[SOLVED]: Boot-up fails with antiX kernel series 5 – why?

[Member oops]

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@anticapitalista, and for info:

Why not having for the antiX kernels: PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY and CONFIG_HZ=300 , instead Low-latency and CONFIG_HZ_1000 by default ?

$ zcat /proc/config.gz |grep -e CONFIG_HZ -e CONFIG_PREEMPT_BUILD= -e PREEMPT_NONE=y -e CONFIG_PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY=y -e PREEMPT=y
# CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC is not set
CONFIG_PREEMPT_BUILD=y
CONFIG_PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY=y
# CONFIG_HZ_100 is not set
# CONFIG_HZ_250 is not set
CONFIG_HZ_300=y
# CONFIG_HZ_1000 is not set
CONFIG_HZ=300

[Member mikey777]

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@oops
What’s the name of the file I need to edit here? Sorry, I’m a bit out of my depth here …

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member oops]

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@mikey777 … No it is just a part of the config to build a new antiX kernel, just a question to anticapitalista.

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by oops.

[Member ModdIt]

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hi mikey, did you already try

update-initramfs -u
then update-grub

I have had all sorts of weirdness over last days due borked debian nvidia drivers.
Blinking cursor to green screen of death :-). Somebody has a sense of humour,

Now running latest kernel from debian without issues.

What I have not figured out is how to create a new initramfs for multiple kernel
setup. Above seems just to add newest kernel.

Be nice to have a real example of working command. been looking at
https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/8-update-initramfs/

[Member mikey777]

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ModdIt wrote:

hi mikey, did you already try

update-initramfs -u
then update-grub

Thanks Moddit. I tried your suggestion, but both kernel 5.10 versions (104 & 136) give the same negative result as before.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member mikey777]

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A summary of some further testing I’ve done on the Asus X71Q laptop, with series 5 kernels:

booting with these:

linux-image-5.14.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 - Linux 5.14 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
linux-image-5.15.0-0.bpo.3-amd64 - Linux 5.15 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
linux-image-5.16.0-0.bpo.4-amd64 - Linux 5.16 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
linux-image-5.18.0-0.deb11.3-amd64 - Linux 5.18 for 64-bit PCs (signed)

not booting with these:

linux-image-5.8.16-antix.1-amd64-smp - Linux kernel, version 5.8.16
linux-image-5.10.104-antix.1-amd64-smp - Linux kernel, version 5.10
linux-image-5.10.136-antix.1-amd64-smp - Linux kernel, version 5.10
linux-image-5.10.137-antix.1-amd64-smp - Linux kernel, version 5.10
linux-image-5.10.0-17-amd64 - Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi mikey, did you note all the booting kernels are signed for secure boot.

Is it possible to turn that off in BIOS and retest.
If you are unable to turn the setting off you can reset BIOS and try again.
Should that fail look for BIOS updates.

Some signed kernels do not work on all hardware, not sure on details but seems
the signature may be rejected by the TPM Module.

Find the Secure Boot Screen in BIOS BOOT Menu,
Select Element [OS Type] ③, Then [Other OS]
④,to deactivate secure boot.
Save the setting. Should be F10 or use save and exit menu.

You may have a BIOS where the setting is in menu Security, you then need to disable
secure boot controll.

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.

[Member mikey777]

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ModdIt wrote:

Hi mikey, did you note all the booting kernels are signed for secure boot. Is it possible to turn that off in BIOS and retest.

It’s a ‘legacy laptop’, so no secure boot option in BIOS settings. All the signed series-5 ones work, with the exception of 5.10.

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member ModdIt]

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A number of variants of that legacy laptop were fitted with secure boot modules.
Taken from Asus repair support Documents and handbooks for X71Q.

Not exactly logical that only signed kernels boot if nothing is reading the signature
which is the difference between signed and unsigned.

Maybe take a look at how to sign a kernel and why.
https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-sign-things-for-secure-boot is pretty easy to follow.

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.

[Member mikey777]

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ModdIt wrote:

A number of variants of that legacy laptop were fitted with secure boot modules.
Taken from Asus repair support Documents and handbooks for X71Q.

I’m not sure what Asus manual/repair support you are referring to. I have the original users manual (E3567/February 2008) that came prepackaged with this laptop – the exact model is the X71Q-7SC002, and can confirm that this one doesn’t have the secure-boot feature. I checked in the BIOS & double-checked in the manual. As far as I know, this feature was first introduced with Windows 8, when it first came on the market in 2012. This Asus model was bought in 2008, with Windows Vista preinstalled.

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member ModdIt]

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Without board revision the shop and product manuals are a guide only and even then there can be
discrepencys depending on production dates.

UEFI support was introduced to Windoze Vista with Service pack1 in 2007 alongside presentation of win7.
When the first asus boards came with that feature officialy enabled is probably lost in the mists of time.

Fact is you are only able to boot signed kernels so there is a mechanism in place ensuring that.
We only know of one possibility. UEFI and its predecessors/variants. But we are prepared to learn and
there may be weirdness we have not even thought of.

What does below return
#!/bin/bash
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
Assuming you are booting from sda
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by ModdIt.

[Member mikey777]

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ModdIt wrote:

A number of variants of that legacy laptop were fitted with secure boot modules.
Taken from Asus repair support Documents and handbooks for X71Q [ + contents of your following post]

I’ve understood from this that you have accessed an Asus manual/repair support document that indicates the presence of secure-boot and/or EFI/UEFI feature(s) for the Asus X71Q-7SC002. Therefore to clarify, it’d be really helpful if you would post a screenshot of the relevant parts of the document indicating this. I have worked with secure-boot and EFI/UEFI features previously, so am familiar with these at a basic level, but this laptop doesn’t show either of these features at all in the BIOS/Security settings.

Rather than the issue being one of signed vs. unsigned series 5 kernels, which you suggested, it appears to be an issue of kernel 5.8 (EOL) & 5.10 which don’t work (scroll back to #87728), versus all other series 5 kernels I tested which do work (note that the 5.10 signed kernel doesn’t work). So the issue seems to be with kernel 5.10, whether it’s signed or not …

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member mikey777]

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mikey777 wrote:

What does below return
#!/bin/bash
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
Assuming you are booting from sda
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda

asus@X71Q:~
$ su
Password:
root@X71Q:/home/asus# !/bin/bash
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
bash: !/bin/bash: event not found
BIOS
root@X71Q:/home/asus# gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.6

Warning: Partition table header claims that the size of partition table
entries is 1153912944 bytes, but this program supports only 128-byte entries.
Adjusting accordingly, but partition table may be garbage.
Warning: Partition table header claims that the size of partition table
entries is 0 bytes, but this program supports only 128-byte entries.
Adjusting accordingly, but partition table may be garbage.
Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory.
***************************************************************

Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Model: Samsung SSD 850
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 1059B891-2E61-48CC-824F-15A0E61F0212
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3437 sectors (1.7 MiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 1827696639 871.5 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
2 1827696640 1869637631 20.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
3 1869637632 1911580671 20.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
4 1911580672 1953523711 20.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

[Member ModdIt]

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Readout Confirms your conclusion regarding Kernel, Hardware non compatible.

Rather than the issue being one of signed vs. unsigned series 5 kernels, 
which you suggested, it appears to be an issue of kernel 5.8 (EOL) & 5.10 
which don’t work (scroll back to #87728), versus all other series 5 kernels 
I tested which do work (note that the 5.10 signed kernel doesn’t work). 
So the issue seems to be with kernel 5.10, whether it’s signed or not …

Please accept my apology, I should have searched for those commands much earlier.
Next time anything like this crops up I will know, forget the docs, do a sanity
check from the shell.

[Member mikey777]

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ModdIt wrote:

Please accept my apology, I should have searched for those commands much earlier.
Next time anything like this crops up I will know, forget the docs, do a sanity
check from the shell.

Not a problem at all Moddit – no need to apologise – a thank you from me to you for taking an interest in the problem.
While you were typing your reply I ran the following [much] simpler command lines in terminal, which came to the same conclusion:

$ sudo efibootmgr
EFI variables are not supported on this system.

or

$ sudo mokutil --sb-state
EFI variables are not supported on this system

Looking forward to seeing if anticapitalista [or others] get back with a solution to the 5.10 issue …

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.
• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by mikey777.

▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.

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