Mandriva /etc/lilo.conf again

[réjean]

Hi again!I had tried it last night but just to make sure I was not day (or evening)dreaming I just did it again. In both cases I get a verbose booting ( the "771"one is fancier) and both give me the following message:

kernel panic -not sync: No init found. Try passing init=option to kernel.

and this is after I "/sbin/lilo" of course. What about trying one of the append lines ( as Julia suggested) from the other distros? I'll do that in awhile and let you know. I figure there is nothing to loose since I have a copy of the original online.

[ross549]

As long as you have a backup to fall back on.

[réjean]

I could still boot into Mandriva couldn't I? And I st ill have the rescue cd for it and SuSE and Xandros.

[teacher]

Hi again!I had tried it last night but just to make sure I was not day (or evening)dreaming I just did it again. In both cases I get a verbose booting ( the "771"one is fancier) and both give me the following message:

kernel panic -not sync: No init found. Try passing init=option to kernel.

and this is after I "/sbin/lilo" of course. What about trying one of the append lines ( as Julia suggested) from the other distros? I'll do that in awhile and let you know. I figure there is nothing to loose since I have a copy of the original online.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I am not suggesting you use the append line from another distro but the append line for this distro you used in lilo for another distro. Does that make sense?

I could still boot into Mandriva couldn't I? And I st ill have the rescue cd for it and SuSE and Xandros.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you have rescue CDs and can boot form them then that will get you in those distros.

[réjean]

Hi Julia! Not sure I understand you. What I meant and tried was to copy the append line from another distro and replace it in the pclos section to no avail unfortunately.The way to figure out my problem lies with the ïnitrd" wouldn you say? But then how to fix it?

[Bruno]

Hi RéjeanThis part:

image=/boot/pclos/vmlinuz-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB      label="PCLos-9"      root=/dev/hda1      initrd=/boot/pclos/initrd-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB.img      append="devfs=nomount acpi=ht noapic nolapic nomce splash=silent"      vga=771      read-only

Should work . . . and if it does not it is probably because previous failed attempts to boot did corrupt that install . . . so I suggest you make that lilo entry exactly as above and simply do the install of PCLos one more time on the same partition . . . . the Lilo will then already be ready for booting once the install is finished ;) Bruno

[ross549]

I wonder if that initrd is missing or corrupted somehow........

[réjean]

Hi all!I don't know what to say or what to do anymore. Alll I know is that I had pclos working more than fine for almost a week with the bootloader on the MBR ( mind you) so I couldn't boot anywhere else. I used the old Mandrake bootrescue and went back into Mandriva. I had problems with /etc/lilo.conf. I tried Bruno's latest suggestion ( modified /etc/lilo.conf and reinstalled pclos ) with still the same problem.Here is a longer version of what happens after I try to boot into pclos:

Creating root deviceMounting root filesystemVFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev hda1mount: error 22 mounting ext3 flags defaultswell, retrying without the option flagsVFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev hda1mount: error 22 mounting ext3pivotroot: pivot_root ( /sysroot, /sysroot/initrd ) failed::2umount /initrd/sys failed::2umount /initrd proc failed:2Initrd finishedFreeing unused kernel memory: 204k freadkernel panic - not sync: No init foundTry passing init + option to kernel

So it seems that ross is on the right track and unless I get a better suggestion by tomorrow night then I will reinstall pclos with the bootloading on the hda MBR and get rid of mandriva which bootloader as caused me so much pain over the last year.

Edited June 26, 2005 by réjean

[teacher]

You installed it on hda1? And you used ext3? Did you format first? I suspect a step was missed. Since it can not even recognize the format of hda1 you need to reinstall I believe. Did you try to use ext2 by mistake?

[Bruno]

. . . .  the thing is that PCLos ( if you make use of another lilo then the PCLos lilo ) absolutely needs to be installed on "Journalled Filesystem RieserFS" !!So my advice is: change the "type" of that partition . . then "format" it . . . . and re-install PCLos. . . . . Bruno

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Réjean . . . . . please read here:

. . . if you are not installing the bootloader for pclos you need to make sure the partition is formatted in reiserfs. The initrd is set to preload the reiserfs module so when it pivots it can mount the pclos partition. If you dont use reisferfs you will get an init panic.

