDE support using a boot option? I think this wd be useful for many users.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

What if you try booting with "all_generic_ide"? Thanks.

[Shashmik (philbinj)]

Yes that works great with the old BIOS setting! I think this option should be mentioned somewhere prominent for those of us with less than perfectly conformant BIOSes (or even made the default?). Where does one find a list of all the different boot options?

I guess this can be marked as solved.

[Andrew Ash (ash211)]

Here are some links where you can learn about boot options. The first one is a pretty comprehensive list from the Linux Documentation Project, and the second is much more streamlined and from Red Hat, so some of the arguments probably won't apply.

[1] http://tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/install-guide/ch-bootopts.html

In researching about this option, I found bug 181561, and it seems to me that your bug may possibly be a duplicate of that one. Before we close this bug, could you please take a look at that one and see if any of your symptoms are similar to those? It's a long thread, but there are a lot of good people getting a lot accomplished there, and I think you might have some useful information to offer in that one. Check it out and post back here with your thoughts, please.

Thanks!

[Allan Day (allanday)]

I think I have been experiencing the same thing as Shashmik. When I try to run the Hardy Beta live CD, it stops loading and gives a bunch of ata error messages, thus:

ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 Sact 0x0
ata3.00: Serr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen cmd a0/00:00:00:24:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 pio 36 in
ata3.00: status { DRDY }

I have attached a screenshot showing these messages in all their glory.

I have had a look at bug 181561 (as suggested above). To my inexpert eyes, they look different. Please tell me if I'm wrong!

Also, I've been unable to test different boot options, since my wireless keyboard isn't recognised by the live CD... :( I'll fetch a wired one from work later today, and see what I can do with that.

Also also, my current Gutsy installation has been suffering an ata error [1, 2] on boot for some time. Dunno whether they're connected or not, but I thought I'd let it be known, in case they are.

[1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/112132
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/107982

[AnatolyVolodko (anatolyvolodko)]

Confirm on AMD 780G chipset
Se also:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/217920

[Allan Day (allanday)]

This problem is still present with the Hardy Heron release candidate CD. I'm running an Intel Core Duo system (775 Socket).

[Christian Funder Sommerlund (zero3)]

Ditto here. Running Hardy with proposed and backports enabled. Suddenly, I can no longer boot into Ubuntu, yet Windows boots just fine.

I get similar error messages (looped for ~3 minutes):

ata2.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen
ata2.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:24:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 pio 36 in
ata2.00: status: {DRDY}
ata2.00: revalidation failed (errno=-19)

[Christian Funder Sommerlund (zero3)]

I found the solution to my problem!

I noticed that the BIOS did not recognize one of my optical drives, and figured that one of the cables might be loose. Surely enough, after unplugging and replugging the power and ATA cables for my 2 optical drives, Ubuntu boots just fine.

---

Shouldn't Ubuntu:

1) Boot anyway (as Windows does), since a broken optical drive is not fatal to running the system? (I'm not sure if Ubuntu eventually _would_ boot, but I got tired after watching the error messages loop for ~3 minutes)

2) Give the user a more reasonable error message? Something like: "ATA hard drive error: Connection to the hard drive located at the second ATA slot failed. Please check the cable connection".

[kiev1 (sys-sys-admin)]

I have the same problem
dublicate -> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/217920

[Allan Day (allanday)]

Does anybody know how long it will take for this to be resolved? I really need to be using Hardy!

[Allan Day (allanday)]

I managed to get around this by adding the irqpoll option to my boot options. Works fine for me now. It's good to be using Hardy at last!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Shashmik, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being resolved. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.