fc11 first boot hangs on "Verifying DMI Pool Data.."

[twidlerjohn]

Hi all,
I had Fedora11 (default layout) running on a separate hard drive (winXP on the other drive). After the FC drive failure I replaced the drive and did a fresh install again. This time I tried a custom layout to keep the /home on a separate partition. The installation went without a hitch, but on first boot the system hangs with
"Verifying DMI Pool Data......"
XP boots fine though. Looks like grub doesn't get loaded. I can boot with the installation cd and get into recovery mode, everything seems fine on the fedora disk. Fdisk result:

[root@localhost grub]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160040803840 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb598b598

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4863 39062016 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 4864 19457 117226305 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 4864 9726 39062016 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 9727 14589 39062016 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 14590 19457 39102178+ b W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00083b5e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 32 256000 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 32 2327 18432000 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 2327 2837 4096000 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 2838 19457 133500150 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 2838 18135 122880000 83 Linux

Disk /dev/dm-0: 3221 MB, 3221225472 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 391 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 3221 MB, 3221225472 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 391 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table


Grub.conf:
[root@localhost grub]# cat grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd1,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sdb2
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sdb1
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64 ro
root=UUID=bf6391cb-1497-480a-b391-d77e577564a8 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


Is there anything wrong here? Thanks in advance.

John.
I'm still learning linux.

[stoat]

Originally Posted by twidlerjohn

Is there anything wrong here?

Hello twidlerjohn,

The only thing I saw was these two lines should be one line...

Originally Posted by twidlerjohn

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64 ro
root=UUID=bf6391cb-1497-480a-b391-d77e577564a8 rhgb quiet

But I would not expect that to cause your problem. This message is generated by the mainboard's BIOS...

Originally Posted by twidlerjohn

"Verifying DMI Pool Data......"

And it occurs way before GRUB even starts its work. It probably is related to the hardware change. Do a search with Google using that phrase, and you will immediately see what I mean. Lots of suggestions, too. BTW, I mean that in a friendly, helpful way. Not the usual way.

[twidlerjohn]

Thanks Stoat, for the prompt response. Yes, I did google the phrasse before posting, but couldn't find a close similarity to my situation, so I thought I must have made some mistake in partitioning since I did a custom layout for the first time. Especially because I put the boot loader on the linux disk so that I can select from the boot drive-selection screen at BIOS startup.

Most of the google hits pointed to a hardware change, which is right though; I did replace the hard drive. But then, the fc installation went so smooth, I thought BIOS must have registered the drive properly. But I'll take your advise and investigate that again.



The split line "kernel /vmlinuz..." must have happened due to my copy/paste operation.


john