FC2 post-install hangs on dual boot system - SOLVED, KIND-OFF, NOT REALLY.

From: Rainer Butsch (rainer.butsch_at_att.net)
Date: 09/26/04 

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 04:50:31 GMT

I have posted before about FC2 post-install hangs on my dual boot system
(Linux / WinXP Pro). (see "FC2 post-install hangs on dual boot system" from
9/10/04) in this newsgroup.

Sorry for the long entry - but there are still some problems left. For a
quick summary of the problems, browse to the QUESTIONS section below.

BOOT AND INIT ISSUES:
=====================
I overcame some of the problems with hanging by booting into runlevel 3 and
observing what is happening. There are two places in the boot process where
the system "hangs".

The first hang occurs after the "Enabling swap space [OK]" message is
displayed. Then nothing happens. This problem has been observed by others
as well. The second hang occurs after "Start service Kudzu" and the
"Checking for new hardware" message is displayed. Then nothing happens.

After examining the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file that is run by the inittab
file after the kernel boot is done it is somewhat clear what is happening.

The "Enabling swap space" action occurs. Then, a "getkey i" statement waits
for you to press 'i' as is indicated when INIT starts (Welcome to Fedora
Core. Press "I" to enter interactive startup).

Then a "Wait" statement is executed. It is here where the first hang
occurs. The "wait" statement waits for background processes to complete.
However, I'll wait forever, indicating a problem with one of the background
processes that are executed prior to that statement. This phenomena happens
most of the time. However, sometimes, there is not a problem with the
"wait" statement and the boot process continues normally.

Forcing a Cntr-C when the "wait" problem occurs, exits rc.sysinit and passes
control of the initialization to the /etc/rc3.d startup files:

INIT: Entering runlevel 3
Entering interactive startup

The first statement that is executed here is the microcode update. The
microcode update is applied successfully, then kudzu is started to check for
new hardware. It is here where the second "hang" occurs. I restart, and I
get around this by not starting the kudzu service the next time which will
then lead to a successful login prompt.

However, on one occasion (when the above "wait" problem was not observed),
the kudzu service completed successfully as well and the full boot and init
process completed successfully (and I was able to setup a printer which I
couldn't before, see below GUI ISSUES).

KERNEL ISSUES:
==============
During the installation, 2 kernels are being copied to the /boot partition:

Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5-1.358smp) with
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358smp ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet

and

Fedora Core 2-up (2.6.5-1.358) with
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet

Since I have only one processor (Pentium 4 with hyperthreading), I assume
that Linux interprets the hyperthreading as multiple processors - which
kernel should be used, see QUESTIONS below???

GUI ISSUES:
===========
When there was a problem with the "wait" statement (i.e. I used Cntr-C to
break out of it) and kudzu was *not* started, other problems then show up
when using the GUI.

When using the Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5-1.358smp) kernel, and starting the X
server with "startx", the screen goes blank and the system hangs.

When using the Fedora Core 2-up (2.6.5-1.358) kernel, the X server can be
started successfully with "startx".

e-mail, browsing, etc works fine with the Fedora Core 2-up (2.6.5-1.358)
kernel.

However, I couldn't setup a printer for awhile. Message "Loading printer
information. Please wait..." is displayed and nothing happens. This
behaviour has also been observed by others.

I found no real solution to this printer problem. A google search reveals
some posts suggesting that PERL is breaking some scripts and one should use
the latest version of PERL.

To get the latest version and to do due diligence to update the system after
a vanilla installation, I tried the up2date service. I completed the setup
for the up2date properly and successfully. I selected all 146 updates and
let the system do the work in the evening / overnight. However, the next
day, after more than 12 hours, the system is still sitting there and
proclaiming that downloading is in progress although nothing really happens!
So much for the up2date service. I know, other say one should use YUM. But
that's not the point. The point is that some services don't seem to work as
advertised.

I could setup my printer once - this happened when the above boot and init
process completed successfully (i.e. there was not a "wait" problem and
there was not a "kudzu" problem for whatever reason - must have been the
moon phase since I did exactly the same thing as during previous boot
processes).

