ubiquity crashes without user feedback if flash-kernel fails

[Tobin Davis]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

Crashed near the end of installing on a babbage 3 board. Installing to a 40G drive attached to sata port.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: armel
Date: Wed Dec 9 17:56:26 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha armel+imx51 (20091209.4)
Package: ubiquity 2.1.4
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-601.2-imx51
SourcePackage: ubiquity
Tags: lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-601-imx51 armv7l

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

syslog shows:

Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: Exception during installation:
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: Traceback (most recent call last):
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 2421, in <module>
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: install.run()
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 431, in run
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: self.configure_bootloader()
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1786, in configure_bootloader
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: "FlashKernel failed with code %d" % ret)
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python: InstallStepError: FlashKernel failed with code 1
Dec 10 01:49:13 ubuntu python:
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: debconffilter_done: ubiquity.components.install (current: None)
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: Exception in GTK frontend (invoking crash handler):
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: Traceback (most recent call last):
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity", line 457, in <module>
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: main(oem_config)
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity", line 442, in main
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: install(args[0], query=options.query)
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity", line 245, in install
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: ret = wizard.run()
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtk_ui.py", line 476, in run
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: self.progress_loop()
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtk_ui.py", line 1001, in progress_loop
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: (ret, realtb))
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: RuntimeError: Install failed with exit code 1
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: Traceback (most recent call last):
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 2421, in <module>
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: install.run()
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 431, in run
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: self.configure_bootloader()
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1786, in configure_bootloader
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: "FlashKernel failed with code %d" % ret)
Dec 10 01:49:18 ubuntu ubiquity[2665]: InstallStepError: FlashKernel failed with code 1

[Jamie Bennett (jamiebennett)]

Not sure if it is relevant but make sure the kernel file name in /boot has -imx51 on the end (like vmlinuz2.6.31-105-imx51) or flash-kernel will fail to determine the correct architecture.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

the initrd image that results from update-initramfs in /target is apparently 16MB big while the fix partition we designed for it offers only 9MB.
The initrd files in karmic never went above 4MB so i suspect there is something wrong with either initramfs-tools or with a package that added hooks and pulls in additional binaries.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

not a flash-kernel issue.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

its probably a bug that ubiquity crashes without user feedback if flash-kernel fails. However, the underlying issue was fixed in bug 495161 by mobile team - reducing initrd size.

... moving to canonical foundations team as they are responsible for the ubiquity part.

[Tobin Davis (gruemaster)]

It's either been silently fixed and not reported, or open and no one currently notices as we don't use live images for arm platforms anymore. Closing.