This is the reason why you could boot from the native PCLos lilo and not from the Mandrake Lilo . . . . Your partition is NOT formated ReiserFS !! . . . . . You really need to make sure and double-check that the partition is ReiserFS first before you reinstall PCLos. Bruno

[réjean]

You really need to make sure and double-check that the partition is ReiserFS first before you reinstall PCLos.

...but it is.You remember a few days ago telling me to change from "ext3" to "ReiserFS" and then format it. Well that's what I did. Last night when I reinstalled I decided to skip the disk partitionning to see what would happen. When I was asked to choose a partition for the /, the swap a /home and a /var (I think) I was offered hda1 journalled ReiserFS for the / partition and hda5 for the swap. Since this is what you wanted me to do I agreed and proceded with the install but when I was finished and tried to reboot I saw what I posted with a reference to "ext3" so I guess I will reformat again and reinstall.But please everybody don't assume that when I ask for help I don't try to follow all the suggestions to the letter. Like Adam said and the message upon booting implies there might be something wrong with the init that doesn't recognize the fact that I have reformatted. Now of course I would be tempted to (but won't do it because of what Bruno suggested could happen) delete the partition and create a new one but I will go for a format only and see what happens this time because like I said I really like pclos.Thanks again Bruno, Julia and Adam for your help. Wish me luck and if any other idea comes to your mind let me know.

[teacher]

Good luck!My guess is that the easiest solution at this point is to reinstall double checking to make sure the format is correct and reformat the partitions. We can second guess what happened a lot but my guess is that will take more time than a simple reinstall.

[réjean]

Hi Julia and everyone!First of all here is what I found doing a disk partitioning this morning. I clicked on hda1 and got:

Mount point: /mnt/hda1Device: hda1Devfs name: ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1type:journalised FS: ReiserFS (0X83)Start:sector63Size:7.8GB (21%),16434369 sectorsPartition booted by default9for MS-DOS boot,not for lilo).

now the bad news. I guess I'll need to redownload the install CD because on my first attempt there was 30 min or so left of the installation ( I know. I've got a small machine 500 Mhz only so it takes about 2 hrs to install) and when I went back to check on the progress after that long tyhe machine was back in pclos live cd ( meaning kde was there with the icons on the left, the task bar at the bottom. I tried reinstalling again and this time after only 20 min or so into the install the screen was black and nothing would happen if I clicked on ENTER or the spacebar.Any idea someone? I should tell you that I haven't tried turning off the machine ( I thought only Micro$oft needed to do that) but I had to RESET and Mandriva told me that I hadn't shut it down properly even if I had done so. After a file system check everything is back the way it was. When I try booting into pclos I get the same kernel panic message I had before with the init problem.P.S. Good news. I found the download on my other machine so I am making a new copy. I assumed that since I was to install pclos and run it for about a week as MBR there is nothing wrong with the downlasd per se.

Edited June 26, 2005 by réjean

[Bruno]

Hi RejeanI am lost for words . . . really I can not see what is happening with your PCLos install . . . if it boots from the "PCLos-lilo" it should boot from the "Mandriva-lilo" too.One little thing in your post:

but I had to RESET and Mandriva told me that I hadn't shut it down properly even if I had done so. After a file system check everything is back the way it was.

After an unclean shutdown Mandriva will ask ( Y ) for a file system check . . . You should not press Y in such case but not touch your keyboard at all . . . because only then it will recover the "journal" from the Ext3 filesystem. ( Sure if you had Ext2 pressing Y has to be done . . only not with Ext3 )Maybe we should adapt the PCLos lilo to reflect all the other distros you have . . and we will use that one . . . . But in that case we do need a good rescue CD from mandriva for if ever PCLos gets blown to bits Bruno

[réjean]

Thanks Bruno!I am now reinstalling pclos from the 2nd cd I burnt from the original download hoping things will get better. If we have to make pclos the main bootloader I will definitely need a good mandriva rescue cd. The one I have doesn't work but my old Mandrake does the job.P.S. Bad news! It seems that something won' t let me install pclos anymore. At different stages during the install ( so far never the same place) the install stop and I end up into pclos live (which is where I am right now posting to you and doing ( I guess whatever I want). I had reformatted the partition before the last install and I went through the install motion. The last time I checked I was at about 20% then when I came back I was in pclos live cd. Any clue anyone???P.P.S. Better news but bad news still!!! I recalled that when I was checking on the progress of the installation I would click in the middle of nowhere and within the install window again to make sure no screensavers or such would get activated and I did so for the last install and it went through. So I managed to installed pclos again, completely, after reformatting and once again I get the kernel problem.So my questions are: 1. Can I move the bootloader to the MBR on hda without reinstalling, using the live pclos for example? If so will I still be able to boot into another distro with it's own CD-rescue? Will I be able to copy the /etc/lilo.conf part from Mandriva relating to the other distros which I emailed to myself using yahoo?I will copy and paste its content and email it to myself on my yahoo email so I can easily retrieve it as need be.Waiting for suggestions. Thanks in advance. Love you all!

