kernel panic, a cry for help

kernel panic, a cry for help

[oscarcvt]

im not sure if this q belongs here but i need all the help i can get.

the www, dns, mail server at my site mysteriously got corrupted (not sure how). 
Now i boot it up and get

Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel

what can i do? where should i start? i dont want to break anything so please 
help me,

thanx to all,
oscar

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Matt Bernstein]

Doesn't sound like a kernel bug. Try a rescue CD, or, failing that it's
backup retrieval time...

Good luck!

At 10:00 -0600 oscarcvt@galileo.edu wrote:

>im not sure if this q belongs here but i need all the help i can get.
>
>the www, dns, mail server at my site mysteriously got corrupted (not sure how).
>Now i boot it up and get
>
>Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel
>
>what can i do? where should i start? i dont want to break anything so please
>help me,

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Alan Cox]

> im not sure if this q belongs here but i need all the help i can get.
> the www, dns, mail server at my site mysteriously got corrupted (not sure how). 
> Now i boot it up and get
> 
> Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel
> 
> what can i do? where should i start? i dont want to break anything so please 
> help me,

I suspect back up tapes. The kernel cannot find an /sbin/init to run when
it starts up. That could be on of several things

	-	Disk failure
	-	Someone broke in and erased it all
	-	Misconfiguration

A rescue disk is probably the starting point

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[oscarcvt]

ive started with a rescue disk, /sbin/init is present, lilo.conf seems fine, 
where might i go next?

thanx to all,
oscar


> > im not sure if this q belongs here but i need all the help i can get.
> > the www, dns, mail server at my site mysteriously got corrupted (not
> sure how). 
> > Now i boot it up and get
> > 
> > Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel
> > 
> > what can i do? where should i start? i dont want to break anything so
> please 
> > help me,
> 
> I suspect back up tapes. The kernel cannot find an /sbin/init to run
> when
> it starts up. That could be on of several things
> 
> 	-	Disk failure
> 	-	Someone broke in and erased it all
> 	-	Misconfiguration
> 
> A rescue disk is probably the starting point
> 

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Richard B. Johnson]

On Wed, 5 Sep 2001 oscarcvt@galileo.edu wrote:

> ive started with a rescue disk, /sbin/init is present, lilo.conf seems fine, 
> where might i go next?
> 
> thanx to all,
> oscar

>From the root account, just execute lilo with no parameters.
Then you can boot normally.

Cheers,
Dick Johnson

Penguin : Linux version 2.4.1 on an i686 machine (799.53 BogoMips).

    I was going to compile a list of innovations that could be
    attributed to Microsoft. Once I realized that Ctrl-Alt-Del
    was handled in the BIOS, I found that there aren't any.

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Frank Schneider]

oscarcvt@galileo.edu schrieb:
> 
> ive started with a rescue disk, /sbin/init is present, lilo.conf seems fine,
> where might i go next?
> 

Is /sbin/init executable ?

Check it with ls:
ls -l /sbin/init should get you
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        26876 Jun 21 20:58 /sbin/init

Is it the correct file ?
Compare it against another maschine or copy it from there (same
Distribution, save the old file)

Try giving the Kernel a parameter at bootime: at the LILO-Prompt, press
<tab>, then enter the imagename followed by the parameter, e.g. "linux
init=/bin/bash"
The kernel should boot up and give you a single (root-) shell.

Uses the kernel the right root-device ?
If not, give it to him at boottime like the init=Stuff: "root=/dev/hda1"
says the kernel to mount /dev/hda1 as rootdevice ("/") and search on
this device for "init".

Solong..
Frank.

--
Frank Schneider, <SPATZ1@T-ONLINE.DE>.                           
Microsoft isn't the answer.
Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
... -.-

Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Fred]

well, 
try these:

first start with a ckfs of your root filesystem, that'd be:
# ckfs /dev/hdax 
for ide systems where x is usually 1-4
 or 
# ckfs /dev/sdax
for scsi systems where x is 0-6

if no troubles reported, the I'd suggest that you check some of the important 
files for sign of tampering ( /etc/passwd /etc/shadow )
if no tampering is evident, then check to see if you can boot the machine by 
giving lilo a command line (right as the machine boots, you get the lilo 
prompt (or you have to press CTRL-X to get it):

lilo: linux init=/sbin/init 

if this boots the machine, then all that is needed is to add this paramater 
to lilo.conf:

append = "init=/sbin/init"

and then rerun lilo.

if it's something else, I  need more info.
good luck
Fred

__________________________________________________ 
On Wednesday 05 September 2001 11:26 am, oscarcvt@galileo.edu wrote:
> ive started with a rescue disk, /sbin/init is present, lilo.conf seems
> fine, where might i go next?
>
> thanx to all,
> oscar
>
> > > im not sure if this q belongs here but i need all the help i can get.
> > > the www, dns, mail server at my site mysteriously got corrupted (not
> >
> > sure how).
> >
> > > Now i boot it up and get
> > >
> > > Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel
> > >
> > > what can i do? where should i start? i dont want to break anything so
> >
> > please
> >
> > > help me,
> >
> > I suspect back up tapes. The kernel cannot find an /sbin/init to run
> > when
> > it starts up. That could be on of several things
> >
> > 	-	Disk failure
> > 	-	Someone broke in and erased it all
> > 	-	Misconfiguration
> >
> > A rescue disk is probably the starting point
>
> -
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Re: kernel panic, a cry for help

[Manfred Spraul]

> ive started with a rescue disk, /sbin/init is present, lilo.conf seems
fine,
> where might i go next?

run fsck.
then mount the root device.
Try to chroot into the root device (could fail)
Then verify the core packages with the package manager from your distro.
(rpm -Va or rpm --root /tmp/rootmount -Va)
Then check all libraries match the installed cpu - If you upgrade to an
i686 glibc with a K6 cpu you'd run into a similar error message.

Good luck,
    Manfred