Kernel panic : No init found

pvc9 · 12-22-2002, 02:13 AM

Hi all,
System Specs - AMD Duron 1 GHz, 256 MB SDRAM, 2 HDDs, 2 CDDs.

One of the HDDs is 40 GB, the other is 2 GB. As I had only one jumper, I couldnt connect all the drives at once. So I had to disconnect the 40 GB HDD, make the 2 GB HDD master, install RH Linux. Hope this is clear. I installed Linux with only the 2 GB HDD connected!

So, if I had to work with Linux I had to disonnect the 40 GB HDD and make the 2 GB HDD master...

Recently I got few jumpers from my friend(

) so I changed the settings, connected all the drives. Now the setup is -

Primary Master - 40 GB HDD
Primay Slave - CDROM Drve

Secondary Master - 2 GB HDD
Secondary Slave - CD Writer

When I boot through the 2 GB HDD, I get the bootloader(GRUB), the booting process continues for few seconds but it stops and the error message dsiplayed is -

Kernel panic : No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel

Have searched on the net about the same, found some info but still

Quote:

Boot using linux init=/bin/bash, and then check that /etc/fstab is not corrupted, that /sbin/init is still there. Also check /etc/inittab for errors, but I do not expect that to be the problem.

Unless /etc/fstab shows corruption, I would suspect that the box was cracked by someone that didn't realy know what they were doing, and they goofed...
---------------------------------------
That could mean two things:
1. You don't have /sbin/init; ensure that you uncomment it in Config.h, and ensure you have the link to busybox.

2. You don't have required shared libraries; use chroot and ldd to check what is needed.

"Try passing init= option" means that you could give a init=/bin/sh argument to the kernel when LILO ask you which image to use.

I used the bootable Linux Cd, started the Rescue mode...got the shell, looked in Grub.conf...lost.

I can re-install the OS in less than 15 minutes but thats the last option...

TIA!

rootboy · 12-22-2002, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pvc9

Primary Master - 40 GB HDD
Primay Slave - CDROM Drve

Secondary Master - 2 GB HDD
Secondary Slave - CD Writer

It's pretty simple, grub is looking for your init file to be located (somewhere) on /dev/hda and now it's (somewhere) on /dev/hdc.

Note the "(somewhere)", that's a hint...

Anyways, pass the string "init=/dev/hdc?/sbin/init" inside of grub.

Where you would replace the "?" with the actual partition number.

From there, you would edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst to reflect the partition changes, and then run grub-install. Then you would edit your /etc/fstab file so that it knew about the changes to your mount points.

And of course you would probably want to relocate from your 2G platter to your 40G platter. Do the "dd" for this. Then it's another round with grub & fstab (and whatever else I have forgotten about).

Let me know when you reach your 15 minute limit

John

pvc9 · 12-23-2002, 10:50 PM

Hi rootboy,
Thanks for the reply. I was having some problems with the other hardware connections, so I had to change the setup again. I had to change the 2 GB HDD to Primary Slave...so again lot of editing/changes. Instead re-installed Linux and things working fine now.

TA.