Arch Linux

louis058

Member

Registered: 2010-11-12

Posts: 31

While Booting - Random hangs

Straight after I select 'Arch Linux' in Grub, the system sometimes hangs at random points between that moment and the moment the Arch Linux line appears (when rc.sysinit starts). This means it's either Grub, or one of the earlier INIT scripts that are causing the problems. I have to manually turn off and turn on my computer when this happens. Examples of some of the lines the system hangs on are:

NMI watchdog enabled, takes one hw-pmu counter
Booting Node 0, Processors #1

pnp: PNP ACPI: found 12 devices
ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered
system 00:01:[io 0x04d0-0x04d1] has been reserved
[i]Then 18 more similar lines[/i]

Enabling APIC mode. Flat. Using 1 I/O APICs
TIMER: vector=0x30 apic1=0 pin1=2 apic2=-1 pin2=-1

As for my menu.lst, it looks like this:

# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS 
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/sda        (hd0)
#  /dev/sdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/sda3       (hd0,2)
#

#  FRAMEBUFFER RESOLUTION SETTINGS
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#          | 640x480    800x600    1024x768   1280x1024
#      ----+--------------------------------------------
#      256 | 0x301=769  0x303=771  0x305=773   0x307=775
#      32K | 0x310=784  0x313=787  0x316=790   0x319=793
#      64K | 0x311=785  0x314=788  0x317=791   0x31A=794
#      16M | 0x312=786  0x315=789  0x318=792   0x31B=795
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#  for more details and different resolutions see
#  http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#Framebuffer_Resolution 

# general configuration:
timeout   5
default   0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

# boot sections follow
# each is implicitly numbered from 0 in the order of appearance below
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-label/root ro nomodeset
initrd /kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-label/root ro nomodeset
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img

# (2) Windows Vista
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

The /boot directory is on its own logical partition, with the EXT2 filesystem. The /boot directory looks like this:

grub                             kernel26.img  System.map26
kernel26-fallback.img  lost+found     vmlinuz26

The grub directory looks like this:

e2fs_stage1_5     menu.lst           stage2_eltorito
fat_stage1_5      minix_stage1_5     ufs2_stage1_5
ffs_stage1_5      reiserfs_stage1_5  vstafs_stage1_5
iso9660_stage1_5  stage1             xfs_stage1_5
jfs_stage1_5      stage2

I have no idea what's causing this problem, but I got this before on a previous installation, and it's what prompted me to reinstall Arch. I've still got this problem now though, so I wonder if maybe my menu.lst is configured incorrectly? Or is it just that one of the files are corrupted? Even though I'm on EXT2?

davidm

Member

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 371

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

Symptoms are possibly indicative of a hardware problem. Especially since it seems random and did it on a previous install. I'd check your memory first.

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Why I support GNU/Linux

louis058

Member

Registered: 2010-11-12

Posts: 31

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

I ran Memtest86+, and got a pass. I remember I ran it in the past once before, and also got one pass.

Should I run a CPU test now?

pablokal

Member

From: Nijmegen, Holland

Registered: 2010-03-07

Posts: 96

Website

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

I had such random errors with a bad cable from hard drive to motherboard.
Changing cable solved all porblems.
I would check hard disk with the necessary tools and if this is ok change cables.

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GNu/Linux: Nu nog schoner: http://linuxnogschoner.blogspot.com/

nTia89

Banned

From: varese, italy

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,230

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

if you want to test deeply your pc i suggest this distro:

http://www.stresslinux.org/sl/

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+pc: custom | AMD Opteron 175 | nForce4 Ultra | 2GB ram DDR400 | nVidia 9800GT 1GB | ArchLinux x86_64 w/ openbox
+laptop: Apple | MacBook (2,1) | 2GB ram | Mac OS X 10.4 -> DIED
+ultrabook: Dell | XPS 13 (9343) | 8GB ram | 256GB ssd | FullHD display | Windows 8.1 64bit ArchLinux x86_64 w/ Gnome

louis058

Member

Registered: 2010-11-12

Posts: 31

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

Apart from StressLinux, is there any tool that can test my hard drive for errors?

nTia89

Banned

From: varese, italy

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,230

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

what do you mean for errors in hd ?

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+pc: custom | AMD Opteron 175 | nForce4 Ultra | 2GB ram DDR400 | nVidia 9800GT 1GB | ArchLinux x86_64 w/ openbox
+laptop: Apple | MacBook (2,1) | 2GB ram | Mac OS X 10.4 -> DIED
+ultrabook: Dell | XPS 13 (9343) | 8GB ram | 256GB ssd | FullHD display | Windows 8.1 64bit ArchLinux x86_64 w/ Gnome

louis058

Member

Registered: 2010-11-12

Posts: 31

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

what do you mean for errors in hd ?

I'm not sure, I don't know anything about hard drives. Maybe some kind of tool like Memtest86+ that gives a 'pass' or a 'fail' for your hard drive? From what I've seen, most hard drive benchmarks seem to simply test for the speed and the make of the hard drive. Or is the speed all I'm looking for to look for problems with my hard drive?

nTia89

Banned

From: varese, italy

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,230

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

exist a tool: hdparm but i don't know if is able to check hd.......

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+pc: custom | AMD Opteron 175 | nForce4 Ultra | 2GB ram DDR400 | nVidia 9800GT 1GB | ArchLinux x86_64 w/ openbox
+laptop: Apple | MacBook (2,1) | 2GB ram | Mac OS X 10.4 -> DIED
+ultrabook: Dell | XPS 13 (9343) | 8GB ram | 256GB ssd | FullHD display | Windows 8.1 64bit ArchLinux x86_64 w/ Gnome

btitus

Member

Registered: 2010-09-29

Posts: 6

Re: While Booting - Random hangs

One procedure for thoroughly testing a drive is given here. The site is a good resource for hard drive info.
http://forums.storagereview.com/index.p … ntry254740

Basically the idea is:
--connect the drive and record SMART values. Note that this won't work if drive is connected via USB. GSmartControl is one useful utility, which can show SMART values and which has a good explanation of their meaning.
--Exercise the drive, for example by writing zeroes to the entire drive a couple of times, then performing the drive manufacturer's extended test. Most manufacturers have on their sites an iso image which can be burned to a CD then booted from to perform these tests.
--If possible use a tool like Victoria for Windows which gives info on the speed of the sectors.
--Recheck SMART values noting any changes, such as "reallocated sectors"
BTW it's possible to to run Windows utilities like Victoria for Windows if you have a boot CD like BartPE or UBCD4Win. I have put Victoria 4.3 on a flash drive, booted from BartPE, then run Victoria from the flash drive.

Last edited by btitus (2011-03-01 12:33:49)