Kernel 3.11 and encrypted LVM

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I am having a problem with kernel 3.11, using an encrypted LVM.

I upgraded to 3.11.0-26 several days ago, but did not reboot at that time. When I rebooted today, I could not unlock the encrypted LVM. I was prompted for the key. It looked as if the keyboard was not being read. The key that I entered was never accepted, and booting stalled at that point. It is a USB keyboard, if that is relevant.

I was able to boot with the last 3.10 kernel. There, I tried rebuilding the “initrd” for the 3.11 kernel. That did not help.

I went into Yast, and installed the 3.11.0-27 kernel. Another boot attempt, and that also stalled on the prompt for the key.

I have a second computer with tumbleweed, where I did not have this problem.

Incidentally, I am also seeing the “python-sip” problem mentioned in other threads. I am not doing a “zypper dup” until I can proceed without that problem.

#2

Have you tried kernel 3.11.1 since it came out? https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/linux-3.11.1.tar.xz

Thank You,

#3

I will wait till it shows up in the Tumbleweed repo.

I’ll also test whatever kernel shows up in 13.1 Beta (should be later this week).

#4

No, kernel 3.11.1 does not help here. So I am going to have the same problem with 13.1.

To test: I installed 13.1 in a separate partition, so that the LVM is not actually needed. Booting 13.1, I was prompted for the key to unlock the LVM, and that worked. That was prompting by “systemd”.

I then saved a copy of the “initrd”. Then I added “initrd” to the last column of the “/etc/crypttab” entry to force unlocking via the “initrd”. Note that I did not install plymouth.

Rebooting, I was prompted for the key for the LVM. But the input was never accepted. It looks as if the initrd cannot read the keyboard.

I restored the prior “initrd” so that I could boot. I removed the change in “/etc/crypttab” (actually, I changed it to “noauto” since I don’t need that LVM). And now I can boot again.

Presumably, there is a kernel module needed which is not being put into the “initrd”. So how do I find what is required?

#5

Problem solved.

The missing kernel module is “ohci_pci”. After forcing that into the “initrd”, I can now use 3.11 kernels. I have reported this on bug 839071.

As to how I found out which module:

  1. “cd” to the modules directory for the working 3.10 kernel. Run “ls -R” and redirect the output to a file.
  2. same for the not-working 3.11 kernel. Redirect to a different file.
  3. Run “diff -u” on the two files, to find which modules are new to 3.11
  4. boot to a 3.11 kernel (say, with the 13.1 live KDE image). Find which of those new modules is in use (with “lsmod”).
#6

Interesting. I had a WiFi issue for the network type of ath9k due to a new driver not being loaded with kernel 3.10 which is alleged to be fixed in kernel 3.11, now up to 3.11.2 I see. There seems to be a lot of such stuff going on in the background of the kernel development. In the case of the WIFI driver, it was moved out of the kernel-firmware file and is now loaded as a select-able kernel configuration option. In kernel 3.10, its not loaded by default and in kernel 3.11 it will be there by default, as I understand it.

Thank You,