Edited June 27, 2005 by réjean

[Bruno]

Hi RéjeanGlad the install worked in the end . . . . . but a pitty you did not use the MBR to install Lilo . . . . . doing it from a Live CD is possible but rather complicated and full of pitfalls. . . see: Chroot Tip Sometimes a re-install is easier though

Will I be able to copy the /etc/lilo.conf part from Mandriva relating to the other distros which I emailed to myself using yahoo?

You can use sections of that lilo ( the mandriva part needs adapting ) but can not copy the complete lilo one on one. Sure you will need to copy over the /boot sections of the distros you add to the pclos /boot.Do not change the PCLos part of the PCLos lilo because then you will end up with one big ugly mess :'( Bruno

[réjean]

Ok!I managed to reinstall pclos with lilo on the MBR after a few retries so I finished quite late. My next step tonight will be to do:

# mount /dev/hda1  /mnt/hda1# cp -r /mnt/hda1/boot  /boot/pclos# ls -al /boot/pclos

for the different partitions except pclos, of course, and mandriva which I will keep for last ( I don't have to mount the different /home(s) do I? Then I will copy the entries from mandriva /etc/lilo.conf (except for pclos and mandriva again). Right?

[Bruno]

Basically that is indeed the right tactics . . . . . let me know if ( when ) you need help. Bruno

[réjean]

Hi Bruno!Just ran into a little technical difficulty. I mounted the Suse partition and I copied the related section from /etc/lilo.conf in Mandriva that works but I get the following messagewhen I did a /sbin/lilo:

[root@localhost rejean]# /sbin/liloAdded pclinuxos *\n and \t are not allowed in quoted strings at or above line 21 in file '/etc/lilo.conf'

so I did a cat /etc/lilo.conf:

[root@localhost rejean]# cat /etc/lilo.confboot=/dev/hdamap=/boot/mapdefault="pclinuxos"keytable=/boot/livecd.kltpromptnowarntimeout=100message=/boot/messagemenu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bwimage=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB        label="pclinuxos"        root=/dev/hda1        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB.imgappend="devfs=nomount acpi=ht noapic nolapic nomce splash=silent"vga=788read-onlyimage=/boot/suse/vmlinuz-2.6.5-7.151-default        label="SUSE"        root=/dev/hda10        initrd=/boot/suse/initrd-2.6.5-7.151-default        append="desktop showopts splash=silentresume=/dev/hda5 devfs=nomount acpi=ht"        vga=0x317        read-only

so I added an " (quotation mark) at the end of the line and now I get this message:

Unrecognized token "resume" at or above line 22 in file '/etc/lilo.conf'

any idea?

Edited June 28, 2005 by réjean

[Bruno]

I think Lilo wants to tell you that:

      append="desktop showopts splash=silentresume=/dev/hda5 devfs=nomount acpi=ht"

Should actually be ONE line . . .so:

      append="desktop showopts splash=silent resume=/dev/hda5 devfs=nomount acpi=ht"

Burno

[réjean]

I think Lilo wants to tell you that:Should actually be ONE line . . .so: Burno

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks cool.gif Burno that's what I thought also:

[rejean@localhost rejean]$ suPassword:[root@localhost rejean]# vi /etc/lilo.conf[root@localhost rejean]# /sbin/liloAdded pclinuxos *Added SUSE[root@localhost rejean]#

I'll check and see if it works ( it should) and then I'll try Kubuntu (saving the thoughest ones for last. One quick question. Do you recall that my Xandros was always overwelming my Drake lilo. Was it because I had installed it's lilo on the MBR and having installed pclos there it will be the master boot recorder and cancelled any of Xandros attempts to take over again?Greatly appreciate your help Bruno!

