Broken boot after upgrading 11.4 to kernel 2.6.37.6-0.9

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi everybody,

I recently (online-)updated my OpenSuSE 11.4 which upgraded my kernel from 2.6.37.6-0.7 to 2.6.37.6-0.9. The upgrade went fine and the system asked me to reboot ASAP. The upgrade was the last thing I did on that day (10th Nov midnight) so I performed a normal shutdown and turned off the computer.

Now, approx. two days later, booting fails at GRUB with error 18 (first boot after the upgrade). Up to now I couldn’t figure out what the problem really might be, since the hard drive is ok and the partitions are untouched since ever. The only obvious thing is the kernel update. The online update that I performed two days before included only a few changes since I try to keep my system up to date.

I can boot the rescue system of the installation CD of 11.4 as well as the Ubuntu 11.10 live CD. From there I can mount all partitions without any problem and the data within those partitions is intact.
Unfortunately I do not have a backup of the previous kernel. Yast obviously removed it. However, the kernel upgrade is visible through the changes made in /boot/grub/menu.lst (compared to menu.lst.old)

The computer is quite old but still fully functional:
Intel PIII, 1Ghz, 1G RAM
160GB IDE disk, 2GB swap, 20GB boot and the remaining space as the user partition

fdisk -l lists all partitions fine, showing the proper boot partition (the 20GB)
/boot/grub/menu.lst looks fine, pointing to the latest (and only) kernel 2.6.37.6-0.9
Any other file in /boot/grub is untouched. device.map looks fine, listing hd0 as the proper drive.

(I will post the full output as soon as I got them to the other computer.)

The initial boot menu is fine, showing the SuSE splash screen and the graphical menu. However, selecting any entry (failsave or not) and trying to start results in Error 18 (adddress outside the BIOS range) and falls back to the ASCII-Menu of GRUB. Maybe just the MBR is broken ?

Did anyone experience a similar problem ?
Could the MBR be the reason ? But why ?
Does anybody have some idea ?

Thank you already in advance!

Regards,
Juergen

#2

looking at GRUB Error Messages error 18 means the file is not executable.

You mention Ubuntu is Ubuntu in this machine? Are you using it to boot (ie grub2)

#3

If Ubuntu is on the machine too, and grub 2 is actually booting the machine, then Ubuntu would still boot and you should do that and run
sudo update-grub

But if you are using SUSE’s grub legacy
Take another look at the menu.lst and menu.lst.old

Can you post the contents of them here. We had another member with this problem and it was found in the difference
This is the thread
New Kernel will not boot. What am I doing wrong?

#4

Hi again,

thank you for your replies. I’m in a hurry now but will post more detail this evening.

Just this few notes: Ubuntu isn’t on the machine, I booted the live-cd to get some system up and running to analyse the boot files. SuSE 11.4 is the ony system on the disk, nothing else.
Error 18 isn’t the one of your list. It is " 18 : Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS"
The message is nonsense since neither the disk nor the partition changed since the last successful boot.

I read the mentioned thread and other similar ones already before posting my question. Unfortunately my menu.lst seems ok and I have no parallel installation of SuSE and Ubuntu. Thise made me think that I ran into something else.
On the first look the kernel files listed in menu.lst looked fine. If “diff”-ed the files and didn’t see any broken entry. However, it was around midnight and I will have a fresh look on it today afternoon.

Any ideas are still welcome :slight_smile:

Thank you!
Best regards,
Juergen

#5

I’d still like to see the 2 menu.lst files to compare old with new

#6

Hi,

I have a very similar problem. After updating to this kernel.

For me it seems that a necessary initrd-x.x.x… is missing. I tried to fix that via Rescue system and mkinitrd but that didn’t work either.
I’ll now try this which I found here.

I have already created backups of all my data. If that “update approach” doesn’t work I’ll just wait until OpenSUSE 12.1 comes out and overwrite that whole mess with a fresh system…

Kernel updates breaking the kernel seem to happen more often than you’d think… Yesterday when I encountered it I could have killed someone…

#7

That’s my guide
It will work assuming your problem is as think/describe

#8

Kernel updates breaking the kernel seem to happen more often than you’d think…

true but this one seems to hit only certain people I updated no problems. Note I used zypper up to update.

