[arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found" - Arch-general

[arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Dany De Bontridder

22 Mar 2013 22 Mar '13

4 p.m.

Hi, I reinstalled 2 weeks ago arch linux, because a pacman -Syu broke everything. Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot *** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. *** Of course, because I saved the list of the packages before and after this upgrade, (with pacman -Qe) I tried to downgrade, but it doesn't work at all. I still have the same message error, I checked and changed the grub.cfg without no success : the rootfs is correct, the init is on /dev/sda2 (a link to /usr/lib/systemd/systemd) So I tried to append to vmlinuz line "init=3" "init=/sbin/init" "init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" ... Without any success even when downgrading the kernel version (from 3.8 to 3.7) I can of course reinstall everything but I prefer to avoid that, someone can help me please ??? I really don't understand what happened. Thanks in advance Dany

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Jan Alexander Steffens

22 Mar 22 Mar

11:17 p.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:00 PM, Dany De Bontridder wrote:

...

Hi,

I reinstalled 2 weeks ago arch linux, because a pacman -Syu broke everything.

Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. ***

Of course, because I saved the list of the packages before and after this upgrade, (with pacman -Qe) I tried to downgrade, but it doesn't work at all.

I still have the same message error, I checked and changed the grub.cfg without no success : the rootfs is correct, the init is on /dev/sda2 (a link to /usr/lib/systemd/systemd)

So I tried to append to vmlinuz line "init=3" "init=/sbin/init" "init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" ... Without any success even when downgrading the kernel version (from 3.8 to 3.7)

I can of course reinstall everything but I prefer to avoid that, someone can help me please ??? I really don't understand what happened.

Thanks in advance

Dany

Are you sure sda is the right device? When devices are added or removed from the system (even if it's just a USB dongle!), the numbering can change. This is why specifying the device directly (instead of through UUID or LABEL) is dangerous. Maybe the filesystem got corrupted. Chroot into your system from the install media and verify /usr/lib/systemd/systemd is present and executable.

Dany De Bontridder

23 Mar 23 Mar

9:23 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Hi, On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 6:17 AM, Jan Alexander Steffens wrote:

...

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:00 PM, Dany De Bontridder wrote:

...
Hi,

I reinstalled 2 weeks ago arch linux, because a pacman -Syu broke everything.

Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. *** (...) Are you sure sda is the right device? When devices are added or removed from the system (even if it's just a USB dongle!), the numbering can change. This is why specifying the device directly (instead of through UUID or LABEL) is dangerous.

Maybe the filesystem got corrupted. Chroot into your system from the install media and verify /usr/lib/systemd/systemd is present and executable.

I spent all the night on it, I've tried mkinicpio, check (ldd /sbin/init), if executable, downgrade the kernel... Without success, so I've reinstall everything and now it is working. This failure is a complete mystery for me, it is the second time it happens , finally I decide to ban the command "pacman -Syu" :-( thank you for your help Dany

Tom Gundersen

24 Mar 24 Mar

11:55 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:00 PM, Dany De Bontridder wrote:

...

I reinstalled 2 weeks ago arch linux, because a pacman -Syu broke everything.

Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. ***

Of course, because I saved the list of the packages before and after this upgrade, (with pacman -Qe) I tried to downgrade, but it doesn't work at all.

I still have the same message error, I checked and changed the grub.cfg without no success : the rootfs is correct, the init is on /dev/sda2 (a link to /usr/lib/systemd/systemd)

So I tried to append to vmlinuz line "init=3" "init=/sbin/init" "init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" ... Without any success even when downgrading the kernel version (from 3.8 to 3.7)

I can of course reinstall everything but I prefer to avoid that, someone can help me please ??? I really don't understand what happened.

Out of interest: did you try booting a live-medium and chrooting into your install? Were you able to enter the chroot? What filesystem do you use. FWIW, I have observed a fun problem (I think related to btrfs) where no binaries work at all. Turned out to be due to /etc/ld.so.cache being messed up, and any access to it returned "bus error" (or something like that). Deleting the file fixed the problem. I have been meaning to file a bug report about that so the cache will be simply ignored when it is not working, but I haven't gotten around to it... -t

Dany De Bontridder

25 Mar 25 Mar

3:05 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Hi, On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 6:55 PM, Tom Gundersen wrote: (...)

...

Out of interest: did you try booting a live-medium and chrooting into your install? Were you able to enter the chroot? What filesystem do you use.

