Bug#649033: linux-image-3.1.0-1-amd64: boot sometimes stuck with "waiting for /dev to be fully populated."

[Mauro Meloni <maurom1982@yahoo.com.ar>]

I've had a similar problem with 3.0.0, in my case the processor module hung the system on every boot. Although it wasn't a real solution, adding processor.nocst=1 as a boot parameter did the trick.

However, it is true that in many cases the freeze is not a problem of udev but of a kernel module that udev loads during boot. Sometimes it helps to grab a list of loaded modules when/if the system boots properly with another kernel, then boot the problematic kernel in single mode (or using init=/bin/bash) and try loading one module at a time. That's how I found the culprit in my case.

--
Mauro