kernel starved to inusability and not booting fully

[Diabolic Preacher]

having successfully recompiled the kernel once. i took another attempt to customize it so i could have a more lighter kernel...and probably either removed some modules or did some similar misconfiguration in the kernel....without a backup.

so now i have a kernel image that boots up till a certain point and then the last line's last part is
<code>/sbin/modprobe something  (not a module now) abnormal exit.</code>

the last words are of the form abnormal exit. but there doesn't seem to be a clear indication of the module name or if its something else

there are a huge number of drivers that i'd never ever would be using...

now what i intend to do is...

1. overwrite the kernel image with someone's 2.6.20.4 kernel image...specifically from the VL 5.8 SOHO RC2 or later.
1a. alternatively can we dump the image from a VL live cd? which version would be ideal...bare minimum. which all paths' contents have to be overwritten?

2. learn to backup the kernel...learn to have multiple kernels...any howto links that are atleast VL/slackware specific?

3. find out a way to enlist all the driver modules that are actually being used for my hardware. so i know what i need.

the problem is where do i find a kernel image?....if i can do it from the live cd...its good...but there aren't anybody else in my locality who are using it....anyone that i know of

[uelsk8s]

you can use the kernel, and modules from a livecd.

it may be easier to boot the livecd and download kernel packages and install them though.
there are lots of kernels to choose from here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/kernels/

The hardest part of all this will be setting up a proper chroot environment.
if I was you i would boot the livecd cd to your partitions boot dir and delete the kernel from there, then download a new kernel and modules package,
then use "installpkg kernel*tlx -R /pathtoyourpartitions/boot" after that i would make sure there is a vmlinuz file in the boot partition.
then you can boot your system with the regular VL install cd and choose the reinstall lilo option from there

HTH,
Uelsk8s

[Diabolic Preacher]

it may be easier to boot the livecd and download kernel packages and install them though.
there are lots of kernels to choose from here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/kernels/

i got 3 files of kernel version 2.6.20.6. in which order do i install them?

The hardest part of all this will be setting up a proper chroot environment.

slackware doesn't allow

Code:

#chroot /mountpoint of partition

where hdd distro is installed?

if I was you i would boot the livecd cd to your partitions boot dir

boot to my partition boot dir? means?

and delete the kernel from there, then download a new kernel and modules package,

if i want the sources for further experimentation then which of the packages do i need?

i would make sure there is a vmlinuz file in the boot partition.

there is. i booted the system with kubuntu as of now and went to the path.

then you can boot your system with the regular VL install cd and choose the reinstall lilo option from there

err...what about grub?

IHAB

[uelsk8s]

it may be easier to boot the livecd and download kernel packages and install them though.
there are lots of kernels to choose from here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/kernels/

i got 3 files of kernel version 2.6.20.6. in which order do i install them?

doesnt matter the order you install them.

The hardest part of all this will be setting up a proper chroot environment.

slackware doesn't allow

Code:

#chroot /mountpoint of partition

where hdd distro is installed?

it always has for me, but the problem is making sure all the required pseudo filesystems are mounted ( mount -o bind /proc /mnt/hda1/proc )
proc and dev maybe all you need, and these are only needed to install lilo if  you use grub dont worry about mounting them.

if I was you i would boot the livecd cd to your partitions boot dir

boot to my partition boot dir? means?
the HDD partition that you cant boot into's boot dir

and delete the kernel from there, then download a new kernel and modules package,

if i want the sources for further experimentation then which of the packages do i need?
kernel-src is the package that has the source files in it.

i would make sure there is a vmlinuz file in the boot partition.

there is. i booted the system with kubuntu as of now and went to the path.
make sure its there after you install the new kernel packages, and before you install them you should delete any that is there that is non-working

then you can boot your system with the regular VL install cd and choose the reinstall lilo option from there

err...what about grub?
if you use grub you can skip this step altogether and just reboot into your newely installed kernel



IHAB

let us know how it goes for you,
Uelsk8s

[Diabolic Preacher]

breaking news!!

i got my system up and running by replacing vmlinuz with vmlinuz.old and .config with .config.old in /boot and /usr/src/linux-2.6.20.4 respectively. the non-working files have been suffixed with the extension .unsafe . i hope there are no applications which register this extension. but...

that's about it. i mean some hardware like sound device is not being detected. i ran alsaconf and it detected the ATI soundcard in my Dell AMD laptop. but thought it tells me to have fun and exits successfully, i still don't get to enjoy any sound. maybe i'll try reinstallin the kernel tlz package from my install CD but then i'll have to re-patch suspend2.

if you got any workarounds about gettin the drivers workin without reinstalling. i'm thinkin of checkin out the kernel config file again...just tell which directories are to be backed up.

[Diabolic Preacher]

sorry for the looong delay, but guess it really takes this long to have a decent connection to just download just about 12 mb of kernel n modules. but what an amazing experience. its just like homeopathy. just a lil bit dose n u get alright..this is damn crazy. 2 installpkg statements and guess what....everything is fixed. e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!! i am connecting now thru broadcom wifi the most linux-reluctant...and all's been setup all automatically.

and a very very very big thank you to Uelsk8s. you have no idea how much this means to me! now i will show off my wifi linux lappy. muhahahaha!!

have a great time

[Diabolic Preacher]

the happiness just lasted till one reboot. i suspect the gui tools like wlassistant are responsible for this.

the interface name for my wireless changed back from wlan0 to eth1 and now without _me_ making any changes the wifi cannot connect to the net. damn i hate restarting linux!

i tried editing the rc.inet1.conf file and kept eth1 null and filled out the values for wlan0. this was specified in another thread but after a reboot the values are rewritten such that eth1 values are filled up.

not so happy now

[JohnB316]

Diabolic Preacher,

The following thread, posted by Joe1962, will help you solve the problem of the network interface name changing on reboot: http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=979.0

HTH,
John