Re: FC4 can't boot after updates

[Matthew Saltzman <mjs ces clemson edu>]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005, Claude Jones wrote:

> On Mon August 1 2005 7:14 am, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> > On Sun, 31 Jul 2005, Claude Jones wrote:
> > > A friend has just been possibly bit by the bug that emerged after a
> > > recent kernel update. I read Thomas Chung's piece in the recent
> > > FedoraNews about this, but he stresses that the workaround of running
> > > Kudzu to fix modprobe.conf has to occur  BEFORE the kernel update. Has
> > > anyone been able to fix a  system after the fact?
> >
> > You still have the old kernel.  When you see the startup splash screen on
> > bootup, press a key.  That takes you to a menu of kernels.  Choose the
> > second-most recent option.
> >
> > Then rpm -e the new kernel, run kudzu, and reinstall the new kernel.
>
> Thanks, Matthew. I thought of the same thing, although I'd suggested he 
> try to boot into a previous kernel. His problem is that the boot gets 
> stuck right before the blue splash screen, when the word "grub" briefly 
> flashes in the upper left hand corner of the screen - right at that 
> point, his machine just stops. Any other suggestions?

*Before* the first splash screen?  Then apparently GRUB is hosed.  So I 
would try:

(1) Boot from Rescue CD.  It will find your installation and offer to 
mount it under /mnt/sysimage.  Mount it r/w.

(2) chroot /mnt/sysimage

(3) rpm -e the newest kernel.  Verify that /etc/grub.conf makes sense.

(4) Reboot into the latest still-installed kernel.

(5) Run kudzu, then update the kernel again.

If (4) fails, post your /etc/grub.conf (you can read it if you carry out 
(1)-(3) again).

--
		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs