[lug] debian with 2.4 kernel

[Hugh Brown]

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003, David Anselmi wrote:

> Hugh Brown wrote:
> [...]
> >
> > I did boot into single user mode afterward (if you look below).  Still
> > locked up.  This has been an amazing hassle thus far.
>
> Well, at least you're persistant ;-)  But better error descriptions
> might get you better answers.

Part of my persistance is that I need a replacement for rh.  That and apt
is like crack.

>
> If your Debian 2.2 system is still working, I would focus on that.
> There is no need to do a new install just to upgrade to a 2.4 kernel.
>
> Boot the Debian 2.2 kernel.  Do an apt-get update and an apt-get
> dselect-upgrade (gets you the newest stuff -- I assume you're using
> stable sources on the Internet).  Updating isn't really necessary, but
> it should work easily.
>

I am using the stable sources.


> Now add a 2.4 kernel (you might want to purge out any other kernel stuff
> you have -- IIRC the 2.2 kernel from the installer isn't listed in
> dselect so you won't accidentally remove it.  If I'm wrong, just don't
> purge that one).  When you're ready:
>
> apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.18-1-686
>

I've done this and the 2.4.16 kernel as well.

My grub.conf has the following (I'm still using rh for the primary boot
loader):

title Debian (2.4.16-686/hda5)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.16-686 root=/dev/hda5 ro
        initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.4.16-686
title Debian (2.4.18-686/hda5)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-686 root=/dev/hda5 ro
        initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.4.18-686
title Debian (2.2.20/hda5)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.20 root=/dev/hda5 ro
title Debian (2.2.20/hda7)
        root (hd0,6)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.20-idepci root=/dev/hda7 ro





> This seems to be the latest stable kernel.  The installer will tell you
> things about now using initrd (and probably install some related
> packages).  Pay attention but don't let it adjust your lilo.conf file or
> install a boot block.

I've been letting it install to the root partition (/dev/hda5).


>
> When the install is done, edit lilo.conf to make sure there are stanzas
> for both the old 2.2 kernel and the new 2.4 kernel.  The image line
> should refer to links like /vmlinuz and /vmlinuz.old (check / to see
> what's there).  The 2.4 stanza should have initrd=/initrd.img (again,
> check what's there).  Now run lilo and make sure there are no errors.
> Then reboot and select the Debian 2.4 kernel.

Yup. I've done this.  See above.

>
> Since you've been through this before I assume it won't work.  So tell
> us what happens.  Does it print LILO at first?  Does a lot of kernel
> output scroll by?  If it freezes before a line that says something about
> init, what does the screen say (the more the better though it may not be
> easy to capture it all).
>

I've gotten a variety of results.  In all cases it will begin the boot
process.  One time I've gotten it trying to load pcmcia stuff (complained
about unresolved symbols in one of the pcmcia modules).  Other times, I
can get to the point of logging in, but a few seconds later it freezes.
I haven't gotten anything consistent.



> You'd have saved a lot of speculation if you'd said more than "it freezes".
>

Sorry about that.  I just figured the debian users would intuit my
problems :)  Sorry for being a stupid user (it's broken, fix it).


> Some other things to think about.  If Knoppix works, compare it's kernel
> output (use dmesg) to the 2.4 kernel that doesn't work.  You can try a
> 386 kernel (uninstall the 686 kernel first) and try that too.  You can
> also look at linux-laptop.net to see what others have been through.



>
> Other clues such as this:
>
> http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0202.1/1557.html
>
> can be found on google.

I found that and built my own kernel in a chroot'ed environment but that
failed too (might have been because of failing to make an initrd img
though).



>
> Good luck!
>
> Dave
>


Thank you,

Hugh