[mythtv-users] Problem with boot time system lockup on new install of Mythbuntu 12.04

[Hika van den Hoven]

Hoi Craig,

Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 4:06:50 PM, you wrote:

> I have a problem that I can't seem to pin down with booting on a newly
> installed Mythbuntu 12.04 (MythTV 0.25) system.  It randomly freezes
> during boot after starting to report starting up several daemons from
> /etc/rc2.d/S*, but before switching to logging in /var/log/*, which is
> making it _very_ challenging for me to figure out what the problem is.
>  Based on the fact that it it happens at random points in the boot
> process (varying numbers of daemon starts reported) and randomly
> occurs (often, the system boots successfully for several tries before
> one or more failures), it appears to be some kind of race condition,
> but I haven't been able to pin it down.

> I am alternating between the V0.23 and V0.25 systems by booting from
> separate installs on separate disks, so the hardware is the same in
> all respects other than the disk from which it is booted.  All the
> recordings (*.mpg, etc.) are on other disk drives, leaving only the
> O/S, programs, logs, swap partition, and mysql data on the boot drive.
>  The V0.23 system is as reliable as one could ask for, hence the long
> delay in upgrading to a newer version of Mythbuntu/MythTV.

> I thought it might have something to do with my IguanaWorks USB IR
> tranceiver daemon, but I completely removed it from the boot process
> by disabling the /etc/init.d script and moving the udev rules for it
> out of both /etc/udev/rules.d and /lib/udev/rules.d with no change, so
> I'm putting them back in at the moment.

> Just to cover another possiblity, be aware that the tuners are DTAs
> attached to the four inputs of a pair of Hauppauge PVR-500 PCI cards,
> and I haven't had any problems with them under V0.23, so I doubt there
> is any connection to this problem from that direction.

> I tried re-activating an /etc/init/research.conf rule I created a long
> time ago that basically started on _any_ *-device-added event.  It
> posts the date/time and all environment variables to
> /dev/.initramfs/research.log.  At the time I created it, I was
> tracking down an issue with detecting devices and when the detections
> occurred.  It worked then, but when I tried it on a failing boot
> attempt, there was nothing in /etc/.initramfs, not even the
> subdirectory .initramfs.  (I checked after a boot crash by rebooting
> into the UBCD PartedMagic system and looking at the target boot disk
> contents.  While in a terminal window on PartedMagic with the boot
> disk mounted, the command:
>     find /media/sda1 -mtime -1 -ls | grep "Apr 15"
> returned no files found, so the lockup is happening before anything
> gets written to disk.  Note that all of the disks had been reported
> mounted and fsck'd during the boot process before the lockup, so they
> were available before the crash occurred.

> I'm running out of ideas on what to try next.  Any suggestions welcomed.

> --
> Craig.
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It could well be that your system initialisation is to slow for some
of the deamons. I'm surprised you had a deamon for a usb device in the
boot runlevel. Try moving all deamons in the boot level not essential
for basic system initialisation to the default level. So giving your
system more time to initialise.

Tot mails,
  Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com

"Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
Zonder leven is er geen hoop
Het eeuwige dilemma
Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"

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