just upgraded opensuse 11.3 kernel - ended up in text grub with no opensuse options

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

yast2 did the upgrade - this is the second time its left me dead in the water - but this time seems to be trickier to repair.

I rebooted into partition magic to see what had happened. Running Testdisk revealed a damaged partition table which I repaired and then rebooted. This again resulted in text grub menu; unfortunately I’m clueless as to grub usage .

I rebooted into pmagic and looked at the disk; all partitions were fine; the boot partition and grub seemed to be fine; vmlinuz was a symbolic link to a valid kernel; symbols matched etc.

I looked at many other files in the partition; the directory structure and files contained in them, for directories I am familiar with, were usable/readable. I did a fsck.ext4 on the bootable partition - which came back clean.

I ran gparted - not testdisk partitioner - which showed the entire space on disk as unallocated. This may or may not mean something as this of gparted is version 5.2-git on pmagic-4.11 - oldish versions; I’ve had problems with gparted before.

So I can not boot my disk into a suse grub configuration and grub doesn’t seem to see anything even though testdisk, fsck and my fiddling says everything is ok.

This leads me to think - assuming the disk is sound - that grub needs to be reinstalled or I need to run something under yast - in console mode to restore grub.

Any grub advice would be appreciated; I am backed up, but would prefer not to have to re install.

TiA

Colby

PS:
This is my only system and I’m in google chrome on the pmagic ram based os, so my options are a bit limited.

#2

I’ve moved along and got grub booting to an error 15 - which seems to be a missing file error.

Examination shows that when the kernel was upgraded an initrd symlink was created to a file that does not exist - or, more likely, after the initrd symlink was created the initrd file was deleted: How clever; after 42 years of programming I never would have thought of doing that. anyhow I need to find the initrd file for my kernel:

Anyone have any thoughts on where I might look for that?

#3

Did you look at the /boot/grub/menu;lst file to see if it is still correct? Maybe something is messed there.

#4

/boot/grub/menu.lst was in error - I should have mentioned that - it referred to the prior kernel version. I edited that by hand and changed it to the current version, which I expect is why I’m able to get to the suse boot screen now.

Since I’m ignorant about grub, it occus to me that maybe menu.lst is a text file that has to be converted to a binary file in order to be useful. If that’s true, editing the text file would not change the kernel version that the loader looks for because it uses a binary version of menu.lst.

There is no menu.lst on the virtual file sytem; I asume this is because it only comes into existence when yast does something like grub-install on the reboot; maybe that never happened after I upgraded; anyhow I can’t reboot the virtual file system because it all goes away on a reboot and the system loads off the cd again.

The modification date on menu.lst makes it clear that the upgrade I did installed the kernel files but never modified menu.lst for the new kernel - for some reason. That’s the problem; why I have no idea; fixing it means runing some piece of software that yast didn’t - with a a path to the hard drive files - for input and output - I think.

Below is a copy of hard drive menu.lst just incase I’m missing something about its format or contents:
The editing change I made was to change 2.6.34.7-0.2 to 2.6.34.7-0.3.

BEGIN hard drive menu.lst:

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fri Sep 17 12:51:12 PDT 2010

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 (hd0,2)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.3
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-MAXTOR_STM3802110A_4LR4QLC6-part3 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-MAXTOR_STM3802110A_4LR4QLC6-part4 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.3-default

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.3
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-MAXTOR_STM3802110A_4LR4QLC6-part3 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.3-default

.END hard drive menu.lst

#5

caindie wrote:
> yast2 did the upgrade - this is the second time its left me dead in the
> water [snip]

first: could you define the symptoms of “dead in the water” ??

i ask because i wonder if it is like “either a black screen upon
reboot, or the wrong resolution being displayed on the monitor”

> - but this time seems to be trickier to repair.
>
> I rebooted into partition magic to see what had happened. Running
> Testdisk revealed a damaged partition table which I repaired

in what way was the partition table damaged? to the great surprise of
several here, 11.3 seems to be very happy with a following partition
beginning in the SAME Start position as the preceding partition’s End
position…

so, if you ‘fixed’ that . . .

