kernel panic hangs boot on centos

dutler · 02-03-2009, 03:24 PM

Hello, I have a new install of PIAF 1.3 32bit on an older headless IBM Dual PIII with 2GB RAM. I have installed the OS with RAID1 on the two 18GB SCSI drives. I do not have any USB or TDM devices... system details at the end of post.
The Problem

On reboot, the system sometimes hangs at:

Quote:

Starting udev: kernel panic - not syncing for safety...

Often I have to hard reboot more than once to have the machine load correctly. I have noticed, that when it doesnt hang the next line has something to do with not finding any LVM drives.

I dont have any LVM drives.... could this be the issue? Do I need to unload a kernel module?

After leaving the console up over night, I came bak to this output:

Quote:

after leaving the console open lastnight, I came back to this output:
Quote:
Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 00:10:46 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Uhhuh. NMI received for unknown reason 31 on CPU 0.
Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 00:10:46 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Do you have a strange power saving mode enabled?
Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 00:10:46 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Dazed and confused, but trying to continue

I do not have any power mode options in bios....

System Info

uname -a
Linux pbx.local 2.6.18-92.1.6.el5 #1 SMP Wed Jun 25 13:49:24 EDT 2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

lspci -vvnn
Attached.

Kernel Boot Options
I just added acpi=off, havent gevin it a go yet. I was also going to try a break=premount option if its the booting off the raid....

Quote:

default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.18-92.1.6.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.1.6.el5 ro root=/dev/md0 acpi=off
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-92.1.6.el5.img

fstab - in case i has something to do with lvm,raid...

Quote:

/dev/md0 / ext3 defaults 1 1
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
LABEL=SWAP-sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0
LABEL=SWAP-sdb2 swap swap defaults 0 0

The Solutions

As mentioned, Im going to try a few kernel boot options that a learn about while making this post - it will take time to see if the symptoms resurface. Please share your brilliant insights.

dutler · 02-03-2009, 06:43 PM

After a few hours of running, I got the same error at the console:

Quote:

Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 14:53:26 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Uhhuh. NMI received for unknown reason 31 on CPU 0.
Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 14:53:26 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Do you have a strange power saving mode enabled?
Message from syslogd@ at Tue Feb 3 14:53:26 2009 ...
pbx kernel: Dazed and confused, but trying to continue

Must, not be a ACPI issue than right? Trying apm=off.

stress_junkie · 02-03-2009, 07:28 PM

The kernel panic not syncing error message during boot is most often caused by the kernel not having the correct driver built into it to read the disk drive.

Since this is an intermittent problem for you then I would suspect the hard drive or motherboard as being the cause of the problem.

If this is on a new machine I would try updating the motherboard BIOS, if available. If it just started happening after years of reliable service then I would guess that some hardware is starting to fail and should probably be replaced.

dutler · 02-03-2009, 09:54 PM

apm=off did not do the job either.

Quote:

I would guess that some hardware is starting to fail and should probably be replaced.

Thanks, stress_junkie, but crap. Any why I can pin it down to a hard drive or controller card?

Of course this is a new OS install, so the kernel/driver is a likelihood too.
[B]lspci[B]

Quote:

02:0f.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7892A U160/m (rev 02)[B]

[B]lsmod[B] - complete output attached

Quote:

aic7xxx 133109 4
scsi_transport_spi 26305 1 aic7xxx
sd_mod 24897 6
scsi_mod 134605 5 sg,libata,aic7xxx,scsi_transport_spi,sd_mod
raid1 25153 1

dutler · 02-04-2009, 02:10 AM

well... i need to get this pbx going, so I pulled another server - same vintage, model and spec's.

But CentOS, wont even install. In the mist of formating the drives it freezes up and the lights on my keyboard blink just as they would when the other system would freeze.

bummer....

dutler · 02-06-2009, 12:07 AM

As reported before, installing PIAF on a different, identical computer would cause the installation to freeze. The lights on the keyboard would blink and I can not switch consoles or anything.

I downloaded CentOS 5.2 and gave it ago, since PIAF is based on, but different than CentOS 5.2 - SAME PROBLEMS! So, its a CentOS issue and not just a PIAF issue an not an issue of mods PIAF loads.

Also ran memtest for over 10 hours - 4 passes, no errors.

dutler · 02-06-2009, 11:08 PM

If I install CentOS with out softraid and with out LVM, I do not experience any of the problems. Leaning heavy towards a driver issue, but the loaded scsi driver seams to be correct for the adapter.