kernal panic - live cd

[cindy]

I'm unable to load PCLinuxOS from the live CD on an fairly old computer (Compact Presario SR1010, 1 GHZ RAM, about 6 years old). 

I downloaded the ISO yesterday and checked the MD5SUM which is correct.

Here is the error message:

Kernel panic - not syncing: attempted to kill init!

This machine runs Win XP. I'd like to switch over to PCLinuxOS if possible.

Can anyone help?

[Old-Polack]

I'm unable to load PCLinuxOS from the live CD on an fairly old computer (Compact Presario SR1010, 1 GHZ RAM, about 6 years old). 

I downloaded the ISO yesterday and checked the MD5SUM which is correct.

Here is the error message:

Kernel panic - not syncing: attempted to kill init!

This machine runs Win XP. I'd like to switch over to PCLinuxOS if possible.

Can anyone help?

Did you burn the image at the slowest speed possible for your burner, and did you run an md5sum check of the burned disk?

[cindy]

When I burned the CD using K3b the speed setting was set to the default 'auto' setting.  So I burned another one at the lowest setting.  That one didn't work either.   

As I mentioned, the iso md5sum checked out. I used it successfully to install pclos on another machine.

I tried checking the CD md5sum on the second CD but gave up - the process seems to take forever and tomorrow is a work day!

This is the command I used by the way:

dd if=/dev/hdb bs=1 count=725927936 | md5sum

  (725927936 is the size of the iso file.)

[Old-Polack]

When I burned the CD using K3b the speed setting was set to the default 'auto' setting.  So I burned another one at the lowest setting.  That one didn't work either.   

As I mentioned, the iso md5sum checked out. I used it successfully to install pclos on another machine.

I tried checking the CD md5sum on the second CD but gave up - the process seems to take forever and tomorrow is a work day!

This is the command I used by the way:

dd if=/dev/hdb bs=1 count=725927936 | md5sum

  (725927936 is the size of the iso file.)

The command is;

$ md5sum /dev/cdrom               <Enter>

or

$ md5sum /dev/cdrom1             <Enter>

depending on how many optical drives you have, and in which tray the disk is in.

You can find the exact device with the command;

$ ls -l /dev |grep cdrom            <Enter>

In my case, I get the following result;

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root   root           3 2010-05-16 22:24 cdrom -> sr1
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root   root           3 2010-05-16 22:24 cdrom1 -> sr0

[cindy]

I'm having a problem checking the CD.  See below:

$  ls -l /dev |grep cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root            3 May 17 17:27 cdrom -> hdc
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root            3 May 17 17:27 cdrom0 -> hdc
$ md5sum /dev/cdrom
md5sum: /dev/cdrom: Input/output error
$ md5sum /dev/cdrom0
md5sum: /dev/cdrom0: Input/output error

Any ideas?

[Old-Polack]

I'm having a problem checking the CD.  See below:

$  ls -l /dev |grep cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root            3 May 17 17:27 cdrom -> hdc
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root            3 May 17 17:27 cdrom0 -> hdc
$ md5sum /dev/cdrom
md5sum: /dev/cdrom: Input/output error
$ md5sum /dev/cdrom0
md5sum: /dev/cdrom0: Input/output error

Any ideas?

An Input/output error indicates the md5sum application can't read from the burned disk, therefore a bad burn. The auto setting usually burns at the fastest speed allowed. Because of the high compression of the image, the slowest speed the device allows is recommended. I burn all my installation disks at 4x, and have no problems with them. I've tried with 8x, and get about a 50% failure rate, with this Pioneer burner. I've never had a failure with 4x, so have set that as my default.

[cindy]

You were right - the CD was bad.  I made a new one that checks out perfectly.  But it still won't boot on the old Compaq computer. It did however boot successfully on a slightly less old Sony Vaio laptop.

Here is the error message when I ran the live CD on the Compaq:

note: swapper[1] exited with preempt_count 3
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

By the way, only the CDROM was connected to the motherboard and powered up. The hard disk drive was disconnected.

[Old-Polack]

You were right - the CD was bad.  I made a new one that checks out perfectly.  But it still won't boot on the old Compaq computer. It did however boot successfully on a slightly less old Sony Vaio laptop.

Here is the error message when I ran the live CD on the Compaq:

note: swapper[1] exited with preempt_count 3
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

By the way, only the CDROM was connected to the motherboard and powered up. The hard disk drive was disconnected.

Why was the hard drive disconnected?

[cindy]

I disconnected the HD to keep things simple. When I tried booting the CD with the HD connected I got the same error message.

 

[Old-Polack]

I disconnected the HD to keep things simple. When I tried booting the CD with the HD connected I got the same error message.

 

Could you post the 10-12 lines leading up to the kernel panic? The actual panic line is the same for all panics, what comes before tells us why it panicked.

I'm typing this from a 2002 Compaq Presario 6000, with a 32 bit 2100+ Athlon XP. My last rebuild of my current main machine, (Late 2004 - early 2005) had specs almost identical to your machine, except it had 3 GB RAM. You should be able to boot on that machine, we just need to find out what's bugging the kernel.

[cindy]

Here's a screen shot (taken with a camera). I'll type in the last few error codes if it's not clear.

[Old-Polack]

cindy:

Have you tried booting with any of the cheat codes? (noapic, nolapic, noapci)

[cindy]

I tried the following without success:

ide=nodma
acpi=off
acpi=force
acpi=oldboot
pci=noacpi

The help mentions a firmware test without saying what the command is so I didn't try that. 

[pags]

Have you considered that there may be a hardware issue?  (Bad CROM, cable, controller, etc).

Do you have access to another CDROM you could swap out?  If that doesn't help (since you're OK with disconnecting the HDD), try using the other IDE controller.  If availability allows, also consider replacing the cable...

Just some thoughts for troubleshooting areas

[cindy]

I just tried loading Puppy linux from a USB. Didn't work on this machine - but does on others. So something must be wrong with the PC. Could it be the motherboard?