> and then rebooted. This again resulted in text grub menu

does that mean your “dead in the water” means (which):

the first thing you see after the BIOS completes is a grub prompt
[looks like grub> ], or the first thing you see after the BIOS is a
green screen where you select what OS/kernel to boot and THEN the next
thing you see is a grub prompt…

if not the grub prompt, please describe what you mean by “text grub menu”

> unfortunately I’m clueless as to grub usage .

tell us a little more (anything) about your experience with Linux or
other *nix like systems…

like, do you ‘speak’ LILO?

> [big snip] This is my only system and I’m in google chrome on the pmagic ram based
> os, so my options are a bit limited.

do you have an openSUSE Live CD handy?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

#6

caindie wrote:

> Any grub advice would be appreciated

until i’ve seen some clearly defined symptoms i’m not confident that
grub is your problem…that said, you should be able to reconstitute
a damaged grub this way (but i’m not holding my breath to see if this
fixes your problem):

‘Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic’
(http://tinyurl.com/3xaa3vj)

i understand you are probably using the tools you have handy, but as
far as i know Partition Magic is not the best tool for use…ymmv!

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

#7

The same problem. The last updates have broken menu.lst. Has restored. Updatings are badly tested?

OpenSUSE 11.3 x86_64

#8

Updates, apparently, are not tested at all. The last two kernel “updates” have managed to hose over countless systems to the point where only a reinstallation can fix the problem. Worse, those updates remain available, prompting the user constantly to download and install them.

OpenSuSE has slipped considerably in the last couple of releases. It is likely that people will begin drifting to other distros that are stable and reliable, if they haven’t already.

#9

systo wrote:
> The same problem. The last updates have broken menu.lst. Has restored.
> Updatings are badly tested?
>
> OpenSUSE 11.3 x86_64

are you “systo” the same as “caindie”??
or, are you someone else with a similar (but not exactly the same
problem)?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

#10

SixDegrees wrote:
> It is likely that people will begin drifting to other distros that are stable
> and reliable, if they haven’t already.

my sandbox install is Debian Lenny…
and, so far ‘they’ have not broken my system with an “update”!!

and, you might notice i’ve stayed with 10.3 because that removes the
possibility for the openSUSE dev’s to destroy my daily use system as
they reach for yet another bell, whistle or “cool” visual effect.

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

#11

hi - this is caindie a different user than systo:

I agree with systo’s summation; I’ve had to reinstall and do gig’s of backup re-installs over the internet because of this grub/kernel problem - the second instance - of kernel update failure on suse 11.3. There is and was nothing wrong with my hardware; re-installs of grub did not work for me; wasting hours learning about grub and looking at grub source code proved useless. I’ve been using linux since it was first introduced as caldera network desktop using visix as it’s user interface - before kde and gnome even existed; linux has changed into an IT server oriented os with vast unnecesary complexity - assumption of system programmer skills for maintenance - I could go on - but these things lead to maintenance nightmares and requirements for regression tests suites that do not exist; fine for the IT world; not so much for everyone else. I would say its overdue for a rethink of how the desktop works and what the os that supports a desktop should look like - in particular - unix and unix like os are overkill and unnecessary - in the meantime I will also be leaving suse - an os with many virtues but destructive vices - my time is too valuable and I have too little of it to waste on problems like this; I wonder if this will turn out to be true for opensource in general - I use one application which runs on win/mac and nix - and nix bug fixes have dwindled to non existence - the only nix bugs that are fixed are those that get fixed for win/mac.

#12

This is a very anoying bug, and it came with the upgrade to 2.6.27.48-0.3.

My box is a Dell Precision 670, Dual core 3.4Ghz Zeon, 4Gb RAM, 3 x 250Gb Maxtor HDD. It has Suse 11.1 KDE 3.5 on the first partition of the first drive as the default, with Suse 11.3 KDE4 & Ubuntu 10.04 as 2nd and 3rd boots on the 1st drive. It also has Win XP Pro on the 2nd drive as a 4th boot. Usualy I have to do a bit of massaging after a kernel upgrade to have it get the maulti-boots right, but that usualy just ivolves running the bootloader manager in YaST.

