System boot occasionally hangs at module loading

Question

Since I installed Arch, about 43% of the time that I have attempted to boot my computer the boot process hangs at module loading. I assumed that the problem may have been that I was autoloading my modules. I tried turning autoloading off and manually loading them instead but that did not help. Then (as a shot in the dark) I tried having autoloading on, with my modules still defined in rc.conf, but that only made things worse (understandably, I did not think that this would help, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to try).
Here is my /etc/rc.conf
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
# LOCALIZATION
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime", any other value will result
# in the hardware clock being left untouched (useful for virtualization)
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
TIMEZONE="America/New_York"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
# HARDWARE
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
MOD_AUTOLOAD="no"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(ac battery button processor thermal video cdrom intel-agp tpm_bios tpm tpm_tis tpm_tis tpm_tis drm_kms_helper drm i915 hid i2c-algo-bit i2c-i801 i2c-core evdev joydev pcspkr psmouse serio_raw uvcvideo v4l1-compat v4l2-compat-ioctl32 videodev pci_hotplug shpchp wmi rtc-cmos rtc-core rtc-lib output iTCO_vendor_support iTCO_wdt snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd-hda-codec snd-hda-intel soundcore scsi_mod ahci atl1e mac80211 rfkill iwlagn iwlcore cfg80211 usb-storage usbhid usbcore ehci-hcd uhci-hcd sd_mod sr_mod st)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"
# NETWORKING
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
HOSTNAME="foster.laptop"
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (wlan0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#Static IP example
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
#wlan0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(!wlan0)
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
# This now requires the netcfg package
#NETWORKS=(main)
# DAEMONS
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
DAEMONS=(@alsa @syslog-ng @network dbus hal networkmanager @cups @netfs @crond @laptopmode)
Last edited by nothinggoespast (2010-06-28 00:47:01)

Answer 1

I have the same problem on my thinkpad T500 after I upgrade the wireless card (intel wifi link 5300).
For a long time I didn't understand the why of this behavior, but some weeks ago I realise that the problem can solve it hard-locking the wireless card and unlocking after the step: "loading modules".
For more information this is the complete thread on thinkpad forum that I wrote when I try to solve this issue: http://lnv.lithium.com/t5/T400-T500-and … 870#M26238
I apologize if you do not understand what I mean, the problem is that I have some difficulties to express myself in English