[SOLVED] FAI Installation Ends in Kernel Panic

kumaran21 · 04-07-2013, 10:24 PM

Hi everyone,

Need urgent help in resolving this issue with FAI installation.

I am installing Debian OS on a Dell PowerEdge R720 using Fully Automated Installation (FAI) Server. Initially the imaging server found the Dell R720 and loads the kernel and starts the boot process but stops at loading the kernel driver for NIC. The kernel version is 3.2.24. The network card is a Broadcom NetXtreme II 1GB Ethernet BCM57800.

Quote:

Loading vmlinuz-3.2.24-bgrml64.......
Loadning initrd.img-3.2.24-bgrml64...............ready

Begin: Running /scripts/live-premount ... Waiting for ethernet card(s) up... If this fails, maybe the ethernet card is not supported by the kernel 3.2.24-bgrml64?

Looking for a connected Ethernet interface ... eth0 ? eth1 ? eth2 ? eth3?

Quote:

bnx2x: [bnx2x_init_firmware:10574(eth0)]can't load firmware file bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.0.29.0.fw
bnx2x: [bnx2x_func_hw_init:5382(eth0)]Error loading firmware
bnx2x: [bnx2x_nic_load:1839(eth0)]HW init failed, aborting

I added the the bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.0.29.0.fw firmware into the initrd image which the kernel complained it couldn't load and the error message went away, but now I get

Quote:

VFS: Connot load root device "nfs" or unknown-block(0,255)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
0b00 1048575 sr0 driver:sr
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,255)

I'm very new to the linux environment. Appreciate any help in resolving this issue.

Thank you very much.

business_kid · 04-08-2013, 03:22 PM

Quote:

VFS: Connot load root device "nfs" or unknown-block(0,255)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
0b00 1048575 sr0 driver:sr
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,255)

Translating that.

Line 1: It can't find a root drive, and doesn't like "nfs"
Where you have the kernel specified (grub.conf, lilo.conf) it usually says where the root is.
You probably have
kernel some_kernel root=nfs
But it can't find nfs until it's much further along. Catch-22.
Line 2: is telling you to put
kernel some_kernel root=/dev/sdxx or something it can find

Lines 3: Offers the drives it does see. It sees your cdrom - that's all

Line 4: technobabble utterance as kernel commits hari kari

TobiSGD · 04-08-2013, 05:56 PM

May be this can help you to set up the server correctly and use the correct kernel options on the clients: http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/NFS-Root.html