Arch Linux

Raija

Member

Registered: 2012-02-27

Posts: 18

LTS kernel & failed switch_root.

I apologize for having brought yet another problem to the forum, but the thing just keeps puzzling me. On my latest Arch Linux vanilla install, one which has 'linuxt-lts' instead of 'linux' package for its kernel (which meant I had to run 'mkinitcpio -p linux-lts' for it to boot at all, since default installation scripts apparently take care only of 'linux' packaged kernels), the system gets kernel panic after when switch_root is supposed to be run. The last lines of the error message go like this (retyped by hand):

Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF.... done.
Booting the kernel.
:: Starting udevd...
done.
:: Running Hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents... done.
:: performing fsck on '/dev/sda7'
root: clean, 717/62336 files, 11895/248999 blocks
:: mounting '/dev/sda7' on real root
:: performing fsck on '/dev/sda10'
usr: recovering journal
usr: clean, 34497/125184 files, 139859/500015 blocks
switch_root: failed to execute /sbin/init: No such file or directory
[	3.764973] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
[	3.765009] Pid: 1, comm: switch_root Not tainted 3.0.27-1-lts #1
[	3.765040] Call Trace:
[	3.765075] [<ffffffff8141ce82>] panic+0xa0/ox1ad
[	3.765107] [<ffffffff81063433>] do_exit+0x8e3/0x8f0
[	3.765138] [<ffffffff81063794>] do_group_exit+0x44/0xa0
[	3.765169] [<ffffffff81063807>] sys_exit_group+0x17/0x20
[	3.765201] [<ffffffff81426cc2>] system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b

/sbin/init is present and is executable; filesystems are mountable without any problems; fsck turns up nothing. What's making switch_root fail, however?

I could do some troubleshooting and see if the problem persists on the machine if I reduce the number of partitions/switch to main Linux kernel instead of LTS, but what are the things I should give a try beforehand?

I'm using GRUB for bootloading and default hooks for init. Here are my menu.lst, fstab and mkinitcpio.conf files.

P.S. On regards of /etc/fstab, I have tried both /dev/sdaX and labels as names; haven't tried UUID yet. No difference in the output.

P.P.S. I've read that the order in which partitions are mounted. What would be the correct order for that?

Gcool

Member

Registered: 2011-08-16

Posts: 1,456

Re: LTS kernel & failed switch_root.

From your bootloader config:

kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3 ro

Boot output:

:: performing fsck on '/dev/sda7'
root: clean, 717/62336 files, 11895/248999 blocks
:: mounting '/dev/sda7' on real root

Which is your correct root partition? Have you tried using UUID to refer to your root partition in your bootloader config?

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Burninate!

Raija

Member

Registered: 2012-02-27

Posts: 18

Re: LTS kernel & failed switch_root.

I just realize I had uploaded some older menu.lst from another machine, even. Absolutely no idea how I managed to get it there, but now the correct file is up. Haven't tried UUID, but have tried labels.

[edit] sda7 is the root partition. They whole scheme of partitions is in uploaded fstab file, with both standard naming and corresponding labels.

Last edited by Raija (2012-04-18 17:40:23)

Gcool

Member

Registered: 2011-08-16

Posts: 1,456

Re: LTS kernel & failed switch_root.

Have a look at this thread.

Short version; chroot in and reinstall glibc

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Burninate!

Raija

Member

Registered: 2012-02-27

Posts: 18

Re: LTS kernel & failed switch_root.

Reinstalling glibc is unfortunately of no help. Did a fresh install; same issue; reinstalled glibc afterwards; same issue.

[edit] I also tried running mkinitcpio with -k and -g parameters to make sure it's tailored for linux-lts kernel. Didn't help either.

[edit-edit] So I reinstalled, once again, and with default presets it's working. Thus, either support for several partitions or LTS kernel support is faulty.

Last edited by Raija (2012-04-21 05:08:53)