I am troubleshooting a 'No init found' error.

Since I use LILO and init5, I can't get to a command prompt in order to try passing the 'init=option" to the kernel at boot time...and I'm not sure what option I would try anyway.
I've been told that either Ctrl, Alt or Shift should get me to the CLI but it hasn't worked so far.

If anyone knows how I'd accomplish this and what option I might try, please let me know.
I'm running mdk 10.0 Official with the 2.6.xx kernel and no SCSI or RAID devices.

I've googled and found no lack of posts to lists on the 'No init found' problem but none that seems to apply to my issue.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

gd

Hmm, since you use lilo, pressing the TAB key often takes you to the lilo command prompt. from there, you might be able to enter the init= stuff

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.
Where does init live? I'm not sure what to tell the kernel.
gd

Well.... LILO started anyway, but.... this may be some kind of clue.

When booting the default kernel, it stopped with:

ERROR: /bin/insmod exited abnormally!
Ext3-fs: unsupported inode size: 0
mount: error 22 mounting ext3 flags Kernel panic: No init found
Try passing....
etc., etc.

I'm still in the dark but maybe this is a hint?

I didn't mean it as some sort of cryptic clue...sorry

Once lilo loads the menu to pick an os(even if it's just one), you can often press TAB, and that will take you to a prompt, that looks something like:

lilo:Linux

if Linux is the currently selected choice

from there, you can press space, and add the init= thingy that you wanted to add.

However, because of this line:


Ext3-fs: unsupported inode size: 0

it looks like your filesystem might be corrupted. I am unfamilliar with Ext3 recovery tools, as I use reiserfs.

It's also possible that the problem is just a config error of some sort(like a /etc/fstab telling linux taht partition is ext3 when it's really something else). I would try booting off a knoppix, or simillar cd, and attempting to access the partition from there.

I have a few live distros and last used Rescue CD (Gentoo) but could only mount hdd3 - the /root partition (hda1) is where I put LILO but it would not mount....
"Wrong file type, bad superblock, too many file systems mounted..."

As a last ditch attempt, I tried to reinstall using the upgrade choice and planned to format only /root, but that effort failed with:

Entering step 'Language'
Gdk-Warning ** locale not supported by Xlib at /usr/bin/perl-install/install_steps-gtk.pm line 165
Gdk-Warning ** can not set locale modifiers at /usr/bin/perl-install/install_steps_gtk.pm line 165
Entering step 'License'
Entering step "Configure mouse'
Entering step 'Hard drive detection'
exited abnormally :-( --received signal 8
(EE) FBDEV(0): FBIOPAN_DISPLAY: Invalid argument
(EE) FBDEV(0): FBIOPAN_DISPLAY: Invalid argument
sending termination signals..... done
Sending kill signal....
(etc....)

Which I can only guess looks like a problem with the CD - though I've installed using it several times now.

I really want to figure this out and get it repaired but I'm getting closer to just copying whatever data I can and reformatting the drive.
I'm thinking of using fdisk or something to format /root and try the install again.

Any comments?

gd