I had Fedora (3.5.6-1.fc17.x86_64) which worked fine. I installed an offered upgrade to Fedora (3.6.1-1.fc17.x86_64) and it wouldn't start up. I continued to use the former version until a new upgrade was offered, Fedora (3.6.2-4.fc17.x86_64). I thought this would fix the problem but it hasn't.

The startup process continues normally and gets through the 5 sec countdown thing (sorry I'm not very technical with this as I'm actually way out of my depth but trying to learn). Then a message flashed up on the screen and disappeared so fast that I couldn't read it. I actually ended up taking a photo of it so I could read the d*** thing. This is what it said:

7.2638131 Failed to access perfctr msr (MSR c1 is 0)

Would anyone be able to assist me in getting my updated Fedora up and running please.

fedora and upgrades have NEVER mixed well

a fresh new clean NEW install is the recommended way to change versions
from fedora 16 to 17


but
there is NO "upgrade" in 17
only standard normal updates
and a full install of fedora will get about 3 Gig's of updates in the first 3 to 6 months


i am guessing that you installed a non fedora driver for say the video card ( AMD/ATI or Nvidia )

that "3.5.6-1" to "3.6.2-4"
is a VERY VERY BIG jump
and is THE KERNEL and NOT the operating system

have you NEVER ran the REQUIRED updates
fedora's DEFAULT settings are to look for updates every time you boot the computer
then install them automatically

to go from the 3.5 to the 3.6 kernel is a big jump



A question ?
WHY did you install fedora ????
it is a testing / Research and Development distro
and is not a good choice for someone who dose NOT want to fix and LEARN TO fix a busted operating system
fedora is VERY OFTEN in need of fixing BY the user

it breaks VERY OFTEN
because it IS a Research and Development distro
also often fedora is SO NEW that many programs will NOT even build or run on it BECAUSE fedora is just SO BLOODY NEW
that you the user needs to hack software to just be able to run it on fedora

so unless YOU LIKE to and WANT to hack software
fix a update that can at times turn a computer into a door stop ( brick it)
and you WANT to fix things and WANT to learn HOW ( or already KNOW HOW)

then fedora is NOT a good choice

Thanks for your reply to this post and my previous post John VV. Also thank you for the overview of Fedora and my possible intentions with it.

Until a few weeks ago I didn't know what a distro or a kernal was. My use of the term 'upgrade' was a slip from the airline industry in which I am employed. I am running Fedora 17 using Parallels Desktop 7 hosted on an Mac OS X. I haven't installed any specific driver for Fedora. I suppose it just uses whatever is in my MacBook Pro.

My involvement with Fedora came about because I was interested in creating an app for iPhones and iPads. You don't have to go very far before running into using command line interface as a way of communicating with a computer. It quickly became double dutch. I figured I needed a good practical understanding of computers and Objective C. I found an introductory course on computers offered by Harvard University. It's delivered as an Open Course Ware subject online, called CS50. As part of their course they use an appliance which is a virtual machine based on Fedora. I installed that on my MacBook Pro and run it using Parallels Desktop 7. I also installed Fedora 17 which I have been using as a 'classroom' to learn about Linux, primarily bash at the moment via 'info bash'. I don't use it for anything else and don't run any other software on it.

As you can see, one thing has led to another and here I am. I don't really want to hack software or tinker under the bonnet. I just want to be confident and proficient at being able to create apps that may be useful to somebody. Does this mean I need to be able to fix busted operating systems? I'm not sure.

I would appreciate any views people might have on what the best way forward might be. I'm prepared to do what it takes although at the moment it looks like it's going to take a lot.

Thanks.

ONE
if you search the web for

Failed to access perfctr msr

you will find a number of entries - I dont have the time to digest them right now but I think you are over your head needlessly

TWO

If you are using fedora 17 to learn about bash that's like taking off in an experimental airplane to understand how a kite flies.

Drop back to something simple - an older version of Fedora or one of the many stable linuxes or unixes. You might want to consider something that boots to a command line.

IDEA

Since I don't understand your exact situation this may or may not make sense. Bash is one of many scripting systems. Unless I'm wrong, on the mac - a derivative of BSD Unix as I recall - you have access to csh and sh - somewhat similar scripting systems. If you're good at one of them you have all of them pretty well under control - so you might consider getting to be a hot shot on csh or sh - since you have them right there. and then move to bash if there is some reason to do so.

Also - old pcs sell for almost nothing. You might buy an old desktop and get a few drives ($25 each at ebay) and try multiple systems. I like to avoid complexity - and running one system in a virtual machine residing on another system is not the easy - simple - way to do things. Its like riding a bike no hands while you play the accordion.

the error "Failed to access perfctr msr "
is a kernel error

and as is a bit normal for fedora it is using a very very new and not well tested kernel
( basically the users ARE the testers)

this error is showing up in the NEW 3.6 kernel

and if i had to guess
being in a VM on a mac is the problem

and i DO NOT know of a fix other than rebuilding a kernel with a patch added ( maybe - I am skimming massage broads for postings)


then i might offer installing a different Operating system
VM's are all fine and dandy BUT they do have limitations ( and advantages also )

My self i do not care for them much .
others LOVE THEM and could not even live without them

that is up to you


save any personal files then try OpenSUSE 12.2
it is NOT as "cutting / bleeding edge" as fedora
and has a longer lifespan than fedora

also it tends to be more stable
the target user IS NOT "the Tinkerer " but " The Corporate OFFICE "
( well the not free version "SELD-suse enterprise linux desktop" is)
it is RPM based BUT suse dose things a bit differently - sometimes rather differently

http://www.opensuse.org/en/
and the wiki and docs
http://en.opensuse.org/Main_Page
http://doc.opensuse.org/

you sound like an engineer so
do a bit of research and before you know it
you will understand it - a lot better

My suggestion

either (1)move to a different environment or (2)use the tools that are available in your environment

(2) first
I see that eclipse is available to run on the mac. Many application programmers do not know how to work at the command line. They use programming environments. Eclipse is really nice and I see that it runs on the mac. Take a look at this site
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/artic...clipse_On_OS_X

get a copy of eclipse running on your mac - develop your apps with it

(1) running an experimental op sys in a virtual machine on another op sys is as close to crazy as I can imagine for anyone with less than 30 years of programming experience and strong masochistic desires.

If you don't want to run eclipse on the mac - buy another computer - install a stable version of one of the xnix op systems - but even there you should probably work with a system like eclipse and not at the command line. Or use windows - years ago there were really neat programming systems from Borland that ran on windows - lots of people work on windows. I believe eclipse runs on windows. Probably there are more apps developed on windows that anything else (heresy - I may be banned from this site).

Buy a power saw - later for fun learn how to trim wood with an axe like your great grandpaw did. You are trying to develop an app - learning bash is a distraction. Old guys like me (80) work at the command line cause that's what we are familiar with.

Post Script
Suggestion - After a nights sleep -

Working at the command line on your mac, create a hello world in java and port it to your phone.

Once you've done that you will understand the issues and have demonstrated that you could do the whole process.

Developing a java hello world at the command line is easy - merely needs an editor and a copy of the java development kit.

Thanks for the great perspectives John VV and rmknox. You've given me a broader view of things and provided some really useful options for me. In my day to day I don't get to rub shoulders with folks who have specialist knowledge in these things so I really appreciate this forum and you both taking the time out to respond to my post.

Well, I'm off to buy me a power saw and forge on ...

Cheers.