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-   -   Machine hangs on boot. kernel or Initrd not loaded. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-kernel-70/machine-hangs-on-boot-kernel-or-initrd-not-loaded-747650/)

acalderon 08-14-2009 07:40 PM
[Solved] Machine hangs on boot. kernel or Initrd not loaded.
 
Hi,

My machine hangs on boot.

After freshly installing Debian 5.0 (lenny). I rebooted the system and when I selected the default GRUB entry I got a similar console output and it halted:

Code:
Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-2-686'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x16c910]
Then, all you get is the blinking cursor at the next line. Just blinking indefinitely.

I tried using the rescue mode from the Debian net install disk to try and fix the GRUB installation, if in case there was any problem with it, with no luck.

Any suggestions or ideas?

I also tried to install sOS with similar results. The difference is that after the the GRUB entry selected I just get a black screen with a blinking cursor. I believe that the loglevel=0 kernel option has something to do with it.

Drakeo 08-14-2009 09:19 PM
Quote:
root (hd0,0)
Filesystem is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x16c910]
correct is
Quote:
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-686 <---------------- Note the initrd.image
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x16c910]
so boot to grub and press escape I think then you can go to comand line grub
then press o yeap the leter o this will let you add a line. then type. initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-686 push enter then press the letter b for boot.
now your system will start then go to as root /boot/grub/menu.1st and edit the file.
good luck

acalderon 08-15-2009 01:43 AM
It turned out to be the BIOS hard drive settings...
 
I have researched the issue for about two weeks or so. As I was reading about Grub on its website FAQs I got curious about the hard drive issues that they mentioned a lot. In particular I suspected my issue could be related to the size of the hard drive I installed Debian on. They mention a 8GB or 32GB hard drive size bug or something along those lines.

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/gru...en.html#TOCq14

And something about BIOS issues as well.

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/gru....en.html#TOCq2

It turned out to be the BIOS. I changed the hard drive interface setting of 32bit (or Bite, do not remember) IDE data rate compatibility interface from disabled to enabled. That allowed the kernel to load and boot.

The laptop has a SATA 2.5 hard drive. So the IDE compatibility setting allowed Grub to successfully communicate with the hard drive and do its thing. I believe that the Logical Block Address (LBA) and thus the 1024 cylinder problem may be the source of the cause.

AC

Drakeo 08-15-2009 11:11 PM
Quote:
It turned out to be the BIOS hard drive settings...
your machine posted bios. then looked for the mbr on your drive. there grub was loaded because it read your drives. then you selected your Linux OS or default selects it for you in about 10 seconds.
then after that read my first post.
So this is not a Bios issue or hard drive issue. or you would never get an error from grub.or the kernel to.

acalderon 08-17-2009 12:15 AM
OK, I'm still looking into itn.
 
I turned the settings back off, and I was able to boot and load the OS.

I'm troubleshooting this some more.

Post back as soon as I get more info.

acalderon 08-17-2009 12:21 AM
It was the path to my initrd and kernel
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by acalderon (Post 3643795)
Code:
Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-2-686'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x16c910]
Note on the entry below. The path to the actual initrd and kernel files is different. No "/boot" in the path.
Code:
Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-2-686'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x16c910]
It looks like that was the issue.


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