2006-03-12 22:15:00

by Gaspar Bakos

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: 2.6.15 -- unable to open an initial console

Hi,

I am experimenting with the pristine 2.6.15.6 kernel on an AMD dual
core CPU machine under FC3. The boot seems fine till i get to the
point:

Freeing unused memory ...
"Warning: unable to open initial console".

This is the last message, and then nothing ever happens. Maybe this
message has nothing to do with the real error, but that is the last
information I can grab.

Everything works fine with previous kernel 2.6.13.4, except for
occasional crashes under high load, which is the reason for the attempt
to upgrade. I borrowed the old .config file from 2.6.13.4, and did
"make oldconfig", so most of the settings must have remained the same.
Then I also did a "make xconfig" just to have a better overview of what
new options have appeared. The kernel compiled seemingly without any problems.

By the way, when the old 2.6.13.4 kernel is booted up, there is no such
warning about the console, and after the "Freeing unused memory" the
next lines are:

"Red HAT nash version 4.2.15 starting"
...

So maybe the problem is somewhere here.

Gaspar


2006-03-12 22:34:50

by Jiri Slaby

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: 2.6.15 -- unable to open an initial console

Gaspar Bakos wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I am experimenting with the pristine 2.6.15.6 kernel on an AMD dual
>core CPU machine under FC3. The boot seems fine till i get to the
>point:
>
>Freeing unused memory ...
>"Warning: unable to open initial console".
>
>This is the last message, and then nothing ever happens. Maybe this
>message has nothing to do with the real error, but that is the last
>information I can grab.
>
>Everything works fine with previous kernel 2.6.13.4, except for
>occasional crashes under high load, which is the reason for the attempt
>to upgrade. I borrowed the old .config file from 2.6.13.4, and did
>"make oldconfig", so most of the settings must have remained the same.
>Then I also did a "make xconfig" just to have a better overview of what
>new options have appeared. The kernel compiled seemingly without any problems.
>
>By the way, when the old 2.6.13.4 kernel is booted up, there is no such
>warning about the console, and after the "Freeing unused memory" the
>next lines are:
>
>"Red HAT nash version 4.2.15 starting"
>...
>
>So maybe the problem is somewhere here.
Hi,

have you been googling? Initrd? Old udev? What about /dev/console before udev
starts?

regards,
--
Jiri Slaby http://www.fi.muni.cz/~xslaby
~\-/~ [email protected] ~\-/~
B67499670407CE62ACC8 22A032CC55C339D47A7E

2006-03-12 23:46:23

by Gaspar Bakos

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: 2.6.15 -- unable to open an initial console

Hi, Jiri,

RE:
> have you been googling? Initrd? Old udev? What about /dev/console
> before udev starts?

A quick googling preceded the email, indeed, but it lead to confusion.
I am using mkinitrd, indeed.
I updated udev to the latest version (udev-071-0.FC4.2).
I didn't get get the point what you meant by

"What about /dev/console before udev starts?"

Cheers
Gaspar

2006-03-13 00:43:44

by Gaspar Bakos

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: 2.6.15 -- unable to open an initial console

Hi,

Problem solved.
The new kernel config was missing the support for ramdisk (I have no
idea why). Now, with ramdisk support, everything works fine. Actually
there is nothing to do, just

cd linux-2.6.15.6; make; make modules_install install; lilo; reboot

Thanks again for the clues.
Gaspar

2006-03-13 00:57:50

by Alessandro Suardi

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: 2.6.15 -- unable to open an initial console

On 3/13/06, Gaspar Bakos <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, Jiri,
>
> RE:
> > have you been googling? Initrd? Old udev? What about /dev/console
> > before udev starts?
>
> A quick googling preceded the email, indeed, but it lead to confusion.
> I am using mkinitrd, indeed.
> I updated udev to the latest version (udev-071-0.FC4.2).
> I didn't get get the point what you meant by
>
> "What about /dev/console before udev starts?"

I guess Jiri means something like this

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=479931&r=7273347#r7273347

[yes, I am also using FC4 with Linus kernel and without initrd]

--alessandro

"Dreamer ? Each one of us is a dreamer. We just push it down deep because
we are repeatedly told that we are not allowed to dream in real life"
(Reinhold Ziegler)