Mandrake-Linux Problem: "kernel panic"

[icallmedan]

I installed Mandrake Linux on my extra computer, because I wanted to test it out. I was surprised at how simple it was, but now I have a problem. It loads up, and comes to a screen with 4 options: Linux, Linux-no fb(or something like that), some numbers (forget what they are exactly), and failsafe. Everyone of these that I enter, to try and get windows to load, a whole list of things starts running, then it hangs and I get this error:

"kernel panic: No init fount. Try passing init=option to kernel"

I don't know what these means or how to fix it. Anyone have anyway to fix it?

[ZeratulsAvenger]

Could that be a bootup command type thing? IN the begining when you select what to boot you could try typing "init=option" and pressing enter... although that is just a guess, a complete and utter guess that I bet will be wrong

For me it worked well with Yellowdog 2.1 (Redhat derived) when I booted with linux2.4.19-pre3 root=/dev/hda6 kernel=/boot/vmlinux2.4.19-pre3 In detail: It could solve your problem if you specify the root partition and the kernel you want to boot as options when booting. How these options are specified may depend on your bootloader. This is only a workaround, I didn't read the docs about the boot parameters esp. init= yet ;-) Robert

From devshed forums. Have you tried that?

[aym]

What messages do you receive exactly before getting the kernel panic part?

[icallmedan]

Right before that I get

"Freeing unused kernel memory (272k freed)"


I don't know what it means. I have tried installing Linux about 50 times, with every possible partition configuration, and every possible bootloader configuration, I have tried reinstalling the bootloader in rescue mode, but nothign works. I don't know what to do. Are there any other user friendly versions of linux with GUI installer and such, maybe I just got bad ISOs or ISOs that were missing files.

[aym]

If you want to try another GUI-based distro, check out SuSE 9.1 Personal.

To troubleshoot the problem:

If you boot into rescue mode, and type startx and hit enter, does a GUI show up?

Is there a file called init in the sbin directory?

[icallmedan]

I s Fedora also GUI based?

[RHLinuxGUY]

O I had that problem, it suks i know. It does that after u install "LSB" from the installation options, if u did u can still boot into the OS, read on. When u reach the LILO menu when u start up ur computer u know the one with the 4 or so options (linux NO fb, linux, 263-4 or something) choose the one with the numbers (263-4 or whatever) thats the 2.6.3 kernel (2.6=good, new) the one ur trying to get into, kernel 2.4 (2.4=old not always reliable) or "linux" has some sort of problem, just learn to to choose the NUMBER one and not the first one. If u think its a hassle, just reinstall it WITHOUT the LSB option as part of ur install.

[icallmedan]

Well I already installed Fedora Core 2, and I am happy with it, so maybe I will try that later...thanks for the help though.

[nocturnx]

Fedora Core 2 is ok, I actually had a few problems with it and switched to mandrake 10 recently.

That Lilo bootup confuses me. Can anyone explain that? I have just been selecting "Linux" and it boots up fine and have been using it that way. Should I be using one of the other Linux boots. I believe theres 4 different Linux boot options, one of them saying something about 4GB. And then after that i have "failsafe", "windows", and "windows2". Whats up with the windows 2 also?

[ZeratulsAvenger]

Windows and Windows 2 I am unsure of, but I know that when I installed Fedora(maybe RH 7.3) it had options that corresponded to different computer types. one was something like linus...smp(I think) That was for a multiprocessor machine. One was something about memory, and that is for a system with 4+GB of RAM. These options allow you to take advantages of such options of your computer without a kernel recompile, without the need to put it in every bootup option, since on a standard computer you would need neither the memory or multi-processor options.

That is what my understanding of it was, perhaps I am somewhat wrong on some aspect, so I would wait for someone to confirm it.

[nocturnx]

Yes "Linux....smp" is also one of the options. "windows" boots to windows. "windows 2" i dont know, havent tried booting to it, Is it maybe because I have 2 ntfs partitions? only one has windows on it though so not sure. What does "failsafe" boot to? Also since my computer is not muliprocessor or have more than 4GB of ram, am I safe to remove those options from the boot loader menu?

[ZeratulsAvenger]

Failsafe I imagine is something like Safemode in Windows, but better of course If, perhaps your linux is somehow corrupt, and it can't fully boot, perhaps failsafe uses the dafault kernel and boots into Root or something. Again, not really sure about that... just a guess by the fact that I have never seen it, nor needed it, and the name implies something having to do with failure, and safety . And Windows 2 could be something that boots to the same as Windows, but for some reason there are two entries in the lilo config file. You could always check to see where the Windows 2 is directed in comparison to Windows. It may be that you have 2 ntfs partitions, but I don't know why you would want to boot something that isnt bootable And Yes, you can safely remove the options for the ram and multi processor if you want. Same with Windows 2, if it doesn't look like it leads to anything. I guess you could select it and try to boot and see what happens.

[nocturnx]

Yes thanks. I guess the best way to find out would be just to select them and try booting and see where it takes me.