Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux 32 Forums

You are not logged in.

#1 2018-04-16 16:34:10

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

Hello,

I am new to Arch Linux. I encountered to this problem using the workstation from previous officemate. The machine halts at this step. The error message is like below.

-------------------------------
starting version 238
/dev/sda2: clean, 523638/4587520 files, 10013966/18350080 blocks
[      3.302587] dell_smbios: Unable to run on non-dell system
-------------------------------

However my system is dell. I have no idea why this came up, but I assume there might have been some problem in the machine. The list of things I have done before this problem happen is;
- install some python2 packages(psutil and monotonic) with pip2 command
- install php7-gd with pacman command
- install Seahorse with pacman command
- install pacman downgrader with pacman command
- downgrade fontconfig of the system from 2.13 to 2.12 with downgrader (to be compatible with fontconfig version that Chrome uses)

A couple of hours after I did above, I rebooted the system, and problem began.

I just tried to reboot a couple of times with different options that booting menu provides.
- just power on and off several times at the beginning
- de-energizing the machine by removing power cable and reboot a couple of hours later.
- Arch linux with initramfd fallback option
- Arch linux with command line option. For this one, I tried manual booting with GRUB 2. I tried a number of different form of kernels here (vmlinuz-linux / vmlinuz-linux-mptcp, etc.).

One thing I found during these tries is that the kernel is in /dev/sda1, but the error on the screenshot shows /dev/sda2. /dev/sda2 is a emergency kernel I landed on after I failed to boot with GRUB 2.

I also took some search about this issue, but have not found any information useful (or I might not understand it).

Could anyone help me?

Offline

#2 2018-04-16 17:09:28

deep42thought
Administrator
From: Jena, Germany
Registered: 2017-06-17
Posts: 448

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

Can you boot from the install medium?
If so, you can try to undo all/some of the upgrades/downgrades and see if you get into a bootable state again.
But unfortunately, I have no specific idea, what the issue might be.

Offline

#3 2018-04-16 17:40:44

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

Thank you for your answer, @deep42thought. I have not tried to boot from the install medium since I don't have one. I just found that I may be able to make one on my mac. I will try it. Any clue about anything would be appreciated!

Offline

#4 2018-04-16 17:59:43

andreas_baumann
Administrator
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2017-08-10
Posts: 817
Website

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

Does it really stop at this point or is it just the last message the kernel is printing out?

You could try adding a 'debug' to your boot paramaters..

Offline

#5 2018-04-17 19:46:32

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

Sorry for late response. I wasn't sure where should I put 'debug' and finally found it a couple of minutes ago.

You are totally right @andreas, there was actually background works after that message. Now it stops here.

[  44.153819] systemd-journald[381]: Successfully sent stream file descriptor to service manager.
[140.935217] systemd-journald[381]: Sent WATCHDOG=1 notification.
[200.932991] systemd-journald[381]: Sent WATCHDOG=1 notification.
... and repeats this message around every 60~90 secs.

A search about WATCHDOG message didn't give me useful information. Where should I forward now?

Ah, I tried ssh to the server, and it seems that it is not totally down although I ended up with permission denied msg.

Thanks!

Last edited by dstorm (2018-04-17 19:49:35)

Offline

#6 2018-04-17 19:51:48

andreas_baumann
Administrator
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2017-08-10
Posts: 817
Website

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

This means, systemd starts up (otherwise you wouldn't get a systemd-journald message).
Something gets stuck, but now I'm afraid you have to debug systemd as in

https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/s … Debugging/

Something along the lines (in the boot kernel parameters):

systemd.log_level=debug

But it produces tons of messages, if I recall correctly.

The watchdog message just means something in the kernel sends you a ping, so
you know, the kernel is alive too. :-)

Offline

#7 2018-04-18 16:10:45

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

I tried system debug option, but as you said, just ended up with tons of messages.

Instead of just looking at tons of log, I tried to boot in run level 3.
Now I can boot in command line! You are correct, kernel is alive well.
It seems most of command work fine including networking. I feel a bit better now.
Can I safely assume that the problem is from the graphic card or driver?

Offline

#8 2018-04-19 02:28:25

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

I thought I am getting closer to the solution, but still struggling.

Here are some more things I learned in the meantime.

1. "Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system" message shows up even when I boot with run-level 3.
2. There was no xinitrc file in /etc/X11/xinit -> I installed xinit module and now I have it
3. startx was not working -> after I installed something related to xorg, it works fine.
4. There was no xorg-twm -> I installed xorg-twm. Now, when I run twm (exec twm in run level 3) it log me out and go to the login page.
5. When I run "Xorg", just black screen comes up.
  When I see the Xorg.0.log after rebooting from black screen, I can see this message.
  "systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and keetty was not provided, disabling logind interation"
6. when I run "sudo /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-systemd-user.sh", there is an error message:
Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory
dbus-update-activation-environment: error: unable to connect to D-Bus: Unable to autolaunch a dbus-daemon without a $DISPLAY for X11

Does anybody see any clue?

Last edited by dstorm (2018-04-19 02:32:32)

Offline

#9 2018-04-19 06:52:03

andreas_baumann
Administrator
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2017-08-10
Posts: 817
Website

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

I would first do a non-graphical login. Start in runlevel 3, no autologin and systemd stuff.
Make sure you have a .xinitrc in your home, for instance containing:

xterm &
exec twm

When you log in as normal user and execute 'startx', do you get an X11 running?

To 6.: I doubt you can use 'sudo' for a script which is meant to be run inside xinit as normal
user. The message tells you: X11 is not running thus no DISPLAY variable is set.

For a graphical login you have to install a login manager like 'gdm', 'slim' or 'sddm'.

Then a systemctl enable sddm, systemctl start sddm should give you graphical login.

Offline

#10 2018-04-19 14:48:57

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

I have run all the command from runlevel 3.

At the beginning, there was no .xinitrc in my home, so I re-installed xorg-xinit and xterm.
Now I have it in my home having such lines;

twm &
xclock -geometry 50*50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80*50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80*20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80*66+0+0 -name login

Though I am not sure these lines were correctly setting.

When I execute 'startx' as a normal user, three colored terminal show up, though I am not sure this is X11. I cannot do anything in that screen.

When I run "xterm", it returns;

xterm: Xt error: Can't open display
xterm: DISPLAY is not set

When I run "exec twm", it goes to login screen.

Also, my machine has 'slim'.

Offline

#11 2018-04-19 14:55:55

andreas_baumann
Administrator
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2017-08-10
Posts: 817
Website

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

tvm must be last in .xinitrc and must be started with 'exec twm'.

When you run 'xterm' in the text console you have no X11, hence no
DISPLAY variable is set.

Also make sure you have 'xorg-xauth' installed.

Offline

#12 2018-04-19 15:31:06

dstorm
Member
Registered: 2018-04-16
Posts: 7

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

I finally solved the problem. Upgrading fontconfig resolved all the problem.

Thank you very much for your help!!

Offline

#13 2018-04-19 15:35:56

andreas_baumann
Administrator
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2017-08-10
Posts: 817
Website

Re: Dell_smbios: unable to run on non-dell system

fontconfig? Oh my ***. Glad you sorted it out. :-)

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB