Fedora 10 boot stops at "Starting udev:"

paddster7 · #1 29th March 2009, 09:18 AM

I have done a fresh text-only installation of Fedora 10 on a Dell Dimension E521 for the purpose of setting up a server. After installation I ran yum update to bring the system up to date. After the update, I rebooted the computer, but the boot process froze. I recycled power and pressed "I" after the Dell BIOS screen and the GRUB bootloader appeared. I selected the most current version, edited the kernel line by deleting "rhgb quiet" and replacing it with "3." After making this change, I continued with the boot and the computer stopped at "Starting udev:"

I have two fedora 10 revisions showing in the GRUB bootloader, the original installation and the update after running yum. I repeatedly tried rebooting both versions and, after about 30 attempts, the computer finished booting and got me to the command prompt.

Reading through the forums indicated there might be some issue with my nVidia GeForce 6150 onboard video and fedora 10. So, when I got to the command prompt, I followed the instructions in the forums (http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=204752) to load the rpmfusion drivers. This appeared to be successful and when I looked at /etc/X11/xorg.conf it appeared to be correct for the new nVidia drivers. However, I am not sure that is what is causing my problem. After loading these new drivers I tried rebooting. Unfortunately, I have been trying now over and over to get back to the command prompt, but simply can't get past "Starting udev." Any ideas?

paddster7 · #2 29th March 2009, 06:16 PM

I was trying modifications to the BIOS, seeing if any changes there would make a difference. I disabled the onboard Fast Ethernet - eth1 - and my system starting booting every time. (I also have a Gigabit Ethernet card installed - eth0)

I also noticed that when eth1 was active, I would occasionally get the following message:

selma login: b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode2.fw" not found or load failed.
b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).
input: b43legacy-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input6
firmware: requesting b43legacy/ucaode2.fw
b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode2.fw" not found or load failed.
b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).

So, it appears that I might need to have this installed for eth1 to not lock up the boot. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to take the error information above and make my system install the appropriate file(s).

If anyone could give me step-by-step instructions, I sure would appreciate it.

dhimes · #3 29th March 2009, 07:19 PM

I have noticed that the boot seems to hang on my hp Pav dv9000 series (nVidia GeForce 7150M), but if I keep tapping the mouse pad or hitting space-bar, it boots rather quickly. The really cool thing is that resume-suspend works now, so I'll be rebooting a lot less. Maybe this 'tapping' trick will work for you.

paddster7 · #4 29th March 2009, 08:14 PM

I appreciate the input. Fortunately, after many hours of troubleshooting, I discovered that a Linksys Wireless PCI Card that was installed in the computer when it was running Windows Vista was conflicting with the onboard Broadcom Fast Ethernet chip under Fedora 10. When I removed the Linksys card, everything started booting just fine.

dhimes · #5 29th March 2009, 08:28 PM

What are you using for wireless? Or did you give it up? I have an Atheros 5007 (shows up as an AR2425)

paddster7 · #6 29th March 2009, 08:35 PM

Well, I am setting this computer up as a server, and I won't be using wireless. It appears that the Broadcom chip on the motherboard has some sort of legacy wireless capabilities, but there is no antenna attached to the motherboard. I think that is why the computer was originally purchased with this Linksys Wireless Card in one of the PCI slots. Under Windows Vista, the OS was able to load the appropriate drivers for both the Broadcom and Linksys devices so that wired traffic was routed through the Broadcom connection and wireless traffic was routed through the Linksys card.

If I needed wireless for my setup, I would probably have to find the correct drivers for the Linksys card, and perhaps load the legacy drivers for the Broadcom chip. But, since I don't, that is one headache I can eliminate.

dhimes · #7 29th March 2009, 08:39 PM

OK, thanks. I'm just kind of curious why I have to tap the thing to boot, and perked up when you said removing the pci wireless card made a difference.

paddster7 · #8 29th March 2009, 08:43 PM

When you do an interactive boot, you have to acknowledge each line as the drivers, etc. are loaded. I wonder if you have your grub.conf file set up to do some sort of interactive thing during the boot process and that is why you are having to tap to get the boot to proceed.

Do you think that is possible?

dhimes · #9 29th March 2009, 08:48 PM

Ah, that's a good idea. I don't see anything on the screen except a horizontal progress indicator across the bottom. I'll check that out. Thanks!

paddster7 · #10 29th March 2009, 08:56 PM

Right. You need to get your boot process into a verbose mode so that you can see what is happening. When you boot the computer, press the "i" key after the BIOS screen goes off. That should get you into the GRUB Bootloader screen. You may see more than one option for which version of Fedora you can boot into. You, probably, want the one at the top, which should be the latest version.

Make sure the one you want is highlighted and press the "a" key. You should now see the end of the kernel argument line. You might see the default "rhgb quiet" after root=/dev/VolGroup01/LogVo100. If you see something other than that, if could be part of the problem.

paddster7 · #11 29th March 2009, 08:58 PM

If you delete the "rhgb quiet" and replace them with "verbose" you will not get the blue/white bar at the bottom of the screen when booting. You will see all the text going by.

dhimes · #12 29th March 2009, 09:09 PM

I edited grub.conf to delete the rhgb and quiet and rebooted. There are several places where the boot hangs until I prompt:

creating /dev
clocksource unstable
setting vp hotplug
waiting for driver initialization (right after "OK loading ata-generic module")
-- could not detect stabilization- waiting 10 seconds
Activating logical volumes
--2 logical volumes now active
mounting root filesystems
Selinux disabled at runtime

Then when it gets to

switching to new root and running init

everything boots ok

paddster7 · #13 29th March 2009, 09:23 PM

Well, I am pretty new at Linux, so I don't really have any good information about why it would be hanging at these various points. Others, I am sure, will have more valuable information for you. But, at least now you can see where the sticking points are.

dhimes · #14 29th March 2009, 09:48 PM

Thanks for your thoughts. I tried booting without the wireless enabled, but it hung more or less the same way.

I took one of my error messages and searched the forum. I found this link. I may play with it after a bit http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=207477