Bug#797880: QNAP TS-219P II with linux-image-4.1.0-0.bpo.1-kirkwood "loses" one hard disk from the RAID while flashing initramfs, causing read-only remount and dpkg to fail
Package: linux-image-4.1.0-0.bpo.1-kirkwood
Version: 4.1.3-1~bpo8+1
Bad things happen when flash-kernel (3.45) flashes the initramfs with this Linux kernel on my QNAP TS-219P II:
1. The NAS is equipped with 2 HDDs 3TB in size in RAID 1 mode (mirroring).
2. After the flashing, dpkg errors out stating it is unable to write to a file under the /var tree.
3. cat /proc/mdstat reveals that the partitions of HDD /dev/sdb are marked with [F].
4. As a result, the RAID partitions have been remounted as read-only, including the root partitions, rendering the system inoperable.
5. Regular shutdown is not possible at this point. The NAS has to be force-powered off by holding the power button on the device for several seconds.
6. After reboot, dpkg is in an intermediate state. Following the advice to use "dpkg --configure -a" results in the flashing operation being carried out again with the same result, i.e. the user is caught in a loop.
7. Using "dpkg --configure" instead allows other package install/remove operations.
Removing the Linux kernel 4.1, reverting to Linux kernel 3.16.7-ckt11-1+deb8u3 from debian jessie fixes the problem. In Linux kernel 3.16.7, the same version of flash-kernel (3.45) works without the problems mentioned above. So the culprit appears not to be the flash-kernel package, but rather the Linux kernel 4.1 package.
Best Regards,
Robert Schlabbach
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