Kernel panic with new install of 2012.08

[Raimy]

I did a new install of the latest version of PCLinuxOS on a brand new computer. The install went fine but when I tried to boot in PCLOS I got this:

cannot open file delete
mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
Pid: 1, comm: init Not tainted 3.2.18-pclos2.bfs #1
Call Trace:
  [<c0439297>] ?printk+0x1d/0x26
  [<c043917e>] panic+0x66/0x162
  [<c0135bab>] ? sub_preempt_count+0x7b/0xb0
  [<c013e9da>] do_exit+0x5ca/0x6e0
  [<c013ed1e>] do_group_exit+0x3e/0xa0
  [<c013ed98>] sys_exit_group+0x18/0x20
  [<c043c4dc>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
  [<c0430000>] ? quirk_usb_early_handoff+0x40c/0x594

In searching the forums I found one thread that applied to my issue here - http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,102836.0.html. I attempted the different options posted in the thread but nothing worked. Unlike the OP I was never able to get into PCLOS at all to even see what's in the menulist. I should mention that when I boot the LiveCD it runs perfectly.

The computer is a new Alienware M17x and I'm wondering if the problem is that there are 2 500gb drives and the volume label is listed as M17XR4_RAID0 (no idea what that really means). I'm dual booting with Win 7 and really hope someone can help as I really want PCLinuxOS install since that's my main OS.

[Vorteggs]

Unlike the OP I was never able to get into PCLOS at all to even see what's in the menulist. I should mention that when I boot the LiveCD it runs perfectly.

As for beginning you can access this file (read or alter) menu.lst from the LiveCD session.

If you need instructions on this ask further please.

[Just17]

The computer is a new Alienware M17x and I'm wondering if the problem is that there are 2 500gb drives and the volume label is listed as M17XR4_RAID0 (no idea what that really means). I'm dual booting with Win 7 and really hope someone can help as I really want PCLinuxOS install since that's my main OS.

Do you have a raid system or LVM set up ?

If so this might be the cause ... hopefully someone who knows about those things will comment either way.

[Raimy]

Unlike the OP I was never able to get into PCLOS at all to even see what's in the menulist. I should mention that when I boot the LiveCD it runs perfectly.

As for beginning you can access this file (read or alter) menu.lst from the LiveCD session.

If you need instructions on this ask further please.

I guess I need instructions...I booted up the LiveCD and the first place I looked was boot/grub...no menu.lst (sorry for typing it incorrectly earlier). I then did a search and nothing turned up so I'm not sure where to look for it.

[Raimy]

The computer is a new Alienware M17x and I'm wondering if the problem is that there are 2 500gb drives and the volume label is listed as M17XR4_RAID0 (no idea what that really means). I'm dual booting with Win 7 and really hope someone can help as I really want PCLinuxOS install since that's my main OS.

Do you have a raid system or LVM set up ?

If so this might be the cause ... hopefully someone who knows about those things will comment either way.

I really not sure. How would I find out?

[kjpetrie]

Open a root terminal. What do the commands blkid and fdisk -l give you?

[Vorteggs]

I guess I need instructions...I booted up the LiveCD and the first place I looked was boot/grub...no menu.lst (sorry for typing it incorrectly earlier). I then did a search and nothing turned up so I'm not sure where to look for it.

Probably you looked in the system files of the LiveCD itself but not in those installed on the hard drive?
Definitely there should be /boot/grub/menu.lst
If you boot LiveCD you can enter the forum and act directly from there.

Sorry but I am going offline now but I'm sure someone else will appear.

P.S. Aha, already appeared

[Raimy]

Open a root terminal. What do the commands blkid and fdisk -l give you?

Okay blkid gives me this:

/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sr0: LABEL="livecd 2012082107:52" TYPE="iso9660"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="DellUtility" UUID="5450-4444" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p2: LABEL="RECOVERY" UUID="CA381628381613D3" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p3: LABEL="OS" UUID="90DC2C8DDC2C7020" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5: UUID="1c8a92b9-ddd5-45ca-be56-5e7a589b0fa9" TYPE="swap"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p6: LABEL="Data" UUID="57DFDC6269383753" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p7: UUID="4a673ccf-aae3-4bf6-8464-470f76309e88" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8: UUID="f1c588f7-895e-4714-9771-9f44ccdb5dd7" TYPE="ext4"

but fdisk -l says:   Unable to seek on /dev/sda

[Raimy]

I guess I need instructions...I booted up the LiveCD and the first place I looked was boot/grub...no menu.lst (sorry for typing it incorrectly earlier). I then did a search and nothing turned up so I'm not sure where to look for it.

Probably you looked in the system files of the LiveCD itself but not in those installed on the hard drive?
Definitely there should be /boot/grub/menu.lst
If you boot LiveCD you can enter the forum and act directly from there.

Sorry but I am going offline now but I'm sure someone else will appear.

P.S. Aha, already appeared

I don't see any way to get to the files on the hard drive.

