VL Light 7.1 - No kernel modules found after kernel update.

[Casey]

I'm using VL Light 7.1 on an old laptop, and I used gslapt to update the kernel from the original 3.18.16 to 3.18.44.  Unfortunately, I didn't discover the recommended method until it was too late.  (According to  http://vlcoredocumentation.readthedocs.io/en/latest/manuals/kernel-upgrade.html  I should have used slapt-get from the command line to ADD a new kernel without removing the old one.)  I think gslapt has removed some (but not all) of the old kernel's files, although I can still boot to either kernel (after running grub-mkconfig).

I'm concerned by the message "No kernel modules found for Linux 3.18.44" that appears on the system console early in the boot process.  My guess is that it has something to do with the broken links and/or obsolete initrd-tree in my /boot directory.  Before I attempt to fix something that isn't truly broken, can anyone advise me about whether or not the files in /boot need to be manually altered after a kernel update?  I'm new to the kernel update process, and I'm hesitant to mess around with something I don't fully understand.  I did look at the README.initrd file in /boot, but I'm still unsure about what paramaters I might need for my setup (using GRUB2 with two EXT3 partitions, plus one swap partititon - see below).

Here's the revelent portion of the startup messages:

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[    3.658890] Switched to clocksource tsc
[    3.695840] random: nonblocking pool is initialized
No kernel modules found for Linux 3.18.44
[    9.995374] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[    9.995663] EXT3-fs (sda6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
/boot/initrd.gz: exiting
/init: line 344: plymouth: not found
INIT: version 2.88 booting
Mounting /proc file system
mount: proc already mounted
==> rc.S Setting up the base system configuration

And here's what I've got on my system:

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~ $ uname -srv
Linux 3.18.44 #1 SMP Fri Oct 28 14:47:09 CDT 2016

~ $ mount |grep ^/dev
/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sda8 on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/shm/tmp on /tmp type none (rw,bind)

~ $ slapt-get --installed | grep -i kernel-
autofs-5.0.5-i586-3vl71 [inst=yes]: autofs (kernel-based automounter)
kernel-3.18.44-x86-1vl71 [inst=yes]: VectorLinux linux-3.18.44 kernel
kernel-firmware-20150430_git-noarch-1vl71 [inst=yes]: kernel-firmware (iFirmware for the kernel)
kernel-headers-3.18.44-x86-1vl71 [inst=yes]: forum.vectorlinux.com18.44 headers
kernel-modules-3.18.44-x86-1vl71 [inst=yes]:

~ $ ls -l /boot
total 25376
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       37 Feb 28 02:20 README.initrd -> /usr/doc/mkinitrd-1.4.7/README.initrd
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       18 Feb 28 02:19 System.map -> System.map-3.18.16
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  3256952 Oct 28 14:47 System.map-3.18.44
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     4096 Feb 28 02:57 bitmap/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       14 Feb 28 02:19 config -> config-3.18.16
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   145622 Oct 28 14:47 config-3.18.44
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root     4096 Mar  4 11:44 grub/
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root     4096 Jan  5  2014 grub2/
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root     4096 Feb 28 02:57 initrd-tree/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 11052599 Feb 28 02:59 initrd.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       15 Feb 28 02:19 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-3.18.16
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5731232 Feb 28 02:57 vmlinuz-3.18.16
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5720752 Oct 28 14:47 vmlinuz-3.18.44

Note that the directory entries for config and System.map are in red, which tells me they are broken links.  The entry for initrd.gz is also in red, but I don't know why.  Also, vmlinuz seems to be pointing to the wrong (old) kernel.  I'm not sure if I need to fix these three broken links, remove the old initrd-tree and the initrd.gz file before running mkinitrd, or even if I should run mkinitrd at all.  I'll certainly make a backup copy of the entire /boot directory before I do anything, but I'd like to know what the "best practice" is for bringing everything up-to-date.  Can anyone offer some tried & true advice?  Thanks!

[roarde]

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# In your own home directory
cp -apr /boot/initrd-tree ./         # just in case
su root -c 'mkinitrd -F'
That will probably cover it. See the mkinitrd manual page for why -F should work here.

Emphasis on the italics as "maybe". We haven't done a whole lot of this, and the wiser heads are on vacation 

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grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfgshould finish it off.

The "modules not found" message is indeed from the initrd. The above method should result in a slightly larger initrd, with modules for both kernels. Can be cleaned up later.

[Casey]

After a careful study of the man pages, I ran mkinitrd with both the -c and the -F options to clear the old initrd-tree.  I fixed the broken links manually (system.map, config, and vmlinuz), but oddly enough grub never objected to them in the first place.  (My guess is that they are used only by lilo, not grub.)  Anyway, everything seems to be working fine now, and the "No kernel modules found" message is gone.  I don't think I need the old kernel any more, so I deleted it and and updated grub once again.  Success!

Thanks for the helpful advice.

[roarde]

Glad it's working for you. Thanks for the detailed info.