finding reported errors during system boot

SaintDanBert · 12-21-2018, 12:49 PM

I get a couple of on-screen messages (errors?) that blink past once I leave the GRUB menu and before I see the login screen. The exist for such a short time, I have no idea what they are trying to tell me.

Which of the /var/log message files should I view to locate and read these fly-by messages?

Thanks in advance,
~~~ 0;-Dan
[sudo] password for saint:

business_kid · 12-21-2018, 01:16 PM

I've recently been chasing something like that and found that /var/log/messages(or syslog), dmesg, & what you see on screen all can be different. If you think you're missing something valuable in the kernel booting, best thing these days is to video your boot screen, and then freeze frame it (or pause) at each message. Any smart phone should do that.

Then you can piece together the exact order with reference to the 3 sources of logs.

dc.901 · 12-21-2018, 01:56 PM

In SuSE and CentOS/RH, there is /var/log/boot.log
Not sure which OS you are using, and if that has this log file?

Brains · 12-21-2018, 02:49 PM

There are some examples on how to stop and read the messages during boot here.

jsbjsb001 · 12-21-2018, 03:12 PM

If you look at your syslog configuration, it's the /var/log/messages log that logs everything - kernel messages, service messages, etc.

SaintDanBert · 12-26-2018, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc.901

In SuSE and CentOS/RH, there is /var/log/boot.log
Not sure which OS you are using, and if that has this log file?

I've looked at /var/log/boot.log but the messages I'm seeing look more like syslog that boot.log.

Thanks in advance,
~~~ 0;-Dan

Brains · 12-26-2018, 09:48 PM

Did you try hitting the Scroll lock key on the keyboard when the messages appear, scroll lock does freeze the screen for me, hitting it again resumes booting.

SaintDanBert · 12-26-2018, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brains

Did you try hitting the Scroll lock key on the keyboard when the messages appear, scroll lock does freeze the screen for me, hitting it again resumes booting.

(grinning) I'm not fast enough... by the time I see the message and react its gone.

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan