Bug 72380 – initrd panics when keyboard not connected

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Jeroen Roos 2004-11-24 12:00:36 UTC]

When booting my Via Epia (Nehemiah) system, initrd freezes if no keyboard is connected. If I remove the initrd= line and change root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/hda3 to root=/dev/hda3 (basicly skipping initrd) it works fine.

jeroen@epia jeroen $ uname -a
Linux epia 2.4.26-gentoo-r11 #3 Sun Nov 21 20:59:52 CET 2004 i686 VIA Nehemiah CentaurHauls GNU/Linux

The kernel and initrd were created with genkernel all --menuconfig.

If I connect the keyboard after it has frozen, the Caps and Scroll lock lights are flashing, indicating a panic. No info is on the screen, it just stops after the line:
NET4: Frame Diverter 0.46

[Comment 1 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) 2004-11-26 14:32:29 UTC]

Would you be able to capture the output on a serial console including the panic, please?

[Comment 2 Jeroen Roos 2004-11-27 14:07:57 UTC]

Ok, I configured both kernel and initrd for serial console (added console=/dev/ttyS0,9600n8 to both lines in grub.conf) and the problem does not occur then. I can give you the output of the serial, but I guess it's of no use.

[Comment 3 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) 2004-11-27 14:21:53 UTC]

Hrm, what sort of keyboard would this be? USB or PS/2?

[Comment 4 Jeroen Roos 2004-11-27 14:40:32 UTC]

I only have a PS/2 keyboard, but the problem only occurs if no keyboard at all (and that - appearantly - includes "serial keyboard") is connected.

[Comment 5 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) 2005-01-02 09:42:49 UTC]

Mind trying vanilla-sources-2.4.28?

[Comment 6 Jeroen Roos 2005-01-13 13:09:47 UTC]

I have tried vanilla sources 2.4.28. And the problem is not there when using the 2.4.28 kernel. I have also tried various combinations of kernel/initrd and came to a strange conclusion:

kernel             initrd             problems?
2.4.26-gentoo-r11  2.4.26-gentoo-r11  yes
2.4.26-gentoo-r11  2.4.28             no
2.4.28             2.4.26-gentoo-r11  no
2.4.28             2.4.28             no

I was hoping to find out whether the problem is in the kernel or the initrd...

I see that 2.4.28-gentoo-r5 was marked stable recently. I have emerged it and will install and test soon.

[Comment 7 Jeroen Roos 2005-01-22 02:04:53 UTC]

I could no longer reproduce this problem with 2.4.28-gentoo-r5.

[Comment 8 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) 2005-01-22 04:10:04 UTC]

Closing as FIXED then... Please reopen if this issue reappears...