Repair after faulty kernel update

English Install/Boot/Login
1

After installing the software updates today via YaST, including an update to the kernel version 5.3.18-150300.59.43.1-x86_64 (from 5.3.18-59.40.1-x86_64) the system refuses to boot wit the new kernel.
Rebooting with the old kernel works fine.

  1. Is something wrong with the new kernel?
  2. If the new kernel is faulty, what is the YaST procedure to ditch it 'permanently?
2

Of course, the failure may have been due to a fault in one of the other packages (e.g. gdm) also in the update.

3

“refuse to boot” is rather vague. And a faulty gdm will not stop the system from booting, it will only not show you a GUI login.

4

Sorry, for the vagueness. I can only describe what I see on the screen. Let me know what log data I could perhaps fish out, and how to do it!

The boot process starts with the selection of the kernel version, which is now by default the new one and the screen then goes black and nothing more happens.

5

Ok, that is something. Did you try if hitting the Esc key shows something?

6

Hitting the Esc key has no effect during the boot. However, booting with the ‘rescue’ version of the new kernel does start a log output which terminates after a few seconds with the black screen.

7

Hi
Can you add the boot option at grub nomodeset and try booting temporarily with that. What graphics card in this system?

8

Graphics card is Radeon HD 6450 1 GB DDR3.

How, where do I set the grub nomodeset boot option?

9

Hi
At the grub screen, press e to edit, find the line linux or linuxefi and after the quiet add nomodeset then press F10 to boot.

10

The same thing just happened to me. After update of the kernel, It won’t boot, the escape key shows nothing. The previous kernel boots. I tried “rescue” using the installation DVD, but I have no idea what to do with that.

11

OK. That boots successfully. What now? It seems the configuration is a simplified one (e.g. on display mirrored, with no possibility to configure both my screens)

12

There was a new MOK with today’s updates – MOK Manager blue screen at boot –

  • Catch-22: It asks for a password – that of the user “root” and, it assumes a US American keyboard layout …
    If you have another keyboard layout and, your “root” user password uses characters which do not map to the US American keys, the application of the new MOK to UEFI will fail.
13

Hi
So it’s a graphics issue, maybe with the desktop or the gpu… what driver is in use for the gpu?


/sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 "VGA|Display|3D"
14

Maybe:
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1195142

15 
/sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 "VGA|Display|3D"
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Caicos [Radeon HD 6450/7450/8450 / R5 230 OEM] [1002:6779]
    Subsystem: PC Partner Limited / Sapphire Technology Radeon HD 6450 1 GB DDR3 [174b:e164]
    Kernel driver in use: radeon
    Kernel modules: radeon
16

Looks like my problem. It seems I should ditch the latest kernel version and wait for the bug fix. How do I make the previous version my default again?

17

Hi
See the bug report… maybe install the fixed kernel?

18

Boot with the working kernel, delete only the faulty one and lock the kernel.

19

Thanks to all. Some very good and focussed support in these posts. I think I will hope for an early kernel update and live with a minor inconvenience at boot up in the meantime.

20

I had the same trouble with kernel 5.3.18-59.43-default on a system with

howard@HP-oS15KDE:~>         inxi -G 
      **Graphics:          Device-1:** Advanced Micro         Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar [Radeon HD 5000/6000/7350/8350 Series] **driver:** radeon **v:** kernel  
                **Display:** x11 **server:** X.Org 1.20.3 **driver:** modesetting **unloaded:** fbdev,vesa **resolution:** 1280x1024~60Hz          
                **OpenGL:****renderer:** AMD CEDAR (DRM         2.50.0 / 5.3.18-59.40-default LLVM 11.0.1) **v:** 3.3 Mesa 20.2.4          
      howard@HP-oS15KDE:~>

It would boot with nomodeset, giving

howard@HP-oS15KDE:~> inxi -G
      Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar       [Radeon HD 5000/6000/7350/8350 Series] driver: N/A 
                 Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: N/A note:       display driver n/a unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
                 resolution: 1400x1050~77Hz 
                 OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 256 bits) v:       4.5 Mesa 20.2.4 
      howard@HP-oS15KDE:~>

I removed 5.3.18-59.43 and installed kernel 5.3.18-150300.249.1.ge7319e4 from the repository at https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/SLE15-SP3/pool/ and all is well.