Arch Linux

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

I'm trying out Arch. I installed it on a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1501) about two weeks ago and since then I've experienced occasional hangs loading HAL on boot. Any clues?
Thank you.

sfabius

Member

Registered: 2007-07-07

Posts: 157

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

Try removing hal from your daemons list. You may have to use the install disk or another CD to boot up and edit your /etc/rc.conf file. While you're booted you might also look into the logs in /var/log/; I'm not sure where HAL messages are written, but kernel, everything, and messages should help. In any case, we need more information to help you, and the logs are the place to find that information.

After you reboot without HAL (if you indeed get it to boot), try starting HAL manually to see if it is the problem:

# /etc/rc.d/hal start

.

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

Thank you for your answer. I'll try to give more details. So let's start with the

* Description of the problem *

This happens only occasionally. I turn on the laptop and the system starts to boot up. When loading HAL, the cursor stops blinking and bootup stops. Then I press Ctrl+Alt+Del and shutdown starts, but when sending SIGTERM to processes, the cursor stops blinking again and shutdown stops too, so I have to turn off the laptop.

* Logs *

This is everything about hal or hald in the system logs

bash-3.2# grep -iw 'hal\|hald' *.log
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:45 nevis groupadd[4543]: new group: name=hal, GID=82
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: new user: name=hal, UID=82, GID=82, home=/, shell=/bin/false
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to group `optical'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to group `floppy'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to group `storage'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to shadow group `optical'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to shadow group `floppy'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis useradd[4548]: add `hal' to shadow group `storage'
auth.log:Aug 30 04:52:53 nevis passwd[4549]: password for `hal' changed by `root'
daemon.log:Aug 30 21:39:54 nevis hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000
everything.log:Aug 30 21:39:54 nevis hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000
messages.log:Aug 30 21:39:54 nevis hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000
pacman.log:[2008-08-30 04:52] installed hal-info (0.20080508-1)
pacman.log:[2008-08-30 04:52] installed hal (0.5.11-1)

I'm going to send this message as it is, restart HAL and report the results in another message.

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

* Restarting HAL manually *

bash-3.2# /etc/rc.d/hal stop
:: Stopping Hardware Abstraction Layer                                                                [DONE]
bash-3.2# /etc/rc.d/hal start
:: Starting Hardware Abstraction Layer                                                                [DONE]
bash-3.2#

There no new messages in the system logs.

Cheers.

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

if you use portmap fam and hal make sure it is in this order:

portmap fam hal

and also make sure that you don't add dbus

Last edited by kanim (2008-09-10 10:24:36)

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

Thank you for you answer. This was my previous daemons line

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !network !netfs crond alsa hal fam sshd wicd mysqld)

which, following your tip, I've just changed to

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !network !netfs crond alsa portmap fam hal sshd wicd mysqld)

I rebooted once without any problems. I'll try rebooting my system often and, if the problem doesn't come up again, I'll mark this thread as solved.

By the way, my daemons line was based on this line from the Beginners Guide:

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond alsa hal fam kdm)

in which hal precedes fam.

Cheers.

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

The system hung when starting HAL on the 6th reboot after changing the daemons start order, so that wasn't the problem. Thank you all the same.

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

hmm... i don't think it will change anything but maybe try to start alsa after  hal

but i would leave the order with portmap fam and hal couse it had caused some problems with starting one of them three

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

OK, I'll try that too and let you know if it solves the problem. Thank you again.

troncoso

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 52

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

No, I'm afraid it didn't. I got the same problem on the second reboot.

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Re: System hangs randomly loading HAL on boot

sry then i don't know of any solution for you problem maybe a user with more knowledge of archlinux can help you