Failing to Boot After Lenny -> Squeeze Upgrade

[whoAH]

Hello! I've done the ordinary sources.list update (lenny to squeeze) and

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dpkg apt aptitude
sudo aptitude full-upgrade

However, udev failed to install, and I used

 
touch /etc/udev/kernel-upgrade

and did full-upgrade again. Everything was going fine, I went through several package configurations and suddenly, after 30-40 minutes of "Unpacking... Setting up..." I just heard two system beeps and got an error similar to a kernel panic. The SYSRQs did nothing. Did a hard reboot.

I got two kernels in GRUB now. + the GRUB2 chainloading option. Used this one and got

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block

It's all the same with the 2.6.32-5-686 kernel - kernel panic. Using the older kernel didn't fail on the boot up, but showed many UDEV related errors and logging in was impossible - all I get were segmentation faults. Forgot to mention it - my FS is Reiserfs

The only thing I could use now is a Knoppix LiveCD to eventually recompile the kernel if needed. What do you suggest?

[coopstah13]

I think the right command to use when going from stable -> testing/unstable, is apt-get dist-upgrade though i'm not sure what full-upgrade does

you could mount the disk in knoppix, chroot into it, then run the command to fix it

[TheBigPhish]

...and the quickfix for that is to make sure that your new kernel includes the appropriate block device interfaces, and filesystem (ReiserFS) compiled in to make sure the root filesystem is accessible @ boot.

I've done this when conjuring up a new kernel enough times to know that I have my IO block devices and root filesystem included in the kernel, and everything else goes to a module...

[whoAH]

Doesn't the default one include ReiserFS support? Should I recompile the core? If so, how could I grab the same version as the one in Squeeze? I would really appreciate some tips about the most important things I shouldn't miss when doing menuconfig for example? Thanks in advance!

[tornow]

It might be that grub2 doesn't work well with ReiserFS. Might also be the upgrade from grub to grub2 went south. You got the same problem if you don't go to grub2 but use the grub-menu?
Try repairing grub2 from a live-CD. Check all the important files (grub.cfg; fstab...). Re-install grub2, perhaps a few times in a row.

I don't think you need to recompile the kernel. Anyway: Usually you do
cp /boot/config-your_current_kernel /path/to/kernel_source/.configure
after unpacking the tar.bz-kernel source.
So, as you are using a -generally- working config, you won't miss any important modules, but add the ones which are missing.

To check for your ReiserFS-support you might search for the term <Reiser> in
/boot/config-$(uname -r)

Try the liquorix kernel.

My bet is it is a problem with grub2.

[whoAH]

It might be that grub2 doesn't work well with ReiserFS. Might also be the upgrade from grub to grub2 went south. You got the same problem if you don't go to grub2 but use the grub-menu?
Try repairing grub2 from a live-CD. Check all the important files (grub.cfg; fstab...). Re-install grub2, perhaps a few times in a row.

I don't think you need to recompile the kernel. Anyway: Usually you do
cp /boot/config-your_current_kernel /path/to/kernel_source/.configure
after unpacking the tar.bz-kernel source.
So, as you are using a -generally- working config, you won't miss any important modules, but add the ones which are missing.

To check for your ReiserFS-support you might search for the term <Reiser> in
/boot/config-$(uname -r)

Try the liquorix kernel.

My bet is it is a problem with grub2.

Thanks! Solved by doing an update-from-grub-legacy. I just wonder why it didn't succesfully chainboot GRUB 2 from GRUB...

[tornow]

Aha. Well: i wouldn't know neither why the chainload didn't work. I seldom got problems with grub2, but one time i did an upgrade from grub and had some problems too.
Anyway: good you got it solved and thanks for posting the how (might come in handy at some time).

[loopback]

Thanks! Solved by doing an update-from-grub-legacy. I just wonder why it didn't succesfully chainboot GRUB 2 from GRUB...

"...update-from-grub-legacy..."

Can I assume that you had to upgrade your Grub? Sounds like it. I've been using Grub2 since a Squeeze upgrade some months ago. Haven't had a problem. I know some have complained but I've not had a problem with it.

I guess Debian is now and will in the future be using Grub2. Good to know. Thanks for the info.