Fedora 12 Not Starting

[ponic]

Hello,

I did a fresh installation of Fedora12, after the initial boot, progress bar stops at the end.
it doesn't move and mouse and keyboard doesn't work at all. Due to this, I have re-installed a couple of times and didn't help.
I have attached log from VB.

Could someone provide some help?

Regards

[campbec]

What's the kernel version of the Fedora install? Have you tried to SSH to the Fedora machine? Otherwise try "Host Key" + F2 to get a console window for the Fedora machine. Your problem may be related to the problems between Virtualbox 3.1.4 and Fedora kernel 2.6.32.

[ponic]

Thanks for the reply.

I couldn't get the console using Host +F2. I had a earlier snapshot and I logged in with that. I found from grub.conf I got only one kernel (2.6.31)

I am not sure how I could update my system, if I did a yum update kernel would get the lastest and I wouldn't be able to boot.

How can I resolve this issue?

[SSCBrian]

I've struggled with Fedora 12 since it came out and finally have given up and gone to Fedora 11 which works fine.

[ponic]

I am thinking of moving to centos 5

[ucd_orko]

ponic, this seems to be a nasty bug for fedora 12 with the new kernel. I have not seen it solved it in any other manner other than using the older kernel IF you plan to use the Guest Additions.

related:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28196
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28446

[jsh123]

I am having a similar issue.

I can install Fedora 12 and it creates the normal 2 devices /dev/sda1 and dev/sda2.

It seems to install fine, but after reboot it can not find the boot partition /dev/sda1 /boot?

Any thoughts?

[ponic]

Hi,
@ucd_orko

How can I use old kernel, if I do yum update, it is updating to latest kernel and upon re-start F12 doesn't boot.

@jsh123
Yes that's the problem, after re-boot F12 won't start at all, mouse, keyboards will not work.

[jsh123]

@ponic

Hmmmmm I will try not doing an update at the end after an install

[Martin]

Maybe http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 86#p128286 also helps here...

[SSCBrian]

I'm still trying to figure out how anybody is getting any revision level of F12 installed w/VBox. Doesn't work on any of my machines!

[CPngN]

I've had 12 installed for a while now, so I had an earlier kernel available in GRUB. But I have never modified GRUB. My first guess to HOLD DOWN SHIFT while booting (make sure the guest is active and responding to the kb/mouse) and you get the GRUB menu even if you had the delay set to 0. No need for a LiveCD. If you have the earlier kernel, you're in luck. If not, I believe one or more of the suggestions in this thread or one of the other 2 can be used from this point on.

Since I"m not doing anyhtihng that requires the absolute latest kernel, I simply modified GRUB to load the old one by default, as well as giving it 10 seconds so I can see the menu from here on out.

I think since I'm just doing class exercises on this thing, I'll stop doing updates. This was not worth the time I lost to have "the latest, most secure patches". Ugh.

So again, if you don't normally see GRUB, remember to hold shift down as Fed12 boots.

[ucd_orko]

I'm still trying to figure out how anybody is getting any revision level of F12 installed w/VBox. Doesn't work on any of my machines!

What I did was the following:
1. Clean Install Fedora 12 WITHOUT network support. --> this will ensure 2.6.31 gets installed.
2. update the system. This will install the 2.6.32 kernel
3. edit grub to boot to the older kernel REBOOT TO OLD KERNEL
4. installed headers/tools to build VBox additions
5. reboot
6. ????
7. profit.

here is my bash history:

uname -r
rpm -qa |grep kernel
sudo yum install kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686 gcc
rpm -qa |grep kernel
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
reboot

for those interested in editing grub:

Through live cd or if you have a tty:
[AS ROOT or SUDOER:]
cd /boot/grub
vi grub.conf

the two lines you are interested are:
default=1
timeout=10

[default] The first kernel is 0, the second is 1, and so on. this is the kernel you will boot by default.
[timeout] is the countdown before it starts booting the default kernel.

this is my grub.conf file:

Code: Select all

# 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 (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_chiaki-lv_root
#          initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.32.9-67.fc12.i686.PAE)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32.9-67.fc12.i686.PAE ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_chiaki-lv_root  LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
	initrd /initramfs-2.6.32.9-67.fc12.i686.PAE.img
title Fedora (2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686.PAE)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686.PAE ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_chiaki-lv_root  LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
	initrd /initramfs-2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686.PAE.img

[SSCBrian]

I think since I'm just doing class exercises on this thing, I'll stop doing updates. This was not worth the time I lost to have "the latest, most secure patches". Ugh.

I'm afraid that I have to agree. I've always been a big "always update for security" guy, but with GNU/Linux that seems to be a bad idea. Even on baremetal it seems like everytime I update it that it blows up and I end up wasting a lot of time repairing and/or reinstalling.

[Birmingham]

I was able to install and run Virtualbox 3.1.6 r59338 by Installing All updates then running these commands as root:

yum install gcc
yum install make automake autoconf gcc kernel-devel dkms
/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

Hope this helps others.