Bug#594967: Bug #594967: [poulsbo] grub-pc Hangs After "Welcome to GRUB!"

[Steve McIntyre]

On Sat, Jan 01, 2011 at 11:57:39PM +0000, Colin Watson wrote:
>On Sat, Jan 01, 2011 at 06:35:52PM -0500, P. J. McDermott wrote:
>> Considering the machines this is affecting (machines with the Poulsbo
>> chipset) and the configuration workaround, I'd bet the issue lies in the
>> video subsystem. So far, the changes in the video/ directory appear to
>> be mostly code re-factoring, so I think my next step will be to add some
>> debugging output to 20100702-1's kernel and see where GRUB hangs up or
>> what isn't being done. Don't expect any miracles though, as this is my
>> first time in the GRUB 2 code. ;) If anyone has any thoughts on what the
>> problem might be or familiarity with the GRUB kernel's initialization of
>> the video subsystem, that would be helpful.
>
>I think (with respect) that Vladimir was mistaken when he said that the
>video changes in 20100702-1 only affected the EFI port.
>
>One effect of these changes was to load the video_cirrus and video_bochs
>modules by default (you can test whether this is the culprit by
>commenting them out in grub.cfg).  I've seen a handful of systems that
>hang while trying to enumerate the PCI bus in GRUB; it so happens that
>those are the only modules that usually trigger GRUB's PCI bus
>enumeration in normal circumstances ...
>
>You can also verify this at a lower level by trying 'lspci' at a GRUB
>prompt.  If it's the same problem, this will hang.
>
>Unfortunately, I haven't had my hands on an affected machine for more
>than a day or so, and that was when I was under deadline pressure so a
>workaround was the best I could manage.  Steve, is your affected system
>at home?  Maybe I could visit at some point (for others on the bug,
>we're in the same city) ...

Hi Colin,

Yup, it is at the moment - Jo's around here for the next couple of
days and it's her machine. If that works for you, then great. Or we
can work something out - contact me in private...

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve at einval.com
"I've only once written 'SQL is my bitch' in a comment. But that code 
 is in use on a military site..." -- Simon Booth