My video card is not identified correctly (I have a ATI Radeon 9800 XT) but
Linux is using the generic VESA mode. The "hwconf" file identifies the ATI
Radeon and also list a driver for it (radeonfb). When I change the DEVICE
section of the xorg.conf to explicitly refer to the ATI Radeon card with a
"radeonfb" driver, X refuses to run and complaints of an incorrect driver.
So I continue using VESA and it seems to work (see, however, the off-screen
comment below).

The monitor is identified as "Syncmaster" (I have a Syncmaster 193P LCD) but
my model is not listed when trying to change the DISPLAY properties. I do
not know which model is selected by default when starting the DISPLAY
properties because no model is highlighted.

When in GUI mode, the screen is a little off-center, it is shifted slightly
to the right making using the scroll bar with the mouse in a maximized
window very difficult since the scroll bar is nearly off screen.
I played around with all possible combinations in the xorg.conf file but
could not make any difference.

For example, I changed the SERVERLAYOUT section for x from 0 to 300:
Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "single head configuration"
 Screen 0 "Screen0" 300 0
 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

I changed the viewport offset settings in the SCREEN section for x
from 0 to 300:
Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device "Videocard0"
 Monitor "Monitor0"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Viewport 300 0
  Depth 24
  Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

I also added a virtual setting and with the viewport setting at 300 0 to no
avail.

QUESTIONS:
==========
It is frustrating to see so many inconsistencies with FC2 on my new PC (my
older PC worked fine with Linux), NOT to mention the mess with GRUB changing
the MBR without any documentation (changing the MBR is fine as long as it is
documented and the users know what to expect and what to do).

So far, I have not seen much help or suggestions in newsgroups or google to
solve my problems. For example, I would appreciate if someone could give me
some REAL answers or advice to following questions:

1. Why does the installation process install two kernels (one without and
one with SMP) when I don't have multiple processors? Which kernel should be
used? See above problem, when I use the SMP kernel - the X server will not
work.

There should be more information available about these two versions and what
to do with them. I haven't found any info yet on the installation CD on
that subject.

2. Why does the X server hang when using the SMP kernel version, but startx
can get the GUI running when using the other kernel?

3. Why does the rc.sysinit "hang" during the "wait" statement? What
background processes are running that don't complete here? I have added a
"ps -axl" statement just before the wait statement to list the processes,
see below for more detail.

4. IMPORTANTLY, why does the boot process proceed sometimes beyond the
"wait" statement? I.e. the background processes complete and the boot
process continues. Is Linux FC2 that inconsistent? It should either always
"hang" at the same point, or it should always continue.

5. Why does kudzu sometimes hang and sometimes (once) not. Kudzu is
supposed to time out after 30 seconds if there are problems, according to
the help info. For example, my modem (a Conexant D850 56k V.9x DFVc modem)
is not identified in the hwconf file.

Normally, I would say this points to a bad installation. However, I have
installed Linux FC2 now multiple times (I could do something consistently
wrong on the new PC, though -- any ideas???).

I got around the initial hangs during the installation (see my previous post
from 9/10/04) by completing successfully the first part of the installation
(before the reboot). Then, after the reboot, I do the
"usual" procedures to get the Linux bootsector onto the C: drive for
dualbooting with XP. I then boot into Linux rescue mode and change the
runlevel from 5 to 3 and then do the firstboot. The rc.sysinit "hangs"
during the "wait" statement and I do Cntr-C. The /etc/rc3.d startup files
then proceed starting all the other services, except I say no to "kudzu". I
then get a successful login prompt. The other problems listed under "GUI
ISSUES" above then show up.

6. Are there any other parameters that control the position of the GUI
screen so that I can shift the GUI screen slightly to the left so that I
actually can use the scroll bars when a window is maximized?

7. When I use Cntr-C after the "wait" statement in the rc.sysinit file the
"/usr/bin/rhgb-client --sysinit" statement is not executed (i.e. the server
(which server by the way????) is not informed that rc.sysinit has completed!
Is that the reason why kudzu then doesn't work???

8. I added a "ps -axl" statement just before the "wait" statement in
rc.sysinit to see which processes are running. There are many (23 or so).
I have a list if that is helpful to somebody.

Thanks in advance for any real advice,
Rainer.

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