Booting RHEL into single mode hangs

Issue

• We are unable to boot, with the latest kernel available on the system (2.6.32-220.17.1.el6.x86_64), into single user mode (by adding the single option in the kernel command line in GRUB menu). The system appears to hang after "enabling /etc/fstab swaps: [OK]" message is displayed. Booting with an older kernel (2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64) or in multi-user mode does not have any problems.