error while installing bootloader

mrc · May 20, 2016, 10:35am

Hi,

when I open the YAST2 bootloader menu and click “ok” this message appears:

“Während der Intsallation des Bootloaders trat ein Fehler auf. Wollen Sie die Bootloader-Konfiguration wiederholen?” (german)

which translates into something like

“Error happend while installing bootloader. Do you want to repeat bootloader konfiguration?”

When googling I found this issue usually in combination with a new disk or with openSuse being installed using btrfs on a Windows.

In my case, I only have openSuse 42.1 installed and I did not change any of the hardware.
In fact, I never changed anything in the bootloader, so maybe this problem existed all along.
Also, in contrast to the googled issues my openSuse installation runs. I just can’t edit the bootloader.

Btw, I noticed the problem because I wanted to change the timer from 10s to 2s.

Best
Marc

mrc · May 20, 2016, 11:05am

How can I open the bootloader during startup?

I always thought, that when I click on
“Advanced Options for openSuse Leap”
that this will get me to GRUB2.

But when I do this I only get the options to boot (default) or in recovery mode.

mrc · May 23, 2016, 7:14pm

When installing kernel-default-4.1.21-14.2.x86_64 from 23.05.2016 I noticed a problem with the bootloader too.
Can I fix this somehow?


(1/3) Installieren: kernel-default-4.1.21-14.2.x86_64 ....................................................................................................................................................[FERTIG]
Zusätzliche RPM-Ausgabe:
Creating initrd: /boot/initrd-4.1.21-14-default                                                        
Executing: /usr/bin/dracut --logfile /var/log/YaST2/mkinitrd.log --force /boot/initrd-4.1.21-14-default 4.1.21-14-default
dracut module 'multipath' will not be installed, because command 'multipath' could not be found!       
dracut module 'multipath' will not be installed, because command 'multipath' could not be found!       
*** Including module: bash ***                                                                         
*** Including module: warpclock ***                                                                    
*** Including module: i18n ***                                                                         
*** Including module: ifcfg ***                                                                        
*** Including module: drm ***                                                                          
*** Including module: plymouth ***                                                                     
*** Including module: kernel-modules ***                                                               
Omitting driver i2o_scsi                                                                               
*** Including module: resume ***                                                                       
*** Including module: rootfs-block ***                                                                 
*** Including module: terminfo ***                                                                     
*** Including module: udev-rules ***                                                                   
Skipping udev rule: 91-permissions.rules                                                               
Skipping udev rule: 80-drivers-modprobe.rules                                                          
*** Including module: haveged ***                                                                      
*** Including module: systemd ***                                                                      
*** Including module: usrmount ***                                                                     
*** Including module: base ***                                                                         
*** Including module: fs-lib ***
*** Including module: shutdown ***
*** Including module: suse ***
*** Including modules done ***
*** Installing kernel module dependencies and firmware ***
*** Installing kernel module dependencies and firmware done ***
*** Resolving executable dependencies ***
*** Resolving executable dependencies done***
*** Hardlinking files ***
*** Hardlinking files done ***
*** Stripping files ***
*** Stripping files done ***
*** Generating early-microcode cpio image ***
*** Constructing GenuineIntel.bin ****
*** Store current command line parameters ***
Stored kernel commandline:
 resume=UUID=eee306d1-7fe9-4eca-b14d-7db8e1a9534d
root=UUID=598d0acc-3340-43bf-b8d3-9d51da0b4128 rootflags=rw,relatime,data=ordered rootfstype=ext4
*** Creating image file ***
*** Creating image file done ***
Some kernel modules could not be included
This is not necessarily an error:
swap
tuxedo-wmi
Update bootloader...
Perl-Bootloader: 2016-05-23 19:07:02 <3> pbl-1327.2 Core::RunCommand.1677: Error: '/usr/sbin/grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg' failed with exit code 127, output:
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
/etc/default/grub: line 9: @=: command not found

