CentOS - Mar 2023 - Kernel updates do not boot - always boots oldest kernel

Am 14.03.23 um 12:30 schrieb Rob Kampen:
> OK,
> 
> found out the problem as to why it doesn't boot any kernel except 36.2
> 
> the system reports that it cannot find
> 
> vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.88.1.el7.x86_64
> 
> or any one of the others, except for vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64
> 
> hence a manual selection from the grub menu when in front of the machine 
> will only load the 36.2 kernel
> 
> I found that under /boot/grub2 there were two .rpmnew files that mucked 
> up the symbolic link to the grubenv file - so fixed that and did a 
> reinstall of the latest kernel.
> 
> Now all the grub and efi files appear to update correctly - progress.
> 
> Now just need to work out why the efi boot process can see the old 
> (original) kernel (36.2) but none of the later ones.
> 
> Any ideas of where to look for this? seems a much more fundamental 
> problem related to kernel install and efi booting

Whats the _complete_ output of cat /etc/default/grub  ?

--
Leon

Here is the contents of the entire

cat /etc/default.grub

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g'
/etc/system-release)"
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="console"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="crashkernel=auto 
rd.md.uuid=066ffecb:69137a0b:4e579b4f:dfbf1696 
rd.md.uuid=bd87f682:e6df10e2:d2a6e247:834133f7 rhgb quiet"
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

I have only changed GRUB_DEFAULT from "saved" to "0"

I have also run

/usr/sbin/grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/centos/grub.cfg

and seen the grub.cfg and grubenv updated in /boot/efi/EFI/centos

At this point I think I have grub doing its stuff in the correct folder 
/ destination used by UEFI for booting.

When I look at grub.cfg there is some stuff I cannot understand

there are five menuentry in this file, like:

menuentry 'CentOS Linux (3.10.0-1160.88.1.el7.x86_64) 7 (Core)' --class 
centos --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --unrestricted 
$menuentry_id_option 
'gnulinux-3.10.0-1160.81.1.el7.x86_64-advanced-7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3'
{
 ?? ?load_video
 ?? ?set gfxpayload=keep
 ?? ?insmod gzio
 ?? ?insmod part_gpt
 ?? ?insmod part_gpt
 ?? ?insmod diskfilter
 ?? ?insmod mdraid1x
 ?? ?insmod xfs
 ?? ?set root='mduuid/bd87f682e6df10e2d2a6e247834133f7'
 ?? ?if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
 ?? ?? search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 
--hint='mduuid/bd87f682e6df10e2d2a6e247834133f7' 
f12be7f3-a6c6-4b90-8c51-286c32d11d12
 ?? ?else
 ?? ?? search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 
f12be7f3-a6c6-4b90-8c51-286c32d11d12
 ?? ?fi
 ?? ?linuxefi /vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.88.1.el7.x86_64 
root=UUID=7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3 ro crashkernel=auto 
rd.md.uuid=066ffecb:69137a0b:4e579b4f:dfbf1696 
rd.md.uuid=bd87f682:e6df10e2:d2a6e247:834133f7 rhgb quiet LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 ?? ?initrdefi /initramfs-3.10.0-1160.88.1.el7.x86_64.img
}

the above is the latest kernel - doesn't boot as the console tells me it 
cannot load the vmlinuz file

the kernel that boots looks like:

menuentry 'CentOS Linux (3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64) 7 (Core)' --class 
centos --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --unrestricted 
$menuentry_id_option 
'gnulinux-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64-advanced-7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3'
{
 ?? ?load_video
 ?? ?set gfxpayload=keep
 ?? ?insmod gzio
 ?? ?insmod part_gpt
 ?? ?insmod part_gpt
 ?? ?insmod diskfilter
 ?? ?insmod mdraid1x
 ?? ?insmod xfs
 ?? ?set root='mduuid/bd87f682e6df10e2d2a6e247834133f7'
 ?? ?if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
 ?? ?? search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 
--hint='mduuid/bd87f682e6df10e2d2a6e247834133f7' 
f12be7f3-a6c6-4b90-8c51-286c32d11d12
 ?? ?else
 ?? ?? search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 
f12be7f3-a6c6-4b90-8c51-286c32d11d12
 ?? ?fi
 ?? ?linuxefi /vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64 
root=UUID=7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3 ro crashkernel=auto 
rd.md.uuid=066ffecb:69137a0b:4e579b4f:dfbf1696 
rd.md.uuid=bd87f682:e6df10e2:d2a6e247:834133f7 rhgb quiet
 ?? ?initrdefi /initramfs-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64.img
}

I see that the first line names the kernel in brackets (correctly) but 
the $menuentry_id_option '.....' doesn't make sense to me.

For the kernel that boots (3.10.0-1160.36.2) the entry is 
'gnulinux-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64-advanced-7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3'

For kernels that don't boot, e.g (3.10.0-1160.88.1) we see

'gnulinux-3.10.0-1160.81.1.el7.x86_64-advanced-7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3'

and this entry just seems wrong

firstly the kernel version doesn't match - it has been set to ... 81.1 
... rather than 88.1

secondly the last part of the line is the same for every menuentry, namely

-advanced-7276336b-d2f2-4b94-b491-ad8c5662acb3

where does this come from? what is this part for? doing?

Thanks
Rob


On 15/03/23 05:05, Leon Fauster via CentOS wrote:
> Am 14.03.23 um 12:30 schrieb Rob Kampen:
>> OK,
>>
>> found out the problem as to why it doesn't boot any kernel except
36.2
>>
>> the system reports that it cannot find
>>
>> vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.88.1.el7.x86_64
>>
>> or any one of the others, except for
vmlinuz-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64
>>
>> hence a manual selection from the grub menu when in front of the 
>> machine will only load the 36.2 kernel
>>
>> I found that under /boot/grub2 there were two .rpmnew files that 
>> mucked up the symbolic link to the grubenv file - so fixed that and 
>> did a reinstall of the latest kernel.
>>
>> Now all the grub and efi files appear to update correctly - progress.
>>
>> Now just need to work out why the efi boot process can see the old 
>> (original) kernel (36.2) but none of the later ones.
>>
>> Any ideas of where to look for this? seems a much more fundamental 
>> problem related to kernel install and efi booting
>
>
> Whats the _complete_ output of cat /etc/default/grub? ?
>
> -- 
> Leon
>
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