Notebook hangs on boot (CentOS)

[Dazed_75]

On 10/18/06, Vaughn Treude <vltreude at deru.com> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone.  I have another bizarre Linux problem.
>
> I've been using CentOS on my Sony notebook for some time without
> problems.  Recently it started hanging on boot, and I can't get past
> it.   I tried using interactive boot mode, and ran it that way one time,
> and verified that the system was hanging where it thought it was.  After
> this I rebooted with the intention of skipping the offending step, and
> though I hit the "i" key several times and it wouldn't go interactive
> ever again, even though I tried it at least three times.  Of course it
> would eventually come to that same place and hang, locking up so hard I
> had to cycle power.
>
> It's apparently hanging in one of two places - I'm not sure which, since
> it jumps from one screen to the other.   It appears to be attempting to
> start smartd, then it jumps to another screen (perhaps it's returning
> from whcnce it came) where it's trying to enable the swap space.
> Anyway, that's the point where it hangs up.
>
> My theory:  I've encountered a similar problem before, and somehow I
> accidentally fixed it.  It seemed to have to do with the peripherals,
> even though the messages would be totally wrong if that's the case (but
> that wouldn't be the first time a program's output has been misleading.
> :-) )  To clarify the problem further:  Most of the time I use it at a
> port replicator which has a PS/2 mouse and keyboard attached.  When
> attached to this, the notebook still boots fine.  But it does _not_ boot
> when I take it off the port replicator, which I assume is because the
> PS/2 keyboard is gone.  Normally after I've moved it to or from the
> replicator, kudzu will inform me that the PS/2 keyboard has either been
> detected or has disappeared.  At this point, I will tell it to remove
> the keyboard if it's off the replicator - but for some bizarre reason,
> if I tell kudzu to add the keyboard (rather than ignoring it) when I've
> put it back on the replicator, it hangs.   (Oddly enough, if I ignored
> it, the keyboard would work anyway.) So I'm thinking I may have
> accidentally told the kudzu to do the wrong thing, and now it's totally
> hosed.  (There seems to be a long standing problem with kudzu in
> relation to peripherals, which I have encountered on more than one
> distro.  If you're unfortunate enough to make the wrong choice when
> kudzu senses a hardware change, it may not see the hardware change next
> time, as if you've unknowingly given it instructions it to ignore that
> particular hardware for all eternity.)


You might test your theory by plugging in a keyboard without the
replicator.  If you have to use a USB keyboard to do that you might want to
check BIOS on the laptop to see if there is a n option to let BIOS (and
therefore bootup) to see the USB keyboard before drivers for it get loaded.

SO - if the problem is actually keyboard-related, how do I clear kudzu's
> configuration information so it'll correctly see the change next time?
> (I also have Mandriva on this notebook; I could boot into that, then
> mount the Centos partition, and hopefully find the offending
> configuration file and edit or delete or move it.)


If not, (and I admit the situation isn't _exactly_ the same) has anybody
> ever encountered a repeatable hang at this point (either when starting
> smartd and/or initializing swap)?  I should probably note that I've been
> having a little flakiness with the drive - occasionally on a cold start
> the drive will appear to be missing - but it's always back after cycling
> power.  I should also note that Mandriva uses the same swap partition as
> Centos and it has _never_ hung when initializing the swap.  (For reasons
> I won't go into here, I prefer to use the Centos installation, and was
> actually thinking of deleting the Mandriva install to make more space.)
>
> Also, has anyone had trouble getting Linux to go into interactive boot
> mode?  Would anybody have any other suggestions for me to try?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Vaughn
>
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