With this upgrade however it produced a menu.lst file which didn’t work at all:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fri Sep 24 08:02:28 BST 2010
default 4
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (default)
    kernel  resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E-part2 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (default)
    kernel  showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (default)
    kernel resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E-part2 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (default)
    kernel showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (part1)
    kernel resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E-part2 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.3 (part1)
    kernel showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x346
    initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.2
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.48-0.2-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A82E7MNE-part1 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E-part2 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.48-0.2-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:  Ubuntu (/dev/sda6)###
title Ubuntu
    root (hd0,5)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-23-generic root=/dev/sda6 vga=0x346
    initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-23-generic

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:  Desktop -- openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34-12 (/dev/sda7)###
title openSUSE 11.3
    rootnoverify (hd0,6)
    chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title Windows XP Pro
    map (hd1) (hd0)
    map (hd0) (hd1)
    rootnoverify (hd1,0)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.48-0.2
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.48-0.2-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A82E7MNE-part1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x346
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.48-0.2-default

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

As you can see multiple instances of the new kernel, none of which would boot, with either erro 9 or 15, or 16.

This is my device map:

(hd0)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A82E7MNE
(hd1)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E
(hd2)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A80GE3SE

I used my Suse 11.1 DVD to fix the grub, and it produced this menu.lst

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fri Sep 24 09:25:14 BST 2010
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A82E7MNE-part1 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A831861E-part2 splash=silent showopts
    initrd /boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_5A250J0_A82E7MNE-part1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe
    initrd /boot/initrd

Which works. I will now use the YaST bootloader manager to try and get it back to what I want, and will post the results.

#13

I fixed the menu.lst as described in my previous post, and everything works properly now with all 4 OS booted successfully.

I had made a copy of the “bad” menu.lst, and tried it again with the same results, though my memory of the error messages was wrong. Some off screen photos can be seen here: Grub

#14

I am really confused why the kernels listed by grub keep changing from Linux 2.6.34.12 and Linux 2.6.34.7-0.7. I tried playing with the /boot/grub/lst.menu and the lst.menu.old and that eventually forces me re-install. Well after another install of 11.3, grub again listed 2.6.34.12 but changed to 2.6.34.7-0.7. I worked with several unix OS’s but this takes the cake. There must be some issue with grub. Previously,why or how do you list more than one kernel option if and when there really is?

#15

On 02/08/2011 10:06 PM, jpvrla wrote:

> grub again listed
> 2.6.34.12 but changed to 2.6.34.7-0.7. I worked with several unix OS’s
> but this takes the cake. There must be some issue with grub.

mmmmmmmm, cake!

openSUSE 11.3 is born with 2.6.34.7-0.7

grub can’t launch any program which will change the kernel, so i ask
how, why and when did you change it to 2.6.34.12 ?

i can guess what is going on but will need you to show us the output
of entering the following into a terminal


zypper lr -d

and copy/paste the output back to this thread using the instructions
here: http://goo.gl/i3wnr

> Previously,why or how do you list more than one kernel option if and
> when there really is?

man grub should be helpful…if not, there are dozens of threads here
that might be…

or there are several spots in the wiki which should get you
going…but i don’t think any of those will support your theory that
grub is sneaking in a different kernel on you…try these:

http://en.opensuse.org/GRUB
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:All_about_GRUB
http://doc.opensuse.org/products/opensuse/openSUSE/opensuse-reference/cha.grub.html

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#16

First of all, thanks!!!
Pardon the choppy info and queries.

l have 2 hard copies of Konqueror system info:
OS Linux 2.6.34-12-desktop x86_64 after re-install
---- sidebar (-12 or .12)
OS Linux 2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop x86-64

I suspect the menu.lst and menu.lst.old are not to be swapped ever. At one time one listed 2.6.34.7-0.7 and the other 2.6.34-12. Swapping the 2 hung me up with file not found error at grub time. Reinstalled and 2.6.34-12 was listed and system info confirmed. After upgrading KDE to 4.5 and rebooting it went back to 2.6.34.7.