[Bruno]

I fear Xandros will not forget its dirty tricks and reclaim the MBR as soon as you boot in Xandros again ( no matter if the Mandriva or PCLos lilo is installed there )So before booting Xandros I would urge you to make a PCLos rescue CD . . . because if you don't all this work you are doing now will be in vain ( seeing that PCLos will not boot from another lilo then the PCLos Lilo . . . so getting back the PCLos lilo will mean a re-install of PCLos !! )We could try to tweak the Xandros /etc/lilo.conf before you boot Xandros to force it to write the lilo to the partition ( or floppy ) and not to MBR, that way the risk it will overwrite the MBR when you boot Xandros is smaller. Bruno

[réjean]

Hi Bruno!Before going any further I will have to fix some new problems. When I said Suse was ok I had only seen the splasscreen and therefore assumed it would be but it isn't. When I try booting in I get the following messages:

Init: Id "1" respawning too fast; disabled for 5 minutesInit: Id "1" respawning too fast; disabled for 5 minutes...etc up to Init6

then when I try to reboot into pclos I get a black login screen where I can log in as "rejean" with the password but when I do "su" with password and print "startx" I get the famous Xorg; fatal error 104.This is really getting depressing!!!P.S. Thank goodness it is back after several ( and I mean several restarts) it came back. So I am not gonna do anything until Julia, Bruno or so many of the other knowledgeable Linux gurus tell me how to make a PCLinuxOS rescue disk.BTW the last time I tried booting into SUSE I got an:

Out of Memory: killed process 2019 (udev) "and so on"

but the last time I used it (even after I lost a few sticks of RAM and I'm now dow to 131 MB for awhile it still worked). Whatever.So happy to know that I didn't lose pclos and that my rescue Drake is there to put me back into Mandriva if I have to.

Edited June 29, 2005 by réjean

[Bruno]

Hi RéjeanSuch little MB could be a problem, so let us first make that rescue disk for PCLos:

# mkrescue --iso --initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB.img --kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-oci11.mdk-i586-up-1GB

( This command is ONE line ) BrunoPS: How did that old memory go bad ? And do you have additional hardware problems ?

[réjean]

Hi Bruno!I cannot tell how the memory went bad (It's a military secret. lol) Seriously it started in the other computer and I moved some sticks around and thought I had 256 MB and realised at one point I had only i92 and I moved the sticks again and ended up with only 131MB.As far as hardware problems; yeah. My sound card doesn't work (a few years ago I thought I was plugging the wires from the cdrom to it and it was something else and smoke started coming out of the machine) and I cannot get a floppy drive to work.I will make the cd rescue tonight and let you know what's up.Thanks!

[Bruno]

. . . . . . and thought I had 256 MB and realised at one point I had only i92 and I moved the sticks again and ended up with only 131MB. . . . . .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This does sound alarming Réjean . . . . . are you sure the sticks are inserted properly and that you have no faulty bank you stick one of them in ?? Bruno

[réjean]

Hi Bruno! I wouldn't have dared opening the machine and checking the RAM sticks tonight (just too tired).We are doing real progress, however, except for SuSE which gives me a lot of:

/etc/rc.d.sysinit:line(with a number): strstr:command not found

before the "out of memory" repetion. Don't know exactly what that means.I am pleased to report that I created a CD rescue and that I mounted and installed the entry for Kubuntu and managed to get into. I have also mounted and copied the entry for Xandros into /etc/lilo.conf but I haven't tried booting into it yet and figured out if it will overwelm the pclos on the MBR.This is my last and final chore for tonight. I'll let you know if Xandros tooked over and if you don't read from me then it didn't and Mandriva will be my last entry to install.

[Bruno]

Hi Réjean . . . before you boot Xandros let us first do a little change to it's lilo from a booted PCLos.First mount the Xandros partition

# mount /dev/hdaXX /mnt/hdaXX

( replace the XX )Then let me see:

# /mnt/hdaXX/etc/lilo.conf

BurnoPS: We will troubleshoot SUSE when all other Lilo jobs are finished

[réjean]

Hi Bruno!Sure enough I tried booting into Xandros before going to bed last night (and obviously before reading your last post) and I had no problem going into it but upon reboot I ended up with the Xandros lilo. That will give me the opportunity to test the pclos cd-rescue. I will then /sbin/lilo and post the xandros etc/ilo.conf.Will keep you informed. Thanks for the help.

[Bruno]

LOL . . . . I was too late . . . . ( or you were too quick ) . . . . . . let us hope the PCLos boot CD does work Burno