Re: Strange boot-time hang (long, sorry)

[Andrew Reid <reidac@bellatlantic.net>]

On Sunday 11 November 2007 12:31, Marty wrote:
> Andrew Reid wrote:
> >   Greetings all --
> >
> >   I am having difficulty diagnosing a strange boot-time  hang on
> > one of my systems.  I have googled around for clues, but I'm
> > coming up empty.
>
> If it's the problem I suspect, then this has come up a number of times on
> the list.  You are probably referring to an error message similar to
> "unable to open initial console."  On my systems this results from missing
> a device named /dev/console in the /dev directory, prior to udev startup. 
> (Some posters claim to require /dev/xconsole and/or /dev/ttySx, but for me,
> /dev/console seems to be sufficient.  Note also that I don't use initrd, so
> that may be a factor.)

  I'm not actually seeing that message.  The serial console is implicated
mostly circumstantially, because when I remove it from the boot line, 
I can get to single-user mode, but if I leave it in, I can't.  

  But, the /dev/console tip is good, someone else suggested trying
it with init=/bin/sh to see what the non-udev dev tree looks like.

> I think it's a basic flaw in Debian which is long overdue for a fix, but
> hesitate to come to that conclusion because I don't know if I clearly
> understand the problem yet.

  Likewise, for both my problem and this /dev/console possibility.

				-- A.
-- 
Andrew Reid / reidac@bellatlantic.net