Upgrade from openSuSE 11.1 to 11.4/12.1 fails, kernel problem?

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 05:00

Hello,

I hope this is right sub forum. If not, please tell me which is right one.

Host is AMD based ((m/b M7NCG 400), Athlon XP 2600) m/b with NVidia nForce2 chipset and onboard graphics.

Current openSuSE 11.1 installation (Linux kernel 2.6.7.27.56-0.1-default) runs fine. Any trial to upgrade to 11.4 (first approach) and 12.1 did fail.

Symptom: as soon as kernel loaded from boot media (DVD) tries to read from install media, it throws disk seek errors. This happens regardless of starting disk media check, rescue system or installation. Using kernel runtime switches don't help.

DVD disk media can be read from hosts dvd drive using installed kernel. Something like dd if=/dev/sr0 of=/dev/null copies approx. 8GB of data without error. Using a shell script to verify checksums/signatures on disk succeed. Therefore I'm sure that media and m/b hardware is ok.

Any idea how to upgrade openSuSE installation?

Martin

**martin_helm** · 06-Aug-2012, 05:10

Is using the netinstall cd an option for you, of course since your
system does break at such an early step in the installation not even
that may work, but I would try it.
Another option, if your system can boot from an USB media you culd
create a bootable USB stick and use that with the hope that it works better.

--
PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

**martin_helm** · 06-Aug-2012, 05:14

I forgot to add that of course you have an additional problem. Nobody
can in any way give you a guarantee that an upgrade skipping several
versions in between (11.1 -> 11.4, 11.1->12.1) will work at all.

--
PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

**robin_listas** · 06-Aug-2012, 05:58

On 2012-08-06 14:10, Martin Helm wrote:
> Is using the netinstall cd an option for you, of course since your
> system does break at such an early step in the installation not even
> that may work, but I would try it.
> Another option, if your system can boot from an USB media you culd
> create a bootable USB stick and use that with the hope that it works better.

If not, I would, at least temporarily, change the DVD reader.

--
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 "Celadon" at Telcontar)

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 08:59

Originally Posted by martin_helm

I forgot to add that of course you have an additional problem. Nobody
can in any way give you a guarantee that an upgrade skipping several
versions in between (11.1 -> 11.4, 11.1->12.1) will work at all.
[...]

Thanks for this hint. I'm familiar with this "limitation" and doing it on my own risk.

Martin

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 09:08

Originally Posted by martin_helm

Is using the netinstall cd an option for you, of course since your
system does break at such an early step in the installation not even
that may work, but I would try it.
Another option, if your system can boot from an USB media you culd
create a bootable USB stick and use that with the hope that it works better.
[...]

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give it a chance.

But why should a kernel booted from network or USB stick be able to read from dvd then?

Martin

**martin_helm** · 06-Aug-2012, 09:21

Am 06.08.2012 18:16, schrieb martin jacobs:
> Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give it a chance.
>
> But why should a kernel booted from network or USB stick be able to
> read from dvd then?
It will not read from the DVD at all, if you turn the DVD image into a
hybrid image and boot from the USB it will also read all packages and
the installer itself from the USB.
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick
look at "Bootable USB from DVD or Net-install"

--
PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 10:30

Originally Posted by martin_helm

Am 06.08.2012 18:16, schrieb martin jacobs:
> Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give it a chance.
>
> But why should a kernel booted from network or USB stick be able to
> read from dvd then?
It will not read from the DVD at all, if you turn the DVD image into a
hybrid image and boot from the USB it will also read all packages and
the installer itself from the USB.
SDB:Live USB stick - openSUSE
look at "Bootable USB from DVD or Net-install"
[...]

That's clear so far. Let's assume that installation succeeds. Kernel will remain the same as that of disk based installation and I'll then have an installation not able to read from DVD anymore :-(

Please remember: under current 11.1 installation (kernel 2.6.7.27.56) any dvd access tried so far works perfect, any kind of Data DVD/CD, SuSE 11.1 install DVDs, even those 11.4/12.1 dvds are readable with kernel 2.6.7.27.56! I did a cross check on other machine to ensure that install dvds are ok.

Martin

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 10:36

Originally Posted by martin_jacobs

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give it a chance.

But why should a kernel booted from network or USB stick be able to read from dvd then?

Martin

I decided to use "Media Free Network Installation" and tried

wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.1/repo/oss/boot/$(arch)/loader/linux
getting as result

Resolving download.opensuse.org... 195.135.221.134, 2001:67c:2178:8::13
Connecting to download.opensuse.org|195.135.221.134|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2012-08-06 19:16:51 ERROR 404: Not Found.

This system has arch=i686. Using i586 instead of $(arch) throws http error 404 as well.

Any suggestion?

Martin

**martin_jacobs** · 06-Aug-2012, 10:42

Originally Posted by martin_jacobs

I decided to use "Media Free Network Installation" and tried

wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.1/repo/oss/boot/$(arch)/loader/linux
getting as result

Resolving download.opensuse.org... 195.135.221.134, 2001:67c:2178:8::13
Connecting to download.opensuse.org|195.135.221.134|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2012-08-06 19:16:51 ERROR 404: Not Found.

This system has arch=i686. Using i586 instead of $(arch) throws http error 404 as well.

Any suggestion?

Martin

Solved: Wrong description in web page. Web site does only offer i386 and x86_64 images.

Martin