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Updating bootloader failed


(2/3) Installieren: kernel-devel-4.1.21-14.2.noarch ......................................................................................................................................................[FERTIG]
(3/3) Installieren: kernel-default-devel-4.1.21-14.2.x86_64 ..............................................................................................................................................[FERTIG]
Zusätzliche RPM-Ausgabe:
Changing symlink /usr/src/linux-obj/x86_64/default from ../../linux-4.1.20-11-obj/x86_64/default to ../../linux-4.1.21-14-obj/x86_64/default

nrickert · May 23, 2016, 7:27pm

mrc:


Update bootloader...
Perl-Bootloader: 2016-05-23 19:07:02 <3> pbl-1327.2 Core::RunCommand.1677: Error: '/usr/sbin/grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg' failed with exit code 127, output:
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
/etc/default/grub: line 9: @=: command not found

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Updating bootloader failed

Have you checked line 9 (and a few surrounding lines) of “/etc/default/grub”?

mrc · May 25, 2016, 6:11pm

It is the first uncommented line
@=“”

The whole file looks like this:


# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fr Mai 20 10:24:06 CEST 2016
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# For the new kernel it try to figure out old parameters. In case we are not able to recognize it (e.g. change of flavor or strange install order ) it it use as fallback installation parameters from /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

# If you change this file, run 'grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub2/grub.cfg.
# Uncomment to set your own custom distributor. If you leave it unset or empty, the default
# policy is to determine the value from /etc/os-release
@=""
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=8
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash=silent acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Uncomment to automatically save last booted menu entry in GRUB2 environment
# variable `saved_entry'
#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM=0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
GRUB_TERMINAL=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY=true
# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
GRUB_BACKGROUND=/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/background.png
GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/theme.txt
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=""
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
SUSE_BTRFS_SNAPSHOT_BOOTING=true
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=n
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

nrickert · May 25, 2016, 6:57pm

Delete that one line. Or, at least, comment it out by inserting ‘#’ in front.

mrc · May 25, 2016, 7:56pm

Done.

Now I can change bootloader settings via YaST. Thanks a lot.

I see, I should have just changed it but I’m always careful with bootloader stuff.

Best
Marc

nrickert · May 25, 2016, 8:47pm

It never hurts to ask, when you are unsure.

I’m glad that things are working again.

mrc · May 26, 2016, 3:40pm

Now, that I restarted I see that this solution created another problem.

Now I can edit bootloader settings, but my wired connection is not detected anymore.
I hope this has something to do with a kernel update.

If I boot and go to advanced options, I have 3 possibilities:

openSuse Leap, Linux 4.4.0-8 default: If I choose this, my wired connection is NOT detected (wireless still working) AND there I see some logging messages popping up where one inlcudes a red “FAILED”
openSuse Leap, Linux 4.1.21-14 default: If I choose this, my wired connection is detected BUT there I see some logging messages popping up where one inlcudes a red “FAILED”
openSuse Leap, Linux 4.1.12-1 default: If I choose this, my wired connection is detected and no weird logging message

I can see the logging message for a second during boot and shut down. The line says:

[FAILED] to start kernel modules

I tried around with journalctl but I can’t find the messages

nrickert · May 26, 2016, 3:59pm

The change to “/etc/default/grub” should not have any effect on networking.

You should be able to boot the previous kernel. That will test whether it was the kernel update that caused problems.

Okay, it looks as if you have already tried that, so it does look kernel related.

That message about kernel modules – it might not be significant. That’s probably from when running of the “initrd”, and maybe the kernel modules aren’t there. But they should load later anyway. I’m somewhat guessing there.

mrc · May 26, 2016, 4:08pm

I think I got a hang of journalctl now.

