KUbuntu 10.10. boot problems // boot hangs

[lobo_cobra]

Hi all

I have a real strange issue with installed Ubuntu 10.10.

Hardware:
- CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) 9750 Quad-Core Processor
- Mainboard: Crosshair II
- RAM : 8 GB
- Graphic: Asus EAH 6850 DirectCU (3x Monitor conected, working)
- RAID 0 2x750GB disk

Software
- KUbuntu 10.10. with latest updates and kernel grisu-linux 2.6.35-24-generic-pae
- Catalyst 10.12.

Problem description
- installed Ubuntu 10.10 from live CD (boot with Ubuntu Live CD works sometimes)
- After installation and reboot, screen remained black and boot stopped (after you select the kernel).
- as screen remainded black (cursor blinking), I wanted to reboot and pushed the power button
- surprisingly , boot continued....
- I realized then that at every boot, booting stops, looks like that after first initialization, KUbuntu goes into sleep

Work-around // to boot to KUbuntu I must now EACH TIME...
=> select boot kernel on grub
=> wait until first boot part finishes (about 10 sec) and until no HW activity is seen (blinking lamps)
=> screen goes black and cursor is blinking
=> then I must push power button, and the CD rom is detected
=> then I must push power button again, and HD is accessed and booting goes on

After those weird steps, Kubuntu starts and login works. 3 Monotors are working with compiz. all ok

Here my demesg:
http://www.filetolink.com/1131cd7f

Here some suspicious errors in syslog:
=> "spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7"
* Spurious interrupt is a hardware interrupt that is unwanted. They are typically generated by system conditions
such as electrical interference on an interrupt line or through incorrectly designed hardware.
Google says, probably not the cause, seems to be a mainboard problem, that occurs often on different boards
=> "HEST: Table is not found!"
google shows that a maverick bug report is open. seems not to be the reason
=> "input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input1"
this could have to do with my problem, no clue yet what it means. something to do with udev?. Anybody an idea?
=> ERST: Table is not found!
seems to have to do something with ATI driver not compiled to the right kernel... this could be a real trace
- Google says... Maverick Meerkat is currnetly using xserver 1.8x and the ati driver does not support this
and soon there is going to be xserver 1.9x and then we need to wait till ati release an
ati driver that support the new xserver versions before a new fglrx driver be released.
- i try now... I try to edit /etc/default/grub
add "nomodeset noapic nolapic" in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
-- this did not change anything... same problem


Anybody an idea what is the reason and how to repair? All works, but pushing each boot 2x Power button is too silly.

[lobo_cobra]

has anybody an idea? problem still occurs, I need to press 2x power button during boot up.

[dabl]

The blinky cursor in the upper left corner of a black screen is normally associated with a video driver issue. I'd suspect the radeon driver and/or its interface with the Asus graphics card.

It would be kind of tedious, but you could verify my hypothesis by swapping in a more generic GPU and testing it that way.

The ability to continue the boot with a power switch is an oddity, though -- I can't explain that at all.

[lobo_cobra]

hi

Thanks for the replay. I agree with you, that this is probably due to the ATI driver catalyst 10.12.

By adding to grub acpi=off, the boot sequence does not hang anymore, but linux compleetly hangs at the log-on.

=> it must have something to do with the acpi function in relation with the ATI driver.

I guess I will head for Debian SID and leave the (K)ubuntu world again. I used Ubuntu LTS 6 which gave on that time no upgrade path to the next version and live since happily (for server) with Debian. Probably this is another odd Ubuntu bug. Honestly looking at all the problems you can find in Kubuntu 10.10 (not only this hang error), I must say, that Kubuntu 10.10 may be a step forward for Windows users, but a huge step back for Linux users.

Thanks for the help anyway.

[lobo_cobra]

ok found a workaround...

add to noapic and nolapic to kernel settings:
vim /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash noapic nolapic "
and don't forget to run update-grub

I almost feel like in SuSE, where I must run update scripts after I changed something. Honestly guys... either let users change things in config files directly or program a small program to change config files. But this mix is really not linux and windows like

I hope this helps somebody...

P.S: Asus EAH6850 works fine with 3 Monitors, whatever peeps say...

[dabl]

Good job sorting it!

Well, you can run Debian (or aptosid, which I do) if you want to, but Grub 2 is still ... what it is. You still need the fiddly little boot options to deal with hardware issues, or non-default I/O schedulers, or whatever. :)