#9

Hello everybody,

as promised I’m back with all the detail. I booted the Ubuntu live CD to get some linux up and running. From there I mounted the boot partition to /mnt and analysed the grub files and the kernel.

(1) listing the partitions and showing the boot partition (2) with 20GB:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00030efe

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         262     2104483+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *         263        2873    20972857+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            2874       30401   221118660   83  Linux

(2) mounting sda2 and listing the kernel files

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls -al /mnt/boot
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root     4096 2011-11-09 23:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root     4096 2011-11-09 23:06 ..
-rw-------  1 root root      512 2009-11-15 15:31 backup_mbr
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        1 2011-03-12 15:24 boot -> .
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     1236 2011-02-21 22:34 boot.readme
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   124872 2011-10-26 14:47 config-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     4096 2011-11-09 23:00 grub
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       27 2011-11-09 22:59 initrd -> initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 11751589 2011-11-09 22:59 initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   553984 2011-03-12 15:56 message
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   562903 2011-10-26 15:50 symtypes-2.6.37.6-0.9-default.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   199459 2011-10-26 15:45 symvers-2.6.37.6-0.9-default.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1634949 2011-10-26 15:37 System.map-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5122383 2011-10-26 15:45 vmlinux-2.6.37.6-0.9-default.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       28 2011-11-09 22:58 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  4016864 2011-10-26 15:37 vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

Note that config-, vmlinuz- and initrd- are all of 2.6.37.6-0.9-default

(3) listing the GRUB files:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls -al /mnt/boot/grub
total 328
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root   4096 2011-11-09 23:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root   4096 2011-11-09 23:00 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     10 2011-07-30 10:18 default
-rw------- 1 root root     72 2011-03-12 15:56 device.map
-rw------- 1 root root     71 2011-03-12 15:00 device.map.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8608 2011-02-18 14:55 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7872 2011-02-18 14:55 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7136 2011-02-18 14:55 ffs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7136 2011-02-18 14:55 iso9660_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8576 2011-02-18 14:55 jfs_stage1_5
-rw------- 1 root root   1264 2011-11-09 23:00 menu.lst
-rw------- 1 root root   1656 2011-11-09 22:59 menu.lst.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7296 2011-02-18 14:55 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9632 2011-02-18 14:55 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    512 2011-02-18 14:55 stage1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 102058 2011-03-12 15:56 stage2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 102058 2010-07-18 19:12 stage2.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7456 2011-02-18 14:55 ufs2_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   6688 2011-02-18 14:55 vstafs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9320 2011-02-18 14:55 xfs_stage1_5

(4) dumping the contents of menu.lst (currently active)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo cat /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Nov 10 00:00:01 CET 2011
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part1 splash=silent quiet nomodeset showopts vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part2 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe nomodeset vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Diskette
    rootnoverify (fd0)
    chainloader +1

(5) compared to the last backup copy of it. Obviously the file has been modified twice during the update (3 secs before and 1 sec after midnight). The backup file lists both kernels, most of the file still is on the -0.7 version

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo cat /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst.old 
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Nov  9 23:59:57 CET 2011
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part1 splash=silent quiet nomodeset showopts vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.7
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.7-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part1 splash=silent quiet nomodeset showopts vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.7-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.7
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.7-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184-part2 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe nomodeset vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.7-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Diskette
    rootnoverify (fd0)
    chainloader +1

(6) the difference between them:


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo diff -y /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst.old 
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Nov 10 00:00:01 |	# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Nov  9 23:59:57
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader	# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /et	# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /et

default 0							default 0
timeout 8							timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr						##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message					gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate						##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam	###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam
title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9				title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9
    root (hd0,1)						    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/	    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default			    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

							      >	###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam
							      >	title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.7
							      >	    root (hd0,1)
							      >	    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.7-default root=/dev/disk/
							      >	    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.7-default
							      >
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam	###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9		      |	title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.7
    root (hd0,1)						    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/ |	    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.7-default root=/dev/disk/
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default		      |	    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.7-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam	###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original nam
title Diskette							title Diskette
    rootnoverify (fd0)						    rootnoverify (fd0)
    chainloader +1						    chainloader +1

