8.10 2.6.27 boot failed, doesn't find /dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxxx

[henrik65]

Installed 8.10 2.6.27-7 on a ASUS M2N68-VM with Samsung 500GB disk and a IDE DVD RW. AMD Athlon64 X2 4850e. Chip set is "Nvidia GeForce 7050PV / nForce 630a (MCP68PVNT)".
Worked for 2 weeks including upgrade to 2.6.27-9. Suddenly won't boot, dropping to shell with "/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx" doesn't exists. In fact, /dev/disk doesn't exists.
Searched, read and applied lot of kernel parameters from various problem/bug reports. People with exact the same problems have sometimes been helped by a longer rootdelay and other more obscure kernel parameters. This problem seems fairly common but is disguised as various "This and that chipset/motherboard/HD problems" when in reality is seems to be a common root problem.
The HW is ok: when booting from the "USB startup disk" I created everything works including mount of the hard drive (this is how this bug report is written). In BIOS everything looks normal and all devices are showing as expected.
Bottom line: since the system boots from USB and the HDD works from there, it should be possible to find the disk from the beginning and boot normally. And it worked for a while.
Any suggestions? I have reported this problem as a bug but perhaps the forum is a better place to solve this.

Kernel options found thats has been suggested for similair problems:
rootdelay=120
acpi=off
acpi=noirq
pci=nomsi
I'v tried several, but perhaps not all combinations.

Related, perhaps duplicate (at least it seems to):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/33269 root filesystem fails to mount (sata_nv module is loaded)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/290153 Fails to find boot device in Intel D945Gnt
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/294123 2.6.27 SATA drives not accessible at boot time, 2.6.24 working
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-965678.html
http://ubuntu-utah.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=765195&page=28
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-981159.html

Added 2008-12-08:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/95383

Grub menu.lst. The rest is output from the system when booted from USB:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/bug$ tar tvf files.tar
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 275 2008-12-06 13:20 blkid.txt
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 1322 2008-12-06 13:24 df-h.txt
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 45708 2008-12-06 13:25 dmesg.txt
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 86 2008-12-06 13:24 etc-fstab.txt
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 1864 2008-12-06 13:25 lspci.txt
-rw-r--r-- ubuntu/ubuntu 4855 2008-12-06 13:20 menu.lst

[maybeway36]

Try running [url=http://www.sysresccd.org/]SystemRescueCD[/root] and booting with:

rescuecd root=auto
It will boot the Linux kernel on the CD, but instead of loading the CD it will look for a Linux install on your hard drive. I have a feeling this might work.
If it does, you should edit your /etc/fstab to not use UUIDs and then boot the normal way.

[henrik65]

Thanks, I will try. The boot options (grub menu) and the shell I get drop to; doesn't that has to come from the hard drive?

When dropped to shell I don't have any /dev devices which looks like a disk at all so boot is impossible. If I remember correctly, the /dev/disk/by_xxx is just soft links to /dev/sda1 and so on but no /dev/sd* or /dev/hd* to be found.

And when booting from USB the hard drive is there. Or to be more specific: df don't show the hard drive; instead "/media/disk" have some error when using df ("df: '/media/disk': No such file or directory"), clicking on the disk in X gui fixes this and then the disk is working fine.

I'm very close to giving up. Will try the rescue CD and report back. BTW, how do you do the "Thanks" function? (my postings says "Thanks: 0" but they wouldn't if I found the "thanks" button).

[caljohnsmith]

So do you get the same boot problems when selecting either the 2.6.27-7-generic kernel or the newer 2.6.27-9-generic kernel? If so, it sounds like you might have some sort of hardware issue since it stopped working suddenly. Can you open up your computer and re-seat the cable connector for the HDD? Sometimes these types of problems can be caused by something simple like that. Also, have you changed anything in your BIOS recently, particularly anything to do with your HDD configuration? Did your BIOS maybe unintentionally get reset somehow? I would definitely check your BIOS settings, and if nothing else works, I would try changing the BIOS settings related to your HDD; you can look for settings like "auto-detect", LBA, CHS, RAID, AHCI/HCI/EHCI vs. IDE, IDE-emulation, ACPI, DMA, etc. It's always a good idea to write down any settings you change so you can revert back to the original settings if necessary.

