Suse 10.1 installation won't go past disk #1 on Kernel Panic

Please post exact error.

It is possible that the disk is corrupt - reburn at lower speed and try again.

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I installed Suse 10.1 and on first boot after CD#1 I got the error message: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

I changed to Suse 10.0 and got the same error.

I changed to Suse 9.1 using both original DVD and CD media from Novell and got the error message:
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/mingetty"
INIT: no more processes left this run level
also on first boot.

... wait: you rebooted after CD#1?
I've never installed OpenSUSE from CD you realize - but multi-CD distros usually require two to get all the packages, then you do your first boot. Did it not prompt you to insert CD#2 at any stage?

Devolving seldom helps - have you tried 10.2/10.3?

... what's it say just before that?

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I get a Filesystem not Clean message. However, on running the installation again and selecting Repair, the File System is consistently reported clean.

The "Filesystem is NOT clean" message is followed by a number of "Permission denied" messages on a tall list of routines beginning with /etc/init.d/boot.rootfsck, through boot.device-mapper, boot.localfs ... then the final messages would be
INIT: Entering runlevel: 5
INIT: cannot execute "/etc/init.d/rc"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/mingetty" (several of this)
INIT: Id "1" respawing too fast: disabled for 5 minutes (several of this)
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel
and then the computer hangs here.

I have replaced the HD thrice (new and old), tried all the HD in another machine, tried Suse 10.1, 10.0 and 9.1 and end up with the same behavior. Now I think it's probably my fingers. XP installs smoothly and perfectly on all the HDs I've tried. Can someone tell me why?

What about it? Perhaps you didn't finish the install?

INIT: cannot execute "/etc/init.d/rc"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/mingetty"
... would perhaps confirm that: suggests the fs wasn't labelled.
Though you could try disabling SELinux. These two fails together are the cause of the hang.

The installation does not go past Disk #1. These messages show up on first boot after Disk #1, and then the system hangs. However if I boot into Single user, the etc, bin and sbin all do exist and all programs which fail to execute do exist.
How do I disable SELinux?

put selinux=0 on the kernel line in grub.


I have checked with Novell, the installation is definitely supposed to prompt you for the second disk, even on minimal server installs. The total OpenSUSE install requires three disks to be used.

Also see example:
http://www.debianadmin.com/opensuse-...reenshots.html
"It will start installation and this time it will prompt for installation cd2 and cd3"
... how many of these screens did you see?

It would follow that your disk1 ISO is faulty or slightly corrupt. Reburn at a lower speed, with different HW.

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I have just discovered that the problem disappears when I format the entire HD under Suse. The installation would then go past Disk#1 and ask for Disk#2 etc and successfully install. The problem only shows up when I partition the HD, it doesn't matter whether WinXP is on or not - I've removed XP and put it back and it didn't make any difference. Once the disk is partitioned, I get those "Permission denied" errors after 1st boot and the installation does not proceed to Disk#2.

This is my partition table:
hda <76G>
hda1 /Windows/C (38G on vfat) (vfat because I need to write from Linux)
hda2 swap (1G)
hda3 / (28G on Reiserfs)
hda4 /ubuntu (9G on Reiserfs)

The latest HD I'm using is 80gb Seagate ST3802110A in a
Dell P3 1.0GHz 512MB RAM.

Did you choose the guided dual-boot option, or did you manually select partitions? Did OpenSUSE resize the windows partition, or did you use a third-party tool?

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I did manual partitioning without thirt-party tools.
Also, I tried and again failed with another config by reformatting the entire HD with NTFS, installed XP and then got Suse to resize, although I manually adjusted its suggested sizing and ended up with:

hda1 Win NTFS 40GB
hda2 swap 1.1GB
hda3 / 35GB on Reiserfs

Also, I repartitioned with Reiserfs for hda1, and again failed.

The only config which works now is having the entire HD under Suse.

Weird... you want to report this to the OpenSUSE team.