RHEL prints "dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts" messages in loop while booting

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Issue

  • Messages "dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts" are printed loop while booting then an Emergency shell is launched:

    [  193.845250]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts
[...]
[  198.557262]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts
[  198.557679]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: Could not boot.
[  200.161146]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: /dev/vgroot/root does not exist
[  200.170895]  systemd[1]: Starting Dracut Emergency Shell...

  • Messages "dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts" are printed loop while booting then boot continues:

    [  193.845250]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts
[...]
[  198.557262]  dracut-initqueue[779]: Warning: dracut-initqueue timeout - starting timeout scripts
[...]
... Boot continues ...
  • Shutdown command reboot -r or shutdown -r takes a very long time or reboot never happens

  • After updating to the latest kernel, the system is not coming up, but it loads fine with the old kernel. This error is shown:

    dracut-initqueue timeout could not boot

Resolution

These issues are sometimes related to a modification in the Logical Volumes of the system, but the config files weren't all updated to reflect the changes. Specifically the rd.lvm.lv kernel parameters in /etc/default/grub file were not updated. The below steps can be ran after booting from a previous kernel that still boots, or the server will need to be booted from an installation media and enter rescue mode. The following article can assist in booting into rescue mode https://access.redhat.com/articles/3405661.

  1. List the logical volumes on your system:

    # lvs -o vg_name,lv_name
  VG   LV  
  rhel root
  rhel swap

  2. Verify that the rd.lvm.lv= parameter values match the list of logical volumes on the system:

    # grep GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="crashkernel=auto rd.lvm.lv=rhel/root rd.lvm.lv=rhel/swap rhgb quiet"

  3. Changes to /etc/default/grub require rebuilding the grub.cfg file as follows::

    • On BIOS-based machines:

      # grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

    • On UEFI-based machines:

      # grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg

  4. Reboot the system:

    # reboot

Root Cause

  • A logical volume cannot be found on the system
  • Another cause of this issue can be the absence of the kernel module of the storage controller of the system. Please refer to this Knowledge Base https://access.redhat.com/solutions/6932631

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