Help me install GRUB Correctly

eNightmare · 05-02-2005, 07:48 PM

I am currently having a problem with grub (I think?). When I try to boot up Arch I am greeted with a nasty error message:

Warning: unable to open an initial console.
Kernel Panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.

I have this in my grub configuration file:

title Arch Linux
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3

junme · 05-02-2005, 10:12 PM

hd0,2 =sda3
full path to kernel ie /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11

syg00 · 05-03-2005, 03:59 AM

I doubt your issue is grub - these messages are from the init process I believe.
This implies you have found the grub stage files (i.e. the root(hd0,4) is correct), and you have found the Linux kernel (i.e. the root=/dev/sda3 is also correct).

The console warning message shouldn't be a show-stopper.
As for the panic, IIRC there have been posts from recent FC users describing similar issues - perhaps you could try searching LQ for solution(s) from those users.

cs-cam · 05-03-2005, 05:28 AM

I'd say re-evaluate the /dev/sda3. Sure that's the correct device? Perhaps it's a valid partition but not the correct one since it can't find init. The one you should be passing to the kernel is your / partition, not /boot in-case that's what you're doing.

eNightmare · 05-03-2005, 09:07 PM

Nope its all correct. This afternoon I checked for /sbin/init. It was missing. I think there must have been some error in the installation of packages. I started fresh with a new Arch installation making sure that all packages were successful. Now I have a base Arch system. I just need to set up X so i can run xfce.