[Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

neurolysis · 2011-03-30 22:39:21

Anyone got any idea why booting without initrd fails even when there are no modules to be loaded (everything is built in to the kernel)? Everything goes fine if I make an initrd, but without one I get:

[ 6.xxxxxx] VFS: Cannot open root device "disk/by-uuid/e5426fc4-afde-4c1d-8ba0-da72b3c377e3" or unknown-block(0,0)
[ 6.xxxxxx] Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
[ 6.xxxxxx] 0800      117220824 sda  driver: sd
[ 6.xxxxxx]   0801         256000 sda1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-00000000sda1
[ 6.xxxxxx]   0802      116963800 sda2 00000000-0000-0000-0000-00000000sda2
[ 6.xxxxxx] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[ 6.xxxxxx] panic occurred, switching back to text console

Last edited by neurolysis (2011-03-31 17:17:03)

JokerBoy · 2011-03-30 22:46:19

IHMO, I think Arch isn't meant to be used without an initrd.

man mkinitcpio

Cdh · 2011-03-31 07:25:03

[ 6.xxxxxx] VFS: Cannot open root device "disk/by-uuid/e5426fc4-afde-4c1d-8ba0-da72b3c377e3" or unknown-block(0,0)

Is there a missing / in the beginning of
device "disk/by-uuid/e5426fc4-afde-4c1d-8ba0-da72b3c377e3"
? Shouldn't it say /dev/disk/...?

Kernel26-eee-monolithic works with this:

title Kernel26-eee-mono
root (hdX,Y)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26-eee root=/dev/sda1 ro rootwait i915.modeset=1

Last edited by Cdh (2011-03-31 07:26:25)

pyther · 2011-03-31 15:25:56

The initrd contains sata controller + filesystem modules along with other modules for your hardware. Since you have excluded the initrd image the kernel can't find these modules and therefore can mount / and run /sbin/init.

neurolysis · 2011-03-31 15:28:52

Turns out that the actual by-uuid dev mechanism is contained within the initrd, just using /dev/sda2 works fine

@JokerBoy - For the default kernel yes, but I shouldn't need it for my own custom one with non-modular hardware support.
@Cdh - Seems normal, it's stripped by default for some reason.
@Pyther - Like I said, they are built into the kernel. Works now with UUID changed to actual device name.

Thanks anyway!

pyther · 2011-03-31 15:39:57

Ahh fail on my reading comprehension

BTW please mark the thread as sloved

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-30 22:39:21

[Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

#2 2011-03-30 22:46:19

Re: [Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

#3 2011-03-31 07:25:03

Re: [Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

#4 2011-03-31 15:25:56

Re: [Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

#5 2011-03-31 15:28:52

Re: [Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

#6 2011-03-31 15:39:57

Re: [Solved] No initrd means kernel panic

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