Does Debian use initrd.img to bootup?

davidas · 04-06-2004, 11:32 PM

Before doing a kernel upgrade, my /boot directory has

System.map-2.4.18-bf2.4
config-2.4.18-bf2.4
vmlinuz-2.4.18-bf2.4

however, after using apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.3-1-686-smp, the directory now has initrd.img-2.6.3-1-686-smp in addition to the usual System.map-xxx, config-xxx and vmlinuz-xxx files. During the installation, I was prompted if I want to create a symbolic link to initrd.img-2.6.3-1-686-smp, of which I say No.

What does this new additional initrd.img file do and is it needed in Debian. Also, in Grub's menu.lst, there is no reference to initrd.img in the section of the original kernel (2.4)

New kernel bootup problem:

Kernel panic cos it tries to load root from (hd0,0), even though my root has been properly configured to be (hd0,2) in menu.lst. Asks me to correct my "root=". Is this related to initrd.img issue above?

Thanks !

sims · 04-07-2004, 03:32 AM

I'm not sure about this, but I think initrd creates a small ramdisk before it loads filesystems and so forth. The precompiled kernel which you installed uses initrd, but you can compile one yourself which don't. Anyway, you need to specify where the initrd.img file is located in your menu.lst:

Code:

#Example
title  Debian GNU/Linux (2.6.3)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3
initrd /initrd.img

Hope this was of some help.. =)

Spheerke · 04-07-2004, 03:45 AM

I've had the same problem just a few days ago. It seems that you configured your ide or scsi support as a module instead of static into the kernel. When it tries to boot and you have them compiled as modules, you need aan initial ram disk.
The image then contains the necessary modules to boot your disks.

Other option: Also check if you configured the correct support for the filesystem. I only chose ext2 support, no extra attributes. After creating the image it gave me the size of it, and also mentioned : root filesystem (3,5). After installing that image i could boot.

Third option is to use the append option in the boot-loader.
append="root=x1x2" where x1 = major number in hex and x2 minor number of the root part.

In my case it was append="root=0305". But i solved it by compiling ide support static and only picking ext2 options (don't have ext3 so why compile

)

Hope this helps...