Upgraded Kernel, Kernel Panic, Can't read root file system.

Alien Bob · 04-23-2008, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unamed_user

The author of the shell script mkinitrd assumes that it's running in an environment with GNU coreutils installed. But actually the installation environment only provides busybox's utils. Some of the command's options can't be recognised by the busybox's utils. For example option --parents in cp. Without an initrd.gz I can't boot into the normal system which has GNU coreutils. The $PATH contains installed system's /bin directory, but busybox's will be choosen to invoke first.

This flaw brings some of the initrd problems.
I think mkinitrd should be modified to be compatible with busybox.

I am one of the contributors to mkinitrd. This script is not meant to be started directly in the installer environment!

Instead, you should do a "chroot /mnt" after Slackware's setup completes and then run mkinitrd in the 'chroot'. This is by design. We expect the coreutils and bash to be available.

If you boot the Slackware installer as a "rescue CD" then you will have to mount your harddisk partition(s) manually below /mnt first, and then mount /proc and sys below /mnt so that the scripts and applications that you run in the chroot can properly query the hardware configuration:

Code:

mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt

<plug> Try the mkinitrd_command_generator.sh script - it will analyze your computer and suggest a mkinitrd commandline that should generate a correct initrd.gz image for you. You can also let it generate the block of lines that you can write to /etc/lilo.conf

Eric

unamed_user · 04-23-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

I am one of the contributors to mkinitrd. This script is not meant to be started directly in the installer environment!

Instead, you should do a "chroot /mnt" after Slackware's setup completes and then run mkinitrd in the 'chroot'. This is by design. We expect the coreutils and bash to be available.

If you boot the Slackware installer as a "rescue CD" then you will have to mount your harddisk partition(s) manually below /mnt first, and then mount /proc and sys below /mnt so that the scripts and applications that you run in the chroot can properly query the hardware configuration:

Code:

mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt

<plug> Try the mkinitrd_command_generator.sh script - it will analyze your computer and suggest a mkinitrd commandline that should generate a correct initrd.gz image for you. You can also let it generate the block of lines that you can write to /etc/lilo.conf

Eric

Maybe it's my fault. I can't remember whether I saw the instruction telling me to chroot. Thank you for your work.

I have tried the suggestion given by mkinitrd_command_generator.sh. But no help.

Thanks for your great work again.

brianL · 04-23-2008, 11:08 AM

I can't remember seeing any instruction to chroot /mnt to run mkinitrd. According to the INITRD.readme it's cd /boot, which is what I did after the post-install reboot.

Alien Bob · 04-23-2008, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

I can't remember seeing any instruction to chroot /mnt to run mkinitrd. According to the INITRD.readme it's cd /boot, which is what I did after the post-install reboot.

Ah, yes, but after the post-install reboot, you are running Slackware itself and not the limited environment in the installer!

You followed the correct instructions shown in README.initrd. But these instructions do not apply while you are still in the installer stage before the reboot, unless you do the chroot thingie.

Eric

brianL · 04-23-2008, 01:05 PM

Ah, yes, sorry, Eric. I was misinterpreting this in your previous post:

Quote:

Instead, you should do a "chroot /mnt" after Slackware's setup completes and then run mkinitrd in the 'chroot'.

I was taking it to mean post-install.

unamed_user · 04-24-2008, 02:28 AM

My problem is solved. As ChrisAbela said, I need to change from /dev/sdax to /dev/hdax in GRUB.

Thanks you, ChrisAbela and everyone else.

UncleBark · 05-04-2008, 03:15 PM

Hello all,

I've run into the same problem. While trying to boot from GRUB I get this message:

Code:

VFS: Cannot open root device "sdc5" or unknown-block(o,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

I followed the code posted earlier in this thread to boot from my installation CD,

Code:

hugesmp.s root=/dev/sdc5 rdinit= ro

but I still stop at the same place.

Not sure what to do now.

I have Ubuntu 8, XP and Slackware 12, each on their own HDD and can boot the other 2 from GRUB with no problem.

T3slider · 05-04-2008, 03:24 PM

If you can't even get into your system using the install CD, then either your root partition (/) is not located on /dev/sdc5 or your system is messed up and is totally unbootable (it's probably not the second one, but it's still a possibility). Try passing the "hda=noprobe" option to see if your drive is incorrectly being assigned /dev/hdx instead of /dev/sdx (assuming that your drive is actually an SATA drive and your SATA controller is supported by the kernel).

UncleBark · 05-04-2008, 04:06 PM

Slackware is on a SATA.
XP is on a PATA and Ubuntu is on a SATA and as I said those two boot fine.
I've had problems setting up SATA's on this mobo, it's old. I'm thinking of doing a clean re-install now that my system can actually see the SATA drives better. Had to do some work in BIOS just so the computer could boot into Ubuntu.

I've tried having it as a hdc instead but still no luck.

My mobo is a Foxxconn 761GXK8M....old, but it was all I could find for my AMD socket 939.....

T3slider · 05-04-2008, 04:46 PM

If that's the case then it highly likely that the kernel has an option that is attempting to probe for IDE devices. Try passing "hda=noprobe" to see if it'll boot then. If not, you may want to recompile the kernel (assuming you can somehow get into your system) to remove a certain option. See this recent post by Franklin: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...65#post3142465

UncleBark · 05-04-2008, 10:45 PM

OK, found it. I discovered the root was on an entirely different partition. Everything went ahead normally.....for now.