Recompiled kernel failing
 

Okay, this feels like another stupid question. I'm trying to get that
nVidia driver from the earlier post working. It came back with some
errors regarding the kernel, so I recompiled the kernel (I wasn't
surprised--I'm running 2.6.8-11 but the only 2.6.8 kernel from Debian
was 2.8-16). So, I recompiled the kernel and compiled it. Now, when I
try to boot, the new kernel does this:

modprobe can't find /lib/modules/2.6.8/modules.dep
pivot_root: No such file or directory
/sbin/init 432 can't open /dev/console: No such file
Kernel panic: Attemted to kill init


Now, I know some things changed with the 2.6 kernel when it comes to
doing a recompile, but I did the same thing I did last time "make"
and "make modules_install" (by the way, I inserted "make modules"
just to be sure and it did the same thing) Any ideas what I'm doing
wrong? Thanks again for your patience. I've been wanting to use
Debian a long time but never had a network card that would work, so
I'm really hoping to get X working. Oh, and apologies if this message
is jacked up. I'm writing it in lynx.


Oh, my God, I killed init. I'm a bastard.

Try adding to your kernel line in grub.

Well, following the example of the line for the vmlinuz image/original Debian image, it has console=tty0. Should I change that to tty1?

If you have that in the kernel line already, then this may not be the problem. But, it can't hurt to try. How familiar are you with grub's command prompt?


Heck, why not post the menu.lst (or grub.conf) if you can.

OK here, are the grub entries for the new kernel (top) and the original kernel. I don't know much about grub, so, I'm kind of guessing when I edit this. At first I thought it had to do with initrd or something, but since it starts to load fine, I don't know. It just seems to lose track of where it is.


title Debian GNU/Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda2 ro console=tty0
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-11-amd64-generic Default
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro console=tty0
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot

Did you do a in /boot to see whether you have any symbolic links pointing to the wrong place? Are you using the same initrd for both kernels? Did you copy the System.map over to your /boot directory too? Did you compile tty support in the kernel? Just thinking of the obvious, in case you're too close to the situation. BTW, it would be a good idea to rename the new kernels/System.map's with a logical naming scheme, so you'll know which is which.

Shoot! I just saw something!

try

I'll try that out, but why wouldn't it have failed on the other one also, since the original kernel doesn't have ? As for initrd, yeah it is using that same one which is what I'm thinking of. I don't recall, in other kernels, doing anything different for initrd, but that may have been back when I was using LILO (I've been using Gentoo, so no need to recompile). How do I get an initrd image just for the recompiled kernel? By the way, I want to thank you for all your help on this.

So, you've been spoiled by Gentoo and its pampering and you wanna wrestle with the Deb (I gave up when Woody got old and Sid got broken, like his toys). I wish you luck in your adventure. :D

Now, for the initrd...I only make them when I'm trying to get the framebuffer spash to work (which I often give up on for months at a time - been updating kernels as fast as Andrew Morton) and I've followed the directions. The man page will be more help than I will. I didn't have it on my system (seemed to have installed it with --strip), but I found it really fast on Google.

http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/mkinitrd8.html

There's one.

Another thought. The init problem often pops up when you've compiled your root filesystem in the kernel as a module (or not at all). Did you compile the filesystem your root partition is on into the kernel?

SUCCESS!! I ran mkinitrd and my kernel finally booted. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it. Next step is to get the 32-bit stuff to work. One challange after another (don't get me wrong--I actually enjoy this). Yeah, I've been wanting to play with Deb for a while, but until now, I couldn't get my network stuff right. Now, it works, so I get to play a little. Actually, I do have one "oh by the way" for you. Is there a config file for the sound card? Maybe I can figure out why it can't find it (look at my FC config file for same). The right driver is loaded, but I can't get it to find the sound card. Just wondering, Thanks.

Glad you got it working. I thought of that because every time I upgrade the kernel (about once every month or two), I lose the framebuffer splash, which causes me to make the initrd again.

As far as a config for the sound, I don't know what to say. The Gentoo equiv of a config would be in /etc/modules.d/ I don't have a Debian or derivative installed to be sure of what to look for atm (you should try PC-BSD, its cool), but its gotta be something like that.

I wonder if the permissions got reset with the kernel upgrade. Remember Debian doesn't like to allow the regular user access to anything unless approved, including the sound server.