Arch Linux

kelnoky

Member

Registered: 2007-11-20

Posts: 134

[Solved] Third hard drive causes init kernel panic

Ok, so I got a new chassis for my PC. I moved everything to the new chassis, connected everything, including my three harddrives (1x 300gb, 2x 250gb) and I get a kernel panic (kinit: init not found). These three drives have a long history. Some time ago I needed to format one of them, but it contained grub and I had to install it somewhere else and switch their order and stuff like that. Through various combinations and try&error I have found out on which drive my grub is located. Without that I only get a BIOS error telling me it can't find anything to boot. When I only connect that grub drive to sata1 everything is ok and my system boots. Now there is the second drive, which only contains data. When I connect that to sata2 everything is still fine and I have additional (important) data. But as soon as I plugin the third drive and try to boot I get the aforementioned kernel panic error and my system doesn't boot. I have no idea why that is but there has to be some weird setup that works. Because those three drives used to work together before, without problems, I just can't remember how they were connected to the sata controller. But does that even make a difference?

Well, that's my problem, the third drive makes the booting stop, can anyone help me?

Additional info:

zsh/3 1512 % sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5d6c2c0c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1216     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            1217       30273   233400352+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3           30274       30401     1028160   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004d77b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       33294   267434023+  83  Linux


# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>        <dir>         <type>    <options>          <dump> <pass>
none                   /dev/pts      devpts    defaults            0      0
none                   /dev/shm      tmpfs     defaults            0      0


/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom   iso9660   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1   iso9660   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd   udf   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/dvd1 /mnt/dvd1   udf   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0   vfat   user,noauto   0      0
/dev/sda1 / ext2 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda2 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdc1 /home/shao/question   ext3    defaults        0       0
/dev/sdb1 /home/shao/down       ext3    defaults        0      0

# /boot/grub/menu.lst
# (0) Arch Linux
title  ArchLinux  [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

Last edited by kelnoky (2008-08-14 09:59:35)

Ramses de Norre

Member

From: Leuven - Belgium

Registered: 2007-03-27

Posts: 1,289

Re: [Solved] Third hard drive causes init kernel panic

Try using persistent device naming in your menu.lst: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Per … ice_naming.

kelnoky

Member

Registered: 2007-11-20

Posts: 134

Re: [Solved] Third hard drive causes init kernel panic

Thanks, that sounds like it could help, I have to try that later. Although then I'd like to know how it worked before, when it was still sdx.

Ramses de Norre

Member

From: Leuven - Belgium

Registered: 2007-03-27

Posts: 1,289

Re: [Solved] Third hard drive causes init kernel panic

My guess is that the numbering of your hard drives changes when you put in that third drive, I'm not sure whether this is due to your motherboard or some software, but if this is the reason, persistent device naming will solve it.

kelnoky

Member

Registered: 2007-11-20

Posts: 134

Re: [Solved] Third hard drive causes init kernel panic

How it used to work before with "normal" naming will remain a mystery but persistent naming did the trick, the numbering indeed changed when I plugged in the third drive.