On Sunday 06 December 2009 22:23:32 and regarding:
> I had a fairly rude surprise when I pulled the testing updates tonight. The
> install of kernel26-2.6.32-1-x86_64 left my toshiba 205d laptop unbootable.
> The boot process would start as usual but then get to a point just after it
> had started X and lock. There was no way to ctrl+f1 to break out of X and the
> only solution was to reboot.
>
Thomas, Gabriel:
Thank you for the solution in the thread "[arch-general] Kernel 2.6.32
and Radeon KMS". I too was bitten by the bug. The damning part of this bug is
that for users with MODULES="radeon" configured in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, the
bug hits just as the radeon kernel module is loaded by the initramfs 'which
clears the screen' leaving you staring at a blank locked computer. Not much
info to debug since no logging has been activated at the time.
To fix the problem, as specified in the thread, just restore
etc/mkinitcpio.conf to its original state by removing/commenting out the
MODULES="radeon" line:
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run. Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array. For instance:
# MODULES="piix ide_disk reiserfs"
#MODULES="radeon"
MODULES=""
and then add radeon to the modules line in /etc/rc.conf:
MODULES=(radeon ath5k vboxdrv !pcspkr)
Then upgrade the kernel and all will be good. Thanks again for you guys
help!
--
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com
