[SOLVED] Kernel panic - not syncing

[JerryP]

The kernel isn't the only thing panicing!

I bought a new mobo, CPU and memory. I installed them into a new case I had. I then took my "old" working 1TB HDD, PS, video card and DVD device and installed them in the new case. Simple.  Booted up and changed the display from on board to the card (like my "old" setup) and then tried to start PCLOS.

It hung on the bull so I booted into failsafe and got:

"waiting for device sda1 to appear (timeout 1 min)
"waiting for device sda5 to appear (timeout 1 min)
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attecmpted to kill init!
pvd: 1, comm: init not tainted 2.6.33.7-pclos6 pae #1
Call trace [etc....]

I don't get it. I changed NOTHING with the hard drive or sda1 or sda5.

Jerry Panic is soon to happen.

Anyone have any suggestions of what I might do short of reinstalling the OS?  

(I'm reaching out courtesy of a PCLOS 2009 live CD)

Update - I suspect the problem is my bootloader BUT when I try to set up a bootloader with the live CD it doesn't work.  Then again I don't know what I'm doing so what I AM doing is probably wrong.

Help! (please)

[JerryP]

Not having any other ideas I decided to burn a PCLOS 2010 iso to CD and just reinstall. But the live CD won't boot on this computer (which I am using with a 2009 live CD). I tried to burn a 2010 live CD again and then I tried the 2010 live CD on another computer and it did boot.
ANY suggestions would be sincerely appreciated. I need to get up and running to locate an old e-mail in TB!

[menotu]

What is happening when you try to boot using the 2010 LiveCD ?

What error message's - if any - are you getting?

[JerryP]

All I get is a blinking "_" in the upper left corner.

[Ramchu]

Did you try booting in versa (video safe mode ) ?

[JerryP]

I've tried all choices presented by the menu. More frustrating is not being able to boot with the Oct 2010 Live CD. Hopefully I will be able to find an earlier version of 2010 that will work. In the mean time I'm downloading the current iso again and will try another burn.

[rubentje1991]

Please check the md5sum of the ISO, and then burn the CD slowly (you can also choose the mediacheck option in GRUB - I think it's still available)

Maybe you already did it that way, but I want to be sure 

[JerryP]

How does one check the md5sum of the iso?  In the mean time I'm burning a s-l-o-w CD.

[kjpetrie]

You probably need to inspect the hard drive and see how your partitions are addressed in menu.lst and /etc/fstab. If it is by UUID or label something odd is going on. If it's by /dev/sda.. then these depend on where the driv is in the machine compared to other drives, and are likely to have changed. The error means the kernel can't find the / partition where the options in menu.lst tell it to look.

[Ramchu]

Change the video display back to the onboard video.
You didn't say what video card you have added, therefor
the drivers for that card may not be included on the
2010.10 Live CD.

Then try to boot from the live CD.

[Old-Polack]

How does one check the md5sum of the iso?  In the mean time I'm burning a s-l-o-w CD.

In a terminal, navigate to the directory holding the image, then enter.

[jerry@localhost <whatever>]$ md5sum <name of file>            <Enter>

Replace <name of file> with the actual name of the *.iso file. If the ISO image is the only one in that directory, you can use the short command;

[jerry@localhost <whatever>]$ md5sum *.iso            <Enter>

If the number you get as a result of the command is the same as the one published for the image, the d/l was correct. If it varies, the file is corrupt.

[rubentje1991]

Thank you old-polack....

But if you are on Windows, you can use something like nero md5 verifier
http://www.nero.com/enu/tools-utilities.html

Or on the downloadpage of e.g. the KDE version:

Additional Information

Burning an ISO image in Microsoft Windows.

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
ISO Recorder is a freeware tool which makes image writing available from the Windows desktop. Download and install ISO Recorder according to the instructions on their home page. You can write images in much the same way as under GNOME in Linux: browse to locate the file, right click on it, and choose ‘Copy image to CD’. This is the simplest available method for writing disc images under Windows.

Running an ISO image in Microsoft Windows.

http://mobalivecd.mobatek.net/en/
MobaLiveCD allows you to test your LiveCD with a single click : after downloading the ISO image file of your favorite LiveCD, you just have to start it in MobaLiveCD and here you are, without the need to burn a CD-Rom or to reboot your computer.

[JerryP]

burn the CD slowly

ruben wins the prize! (except there isn't one). I burned a CD at 16X and although I thought the booting process a little odd - a few black screens along the way - it has booted into Oct 2010. Next step is reinstall. Will post "SOLVED" when it is (as it should).
Thanks to all and
Cheers! (was in the UK a couple weeks ago)

[rubentje1991]

Great you succeeded starting it up 
(oh yes, this suggestions are always findable somewhere on the forum)

And thanks O-P for the explanation about md5sum in the terminal (for people who didn't know it)

[melodie]

Great you succeeded starting it up 
(oh yes, this suggestions are always findable somewhere on the forum)

And thanks O-P for the explanation about md5sum in the terminal (for people who didn't know it)

Hi, for Windows, some small old free software that works well (tried md5summer) : md5summer. http://www.md5summer.org/

or WxChecksums (to be checked) http://wxchecksums.sourceforge.net/mainpage_en.html