CentOS 6 won't load default (new) kernel, loads (another) older one instead

Question

I am having a weird issue with a CentOS 6 system.

I have upgraded the kernel twice now and when I reboot the system it still loads the older kernel. I also had a dc tech watch the screen as it rebooted and they where stumped as well and could find nothing wrong.

Current Kernel:

[root@srv99 ~]# uname -r
2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64

Current grub config:

default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_srv99-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS  KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_swap quiet rd_NO_MD rhgb crashkernel=auto rd$
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64.img
title CentOS (2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_srv99-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS  KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_swap quiet rd_NO_MD rhgb crashkernel=auto r$
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64.img
title CentOS (2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_srv99-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS  KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_swap quiet rd_NO_MD rhgb crashkernel=auto r$
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.x86_64.img
title CentOS (2.6.32-220.13.1.el6.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220.13.1.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_srv99-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS  KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_swap quiet rd_NO_MD rhgb crashkernel=auto r$
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-220.13.1.el6.x86_64.img
title CentOS (2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_srv99-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS  KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_srv99/lv_swap quiet rd_NO_MD rhgb crashkernel=auto rd_DM_$
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64.img

Contents of /boot/grub

[root@srv99 ~]# ls -l /boot/grub
total 274
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root    120 May  2  2012 device.map
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  13380 May  2  2012 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  12620 May  2  2012 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  11748 May  2  2012 ffs_stage1_5
-rw-------  1 root root   2626 Apr  8 13:23 grub.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  11756 May  2  2012 iso9660_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  13268 May  2  2012 jfs_stage1_5
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     11 May  2  2012 menu.lst -> ./grub.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  11956 May  2  2012 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  14412 May  2  2012 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1341 Nov 14  2010 splash.xpm.gz
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root    512 May  2  2012 stage1
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 125976 Jan  3 06:48 stage2
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  12024 May  2  2012 ufs2_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  11364 May  2  2012 vstafs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  13964 May  2  2012 xfs_stage1_5

Have you tried reinstalling the grub boot loader on the disk? — mdpc, Apr 08 '13 at 19:28
Have you tried getting to the grub boot menu and manually selecting the specific kernel version and seeing what happens? — mdpc, Apr 08 '13 at 19:29
Are you sure the copy you have presented of the grub configuration is the one truely being used? Do `ls -l /boot/grub` and see where `menu.lst` points to. Add this to the question information. — mdpc, Apr 08 '13 at 19:32
Press ESC to interrupt the automitc boot sequence and on grub command line give "cat (hd0,0)/grub/grub.conf". Is it what you expect to see? — Uwe Geuder, Apr 13 '13 at 12:13
(Sorry, it did not let me save my edit) Press ESC to interrupt the automatic boot sequence and additionally to interactive selection already mentioned you can also go to edit mode to verify the commands grub is executing. On grub command line you can give "cat (hd0,0)/grub/grub.conf". Is it what you expect to see? Do you have more than 1 disk? More than 1 file system contains a grub/grub.conf file? Also look at ls -l /boot whether the kernels are indeed different and not just the same contents with different names. Does rpm -V kernel report anything abnormal? — Uwe Geuder, Apr 13 '13 at 12:24

CentOS 6 won't load default (new) kernel, loads (another) older one instead

0 Answers0