[kjpetrie]

OK, now in a terminal as root, create two new directories:

Code: [Select]

# mkdir -p /mnt/tobe
# mkdir -p /mnt/nottobe
Then try mounting the two ext4 partitions:

Code: [Select]

# mount UUID="4a673ccf-aae3-4bf6-8464-470f76309e88" /mnt/tobe
# mount UUID="f1c588f7-895e-4714-9771-9f44ccdb5dd7" /mnt/nottobe
Then use ls /mnt/tobe/ and ls /mnt/nottobe/ to see which one is the / partition (The one with bin/, boot/, etc/ and so on directories. I will assume from now on it's /mnt/tobe but just substitute the other one if necessary.

Post the results of ls -l /mnt/tobe/boot/, cat /mnt/tobe/boot/grub/menu.lst, and cat /mnt/tobe/etc/fstab.

[Raimy]

To be and Not to be?   

So I did what you asked and nottobe turned out to be root. I was able to access the 2 files through Dolphin and here are their contents:

menu.lst:

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,7)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title PCLinuxOS
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=PCLinuxOS root=/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8  quiet nokmsboot vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title Windows 7
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8  quiet nokmsboot vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8  quiet nokmsboot failsafe vmalloc=256M acpi=on
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img


fstab:

/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8 / ext4 defaults 1 1
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p7 /home ext4 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0


A related question - which partition should grub be pointing to to boot PCLinuxOS?

[Vorteggs]

Open a root terminal. What do the commands blkid and fdisk -l give you?

Okay blkid gives me this:

/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sr0: LABEL="livecd 2012082107:52" TYPE="iso9660"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="DellUtility" UUID="5450-4444" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p2: LABEL="RECOVERY" UUID="CA381628381613D3" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p3: LABEL="OS" UUID="90DC2C8DDC2C7020" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5: UUID="1c8a92b9-ddd5-45ca-be56-5e7a589b0fa9" TYPE="swap"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p6: LABEL="Data" UUID="57DFDC6269383753" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p7: UUID="4a673ccf-aae3-4bf6-8464-470f76309e88" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8: UUID="f1c588f7-895e-4714-9771-9f44ccdb5dd7" TYPE="ext4"

but fdisk -l says:   Unable to seek on /dev/sda

Not bad if you post the whole output (if you'd like) of the command that they asked you to perform - to say like this on my computer:

[vort eggs@thenudiebar ~]$ su
Password:
[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]# fdisk - l

Usage:
 fdisk [options] <disk>    change partition table
 fdisk [options] -l <disk> list partition table(s)
 fdisk -s <partition>      give partition size(s) in blocks

Options:
 -b <size>             sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
 -c[=<mode>]           compatible mode: 'dos' or 'nondos' (default)
 -h                    print this help text
 -u[=<unit>]           display units: 'cylinders' or 'sectors' (default)
 -v                    print program version
 -C <number>           specify the number of cylinders
 -H <number>           specify the number of heads
 -S <number>           specify the number of sectors per track

[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320071851520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625140335 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x177927fa

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    82991789    41495863+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2        83007855   625137344   271064745    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        83007918    86911649     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6        86911713   149982839    31535563+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       149982903   625137344   237577221   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000397852160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907027055 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044276

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048  3804626943  1902312448    5  Extended
/dev/sdc2      3804628992  3907024895    51197952   83  Linux
/dev/sdc5            4096  3804624895  1902310400   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500106780160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976771055 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xeb614b81

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    43006004    21502971    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2        43006005   976768064   466881030    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        43006068   976768064   466880998+  83  Linux
[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]#

Posting only a part of the command output gives not the whole

[Raimy]

I'm sorry that I'm not more experienced with this, I'm learning as each problem comes up.

You posted the results you got with fdisk -l command and so did I. I got (and still get) Unable to seek on /dev/sda. If I'm missing something then I'm sorry but I'm trying my best here.

Open a root terminal. What do the commands blkid and fdisk -l give you?

Okay blkid gives me this:

/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sr0: LABEL="livecd 2012082107:52" TYPE="iso9660"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="DellUtility" UUID="5450-4444" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p2: LABEL="RECOVERY" UUID="CA381628381613D3" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p3: LABEL="OS" UUID="90DC2C8DDC2C7020" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p5: UUID="1c8a92b9-ddd5-45ca-be56-5e7a589b0fa9" TYPE="swap"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p6: LABEL="Data" UUID="57DFDC6269383753" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p7: UUID="4a673ccf-aae3-4bf6-8464-470f76309e88" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/isw_cgbfdccija_M17XR4_RAID0p8: UUID="f1c588f7-895e-4714-9771-9f44ccdb5dd7" TYPE="ext4"

but fdisk -l says:   Unable to seek on /dev/sda

Not bad if you post the whole output (if you'd like) of the command that they asked you to perform - to say like this on my computer:

[vort eggs@thenudiebar ~]$ su
Password:
[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]# fdisk - l

Usage:
 fdisk [options] <disk>    change partition table
 fdisk [options] -l <disk> list partition table(s)
 fdisk -s <partition>      give partition size(s) in blocks

