Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

pjezek · 2013-12-26 23:15:28

Today system upgrade in 16:11 UTC+1 leaded after reboot to kernel panic with error notice as shown in subject. After chrooting and downgrading linux and linux-headers with proper rebuilding of initramfs with mkinitcpio no solution occured. My system worked with no issues some two years so I am pretty courious what can be the problem. My Arch on Thinkpad have the recent kernel 3.12.5-1 (last system upgrade fortunately yesterday) and I have no problem with. What about some link between kernel and GCC upgrades? I have no clear idea what could cause my kernel panic when downgrading is no cure... Thank you for your comments and some help, if exist...

I found switch from gzip to lz4 when building initramfs from 3.12.6-1. My lz4 package is fresh, I think mkinitcpio must be downgraded as well to use gzip instead lz4.

Last edited by pjezek (2013-12-26 23:28:22)

WonderWoofy · 2013-12-26 23:37:52

Why would you need to downgrade mkinitcpio to use gzip? Just switch it back in /etc/mkinitpcio.conf and then rebuild from a chroot. You might also consider using 'cat' so that it doesn't use compression at all. With the size and speed of disks these days, no compression has become a completely reasonable option. It would also remove the variable of compression from your debugging as well.

karol · 2013-12-26 23:41:38

There were some issues with lz4-compressed image which did result in unbootable system, but they reportedly have been resolved.

WonderWoofy · 2013-12-26 23:45:48

karol wrote:

There were some issues with lz4-compressed image which did result in unbootable system, but they reportedly have been resolved.

I have my current initramfs compressed with 'lz4' at the moment, and it seems to work fine. I don't think I'll stick with it unless it becomes a truly reliable alternative, but it seems to work with the package from [testing].

pjezek · 2013-12-26 23:58:59

Solved for now. After switching back to gzip in mkinitcpio.conf all goes OK. Compression with lz4 seems failing when used in mkinitcpio.

karol · 2013-12-27 00:02:37

See the warning https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mk … OMPRESSION

WonderWoofy · 2013-12-27 01:19:37

There was also a thread on these forums discussing this as well as on the [arch-general] mailing list. This resulted in a bug report to the lz4 people who indicated that unfortunately, the lz4 kernel stuff was done by a different set of devs than those that maintain the lz4 codebase. So the kernel stuff is compatible with the legacy lz4 format, but apparently not the new format.

karol · 2013-12-27 01:26:33

WonderWoofy wrote:

There was also a thread on these forums discussing this as well as on the [arch-general] mailing list. This resulted in a bug report

I think all these links are in the wiki.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-26 23:15:28

Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#2 2013-12-26 23:37:52

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#3 2013-12-26 23:41:38

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#4 2013-12-26 23:45:48

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#5 2013-12-26 23:58:59

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#6 2013-12-27 00:02:37

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#7 2013-12-27 01:19:37

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

#8 2013-12-27 01:26:33

Re: Kernel panic - initramfs unpacking failed (kernel 3.12.6-1)

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