video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

bzipitidoo · 2011-05-16 21:11:27

For months now, I've been seeing a pattern of kernel upgrades breaking my systems. Every time the kernel is updated, on 5 different systems, I see combinations of the graphics not working, and/or the keyboard and mouse not working. Even the partitions sometimes do not mount because the file system drivers aren't loading! Can't connect via the network either. I can get things working again by reinstalling the kernel after booting from the Arch Linux installation media. I mount the root and boot partition, chroot to it and do "pacman -S kernel26". These systems are quite varied-- Nvidia, ATI/AMD, and Intel graphics, some are 64bit and some are 32bit.

I thought perhaps it was a bootstrap sort of problem, and that the new kernel could be installed correctly after the modules for it were in place, or perhaps after the old modules were removed. So after getting a system working again by using the installation media, I tried reinstalling the kernel while running the kernel that was being installed. And that broke everything again, in the same way as a kernel update.

Anyone else seeing these sorts of problems?

Lone_Wolf · 2011-05-18 18:42:46

Are these systems updated from the same mirror ?

after a kernel update, you reboot the systems and on that boot you notice the problems ?

Which kernel does 'pacman -S kernel26' re-install, the previous one or the one from the update ?

bzipitidoo · 2011-05-19 00:22:55

Different mirrors. Right now, xmission, kangaroot, and hosef.

Yes, problems happen after reboot. Keyboard works with grub, but doesn't work after system loads. Seen it on both USB and PS/2 keyboards and mice.

I install the latest kernel with the method of running "pacman -S kernel26" after booting from the installation media. The latest kernel26 package is already in /var/cache/pacman/pkg, so I do not need a network connection.

Even if I have all the drivers working, just trying to reinstall the current kernel while running the updated system will break things again.

Investigating further, I saw a lot of differences between the 2 /lib/modules/2.6.38-ARCH directories created by the 2 methods. Diff generated 5M of text.

Lone_Wolf · 2011-05-19 12:25:35

Does it work if you boot with the fallback kernel after re-installing the current kernel while running the updated system ?

Inxsible · 2011-05-19 14:12:42

you don't have anything in your IgnorePkg/IgnoreGroup in pacman.conf right?

The fact that its happening on 5 different systems is strange though unless you copied configuration files over from 1 system to the others.

bzipitidoo · 2011-05-19 21:21:22

In pacman.conf, the Ignore lines are commented out. Only change I made was enabling multilib. There is a /etc/pacman.conf.pacnew file.

Fallback kernel has the same problems, whether freshly updated, or reinstalled after getting the system working again. No kb, mouse, or network. After a reinstall, XWindows and the graphics usually work, in both fallback and regular.

On one of my systems, I have a 2.6.33.4 kernel I rolled myself. I can do a reinstall of the latest kernels while running that one with all the correct drivers, and the reinstalled kernels will work fine.

***

Am I the only person having these kinds of problems? Wondering why there aren't other posts about it.

Lone_Wolf · 2011-05-20 17:28:54

I can only say i've never encountered or heard about problems like this.

are there specific settings you use in the mkinitcpio.conf that are non-standard ?

bzipitidoo · 2011-06-14 13:09:12

Figured out a cause. /usr/sbin and /sbin are not in root's PATH. Soon as I added those to the path, pacman -S kernel26 worked. I noticed this problem when I added clamav, and pacman was unable to create a new group and user.

Just why /sbin isn't in the PATH is another question. /etc/profile adds it. So, /etc/profile isn't being executed? Could this be because I am running X with LXDE from /etc/inittab, like this:

x:5:once:/bin/su u -l -c "exec startx >/dev/null 2>&1"

Lone_Wolf · 2011-06-17 16:01:11

Could this be because I am running X with LXDE from /etc/inittab, like this:
x:5:once:/bin/su u -l -c "exec startx >/dev/null 2>&1"

very likely, from

info coreutils 'su invocation'

`-l'
`--login'
Make the shell a login shell. This means the following. Unset all
environment variables except `TERM', `HOME', and `SHELL' (which
are set as described above), and `USER' and `LOGNAME' (which are
set, even for the super-user, as described above), and set `PATH'
to a compiled-in default value. Change to USER's home directory.
Prepend `-' to the shell's name, intended to make it read its
login startup file(s). Additionaly `DISPLAY' and `XAUTHORITY'
environment variables are preserved as well for PAM functionality.

( boldness from me)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-16 21:11:27

video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#2 2011-05-18 18:42:46

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#3 2011-05-19 00:22:55

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#4 2011-05-19 12:25:35

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#5 2011-05-19 14:12:42

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#6 2011-05-19 21:21:22

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#7 2011-05-20 17:28:54

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#8 2011-06-14 13:09:12

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

#9 2011-06-17 16:01:11

Re: video, kb, mouse, network driver failure after every kernel upgrade

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