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Author Topic: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client  (Read 4731 times)

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« on: March 13, 2022, 04:21:03 AM »
Hi,

I'm running tiny core linux, corepure64 for a few years now without issue. I started at release 9 and upgraded through the years to releases 10, 11 and 12. However, release 13 won't boot on my system. I compared the on screen messages during startup and on release 13, halfway during boot I see the message "Freeing initrd memory: 12492K". I don't see that message in release 11 or 12. Then 2 segfaults follow and after that, the whole system freezes and a power cycle is the only option.

I don't think initrd memory is supposed to be freed, but I'm not sure. Any thoughts what is happening here? Or what a trigger might be to free initrd memory?

Sorry I can't include the logs; as the system doesn't boot to a CLI, I can't access them. I do have screenshots of the startup messages attached.

System information:
- HP Thin client t5550 (Via nano u3500 processor, 1 GB memory)
- Grub bootloader
- running Corepure64

Regards.


Online Juanito

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2022, 04:31:51 AM »
Have you checked the md5sum for corepure64.gz and vmlinuz64?

Edit: from a successful boot:
Code: [Select]
$ dmesg | grep -i initrd
Freeing initrd memory: 12492K
« Last Edit: March 13, 2022, 04:39:35 AM by Juanito »

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2022, 04:42:42 AM »
Hi,

Yes, I checked the md5 sums and these are correct. I also tried using "modules64.gz" and "rootfs64.gz" instead of "corepure64.gz"; same result.

BTW: it seems I'm on the wrong track with the "freeing initrd memory" message. Also in release 11 this message exists, only on a different moment in the startup sequence.

So, I really have no clue why the system won't start. Any thoughts what I can do to debug this?

Online Juanito

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2022, 04:53:22 AM »
google suggests:
Quote
The solution is to add "udevchilds=64 udevtimeout=600" kernel boot codes

Online curaga

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2022, 09:57:34 AM »
The segfault says it was in libc.so. So it looks like a bug in libc given udev has not changed, and probably something that only triggers on a Via cpu too.

Tracking down libc bugs on a system that won't finish boot in the first place is going to be difficult. I would approach it by running 12.x, setting up a 13.x chroot, and then trying debug approaches with a debug-built libc.

It may be easier if you try searching the libc bugzilla and see if someone else has already reported it? Though Via users may be a bit rare, so there's a chance you're the first.
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2022, 12:22:12 PM »
Short update.

I created a rootfs64 with a modified tc-config script, with lines "udevd --daemon" and "udevadm trigger --action=add" were commented out. This at least allowed the system to start and present a shell. From there I hoped to learn more by starting udevd with the --debug option. But nothing: it only reports a segfault.

I did learn that even the shell sometimes triggers a segfault in libc, so libc definitely seems to be the culprit. I'm not sure how to proceed. Even if I was able to find a cause with a debug libc version (which I doubt), changing or updating libc probably means recompiling lots of binaries that are dependent right? Maybe waiting for 14.0 is my best option?

Online Juanito

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2022, 11:00:53 PM »
I've built a debug version of glibc a couple of times in earlier versions of tinycore - you will probably only need to replace /lib/libc.so.6 in the initrd.

Using the source and patches from here:

http://tinycorelinux.net/13.x/x86_64/release/src/toolchain/

..something like the attached should work

Online curaga

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2022, 12:07:22 AM »
No, nothing dependant needs to be recompiled.

As for waiting for a new version, that will only work if someone else has found and fixed the bug. What if nobody else is using recent glibc on Via cpus?
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.

Online Juanito

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2022, 05:31:30 AM »
There's a debug libc.so.6 here: http://tinycorelinux.net/13.x/x86_64/tcz/src/glibc_debug/

You'll need to replace the existing version in the initrd with this one.

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2022, 01:08:36 PM »
That is wonderful service. Thanks. I've included the debug glibc in a rootfs64.gz, but booting that on my Via machine immediately brings me segfaults during init (error 6), leading to a kernel panic. Strange, because on an Intel virtual machine, the same rootfs64.gz works fine.

But booting from the rootfs64.gz I had constructed before and then swapping libc.so.6 for the debug libc.so.6 seems to work. Now some reading up to do on how to use gdb and then I will share some results.

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2022, 03:53:10 AM »
So, finally had some time to further investigate this. And again, hit a dead end. I was able to get the system running, with the modified rootfs64.gz (not starting udev). I then installed gdb.tcz and dependent packages and finally swapped libc.so.6 for the debug version. So far so good.

But then: starting gdb itself leads to a segfault. See screenshot.
How to proceed?

btw: there is dependency of gdb.tcz on readline7.tcz that is not listed in the .dep file.

Offline Rich

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2022, 06:07:42 AM »
Hi FlyingDutchman
btw: there is dependency of gdb.tcz on readline7.tcz that is not listed in the .dep file.
No, there is not. These extensions do depend on  readline7 :
Forum error, see attachment.

Offline FlyingDutchman

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2022, 07:27:13 AM »
Hi Rich,

If I install gdb.tcz and then run it, I get the message:

gdb: error while loading shared libraries: libreadline.so.7: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

A search with tce-ab indicates that libreadline.so.7 is provided by readline7.tcz. If I install readline7.tcz, gdb works. So I think there should be a dependency listed for readline7.tcz in the gdb.tcz.dep file.

Offline Rich

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2022, 07:48:52 AM »
Hi FlyingDutchman
I think you are right. gdb was last compiled under TC10 which used version 7 of readline. I will adjust the dependency file.

Offline Rich

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Re: Corepure64 won't boot on HP thin client
« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2022, 07:59:17 AM »
Hi Juanito
The dependency file for gdb has been updated for TC13 x86_64. TC12 contains the same files so I updated it too.