Slackware 15 kernel upgrade sometimes OS not booting


linux slackware kernel

Slackware 15 kernel upgrade sometimes OS not booting

Problem: fresh install of slackware64 15.0 and then upgrade packages of kernel results in unbootable system

Solution: mkinitrd after upgrade of kernel

  1. Important to mkinitrd to build the modules before rebooting
  2. If rebooted without mkinitrd then the system crashes. Boot with usb and run below.
mkdir /mnt/Slackware
mount -t ext4 /dev/sda3 /mnt/Slackware
mount -t proc /proc /mnt/Slackware/proc
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/Slackware/sys
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/Slackware/dev
mount --rbind /run /mnt/Slackware/run
chroot /mnt/Slackware env -i HOME=/root TERM=$TERM PS1='\u@\h:\w# ' PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin bash --login +h
  1. Reference how
  2. Check the version of the upgrade kernel and replace in command. /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -k 3.2.29
  3. Run the mkinitrd as shown eg
mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb2 -m usb-storage:pcmcia_core:pcmcia:mmc_core:ssb:modprobe:usbhid:ehci-hcd:ohci-hcd:mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz
  1. Run one of below a) For lilo check the entry in /etc/lilo.conf and run lilo -v b) For EFI Check that /boot/efi partition is mounted and run eliloconfig