Journal GeckoFood's Journal: [geek] 2.6.33-x Kernel Panic 12
One of the sticky points I have encountered with my Linux installation is getting a fresh kernel compiled and running. When I have compiled it and used it to boot, it panics, not seeing the hard drive. My system has SATA hard drives in it.
The default kernel with CentOS 5.4 is 2.6.18-164, which works fine but I would like to upgrade so I can compile a new wireless driver and a new Wacom driver (more on those, and the reason I need a newer kernel just for those, another time). Fedora won't install properly on my system and I am not interested in installing Ubuntu (so please don't suggest I switch to Ubuntu or a derivative because I won't do it) so my very best option is upgrading the kernel. Much easier said than done.
The first time I compiled the kernel, I imported the configuration from the 2.6.18 kernel and accepted defaults on new settings. The result was a kernel that could not see the hard drive. Fine, I went in and manually turned on support for all SATA controllers and chipsets, then recompiled. The result was exactly the same. I also tried digging through the menus on the menuconfig, looking for anything that might cause the issue and found nothing. So, finally, I ripped open the initrd's for both the 2.6.18 and 2.6.33 kernels, unpacked the modules and did a comparison of modules that are present to talk to the SATA controller - the new kernel has all the same stuff as the old and much more too.
I am at a loss at the moment. I am sure I am missing something subtle but I don't know what it is. I have seen systems where all ATA support had to be in a module, not native, but my configuration matches the old kernel in that way. I have tried everything I know to try for now. I am still using 2.6.18 - it works, but I am frustrated.
I suppose I could try installing just the kernel RPMs from Fedora on top of CentOS and see how that plays out... I have little to lose at this point. IIRC the latest Fedora uses kernel 2.6.30 which is sufficient - as long as there are kernel sources in the distro.
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On an unrelated note, where is everyone? It's even quieter than normal around here.
too bad (Score:2)
too bad about the Fedora thing. KpackageKit put me at 2.6.32 this morning after I told it to go ahead. along with another 20 updates or so.
things have been slow around here for a couple weeks or so. but there are je drops every so often. there are a few regulars that have been a bit more quiet. Maybe they are really busy or otherwise occupied and will be back later.
Re: (Score:2)
It was ugly. Somewhere in the middle of the install it decided that I was out of disk space or that it no longer was able to write to the hard drive. It's a 160GB drive. I have no idea what happened but it rendered the box unbootable. Grub was boogered up too and prevented even Windows from loading.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah - we've lost a lot of people over the last few years and while there haven't been any dramatic large exits in a while, that's probably because there weren't enough people left to have any. So I haven't seen anyone new in a while that jumped in but people are slowly dropping out. I expect this is the new normal, though like I said, it could pick back up.
The site isn't really built to foster community building so it isn't easy to pick up inertia. I wonder if some of the changes to the interface w/rega
Need to know the hardware to answer the question (Score:2)
Can't tell you what to say "Yes" to without knowing what SATA controller you've got ;)
Honestly, when I compile a kernel myself, I don't bother with the modules unless they're for things I almost never use (parallel port, serial, etc), just so that I never have to deal with initrd. I understand how it makes distribution kernels easier since they have to run on as many different systems as possible, but for a custom kernel it's another thing to go wrong. If you're using initrd anyway, make sure that the boo
Try this... (Score:1)
Try to find the config for the kernel that works. There are a couple locations that you might find it.
1. /boot/config* /proc/config* /usr/src/linux-*/.config
2. modprobe -a config && ls
3. ls
One of those locations ought to have the config. It might be .gz (especially if found in /proc) so just unzip it. Then copy the config file to /usr/src/linux-*/.config of the kernel tree you want to work with. Then run ''make oldconfig'' and just hold down enter while it goes through all the options. Finally,
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I did import the .config from the working kernel as a starting point. I still ended up with a panic.
Re: (Score:1)
Can you post your config and the lspci output.
If not the config, at least the lspci output.
BIOS settings? Kernel Boot parameters (Score:1)
Have you looked at the BIOS settings? SATA is not always enabled by default or the option on isn't the one the kernel likes.
Kernel boot parameters - as the owner of m/b with dodgy firmware - some fun things to try irqpoll=on, acpi=off
At least until you get it booted and working (if they help)
Re: (Score:2)
My BIOS is the most simplistic I have ever seen. I cannot change anything related to the SATA controller.
I did try acpi=off and noapic, but I did not try irqpoll=off yet - I'll try that one shortly.
Compiling a kernel? (Score:1)
Not seeing the hard drive? (Score:1)
Or not seeing the file system? May sound whack, but check to see if the root FS is built into the kernel, and for some reason I can't remember, it always seems safe to make sure ext2 is built in in addition to whatever you're using no matter what.
hard drive (Score:1)
Do you get any error messages from the kernel as it fails to see the hd? What is the hard drive make and model? I had a problem once after upgrading to a newer version of Ubuntu (intrepid?) not being able to see my sata cd-rom drive; apparently it did not respond fast enough to a polling for it to be detected or something like that. A firmware upgrade fixed that.