(7) finally the device.map:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo cat /mnt/boot/grub/device.map
(fd0)	/dev/fd0
(hd0)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2514N_S08BJ1RY603184

Thank you and
best regards,
Juergen

#10

Today the same disaster fell on me. I had a netbook with debian-squeeze (grub2) OS. with swap on /dev/sda5, boot on /dev/sda6, root on /dev/sda7 and home on /dev/sdb8. Yesterday I resized /dev/sda8 and created a 20GB /dev/sdb9 on which I installed openSUSE-11.4 from a usb-flashdrive sharing swap and home with debian.
The following is part of the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file:

This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

linux installation on /dev/sda9.

menuentry “Failsafe – openSUSE 11.4 (on /dev/sda9)” {
set root=(hd0,msdos9)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8ce5331e-b591-42b9-87b2-35a326a12572
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.1-1.2-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-00ZCT0_WD-WX90A69J6295-part9 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x314
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.1-1.2-default
}

END /etc/grub.d/30_otheros

This morning I logged in the openSUSE OS, installed some packages and then “upgraded all” from Add/Remove Software getting a message to Reboot Now. Did it and now cannot boot in openSUSE.

This is the result of running #fdisk -l
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19458 156289025 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1 244 1951744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 244 262 145408 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 262 2450 17576960 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 2450 16193 110390647 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 16194 19458 26219520 83 Linux

The present content of /openSUSE-11.4-GNOME/bood/grub/menu.lst after the upgrading is

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.6-0.9
root (hd0,8)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.6-0.9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-00ZCT0_WD-WX90A69J6295-part9 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-00ZCT0_WD-WX90A69J6295-part5 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x314
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default

So, what shall I do? Shall I reinstall openSUSE again, go through the rigour and NOT upgrade?
Thanks.
P.Rudra.

#11

Am 13.11.2011 08:26, schrieb prudra:
> [snip]
> # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an
> existing
> [snip]
> initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.1-1.2-default
> }
>
change the initrd line in your debians grub to
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
and run update-grub2 in debian.
reboot

–
PC: oS 11.4 (dual boot 12.1) 64 bit | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | KDE
4.6.0 | GeForce GT 420 | 16GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.7.3 |
nVidia ION | 3GB Ram

#12

Am 13.11.2011 08:41, schrieb Martin Helm:
> change the initrd line in your debians grub to
> initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.6-0.9-default
> and run update-grub2 in debian.
> reboot
>
Sorry it is Sunday morning and I seem to be not awake.

You need to do the following in debian


apt-get install os-prober

Then edit /etc/default/grub and insert a line


GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

run update-grub2 and reboot

–
PC: oS 11.4 (dual boot 12.1) 64 bit | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | KDE
4.6.0 | GeForce GT 420 | 16GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.7.3 |
nVidia ION | 3GB Ram

#13

Just a question. Debian always tells to run #update-grub STOP. What is the correct CLI: update-grub or update-grub2 ?

#14

sudo update-grub

#15

Am 13.11.2011 10:46, schrieb caf4926:
>
> sudo update-grub
>
depends on the debian version (using grub2 with a pre squeeze version
needs update-grub2 since grub was by default not grub2 in lenny)
but you are right it is unlikely that this is the case here

–
PC: oS 11.4 (dual boot 12.1) 64 bit | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | KDE
4.6.0 | GeForce GT 420 | 16GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.7.3 |
nVidia ION | 3GB Ram

#16

Thanks Martin, thanks Caf. I am now posting from my openSUSE OS. Just a minor deviation was taken though. Grub2 being written in C+ language modifying the files are almost impossible for ordinary people. So I changed those kernel and initrd specifications in /etc/grub.d/30_otheros file and then ran #update-grub .

I am wondering if someone didn’t have another booting OS ?

