# Strange etc/sysconfig/kernel issue after updating **URL:** \ **Category:** SLES Install-Boot\ **Created:** [February 15, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/strange-etc-sysconfig-kernel-issue-after-updating/22214 "2012-02-15T18:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/strange-etc-sysconfig-kernel-issue-after-updating/22214/1 "2012-02-15T18:24:00Z")
Just did a full upgrade up to current date of a SLES10SP4 (and OES2SP3) 32-bit virtual machine. After reboot, the machine did not come up. Lateron I discovered that initrd did not contain any filesystem drivers and this was because the etc/sysconfig/kernel file did not contain any INITRD\_MODULES variables. (In fact the first lines of the file including the line with the INITRD\_MODULES variable definition were missing.) I am quite sure, that nobody including me did manually touch that file - only installation routines have worked with that file. As it seems to be quite common that upgrades break the boot sequence - why is the boot sequence so prone to errors in Linux? You hardly ever see those types of problems with Windows, Mac Os\*, or Vmware ESX, ESXi. ## And this one was quite annoying as I had to download the SLES10 SP4 media, and wait for the download to succeed to get access to the system and repair the initrd content. W. Prindl ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/strange-etc-sysconfig-kernel-issue-after-updating/22214/2 "2012-02-23T15:30:30Z")
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**Author:** ![heinkonijn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@heinkonijn](https://forums.suse.com/u/heinkonijn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/strange-etc-sysconfig-kernel-issue-after-updating/22214/3 "2012-02-27T00:53:19Z")
This is a know issue, I think it’s a bug in VMware tools. For more info read: [http://www.novell.com/support/viewContent.do?externalId=7005233&sliceId=1](http://www.novell.com/support/viewContent.do?externalId=7005233&sliceId=1) [http://screamingadmin.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/problem-with-sles-10-sp3-and-vmware-tools/](http://screamingadmin.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/problem-with-sles-10-sp3-and-vmware-tools/) [QUOTE=W\_ Prindl;2399]Just did a full upgrade up to current date of a SLES10SP4 (and OES2SP3) 32-bit virtual machine. After reboot, the machine did not come up. Lateron I discovered that initrd did not contain any filesystem drivers and this was because the etc/sysconfig/kernel file did not contain any INITRD\_MODULES variables. (In fact the first lines of the file including the line with the INITRD\_MODULES variable definition were missing.) I am quite sure, that nobody including me did manually touch that file - only installation routines have worked with that file. As it seems to be quite common that upgrades break the boot sequence - why is the boot sequence so prone to errors in Linux? You hardly ever see those types of problems with Windows, Mac Os\*, or Vmware ESX, ESXi. ## And this one was quite annoying as I had to download the SLES10 SP4 media, and wait for the download to succeed to get access to the system and repair the initrd content. W. Prindl[/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/strange-etc-sysconfig-kernel-issue-after-updating/22214/4 "2012-02-27T01:24:46Z")
## Thanks for the info, now I have one file more to check after each install before the reboot. W. Prindl heinkonijn wrote: [color=blue] > This is a know issue, I think it’s a bug in VMware tools. > > For more info read: > [http://www.novell.com/support/viewContent.do?externalId=7005233&sliceId=1](http://www.novell.com/support/viewContent.do?externalId=7005233&sliceId=1) > [http://screamingadmin.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/problem-with-sles-10-sp3-and-vmware-tools/](http://screamingadmin.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/problem-with-sles-10-sp3-and-vmware-tools/) > > W\_ Prindl;2399 Wrote:[color=green] > > > Just did a full upgrade up to current date of a SLES10SP4 (and > > OES2SP3) 32-bit virtual machine. After reboot, the machine did not > > come up. Lateron I discovered that initrd did not contain any > > filesystem drivers > > and this was because the etc/sysconfig/kernel file did not contain > > any INITRD\_MODULES variables. (In fact the first lines of the file > > including the line with the INITRD\_MODULES variable definition were > > missing.) I am quite sure, that nobody including me did manually > > touch that file - only installation routines have worked with that > > file. > > As it seems to be quite common that upgrades break the boot > > sequence - why is the boot sequence so prone to errors in Linux? > > You hardly ever see those types of problems with Windows, Mac Os\*, > > or Vmware ESX, ESXi. > > > > ## And this one was quite annoying as I had to download the SLES10 SP4 media, and wait for the download to succeed to get access to the system and repair the initrd content. > > > > W. Prindl[/color][/color]