If none of the above ideas work, next I would try backing up your important files in Ubuntu and reinstall. If that works, then it highly likely that the recent upgrades are what caused all your problems. Anyway, let us know how it goes. :)

[henrik65]

Thanks for responding,
I've tried the cables but I think it must be something with the detection of the HDD before boot. In BIOS I see the HDD and I see it after booting from USB.
The HDD is connected to "SATA1" according to the motherboard label but shows up as SATA2 in BIOS. Since there are 3 SATA connectors on the board, labeled SATA1-SATA3, and a fourth as an eSATA on the back plane, it's a bit hard to guess which connector is SATA1 to the BIOS. But again, it worked before (the motherboard manual has the SATA connectors labeled the other way around; S3 as S1 but S2 being in the middle still is S2).

And if BIOS conf was broken, I can't understand why the drive works after I've booted from USB.

I haven't changed anything in the BIOS (having used Windows for many years, I'm "trained" not to touch anything or install a program as long as it works :-). I know "haven't changed anything" and "worked for two weeks" doesn't go together but apart from what I mentioned in the last posting, I haven't changed anything.

The stuff (files, shell programs etc) I see when dropped to shell, where did it come from? If the boot loader can't find the disk, it must be from ... eh ... where?

[caljohnsmith]

I don't think you've mentioned yet, but do you get the same boot problems when selecting either the 2.6.27-7-generic kernel or the newer 2.6.27-9-generic kernel?

And if BIOS conf was broken, I can't understand why the drive works after I've booted from USB.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply your BIOS is broken, only that it is possible to have a HDD slightly misconfigured in BIOS so that it still shows up OK in BIOS and even will mount from the a Live CD, and yet booting it is a whole other story.

The stuff (files, shell programs etc) I see when dropped to shell, where did it come from? If the boot loader can't find the disk, it must be from ... eh ... where?
Actually, getting that "/dev/disk/by-uuid/" error doesn't mean that the drive is undetected, because if that were the case, you most likely wouldn't be able to boot it at all and even get a Grub menu. If you look in the /dev directory after you've been dumped into the shell, I think you will see your sda1 and sda5 partitions listed there.

Is your USB drive a Live CD install? If so, can you choose the "Boot from first hard disk" option at the main menu? Does that yield any different results? Here's a screen shot (http://www.herman.linuxmaniac.net/p24/002.png) in case it is not clear. Anyway, let me know how it goes.

[henrik65]

Thanks for helping me.

Yes, boots fails with 2.6.27-7 as well. Have a few more kernel boot options to try, burning DVDs now of all my data. Will try after that.

Very interesting to here that disk can work in BIOS and after USB boot but still won't boot from HDD; I thought it was the same. Thanks.

Devices: no /dev/s* or /dev/h* at all when doing ls from shell I get dropped to. If I understand you correctly; the grub boot menu means the disk has been read? I was under that impression since I've tried different boot options by mounting HDD after USB boot and changing the menu.lst and then reboot.

The USB drive was created during the last time the system booted by the desktop menu option "System/Admin/Create USB startup disk". My USB start screen looks like the screen shot you provided.

[caljohnsmith]

Devices: no /dev/s* or /dev/h* at all when doing ls from shell I get dropped to. If I understand you correctly; the grub boot menu means the disk has been read? I was under that impression since I've tried different boot options by mounting HDD after USB boot and changing the menu.lst and then reboot.

Yes, to get as far as the Grub menu is a good sign because it means that both Grub's stage2 and menu.lst files were successfully read from the /boot/grub directory in your Ubuntu partition.


The USB drive was created during the last time the system booted by the desktop menu option "System/Admin/Create USB startup disk". My USB start screen looks like the screen shot you provided.
So did you try the "boot from first hard drive" option from that menu? Does it yield any different results?

[henrik65]

So did you try the "boot from first hard drive" option from that menu? Does it yield any different results?
It seems to get me back to the USB since in BIOS when I select boot priority, I can only select CD or HDD first, and in another menu choose what HDD means: HDD or USB. So "first HDD" gets me back to USB. It looks like a CD boot would work then.