#17

Am 13.11.2011 11:56, schrieb prudra:
>
> Thanks Martin, thanks Caf. I am now posting from my openSUSE OS.
> Just a minor deviation was taken though. Grub2 being written in C+
> language modifying the files are almost impossible for ordinary
> people. So I changed those kernel and initrd specifications in
> /etc/grub.d/30_otheros file and then ran #update-grub .
>
> I am wondering if someone didn’t have another booting OS ?
>
On my PC (which is really a triple boot since I have two spare
partitions for testing OS’s, at the moment openSUSE 12.1 and SL6.1) I
use one openSUSE grub as master grub and just chainload into all
operating systems including the main one all OS’s have their respective
grub’s only on their respective partitions.
(Reading that sentence again it sounds somehow weird but I cannot
describe it better)

–
PC: oS 11.4 (dual boot 12.1) 64 bit | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | KDE
4.6.0 | GeForce GT 420 | 16GB Ram
Eee PC 1201n: oS 11.4 64 bit | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | KDE 4.7.3 |
nVidia ION | 3GB Ram

#18

Hi again,

just a few notes to my initial problem:

Using the grub console and trying to boot manually I found out that
(1) the kernel 2.6.37.6-0.9-default just loads fine, but
(2) loading / unpacking the initrd causes the grub error 18

Before I moved to 11.4 I did a complete backup of my 11.3 system, including the root partition. From there I copied the initrd-2.6.34.7-0.7 and re-tried loading it in the grub command line. Guess what: this loads fine. I didn’t try to boot it but at least there is no error 18.

The next step I will do is to extract the contents of both files and check the difference in size. Then I will try to reduce initrd in size by removing some unused stuff until it matches the 2.6.34 version. With this initrd I will try to boot.
My guess is that initrd grew too large. Currently it is 25MB (uncompressed).

regards,
Juergen

#19

Hi again,

I SOLVED my problem!
Indeed initrd grew too large. I reduced it in size by removing some libraries that I (hopefully) don’t use and now I can boot up my system again without problems.

In more detail for those who might experience a similar problem (and for the sake of documentation):

I did not use mkinitrd but manually extracted initrd, removed some libraries and re-packed the initrd.
Here’s what I did: (out of my memory, please double-check the “cd” commands and all relative pathes I wrote down there)

(1) boot up some live-CD or the Rescue system or whatever you can get up an running on the affected computer (I used the life-cd of Ubuntu 11.10)

(2) get a terminal and look for the boot device and partition (your devices may differ)

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00030efe

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         262     2104483+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *         263        2873    20972857+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            2874       30401   221118660   83  Linux

In my case sda2 has the boot flag set (*)

(3) mount that device (your device may differ from mine, see the sda2 as a placeholder)

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

(4) “charoot” to the dev boot dir to ensure that we use the proper /bin /sbin directories

chroot --userspec=root /mnt

(5) make a directory we can work in and copy the initrd in question to that directory

cd /boot
mkdir work
cd work
cp ../inird-xxxxxxxx ./

(6) decompress it

gunzip initrd-xxxxxxx

(7) unpack its content into a subdir. I wrote this out of my memory, please consult “info cpio” first to be sure

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
cpio -idv < ../initrd-xxxxxx

Now you should have a directory structure and the entire content of the initrd file

(8) Delete some MB of stuff you don’t need. In my case the lib directory held approx 2-3 MB more than the old one. I looked for the differences and decided to remove some of the glib libraries (libgio, libglib, libgmodule, libgobject, libgthread) . I use LXDE, not gnome so I thought that could work. Indeed it does, since those libraries are several MB in size. I still can use GIMP but have not yet tested all applications I use. Maybe I need to restore something. For now it works fine.

(9) Recreate a CPIO archive


find ./ | cpio -H newc -o > ../initrd-test.cpio

Note: you have to give the format (-H newrc) otherwise it is “bin” which won’t work with initrd

(10) recompress the file

cd ..
gzip initrd-test.cpio

(11) integrate that file in GRUB

cd ..
cp work/initrd-test.cpio.gz ./initrd-test
cd grub
cp -p menu.lst menu.lst.orig
vi menu.lst
# ... Now copy the existing entries of the boot entry you usually use 
#     to some new section
#     Modifiy the line that lists initrd. Set the new initrd-test. 
#     Exit with saving the contents using :x or  :wq

Now reboot the system and select the new entry of the boot menu (the one you just created)
Test the system and, if that works, finally modify the main entry of the menu.lst in boot/grub

I’m happy so far. I will skip any kernel update in future otherwise I will run into this problem again. Something between my mainboard and my disk doesn’t match properly. GRUB obviously runs into some LBA adressing limit although it generally seems to work (I can use all my 250GB)

Best regards,
Juergen