So, when I start with Linux 4.4.0-8 I have the following issues:

journalctl (I extracted the “FAILED” stuff)



journalctl -b

Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: READ LOG DMA EXT failed, trying unqueued
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: failed to get NCQ Send/Recv Log Emask 0x1
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: ATA-9: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB, EMT01B6Q, max UDMA/133
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: 488397168 sectors, multi 1: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32), AA
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:06:00:00:00:00 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:00 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: ACPI cmd b1/c1:00:00:00:00:00 (DEVICE CONFIGURATION OVERLAY) filtered out
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: failed to get NCQ Send/Recv Log Emask 0x1
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      Samsung SSD 850  1B6Q PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sda] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel:  sda: sda1 sda2 sda3
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 1484K (ffffffff81d06000 - ffffffff81e79000)
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 12288k
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 1992K (ffff88000160e000 - ffff880001800000)
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 288K (ffff880001bb8000 - ffff880001c00000)
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: x86/mm: Checked W+X mappings: passed, no W+X pages found.
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: random: systemd urandom read with 5 bits of entropy available
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 2593.993 MHz
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x256411d258c, max_idle_ns: 440795337342 ns
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD systemd[1]: Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD systemd-journal[126]: Journal started
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD systemd-modules-load[122]: Failed to find module 'tuxedo-wmi'
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD dracut-cmdline[121]: dracut-42.1 dracut-037-68.1
Mai 26 15:57:07 TheD kernel: psmouse serio2: elantech: assuming hardware version 3 (with firmware version 0x450f02)


Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3160-17.ucode failed with error -2
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3160-16.ucode failed with error -2
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3160-15.ucode failed with error -2
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3160-14.ucode failed with error -2
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-3160-13.ucode
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 25.30.13.0 op_mode iwlmvm
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD kernel: input: PC Speaker as /devices/platform/pcspkr/input/input17


Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD bluetoothd[767]: Failed to obtain handles for "Service Changed" characteristic
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD dbus[770]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.hostname1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.hostname1.service'


Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD vboxadd[769]: Starting the VirtualBox Guest Additions ..failed
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD vboxadd[769]: (Configuration file /var/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions/config not found)
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD smartd[775]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], not found in smartd database.
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: VirtualBox Linux Additions kernel modules.
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD systemd[1]: Dependency failed for LSB: VirtualBox Additions service.
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD smartd[775]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], can't monitor Current_Pending_Sector count - no Attribute 197
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD smartd[775]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], can't monitor Offline_Uncorrectable count - no Attribute 198
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD smartd[775]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Mai 26 15:57:10 TheD smartd[775]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], state read from /var/lib/smartmontools/smartd.Samsung_SSD_850_EVO_250GB-S1YBNXAG508785Z.ata.state


Mai 26 15:57:41 TheD sudo[2059]: marc : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/marc ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/systemctl --failed

systemd



marc@TheD:~> sudo systemctl --failed

UNIT            LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION
vboxadd.service loaded failed failed LSB: VirtualBox Linux Additions kernel modules

When I start with 4.1.12-4 I only get the VirtualBox related stuff, so let’s neglect this first.

“Tuxedo” is the manufacturer of my notebook.
Is “wmi module” or “iwlwifi” related to my wired connection?

Best
Marc

mrc · May 26, 2016, 4:11pm

I wonder whether the manufacturer did some adjustments when setting up the bootloader.
Maybe the purpose of

@=""

was to prevent the bootloader from being changed.

nrickert · May 26, 2016, 4:52pm

I have no idea.

If that was the intention, then it was a dumb move. It is necessary to update the bootloader for every kernel update.

nrickert · May 26, 2016, 4:55pm

I don’t know what “wmi” is here. A google suggests “windows management interface”, but it might be something else.

I’m pretty sure that “iwlwifi” is related to your WiFi network. And it doesn’t seem to be a problem. Apparently there are several firmware versions, and the kernel is testing them until if finds one that works. Or, at least, that’s how I read those logs.

mrc · June 9, 2016, 10:44am

Hi,

I have to open this issue again. I have a brand new openSuse installation now and /etc/default/grub has this line again:

@=""

And again I cannot configure the bootloader.

Now, I could just delete this line again, but 1. it’s clear that no one edited this file before and 2. when I did this the last time stuff like my wired connection didn’t work anymore.

Best
Marc