Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

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cent7
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Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by cent7 » 2019/01/20 16:51:28

Can someone please help me with downgrading Centos7 kernel after a failed upgrade.

-Centos7 guest on VirtualBox 5.2.22

-Original working kernel: 3.10.0-862.el7.x86-64

-Upgraded not-working kernel: 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64
Installed kernel patch for it: kernel-3.10.0-957.1.3.bug15570.plus.el7.x86_64.rpm
As described in: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic ... &start=45

Outcome of the upgrade: frozen black screen.

In boot grab menu:
- Original working kernel is listed. When I try to boot from there, the system freezes at Gnome display manager (see attached screen). This
never happened before (the problematic kernel upgrade)

Downgrade related commands

Code: Select all

$ rpm -q kernel 
kernel-3.10.0-862.el7.x86-64
kernel-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-957.1.3.bug15570.plus.el7.x86_64.rpm

Code: Select all

yum list kernel --show-duplicates
See attached screenshot.

Code: Select all

$yum downgrade kernel-3.10.0-957.1.3.el7
Ends with: Nothing to do. See attached screen
Attachments
yum-show-duplicates.PNG
yum-show-duplicates.PNG (57.93 KiB) Viewed 5760 times

sathishasokan88
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by sathishasokan88 » 2019/01/20 17:06:55

Try undo from yum history.

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TrevorH
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by TrevorH » 2019/01/20 17:28:39

If you have installed the vbox Guest Additions then you still have to reinstall them each and every time you update the kernel. Failure to do so will result in lack of GUI video.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

hunter86_bg
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by hunter86_bg » 2019/01/20 18:28:56

When you boot the old kernel - the GUI freezes, but what happens when you use

Code: Select all

Ctrl + Alt + FY
?
Where FY is one of the F1 -> F12 .
If you get a login prompt - login and reinstall the guest additions , like Trevor recommended.

cent7
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by cent7 » 2019/01/20 19:21:41

When I access the system (old working kernel or the broken one) with Ctl+Alt+Fn2, I get the command-only terminal shell. This
is where I tried the downgrade command as I described in my post.

About VB GuestAdditions, I re-installed them for the new kernel, which caused the system to go on black screen immediately after
a reboot.

What can I do now to recover my old kernel and delete the problematic one(s)?

Re-Install GuestAdditions for my old kernel?

p.s.: see the attachment where my old kernel freezes at boot.
Attachments
hangs_at_gnome.PNG
hangs_at_gnome.PNG (46.57 KiB) Viewed 5731 times

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TrevorH
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by TrevorH » 2019/01/20 19:30:33

You say you are using vbox 5.2.22? You need to use the vbox guest additions 5.2.23 or higher to fix bugs that cause problems with 7.6. Those are a separate download from vbox itself though 5.2.22 does come bundled with a 5.2.22 guest additions iso that is no use.

Don't use vbox 6.x. It's more broken still.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

cent7
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Joined: 2019/01/20 16:14:59

Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by cent7 » 2019/01/20 20:19:06

Trevor, I appreciate the feedback

At this critical point, all I am desperately trying to do is recover my older kernel 3.10.0-862. Which worked just fine with VB 5.22.

The situation is at the Gnome start hang-up shown in the screenshot I posted.

To emphasize my questions again:

- How do I downgrade back to 7.5 ? The yum downgrade did nothing.
or
- How do I diagnose and fix beyond the Gnome black screen

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TrevorH
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by TrevorH » 2019/01/20 20:22:18

You don't. Kernels are always installed in parallel so you already have the old one installed and selectable from the grub menu.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

cent7
Posts: 13
Joined: 2019/01/20 16:14:59

Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by cent7 » 2019/01/20 20:29:13

How do I get past the Gnome black screen? Where should I look for further information?

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TrevorH
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Re: Centos7 kernel downgrade failure 7.6 to 7.5

Post by TrevorH » 2019/01/20 20:50:54

Did you pick the old kernel from the grub menu?
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

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