Kernel 5.10.x, pc blink 150″ before booting

[Member madibi]

it’s roughly 1 month that the following happens: just after grub, if I choose the main proposal (kernel 5.10.57) the computer stay with a blank screen, blinking for about 150 seconds, then starts with the normal boot that lasts about 40″.

Before it didn’t happened.

After I tried installing from Software Installer the kernel 5.10.104, but the same behavior continued.
The same doesn’t apply to kernel 4.9.0-279.

Please find below the hw info:

$ inxi -Fxz
System:
Kernel: 4.9.0-279-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
v: 10.2.1 Desktop: JWM v: 2.4.2
Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021
base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire 5732Z v: V3.07
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Acer model: Aspire 5732Z v: V3.07 serial: <superuser required>
BIOS: Acer v: 3.07 date: 02/10/2010
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Pentium T4400 bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Penryn Yorkfield rev: A cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1400 high: 1600 min/max: 1200/2200 cores: 1: 1600
2: 1200 bogomips: 8777
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen5
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel gpu: i915
resolution: 1366×768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express (CTG)
v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k4.9.0-279-antix.1-amd64-smp running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lite-On
driver: ath9k v: kernel bus-ID: 04:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: 1000
bus-ID: 05:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 763.85 GiB used: 216.54 GiB (28.3%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS545032B9A300 size: 298.09 GiB
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Seagate model: ST950032 5AS
size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 123.26 GiB used: 51.04 GiB (41.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb5
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.3 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 3.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
dev: /dev/sdb7
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 169 Uptime: 12m Memory: 3.79 GiB used: 1.07 GiB (28.2%)
Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1631
Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.19

What described is not a real issue, I’m only interested to know whether the same happens to someone else
and / or if someone can help me formulate a hypothesis about the reasons why,

Many thx in advance
m

• This topic was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by madibi.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Hypothetically the 4.9 kernel has direct support for at least 1-2 hardware components that the other kernel might offer a module that it includes after not finding it in the core list of the Kernel’s devices.

Just a guess, but that would explain why one kernel works fine and the other one also works after considerable hunting, searching for the right hardware support modules and eventually applying them after the delayed response; at least the guess makes sense.

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Brian Masinick

[Member madibi]

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@Brian
Thanks for the prompt answer.
Your hypothesis makes sense, moreover it is consistent with the fact that what described is a phenomenon that started suddenly. I think some components have started to fail.
🙂
m

[Member calciumsodium]

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Sometimes when I install a different version of antiX on a different partition, the original version takes a long time to boot with a long blinking cursor. I was able to solve it by updating the initramfs on the original version.

sudo update-initramfs -c -k all

But I don’t know if it will work in your case.

[Moderator christophe]

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I noticed this on at least one of my core2duo laptops. That 2-minute blank screen before booting.

BUT it worked normally once I upgraded to the latest 5.10.104 kernel.
I.e., no blank screen before booting.

Edit – I see you tried that & it doesn’t work for you.

Have you tried the 4.19.x series kernel?

• This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by christophe.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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madibi wrote:

@Brian
Thanks for the prompt answer.
Your hypothesis makes sense, moreover it is consistent with the fact that what described is a phenomenon that started suddenly. I think some components have started to fail.

m

With old hardware, there is also the potential that certain components are beginning to fail, not all the time, at first, but showing increasing signs of failure. Logs of various events and devices can sometimes provide evidence one way or the other (should this be the case).

I’m using an old desktop from 2010 that works, but is significantly slower, to the point where some of the networking components are taking ~ a minute to respond and configure, but then they work. This may or may not be related or similar to your situation, except in my case, login is fine; it’s actually establishing a working wireless connection that has been increasingly troublesome. I reconfigured it today to ignore Connman/cmst and start with Ceni instead; still a delay, but it worked. I then added a newer Liquorix kernel, rebooted again and networking, while slow compared to what I’ve been used to, is at least working and reliable. This is ~12 year old hardware; at least it works and that speaks to its reliability, despite its age!

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Brian Masinick

[Member madibi]

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Really many thx to all for the hints and comments.

@calciumsodium
I tried your suggestion, unfortunately with no success

@christophe
I’d like to make a try, but for some reason tonight the system doesn’t let me to install that kernel. I’ll take my time before bothering the forum, eventually opening another thread

@Brian
I agree with your description. It is more or less what I am perceiving from this machine, also if in other areas.

m

[Member stevesr0]

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One tool that might show where the hangup is is bootchart-antix. I see it in the antix Sid repository; not sure if it is available in the stable repository. I used it in the past but I am not expert enough to explain how you might use it to analyze your delay. It provides a visual tree of the processes starting up. Anticapitalista is the maintainer and there are threads illustrating its use.

Another tool is dmesg which displays the time for different events during boot. There are a number of threads that use dmesg to identify possible problems.

If either demonstrates a major delay when using one kernel and not the other, that would pinpoint where the problem might be in the kernel.

stevesr0

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