Gentoo Linux Udev Problem

I wanted to post about a problem I've been having with my Gentoo Linux install, for those who may run into the same thing. I didn't find much help online, so I'm adding my account (along with some screenshots, taken with a digital camera).

The problem: persistent boot crash with udev:

After upgrading a variety of packages, including udev, my system would no longer boot. Instead, it crashed just after "Letting udev process events" in the init process (see screenshot at right).

The system always crashed after Udev started. I had the same problem using all of the following kernels (all compiled with udev support): linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4, linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r6, linux-2.6.22-gentoo-r9, linux-2.6.23-gentoo-r3

The system was working fine before upgrading udev, but I had the same problem with udev-115-r1 and udev-114 (baselayout-1.12.9-r2). I got a variety of different error messages each time the system booted and crashed:

highmem.c error:
"Oops" with segfault:
BUG: Scheduling while atomic:
Recursive die() failure:
...endless scrooling text:

The workaround (removing coldplug)

Using a rescue disc and removing udev allowed me to boot my system, but I had little or no access to devices. I tried installing and running /etc/init.d/coldplug, and I got the same error situation as I saw under udev (see screenshot at left).

I re-installed udev and set RC_COLDPLUG="no" in the script:

/lib/rcscripts/addons/udev-start.sh

(I believe it would be easier to set it in /etc/conf.d/rc). This affects a call to /sbin/udevtrigger, which (if executed) reproduces the error situation above (on my system).

I suspect this is related to a faulty kernel module being loaded, but when the situation began, my kernel and modules were all working OK (I had not just re-compiled my kernel). The diverse error messages haven't helped me identify the problem.

If I find a true fix, I'll post it here. Feel free to add comments or suggestions to this page.