can't update kernel

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi to everybody.
I post the issue here cause I think is /boot related; I apologize if I’m wrong.

After upgrading to a modified kernel release the system couldn’t boot and I had to revert, booting from live USB and chrooting.
Now I would like to switch to the last stable kernel, due to ALPS touchpad support, but everytime I try to update my kernel or switch to a different version zypper hangs forever and I eventually have to kill the rpm process.
Here an example:

uname -r
3.1.10-1.9-desktop

zypper repos -u
#  | Alias             | Name                       | Enabled | Refresh | URI                                                              
---+-------------------+----------------------------+---------+---------+------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 | KOTD              | KOTD                       | No      | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard  
 2 | Kernel:stable     | Kernel:stable              | Yes     | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard
 3 | packman           | packman                    | No      | Yes     | http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_12.1                       
 4 | repo-debug        | openSUSE-12.1-Debug        | No      | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/distribution/12.1/repo/oss/   
 5 | repo-debug-update | openSUSE-12.1-Update-Debug | No      | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/update/12.1/                  
 6 | repo-non-oss      | openSUSE-12.1-Non-Oss      | Yes     | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.1/repo/non-oss/     
 7 | repo-oss          | openSUSE-12.1-Oss          | Yes     | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.1/repo/oss/         
 8 | repo-source       | openSUSE-12.1-Source       | No      | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/source/distribution/12.1/repo/oss/  
 9 | repo-update       | openSUSE-12.1-Update       | Yes     | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/update/12.1/                        
10 | virtualbox        | virtualbox                 | No      | Yes     | http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/opensuse/11.4/

zypper up kernel-desktop
Installing: kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1 [96%]

and then it hangs there forever till I kill it, without any more information.
So I tried this:

rpm -i -v --force http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/x86_64/kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1.x86_64.rpm
Retrieving http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/x86_64/kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1.x86_64.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1

And then it hangs there

This morning the same command is giving back this:

rpm -i -v --force http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/x86_64/kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1.x86_64.rpm
Retrieving http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/x86_64/kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
    /bin/sh is needed by kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.1.x86_64

but the package “bash” (which I guess provides /bin/sh) is installed; I tried also to reinstall it.

Yast freezes as zypper does, but when I kill the rpm process it says “Subprocess failed. Error: RPM failed: Free diskspace below /boot: 26339624 blocks”.
/boot is on the main partition, 13GB of free disk space.

“mkinitrd” runs smoothly for the 3.1.10-1.9-desktop kernel, but returns this for the last failed installation:


Kernel image:   /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.2-2-desktop
Initrd image:   /boot/initrd-3.4.2-2-desktop
Root device:    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST9320423AS_5VH3W35H-part2 (/dev/sda2) (mounted on / as ext4)
Resume device:    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST9320423AS_5VH3W35H-part1 (/dev/sda1)
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'thermal' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'processor' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'fan' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'ahci' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'usbcore' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'ohci_hcd' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'uhci-hcd' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'ehci_hcd' found.
modprobe: Could not load /lib/modules/3.4.2-2-desktop/modules.dep: No such file or directory
WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'usbhid' found.
Features:       acpi block usb btrfs resume.userspace resume.kernel
Bootsplash:    openSUSE (1024x768), openSUSE (1366x768)
Perl-Bootloader: 2012-06-14 11:03:44 WARNING: GRUB::GrubDev2UnixDev: No partition found for /dev/disk/by-id/usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_01657007B14149DA-0:0 with 1.
2

If you can
Try from level 3

3

same behavior.

4

What is

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-SanDisk_Cruzer

5

It’s my USB pen drive

6

Suggest you try yast to update.

from the yast control centre select :-

  • Software Repositories then Refresh then Refresh All Enabled then OK when
    —updating has finished
    then
  • Software Management then Repositories then Kernel:stable from left hand panel,
    – then Switch system packages (above right hand panel)
    – then from button bar select Package then All in This List then Update if
    —newer version available
    – then from button bar select Dependencies then Check Now

if there are no complaints and all kernel packages are of the same version you
should be able to select Accept and update

as a side issue I usually make sure packages kwin and kdm (my choice of desktop
manager) are installed after a big change if dependency issues occur

