Kernel 2.6.24 -- gee that was fun...not!

[Bill Davidsen]

Paul Lemmons wrote:
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message  --------
> Subject: Kernel 2.6.24 -- gee that was fun...not!
> From: Robert Locke <lists at ralii.com>
> To: For users of Fedora <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> Date: 03/14/2008 12:11 PM
> 
>> On Fri, 2008-03-14 at 11:34 -0700, Paul Lemmons wrote:
>>> I have been using Fedora since core 2 and I have never had any 
>>> problems with a kernel update. Yesterday that changed the new 2.6.24 
>>> kernel. I booted the system and got to see it panic and halt. It 
>>> appears that it was doing something with networking, but that is not 
>>> for sure. I gather that by looking at what it barfed on my screen and 
>>> picking out the big pieces :)
>>>
>>> I have uploaded a smolt profile of my machine. If you have the same 
>>> difficulty you may want to look and see if you see any overlap.
>>>
>>> http://www.smolts.org/client/show/pub_bbdcaa05-e7bd-4ad7-83ca-f822b5b0fb7f 
>>>
>>>
>>> Recovery was a pain...
>>>
>>> 1) Remove all traces of new 2.6.24 kernel
>>> - I could remove the new kernel, devel fairly easily
>>> - removing the kernel-headers took a lot of friends with it
>>>    - tracked the dependences to reinstall later
>>>
>>> 2)  Tried to install the 2.6.23 headers and devel
>>> - none of the repos had the "old" kernel files
>>>    - after much searching I found: 
>>> http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=35322
>>>       - got headers and devel packages
>>>       - rpm -ihv the devel and header rpms
>>>
>>> 3) Nvidia drivers messed up on 2.6.23
>>>    - Tried to install livna Nvidia drivers
>>>       - always tried to drag in the 2.6.24 kernel
>>>       - could not find a way around it
>>>
>>> 4) Reinstalled development environment lost in step 1
>>>    - yum install gcc gcc-c++ gcc-java rpmdevtools
>>>    - will go back and get the others later
>>>
>>> 5) Nvidia the hard way
>>>    - yum erase kmod-nvidia*
>>>    - download the driver:
>>>       - wget 
>>> http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/169.12/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.12-pkg1.run 
>>>
>>>    - Turn off Xserver
>>>       - telinit 3
>>>    - Install the driver
>>>       - sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.12-pkg1.run
>>>    -  reboot
>>>
>>> 6) sigh with relief as I see my twin-view screens come up correctly
>>> 7) share experience here
>>> 8) will exclude kernel from yum update until 2.6.25 comes out.
>>>    - I see on this list that others have had success with it.
>>
>>
>> Hey Paul,
>>
>> Just out of curiosity, why did you have to reinstall the 2.6.23 kernel?
>> I can imagine there being a kmod problem perhaps, but yum normally keeps
>> a couple of kernels in place....
>>
>> Also, not sure that things will get better for you with 2.6.25.  The
>> issue is more that upstream kernel development does not appear to have
>> the "two branches" anymore, so "new features" and such are getting
>> incorporated with each release.  I think the "issue" for some is a low
>> number after the 2.6.24, namely the current .3 that has yet to squash
>> some regressions that have caused some folks pain.  The hope being that
>> it might improve with later rev's of the 24 series....
>>
>> --Rob
>>
> 
> I had the 2.6.23 kernel and was able to boot from it but the 
> kernel-headers had been replaced with the 2.6.24 version. In cleaning up 
> that I had also cleaned up the kernel-devel packages (probably a 
> mistake). Either way, though, to get the headers back in sync with the 
> kernel I had to go out to the koji site.
> 
> I am a little gun-shy now about updating to a newer kernel. I will 
> probably wait until F9 comes out and will test first with a Live CD. 
> That is not so far away that I can't wait and the new kernels don't 
> often really give me anything new that I actually notice. I usually 
> update simply to keep my machine current and, like this time, report on 
> the rare problem.
> 
??? FC9 alpha has been out for a while.


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot