[BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[Knut Petersen]

Hi everybody!

An openSuse 11.2 system reliably refused to boot properly with kernel 2.6.38.8
although the prior 2.6.38.y kernels worked fine.  After a few seconds booting
stopped. Several <ctrl-c> did help, but a lot of services were not started properly,
only the root partition was available. Nothing unusual could be found in the
kernel messages.

I bisected the problem to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09.

That gave me the idea to disconnect the Plextor PX-755A dvd drive  and to
try 2.6.38.8 again. It booted without problem.

As I do use the dvd drive only once or twice a year on that system I checked the
hardware - it seems that the drive has a mechanical or optical problem.

No kernel can repair a broken dvd drive, but I strongly believe that at least
error handling should be restored to something more reasonable.

cu,
  Knut

knut@linux:~/git/linux-2.6.38.y> git bisect bad
5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09 is the first bad commit
commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09
Author: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Date:   Wed Mar 9 19:54:27 2011 +0100

    ide: Convert to bdops->check_events()

    commit 5b03a1b140e13a28ff6be1526892a9dc538ddef6 upstream.

    Convert ->media_changed() to the new ->check_events() method.  The
    conversion is mostly mechanical.  The only notable change is that
    cdrom now doesn't generate any event if @slot_nr isn't CDSL_CURRENT.
    It used to return -EINVAL which would be treated as media changed.  As
    media changer isn't supported anyway, this doesn't make any
    difference.

    This makes ide emit the standard disk events and allows kernel event
    polling.  Currently, only MEDIA_CHANGE event is implemented.  Adding
    support for EJECT_REQUEST shouldn't be difficult; however, given that
    ide driver is already deprecated, it probably is best to leave it
    alone.

    Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
    Acked-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
    Cc: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@vrfy.org>
    Cc: "David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>
    Cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org
    Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>

Re: [BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[Greg KH]

On Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 03:06:40PM +0200, Knut Petersen wrote:
> Hi everybody!
> 
> An openSuse 11.2 system reliably refused to boot properly with kernel 2.6.38.8
> although the prior 2.6.38.y kernels worked fine.  After a few seconds booting
> stopped. Several <ctrl-c> did help, but a lot of services were not started properly,
> only the root partition was available. Nothing unusual could be found in the
> kernel messages.
> 
> I bisected the problem to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09.
> 
> That gave me the idea to disconnect the Plextor PX-755A dvd drive  and to
> try 2.6.38.8 again. It booted without problem.

Does the 2.6.39.2 kernel work properly for you?

Re: [BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[Knut Petersen]

Am 07.07.2011 02:33, schrieb Greg KH:
> On Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 03:06:40PM +0200, Knut Petersen wrote:
>> Hi everybody!
>>
>> An openSuse 11.2 system reliably refused to boot properly with kernel 2.6.38.8
>> although the prior 2.6.38.y kernels worked fine.  After a few seconds booting
>> stopped. Several <ctrl-c> did help, but a lot of services were not started properly,
>> only the root partition was available. Nothing unusual could be found in the
>> kernel messages.
>>
>> I bisected the problem to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09.
>>
>> That gave me the idea to disconnect the Plextor PX-755A dvd drive  and to
>> try 2.6.38.8 again. It booted without problem.
> Does the 2.6.39.2 kernel work properly for you?
>
Yes.  Kernel 2.6.38[,1,2,3,4,5,6,7] 2.6.39[1,2] 3.0-git are ok, only 2.6.38.8 is broken in the
way described above.

cu,
 knut

Re: [BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday, July 07, 2011, Knut Petersen wrote:
>Am 07.07.2011 02:33, schrieb Greg KH:
>> On Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 03:06:40PM +0200, Knut Petersen wrote:
>>> Hi everybody!
>>> 
>>> An openSuse 11.2 system reliably refused to boot properly with kernel
>>> 2.6.38.8 although the prior 2.6.38.y kernels worked fine.  After a
>>> few seconds booting stopped. Several <ctrl-c> did help, but a lot of
>>> services were not started properly, only the root partition was
>>> available. Nothing unusual could be found in the kernel messages.
>>> 
>>> I bisected the problem to commit
>>> 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09.
>>> 
>>> That gave me the idea to disconnect the Plextor PX-755A dvd drive  and
>>> to try 2.6.38.8 again. It booted without problem.
>> 
>> Does the 2.6.39.2 kernel work properly for you?
>
>Yes.  Kernel 2.6.38[,1,2,3,4,5,6,7] 2.6.39[1,2] 3.0-git are ok, only
>2.6.38.8 is broken in the way described above.
>
>cu,
> knut

FWIW guys, running a Texstar built 2.6.38.8-pae-bfs kernel here, but my dvd 
writer, which works, is (from messages at last boot)
scsi 4:0:0:0: CD-ROM ATAPI iHAS324 A BL1D PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

Assigned to /dev/sr0.

And I cannot duplicate this.  My problems are shutdown/reboot related, it 
"turning off swap"
"-f" on the next line, and it is hung till I tap the hardware reset button.

In your case I'd suspect something in the Plextor that could be as simple 
as a dusty led/ir combo that detects the disk.  But dvd writers have become 
so cheap they are hardly worth pulling the covers off to check.

Cheers, gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
O give me a home,
Where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word,
'Cause what can an antelope say?

Re: [BUG 2.6.38.8] Bisected to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09

[Greg KH]

On Thu, Jul 07, 2011 at 06:23:56AM +0200, Knut Petersen wrote:
> Am 07.07.2011 02:33, schrieb Greg KH:
> > On Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 03:06:40PM +0200, Knut Petersen wrote:
> >> Hi everybody!
> >>
> >> An openSuse 11.2 system reliably refused to boot properly with kernel 2.6.38.8
> >> although the prior 2.6.38.y kernels worked fine.  After a few seconds booting
> >> stopped. Several <ctrl-c> did help, but a lot of services were not started properly,
> >> only the root partition was available. Nothing unusual could be found in the
> >> kernel messages.
> >>
> >> I bisected the problem to commit 5fb46ae7b8c51b05a12c6a66108e8d398c20ee09.
> >>
> >> That gave me the idea to disconnect the Plextor PX-755A dvd drive  and to
> >> try 2.6.38.8 again. It booted without problem.
> > Does the 2.6.39.2 kernel work properly for you?
> >
> Yes.  Kernel 2.6.38[,1,2,3,4,5,6,7] 2.6.39[1,2] 3.0-git are ok, only 2.6.38.8 is broken in the
> way described above.

Good.  You do know that 2.6.38.y is end-of-life and you should move on
to 2.6.39, right?  There's nothing I can do right now for the .38 series
to resolve this, sorry.

greg k-h