Ubuntu

kernel 2.6.22-14 not recognising 2nd hard drive

Asked by Kaptain Chaos

I upgraded Feisty to Gutsy but found Gutsy reboot hung with the message:

udevd-event[2118]: run_program : '/sbin/modprobe' abnormal exit
Busybox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-5 ubuntu7) Built-in shell (ash)
(initramfs)

On typing return or exit Gutsy continues to boot BUT my 2nd hard drive, containing my Linux swap partition, isn't recognised (the drive also contains two network shared ntfs partitions). Rebooting into the 2.6.20-16 kernel (left over from the Feisty installation) loaded the 2nd drive with my Linux swap file but there were problems with X 'forgetting' the configuration file and dropping back to either a 640x480 or 800x600 safe mode resolution on reboot.

As this pc is a second machine I thought I'd experiment by wiping out the Ubuntu upgrade, trying a fresh install instead to see if that produced better results. Gutsy hung during the boot-up process with the same udevd-event report stopping at the initramfs prompt and the 2nd hard drive wasn't seen by the live CD either. Typing return or exit got the boot to continue. I still couldn't get the 2nd hard drive recognised from within the fresh Gutsy install either. There were a few problems getting the restricted driver working and my splash screen was the wrong resolution.

I re-installed Feisty, left it as a vanilla install (no n-Vidia restricted driver, sharing or any extra packages) and updated the system. All running smoothly. Rebooted and ran a system upgrade to Gutsy again - same problem, hanging at the udevd-event but this time the code was [2124] and no 2nd hard drive with Linux swap! Looking at other posts I tried booting into the 2.6.22-14 kernel and ran 'sudo update-initramfs -u' but the problem persisted.

Deciding to check /etc/fstab and /dev I think I may have discovered where the problem lies but am unsure how to fix it. Both fstab and /dev list my hard drives and partitions as hdax or hdbx NOT the now more common sdax or sdbx, There are no references to sd's in /dev although I believe initramfs is looking for drives with the 'sd' prefix in /dev (I only have hd's), despite how they are configured in fstab or /dev.

Can anyone help me please?

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Kaptain Chaos
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Kaptain Chaos (kaptain-chaos) said : 		#1

I received this email after subscribing to a similar bug report - Bug #154591 in linux-source-2.6.22 (Ubuntu)

yamar:
I was able to boot using 'all_generic_ide' in my Grub menu.lst file. This is what I have:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-386 root=UUID=... ro quiet splash all_generic_ide
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.22-14-386

I followed his suggestion and can confirm this works; both hard drives boot and usplash doesn't hang at the udevd-event prompt. It seems we both have systems that were still using the hdx rather than the newer sdx driver.

Revision history for this message
Kaptain Chaos (kaptain-chaos) said : 		#2

I received this email after subscribing to a similar bug report - Bug #154591 in linux-source-2.6.22 (Ubuntu)

yamar:
I was able to boot using 'all_generic_ide' in my Grub menu.lst file. This is what I have:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-386 root=UUID=... ro quiet splash all_generic_ide
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.22-14-386

I followed his suggestion and can confirm this works; both hard drives boot and usplash doesn't hang at the udevd-event prompt. It seems we both have systems that were still using the hdx rather than the newer sdx driver.

Revision history for this message
Kaptain Chaos (kaptain-chaos) said : 		#3

Of course, this is just a fix that works, the problem still exists because whether I reinstall Feisty and upgrade or just go straight to a Gutsy installation the kernel 2.6.22-14 still doesn't recognise my second hard drive unless I add 'all_generic_ide' to the boot option menu in the live cd.

If anyone reading this is unsure of the process:
Once the live cd starts you're presented with a screen showing the Ubuntu logo and a list of options
1. start or install Ubuntu
2. start in safe graphics mode
3. etc

If you press the F6 button on your keyboard a line of text appears on the screen with a flashing cursor after 'splash --' Move the cursor to the space between the word splash and the --, enter all_generic_ide followed by a space (the underscores are important). You should now have '..... splash all_generic_ide --' (without the quotes), hit return and continue to boot up.

Once you've installed Gutsy and restarted, at the grub prompt you must enter 'e' to edit grub this time or you'll get stuck again at the initramfs prompt during the boot process. Select the regular kernel boot line, not the rescue one, and press 'e' again. Tag the all_generic_ide to the end of the first line (you'll have to move the cursor to the end otherwise it will go in the middle of a UUID reference). Press return and then 'b' to boot up. The Gutsy boot line should zip along without getting stuck. Once logged in, the first thing to do, before any updates etc. is to open a terminal and type:

'sudo cp /boot/menu.lst /boot/original_menu.lst'

(without the quotes); this copies the broken boot process menu so you have a safe copy of it if you ever need it. Now type

'sudo gedit /boot/menu.lst'

Right down at the bottom of the page you will see a list similar to the one that pops up when grub starts, a few of the lines begin with # - these aren't seen by grub at boot up. Find the same line you added to at boot up (above the 'rescue' kernel line) and add all_generic_ide to this, save it, but before you close save it again as gutsy_fixed_menu.lst (I suggest saving this file to your home folder or moving it to a usb stick if your home folder is not on a separate partition). Close and type 'exit' into the terminal. Reboot to double check the fix has worked and the update and explore your fresh Gutsy installation at your leisure.

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Thomas (nanki-60) said : 		#4

Thank you so much!, you method worked really well and it was a lot easier to follow than some of the other suggestions!.