need help recovering from failed kernel install oS 12.2 and kernel 3.9

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I installed new kernel on my 12.2 server and all was good for a couple of days and then today I receive a kernel update with “zypper up” and It failed to update properly with the following error.
So basically I have no working kernel to boot with and I do not know how to get another one back or restore the last working one. I stupidly assumed that there would be multiple kernel entries as there are in 12.3.

Can someone help me get a working kernel back on the machine?

Installing: kernel-default-3.9.3-2.1.g06ad9d8 ................................................................[done]
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927              sum of target all =  44G (46755270204)                             │Additional rpm output:                                                                                              
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927              sum of target all = 100.00%                                        │Scanning scripts ...                                                                                                
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927              sum of target new = 108  (108)                                     │Resolve dependencies ...                                                                                            
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927              sum of target new = 0.00%                                          │Install symlinks in /lib/mkinitrd/setup ...                                                                         
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927             sum of md5ed files = 108  (108)                                     │Install symlinks in /lib/mkinitrd/boot ...                                                                          
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927             sum of md5ed files = 0.00%                                          │                                                                                                                    
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927     sum internal linked (copy) = 0.0  (0)                                       │Kernel image:   /boot/vmlinuz-3.9.3-2.g06ad9d8-default                                                              
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927    sum internal linked (compr) = 0.0  (0)                                       │Initrd image:   /boot/initrd-3.9.3-2.g06ad9d8-default                                                               
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927          sum old linked (copy) =  20G (21315977341)                             │KMS drivers:     i915                                                                                               
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927         sum old linked (compr) =  24G (25439292755)                             │Root device:    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500AAJS-55M0A0_WD-WMAV2EL58478-part1 (/dev/sdd1) (mounted on / as ext3)  
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927           sum unchanged (copy) =  20G (21315977341)                             │modprobe: Module ext3 not found.                                                                                    
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927          sum unchanged (compr) =  24G (25439292755)                             │WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'ext3' found.                                                            
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                 sum new (copy) = 108  (108)                                     │Kernel Modules: hwmon thermal_sys thermal processor fan rtc-cmos scsi_dh scsi_dh_emc scsi_dh_rdac scsi_dh_hp_sw scsi
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                sum new (compr) = 0.0  (0)                                       │_dh_alua video i2c-core button i2c-algo-bit drm drm_kms_helper i915 libata pata_atp867x pdc_adma sata_sil24 pata_art
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927     sum new (compr), orig size = 0.0  (0)                                       │op pata_hpt366 pata_acpi pata_marvell libahci ahci pata_it8213 pata_amd sata_qstor pata_oldpiix pata_cmd640 pata_cs5
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                 sum new / orig = 100.00%                                        │520 pata_ns87410 pata_mpiix pata_cs5535 pata_piccolo pata_netcell pata_arasan_cf pata_sch sata_nv pata_hpt3x3 ahci_p
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927       size of md5CheckSum file = 321k (328447)                                  │latform pata_rz1000 pata_pdc202xx_old pata_hpt3x2n pata_efar pata_isapnp pata_triflex sata_svw pata_serverworks pata
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927     size of temporary db files = 0.0  (0)                                       │_cs5530 pata_legacy pcmcia_core pcmcia pata_pcmcia pata_atiixp pata_via pata_jmicron sata_sil ata_piix pata_sc1200 p
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927            deleted old backups = 0                                              │ata_ninja32 pata_optidma pata_hpt37x pata_cypress sata_sx4 pata_sl82c105 pata_rdc pata_opti sata_promise sata_uli pa
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927            deleted directories = 0                                              │ta_sis sata_inic162x pata_it821x ata_generic sata_mv sata_vsc sata_highbank pata_radisys pata_pdc2027x sata_sis acar
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                  deleted files = 0                                              │d-ahci pata_cmd64x sata_via pata_ns87415 pata_sil680 pata_ali pata_cs5536 usb-common usbcore ohci-hcd uhci-hcd ehci-
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927           (only) removed links = 0                                              │hcd xhci-hcd hid usbhid hid-logitech-dj hid-generic                                                                 
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 freed space in old directories = 0.0  (0)                                       │Features:       acpi kms plymouth block usb resume.userspace resume.kernel                                          
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927       add. used space in files = 321k (328555)                                  │Perl-Bootloader: 2013-05-23 07:15:24 ERROR: Command '/usr/sbin/grub2-install --force --skip-fs-probe /dev/sda >/var/
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                backup duration = 6s                                             │log/YaST2/y2log_bootloader 2>&1' failed with code 256 and output: /usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: warning: this GPT part
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 over all files/sec (real time) = 1165.00                                        │ition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.                                           
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927  over all files/sec (CPU time) = 1610.60                                        │/usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for cross-disk install.          
STATISTIC 2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927                      CPU usage = 72.33%                                         │                                                                                                                    
INFO      2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 removing lock file </tmp/storeBackup.lock>                                      │There was an error generating the initrd (1)                                                                        
WARNING   2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 -- 9 WARNINGS OCCURRED DURING THE BACKUP! --                                    │warning: %postun(kernel-default-3.9.2-1.1.g04040b9.i586) scriptlet failed, exit status 1                            
INFO      2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 syncing ...                                                                     │                                                                                                                    
END       2013.05.23 06:46:52 19927 backing up directory </home/multimedia> to </backup/media/default/2013.05.23_06.│                                                                                                                    
46.46>                                                                                                              │Installing: libtiff5-4.0.2-1.16.1 ............................................................................[done]
user@linux-j10q:/home/storebackup>                                                                                  │linux-j10q:/home #
2

Try this as a guide - Rescuing Susie

That was for 12.1, but it should be similar for 12.2.

3

I have found this thread and am going to try it.

https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/unreviewed-how-faq/457265-how-recover-deleted-kernel.html

4

That looks like a good one, thank you.

5

Thanks for the help nrickert your guide worked fine and I was able to recover a usable kernel.
I had a snafu with the networking but once I got that resolved everything was easy with yast.

I had exactly two problems that held me up and may be of interest to someone else.
Problem 1)
I chose to boot from a SystemRescueCD (actually USB) instead of openSUSE DVD and in that case when you “chroot /mnt” you will get an error because SRCD uses /bin/zsh instead of /bin/bash, who would have guessed that one. Anyway to get to proper chroot you need to set the env for the shell to bash by issuing “SHELL=/bin/bash” and then proceed with the chroot.
Problem 2)
The server was actually running DNS for the home network so when I try to use yast or ping something outside the network it would of course fail. It took me a while to realize what was going on and track down /etc/resolv.conf and change the nameserver entry to the default isp/google nameserver and then yast could get the new kernel.

There was one other problem on bootup because yast does not actually change the grub2 menu by default so the system still would not boot because the grub2 menu entry was now pointing to non-existing kernel. I had hit “e” on the default entry and then delete the characters in front of the vimage and init boot lines to get it to boot. Once booted you need to go into yast and set up the bootloader all over again to get the proper boot menu.

ghahhhh, what a bunch of ****. I really think there is a flaw in the kernel upgrade schema in 12.2. There should be some default mechanism that will let you revert to the previous kernel with ease. At the very least the bootloader menu should be automatically updated with the new kernel. I think this is the default in 12.3 but I am not sure.

6

Yes, 12.3 keeps the previous kernel.

It is supposed to update grub with a new kernel. I’m not sure what went wrong there.

I’m glad you were able to get it working.