Still trying to backup files so haven't tried "last" boot options.

[caljohnsmith]

Since you have three SATA connectors on your motherboard, how about connecting your HDD to one of the other two SATA slots and see if that makes a difference when you boot the HDD. That might give an important clue about where the problem lies.

[henrik65]

Since you have three SATA connectors on your motherboard, how about connecting your HDD to one of the other two SATA slots and see if that makes a difference when you boot the HDD. That might give an important clue about where the problem lies.
Ok, I try that. Looking at dmesg in boot shell, I don't see anything regarding SATA or HDD. ("more" doesn't seem to work, seems equal to "cat", so it hard to read dmesg but I think I've seen everything and the only warning is "APIC timer too slow, disabling" (measured at 0.000 MHz).

[henrik65]

Tried various boot options and BIOS settings. Also trid different SATA connectors and disabling the IDE DVD but no change.
As you suggest, I think reinstall is the next thing to try. Will do tomorrow and report back. Link that may be related:
http://linuxrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/09/ubuntu-and-asus-p5q-e-motherboard.html
Tried roughly that (different motherboard) but no change.

[Simbo]

Hi,

I've got an almost identical problem after doing a partial upgrade of 8.10. It reports it can't find the root drive. I run 8.04 in a separate partition (which boots ok) and I can mount the 8.10 partition ok and view it ok from there. I'm not sure which kernel 2.6.27-7 or 2.6.27-9 the upgrade was giving as both have turned up in my /boot but both give the same result.

Still scratching my head...

Simbo

[findus]

Try running [url=http://www.sysresccd.org/]SystemRescueCD[/root] and booting with:

rescuecd root=auto
It will boot the Linux kernel on the CD, but instead of loading the CD it will look for a Linux install on your hard drive. I have a feeling this might work.
If it does, you should edit your /etc/fstab to not use UUIDs and then boot the normal way.

This is exactly what I was looking for- booted Ubuntu straightway which now means I can sort out these pesky UUIDS.

Thanks!:D

[henrik65]

Hi,

I've got an almost identical problem after doing a partial upgrade of 8.10. It reports it can't find the root drive. I run 8.04 in a separate partition (which boots ok) and I can mount the 8.10 partition ok and view it ok from there. I'm not sure which kernel 2.6.27-7 or 2.6.27-9 the upgrade was giving as both have turned up in my /boot but both give the same result.

Still scratching my head...

Simbo

If you look in /where-your-8.10-disk-is-mounted/boot/grub/menu.lst you'll see the different boot options and the OS version.

[davidyu]

Hi,

I've got an almost identical problem after doing a partial upgrade of 8.10. It reports it can't find the root drive. I run 8.04 in a separate partition (which boots ok) and I can mount the 8.10 partition ok and view it ok from there. I'm not sure which kernel 2.6.27-7 or 2.6.27-9 the upgrade was giving as both have turned up in my /boot but both give the same result.

Still scratching my head...

Simbo

Yes, my Ubuntu was crashed after doing a partial upgrade. Every time the boot just stopped to "initramfs". Pretty sad. I had problem with 2.6.27-9 & 2.6.27-10. So, I boot with 2.6.27-7 but seems compiz and avant not working any more. Need a hotfix to solve it.

[henrik65]

Reinstalled 2.6.27-7 from a 8.10 LiveCD I burned oct 29.
Worked smoothly and system started from HDD after that.
Then repeated "dangerous things":
1) install NVIDIA v177 driver: rebooted ok.
2) upgrade to 2.6.27-9 by accepting all 158 updates available is next up: rebooted ok.

I'm 100% clueless to what caused the problem before. On the other hand, it worked for a couple of weeks until refusing to boot.If the problem reappear I'll report back.

Thanks all for your help. I really appreciate it.

[MaskedMarauder]

I just upgraded to 8.10 (2.6.27-11-generic) and have the same problem. I kept an older kernel (2.6.24-23-generic) which boots fine on the same system.

I've re-installed the kernel and all modules and regenerated the initrd.img a couple of times.

Isn't there an easier way to fix than re-installing the whole system?

[henrik65]

After my reinstall it worked and I have taken updates since without problems. I haven't received any additional information.