Why can’t I have the option to boot and load any kernel and have it listed via grub.
Wasn’t there a facility to go back to a previous kernel?
----- current menu.lst.old listed below:( references 2.6.34-12 -------------------
/boot/grub # cat menu.lst.old

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Feb 8 11:41:19 CST 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
gfxmenu (hd1,0)/message

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop root=/dev/system/root resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /initrd-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34-12
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.34-12-desktop root=/dev/system/root resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /initrd-2.6.34-12-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34-12
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.34-12-desktop root=/dev/system/root showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x31a
initrd /initrd-2.6.34-12-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###
title windows 1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title windows 2
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

Requested output follows:

| Alias | Name | Enabled | Refresh | Priority | Type | URI

–±------------------------------------±------------------------------------±--------±--------±---------±-------±--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | Updates for openSUSE 11.3 11.3-1.82 | Updates for openSUSE 11.3 11.3-1.82 | Yes | Yes | 99 | rpm-md | Index of /update/11.3
2 | kde-4.5-stable | kde-4.5-stable | Yes | No | 99 | rpm-md | Index of /repositories/KDE:/Release:/45/openSUSE_11.3
3 | openSUSE-11.3 11.3-1.82 | openSUSE-11.3 11.3-1.82 | Yes | No | 99 | yast2 | cd:///?devices=/dev/sr0
4 | repo-debug | openSUSE-11.3-Debug | No | Yes | 99 | NONE | Index of /debug/distribution/11.3/repo/oss
5 | repo-non-oss | openSUSE-11.3-Non-Oss | Yes | Yes | 99 | yast2 | Index of /distribution/11.3/repo/non-oss
6 | repo-oss | openSUSE-11.3-Oss | Yes | Yes | 99 | yast2 | Index of /distribution/11.3/repo/oss
7 | repo-source | openSUSE-11.3-Source | No | Yes | 99 | NONE | Index of /source/distribution/11.3/repo/oss

#17

Since 34 < 34.7, I believe the original kernel was 2.6.34-7 … then 2.6.34-12 … followed by 2.6.34.4-0.1 (a very problematic one) … and finally 2.6.34.7-0.7

#18

On 02/09/2011 02:36 AM, jpvrla wrote:
>
> Why can’t I have the option to boot and load any kernel and have it
> listed via grub.

as far as i know you can have lots of different kernels on your hard
drive, and in your grub, and pick the one you want at boot (but, i’ve
never found a reason for that–ESPECIALLY if running a proprietary
driver which must be recompiled with every kernel change…

do i know how to manually add several to grub? no…

but, there are others here who do…

but you are not likely to attract the attention of those who do
because your problem is NOT reflected in the subject line under which
you posted: " just upgraded opensuse 11.3 kernel - ended up in text
grub with no opensuse options" which, understandably will attract
those who know how to deal with getting dumped at the “grub>” prompt,
and NOT your problem…

> Wasn’t there a facility to go back to a previous kernel?

are you asking if YaST will (or could at one point in time)
automatically preserve the old kernel when replacing it with a new one?

there may be a means to do that, and i think i remember reading a
thread on that some time back, suggest you use google and their
site-specifier to dig that out, something like this might work…

site:opensuse.org yast keep old kernel when replacing

if that doesn’t bring instant enlightment, try fiddling with the
words…maybe like:

yast kernel replace OR add OR keep OR preserve OR save AND old OR current

> ----- current menu.lst.old listed below:( references 2.6.34-12
> -------------------

someone around here can help you with that…i’d suggest you begin
your own thread using a subject kinda like: “how to have multiple
kernels in grub”

but, you might try a google first, kinda like:
site:opensuse.org “11.3” “multiple kernels” grub

[or maybe add some ORs like: “multiple kernels” OR “many kernels” OR
“several kernels” or “two kernels”]

ohhhh, this may be gold, have a look:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aopensuse.org+"11.3"+grub+"multiple+kernels"+OR+"many+kernels"+OR+"several+kernels"+or+"two+kernels"

> Requested output follows:
>
> # | Alias | Name
> | Enabled | Refresh | Priority | Type | URI

i didn’t see what i suspected to see, and that be the problem (active
factory, playgound or private repos)…so, i don’t expect a mismatch
of repo downloads plays a part in this problem…however, i do offer
these comments for you consideration:

#3 is a CD, if you delete or disable that then YaST won’t ask you to
insert it

#4 and #7, i don’t know why you have them, and i don’t know why you
are refreshing them… if you don’t know either you might consider
that the ‘standard’ recommendation around here to generally run with
only four repos enabled: oss, non-oss, update and packman…

to do that, you have to be vigilant and disable repos added by
one-click installs OR during the install look for the line in the YaST
interface saying (something like) “Keep added repos after install” and
UNcheck it…

let us know how you get on, in your own thread…or here if you solve
it easily with old posts…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11