7

Well, I did all the procedure, but yast installs smoothly anything else than the kernel(s); when it comes to kernel installation it hangs as described in #1 (waited half an hour before kill it), then it returns the “Subprocess failed. Error: RPM failed: Free diskspace below /boot: 26339624 blocks” error message.
Error message’s misleading, since disk space is not an issue.
Actually I get the installed vmlinuz* files under /boot, but it looks like that the installation fails in the very last operations (guess it does a mkinitrd or something similar), when it comes to update grub configuration…

8

On 2012-06-15 00:36, bmauro wrote:
>
> Well, I did all the procedure, but yast installs smoothly anything else
> than the kernel(s); when it comes to kernel installation it hangs as
> described in #1 (waited half an hour before kill it), then it returns
> the “Subprocess failed. Error: RPM failed: Free diskspace below /boot:
> 26339624 blocks” error message.

As rpm fails, everything else you can try to install the kernel will also
fail, because all tools use rpm in the end to do the actual install.

> Error message’s misleading, since disk space is not an issue.

Right…

Any kernel you try fails, or only from some repo?

Try a verification of the rpm database. There is not a command to do it
directly, but try “rpm --verify -a”.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

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

9

I am thinking something did not work during the install or update and now is corrupted with your over all installation. Have you considered doing a new installation by chance? Did you know there are other ways to update your kernel version besides using kernel/head? One such method is to compile your own kernel, for which I have a bash script you can use, but until then, I suggest a clean install and then come back when it is complete and ask for more instructions.

Thank You,

10

On 2012-06-15 02:26, jdmcdaniel3 wrote:
>
> I am thinking something did not work during the install or update and
> now is corrupted with your over all installation. Have you considered
> doing a new installation by chance? Did you know there are other ways
> to update your kernel version besides using kernel/head? One such
> method is to compile your own kernel, for which I have a bash script you
> can use, but until then, I suggest a clean install and then come back
> when it is complete and ask for more instructions.

Or maybe that repo is using rpm packages with a new compression of a new
incompatible post/pre-install script.

So I want him to try installing additional kernels from somewhere else.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

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

11

I also tried kernels from KOTD repository and desktop-default from Index of /update/12.1
I wanted to avoid a clean installation since I’m using a couple of tweaked packages that would take some work to reinstall (and because it wouldn’t be elegant to reinstall ;)), but at this point I can’t see any other solution than that.
Thank you very much anyway for the support.

Mauro.

12

It would help if you posted here the output of the cmd
rpm -Va
when run with root privileges

or run
kdesu -c ‘rpm -Va’

13

Sorry don’t try command
kdesu -c ‘rpm -Va’
it does not work

I thought it would be a safer way to get the info

14

Here’s the output:

rpm2.log

15

suggest you go back to Yast Software Management,
then select Search for package,
patterns-openSUSE-base
then select Package button then Update Unconditionally
(if you select the Installation Summary tab you should see the packages to be installed)
then Accept

This should pull in the missing dependencies

16

Are you using a VM?

17

Reinstalling the package (no updates available) didn’t solve the dependencies issue. Actually I removed the package, and installed it again, but it doesn’t have any dependencies, despite rpm -Va kept saying something about “kernel”; I eventually removed the package, now rpm -Va does ok, but still no chance to perform a kernel installation.

Are you using a VM?

I was trying to run windows7, but I couldn’t compile vboxdrv module, since I was using a patched kernel for ALPS touchpad support, found in some unofficial repository without sources and headers; the kernel 3.4.x I tried, recognizes ALPS touchpads…that’s why I was updating.

18

Can you post the output of
rpm -qa | grep kernel

19 
kernel-desktop-devel-3.1.10-1.9.1.x86_64
kernel-default-3.1.10-1.9.1.x86_64
kernel-desktop-3.1.10-1.9.1.x86_64
kernel-firmware-20120521git-35.1.noarch
kernel-desktop-3.4.2-2.2.x86_64
kernel-source-3.1.10-1.9.1.noarch
kernel-devel-3.1.10-1.9.1.noarch

as you see, the new kernel version(s) is installed, but the after-installation script (mkinitrd?) fails somewhere.

20

See how easy it is to complicate things.

My output is much simpler

rpm -qa | grep kernel 
kernel-desktop-3.4.2-28.2.x86_64
kernel-firmware-20111025git-1.10.1.noarch