Kernel Panic After a Failed (?) Update

Ask Fedora
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Hey everyone! I hope all of you are doing alright!
I’m not sure whether this kind of problem has been resolved in some other topic, but I couldn’t find anything concrete. I’m quite an amateur with Linux and Fedora, so I’d rather ask again, so as not to break anything.

At that time I was on Fedora 41, kernel-6.13.6-200.fc41.x86_64. Some time ago, I started another update through Discovery. After or during an update, I got my Fedora “stuck”. Videos in the browser froze, as well as videos in Flatpak mpv, also preventing mpv to close. After updating had finished, I rebooted, but then the system froze completely while shutting down. I decided to do a manual reboot. After trying to boot into the newly updated kernel-6.13.7-200.fc41.x86_64, I got hit with a kernel panic. Rolling back to 6.13.6 worked out. I decided to wait a bit until the next update, but the newly updated kernel-6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 also gives me the same kernel panic, so I went back to 6.13.6 once more.

Kernel panic:

the error 
error: ../../grub-core/fs/fshelp.c:257:file
`/initramfs-6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64.img' not found.
Press any key to continue...

KERNEL PANIC!
Please reboot your computer.
VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

System info:

inxi -bnz 
System:
  Kernel: 6.13.6-200.fc41.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.3 Distro: Fedora Linux 41 (KDE Plasma)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: H170-D3H v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: H170-D3H-CF v: x.x serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: F3 date: 10/16/2015
CPU:
  Info: quad core Intel Core i5-6500 [MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 1600
    min/max: 800/3600
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] driver: nvidia v: 570.133.07
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution:
    1: 1920x1080~60Hz 2: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.133.07 renderer: NVIDIA
    GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V driver: e1000e
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: TP-Link Archer T4U ver.3 driver: rtl88x2bu type: USB
  IF: wlp0s20f0u3 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wgivpn state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.09 TiB used: 3.59 TiB (87.6%)
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.54 GiB used: 7.64 GiB (49.1%)
  Processes: 417 Uptime: 1h 5m Shell: fish inxi: 3.3.37

I tried sudo dracut --force, but that didn’t do anything.

I also tried sudo dnf reinstall kernel\*6.13.8\*, but at the end it gives an error about Wi-Fi adapter drivers (rtl8812au):

error 
>>> Running post-transaction scriptlet: kernel-core-0:6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64
>>> Non-critical error in post-transaction scriptlet: kernel-core-0:6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64
>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> Sign command: /lib/modules/6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64/build/scripts/sign-file
>>> Signing key: /var/lib/dkms/mok.key
>>> Public certificate (MOK): /var/lib/dkms/mok.pub
>>>
>>> Autoinstall of module rtl8812au/5.13.6-23 for kernel 6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 (x86_64)
>>> Cleaning build area... done.
>>> Building module(s)...........(bad exit status: 2)
>>> Failed command:
>>> kernelver=6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 ./dkms-make.sh
>>>
>>> Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 (x86_64)
>>> Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtl8812au/5.13.6-23/build/make.log for more information.
>>>
>>> Autoinstall on 6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 succeeded for module(s) rtl88x2bu.
>>> Autoinstall on 6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64 failed for module(s) rtl8812au(10).
>>>
>>> Error! One or more modules failed to install during autoinstall.
>>> Refer to previous errors for more information.
>>> /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/40-dkms.install failed with exit status 11.
>>>
>>> [RPM] %posttrans(kernel-core-6.13.8-200.fc41.x86_64) scriptlet failed, exit status 11

However, I use adapter drivers (rtl88x2bu) that I got from here.

I appreciate any help you can provide!

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Hey Coco, I’m rather new to Fedora myself and have only been a full-time Linux user since January, so this might be a stab in the dark but I couldn’t help but notice there’s a workstation tag on this post but your inxi output says you’re using KDE. Did you, by any chance, install KDE as an additional desktop environment, next to (or on top of) Workstation’s Gnome? I’ve read somewhere that having multiple DE’s can cause errors within the update system, especially when dealing with kernels. Maybe I’m wrong but I felt I might mention it.

1 Like
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Oh, I apologize. I wanted to distinguish that I specifically use the desktop version of Fedora and not a server, or something else.

I installed Plasma as a Fedora Spin. I’m guessing that KDE Plasma technically won’t a part of the main Fedora Workstation until Fedora 42, so I’ll remove the tag for now.

6

Please report the bug in the fedora kernel bug tracker

Also adding tags like kde only make sense if it is a KDE issue. this is a general kernel issue

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Hello everyone,
I’m still a newbie and have been using Fedora 41 Mate since December ‘24. However, I like having the gnome-software package, which I use only to search for packages, including Flatpaks.
I installed Fedora 42 KDE alongside Fedora 42 Mate in a virtual machine. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, as I always update using the CLI, but Discover automatically updated some packages for me. From that point onwards, in this specific installation (the only problematic one), I’ve consistently experienced crashes and freezes. The other VM installations with Mate are working perfectly. On bare metal, I also have Fedora 41 Mate and had to reinstall after gnome-software updated my system (likely using PackageKit).
I suspect that both Discover and gnome-software, relying on PackageKit, might still be using dnf4, which conflicts with the CLI-based?

8

Possibly related? System Updater Not Creating initramfs every time it updates the kernel

This describes an issue where a dkms error (like the so-called “non-critical error” in your logs) causes initramfs not to be created (which would be consistent with the kernel panic mention you’re seeing).

That thread has a link to a Bugzilla bug (currently unresolved): 2333757 – initrd is not created if a dkms build fails leaving system boot to fail

2 Likes
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Fedora Workstation will still be Gnome only, also in Fedora 42. KDE Plasma will now be an edition and not just a spin.

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So, after following the advice given in the topic suggested by P G, I was able to successfully run sudo dnf reinstall kernel\*6.13.8\* after running sudo dkms remove rtl8812au/5.13.6-23 --all, because it was preventing me from reinstalling the kernel. Afterwards, the new 6.13.8 one booted up without any issues.
Thank you!

@boredsquirrel, do you still want me to file a bug report?

11

If the current kernel works, then no bug on the kernel.

But systems should not break all the time.

So a bug report on dnf might make sense.

You might want to look into atomic desktops, which is a sledgehammer for that problem, but it fixes it

12

I’ll check out atomic distros!

Thank you!