[SOLVED] Kernel Panic on 2009 Macbook With ElementaryOS

Logimite · 02-24-2021, 01:00 AM

I was using my mac with ElementaryOS, and I decided to update it. The next hour I updated it, I opened it again and it booted to a black screen. Booted again and it booted up to GRUB. Then I booted elementaryOS in recovery mode, and I got this error:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XFx...6eUdDwP1O/view
Is there a way of fixing this? Or is my computer doomed and I should throw it out? Thanks for any replies!

Brains · 02-24-2021, 01:43 AM

Have you been waiting for a reason to throw it out?

This might not be the day, hopefully you have a Mint or Elementary ISO you can boot into a live session, maybe run fsck on the root partition if it's still around.
It's possible if there was a kernel upgrade or something that provoked regenerating initrd.img, something went wrong there, maybe regenerating initrd.img for the kernel you are trying to boot might help. Because mounting / is done through initrd/initramfs if I remember correctly.

Do you have more than one kernel you can boot from?

Logimite · 02-24-2021, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brains

Have you been waiting for a reason to throw it out?

This might not be the day, hopefully you have a Mint or Elementary ISO you can boot into a live session, maybe run fsck on the root partition if it's still around.
It's possible if there was a kernel upgrade or something that provoked regenerating initrd.img, something went wrong there, maybe regenerating initrd.img for the kernel you are trying to boot might help. Because mounting / is done through initrd/initramfs if I remember correctly.

Do you have more than one kernel you can boot from?

So I reflash it, boot it in live, then what?

Brains · 02-24-2021, 11:32 AM

In the terminal, have a look at the partition structure with command: sudo fdisk -l
If you find it's / is say.../dev/sda3, run a filesystem check with command: sudo fsck /dev/sda3
If it has a separate /boot partition, you'll want to check see if it's plugged with kernels and initrd.img files. There's been lots of kernel upgrades in the past month and a half and a few folks are having this issue where new initrd.img can't be completed for lack of disk space.

Emerson · 02-24-2021, 11:54 AM

It is getting "unknown-block(0,0)" error, which means kernel cannot access the hard drive, most likely because the HDD controller module is supposed to be in initramfs and initramfs is not loaded, possibly not present. Choosing an older kernel from Grub menu will boot, then reinstall the new kernel properly so its initramfs gets built and installed.

Logimite · 02-24-2021, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

It is getting "unknown-block(0,0)" error, which means kernel cannot access the hard drive, most likely because the HDD controller module is supposed to be in initramfs and initramfs is not loaded, possibly not present. Choosing an older kernel from Grub menu will boot, then reinstall the new kernel properly so its initramfs gets built and installed.

Wait....
would this happen if the ssd just got knocked out? I remember I did not secure the ssd properly when replacing it.

Emerson · 02-24-2021, 12:57 PM

For some reason new kernel install wasn't finalized, SSD disconnected is certainly such a reason.

Logimite · 02-24-2021, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brains

In the terminal, have a look at the partition structure with command: sudo fdisk -l
If you find it's / is say.../dev/sda3, run a filesystem check with command: sudo fsck /dev/sda3
If it has a separate /boot partition, you'll want to check see if it's plugged with kernels and initrd.img files. There's been lots of kernel upgrades in the past month and a half and a few folks are having this issue where new initrd.img can't be completed for lack of disk space.

when I do that it says "grub cannot find sudo" or something like that

Logimite · 02-24-2021, 01:14 PM

Nevermind, I solved this by booting it to an older kernel version. Thanks guys! I am writing this from my 2009 macbook.