Options:
 -b <size>             sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
 -c[=<mode>]           compatible mode: 'dos' or 'nondos' (default)
 -h                    print this help text
 -u[=<unit>]           display units: 'cylinders' or 'sectors' (default)
 -v                    print program version
 -C <number>           specify the number of cylinders
 -H <number>           specify the number of heads
 -S <number>           specify the number of sectors per track

[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320071851520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625140335 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x177927fa

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    82991789    41495863+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2        83007855   625137344   271064745    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        83007918    86911649     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6        86911713   149982839    31535563+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       149982903   625137344   237577221   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000397852160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907027055 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044276

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048  3804626943  1902312448    5  Extended
/dev/sdc2      3804628992  3907024895    51197952   83  Linux
/dev/sdc5            4096  3804624895  1902310400   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500106780160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976771055 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xeb614b81

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    43006004    21502971    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2        43006005   976768064   466881030    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        43006068   976768064   466880998+  83  Linux
[root@thenudiebar vort eggs]#

Posting only a part of the command output gives not the whole

[kjpetrie]

Grub is working, as the kernel tries to run. By then, grub has done its job.

The menu.lst and fstab files look correct too. They're pointing to the right places, anyway.

Which leaves the initrd.img (why I wanted to see the contents of /boot/) and the block node /dev/root. It also appears from the fdisk output that you have no /dev/sda or it can't make sense of it.

Please do the following and post the output (I'm assuming /mnt/tobe and /mnt/nottobe are still mounted):

Code: [Select]

umount /mnt/tobe
mount -o loop /mnt/nottobe/boot/initrd-3.2.18-pclos2.bfs.img /mnt/tobe
ls -l /mnt/nottobe/boot/
ls -l  /mnt/nottobe/dev/
ls -l /mnt/tobbe/dev/
I'm not convinced the /dev directories will exist in a non-running set up but we'll look anyway.

I know Texstar always used to say "We don't do RAID", but it seems many computers are now sold with RAID built in (in this case to get a 1TB drive out of two 500GB ones). I suspect the mkinitrd script doesn't detect the location of raid drives correctly, but I'm only guessing. This means your system could run from the livedvd but couldn't be installed with the wherewithal to find itself on your RAID discs.

Googling suggests there are numerous problems with dmraid support in Linux, partly because Windows often works with non-standard configurations... (Quelle surprise!)

I suspect the only way you'll get pclos to install and boot on your machine is to edit the mkinitd script in the livecd session to do what your system needs (whatever that is) before installing. There's not really much help we can give with that on the forum and it could take a long time. You could try other distros to see whether any of them will install and boot on your system and compare their mkinitrd with ours for clues, but otherwise I don't really know what to suggest.

You could try changing BIOS settings for the RAID, I suppose, but then that could clobber Windows and leave you with an unbootable PC.

[Old-Polack]

Grub is working, as the kernel tries to run. By then, grub has done its job.

The menu.lst and fstab files look correct too. They're pointing to the right places, anyway.

Which leaves the initrd.img (why I wanted to see the contents of /boot/) and the block node /dev/root. It also appears from the fdisk output that you have no /dev/sda or it can't make sense of it.

Please do the following and post the output (I'm assuming /mnt/tobe and /mnt/nottobe are still mounted):

Code: [Select]

umount /mnt/tobe
mount -o loop /mnt/nottobe/boot/initrd-3.2.18-pclos2.bfs.img /mnt/tobe
ls -l /mnt/nottobe/boot/
ls -l  /mnt/nottobe/dev/
ls -l /mnt/tobbe/dev/
I'm not convinced the /dev directories will exist in a non-running set up but we'll look anyway.

I know Texstar always used to say "We don't do RAID", but it seems many computers are now sold with RAID built in (in this case to get a 1TB drive out of two 500GB ones). I suspect the mkinitrd script doesn't detect the location of raid drives correctly, but I'm only guessing. This means your system could run from the livedvd but couldn't be installed with the wherewithal to find itself on your RAID discs.

Googling suggests there are numerous problems with dmraid support in Linux, partly because Windows often works with non-standard configurations... (Quelle surprise!)

I suspect the only way you'll get pclos to install and boot on your machine is to edit the mkinitd script in the livecd session to do what your system needs (whatever that is) before installing. There's not really much help we can give with that on the forum and it could take a long time. You could try other distros to see whether any of them will install and boot on your system and compare their mkinitrd with ours for clues, but otherwise I don't really know what to suggest.

You could try changing BIOS settings for the RAID, I suppose, but then that could clobber Windows and leave you with an unbootable PC.

Things may be different these days, but last time I checked into booting a RAID installed system the kernel, initrd image, and grub files needed to be on a separate boot partition, not within the RAID itself. I would think this could be accomplished with a USB stick with one partition, with grub installed to the MBR of the USB stick.

I never found a real need to actually have a RAID setup on a home computer, so beyond some initial playing with the concept, back in 2001 - 2002, never really set one up to hold the operating system itself.