Yes, I installed archlinux on 16 of march, type pacman -Syu on 22, the filesystem was ext4 I get the package before and after but I found nothing, even downgrading didn't fix the problem KR, Dany

Guus Snijders

26 Mar 26 Mar

8:36 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Op 26 mrt. 2013 12:52 schreef "Dany De Bontridder" het volgende:

...

Hi,

On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 6:55 PM, Tom Gundersen wrote: (...)

...
Out of interest: did you try booting a live-medium and chrooting into your install? Were you able to enter the chroot? What filesystem do you use.

Yes, I installed archlinux on 16 of march, type pacman -Syu on 22, the filesystem was ext4

I get the package before and after but I found nothing, even downgrading didn't fix the problem

I understand that it might be too late for this case. I had a similar failure a couple of days ago; after a (too long delayed) system update, my system hung on boot. The fix was relatively easy; boot a rescue system and rebuild the initramfs. In hindsight i could have prevented the problem by taking care of the warnings pacman reported. The entire problem was caused by me rebooting too quickly. So here's a friendly suggestion to check pacman's logs after each upgrade. Most of the time it'll fine, but especially when it's been a while, it's important to check it. Hope that helps. Mvg, Guus

Thomas Bächler

9:14 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Am 22.03.2013 23:00, schrieb Dany De Bontridder:

...

Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. ***

That is actually an impossible error message. It is only printed when 1) no initramfs or an invalid initramfs is attached 2) the kernel manages to mount the root partition 3) no init binary is found If a valid initramfs (containing a valid executable /init) is attached, then the kernel will execute that an *never* try to mount the root partition and find /init on its own. Thus, it will not print that message. Now let's assume that you didn't attach a valid initramfs. Since the Arch kernel contains no hard drive support and no filesystem support whatsoever, it is impossible for it to mount a file system and the panic message will *always* be "unable to mount root filesystem on [...]" If you did attach a valid initramfs (as Arch does by default), then the error messages would be different and you would always get an emergency shell if something goes wrong. Even if you ignore everything and exit all emergency shells that pop up, you will get a different panic message: "attempting to kill init" In conclusion, it is entirely impossible that you get the error message you quoted if you use the Arch kernel.

Dany De Bontridder

9:33 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Hi, On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 4:14 PM, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...

Am 22.03.2013 23:00, schrieb Dany De Bontridder:

...
Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. ***

That is actually an impossible error message. It is only printed when 1) no initramfs or an invalid initramfs is attached 2) the kernel manages to mount the root partition 3) no init binary is found Hi,

That's the weird part : I rebuilt a initramfs (mkinitcpio) (several times), rebuild the grub.cfg and compare with the previous one... After reinstalling I take a list of the packages (pacman -Qe) and compare with the list before the update, the 2 lists were the same. Maybe the initramfs was not properly built

...

If a valid initramfs (containing a valid executable /init) is attached, then the kernel will execute that an *never* try to mount the root partition and find /init on its own. Thus, it will not print that message. Now let's assume that you didn't attach a valid initramfs. Since the Arch kernel contains no hard drive support and no filesystem support whatsoever, it is impossible for it to mount a file system and the panic message will *always* be "unable to mount root filesystem on [...]"

If you did attach a valid initramfs (as Arch does by default), then the error messages would be different and you would always get an emergency shell if something goes wrong. Even if you ignore everything and exit all emergency shells that pop up, you will get a different panic message: "attempting to kill init"

In conclusion, it is entirely impossible that you get the error message you quoted if you use the Arch kernel.

It *did* happen. I'm not a kernel hacker and I wasn't able to fix the problem but I can read a message. Kind Regards, D.

P .NIKOLIC

27 Mar 27 Mar

1:26 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:33:53 +0100 Dany De Bontridder wrote:

...

Hi,

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 4:14 PM, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...
Am 22.03.2013 23:00, schrieb Dany De Bontridder:

...
Today, everything works fine and I decide to keep my PC up-to-date, so I run pacman -Syu and I get a message when trying to boot

*** Kernel Panic - not syncing : No init found. ***

I have actually seen that self same message myself here when i had a dying Hard Drive ..

...

...
That is actually an impossible error message. It is only printed when 1) no initramfs or an invalid initramfs is attached 2) the kernel manages to mount the root partition 3) no init binary is found

Pete . -- Linux 7-of-9 3.8.4-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 20 22:10:25 CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Thomas Bächler

3:21 a.m.

New subject: [arch-general] Upgrade finish in a "Kernel Panic - not syncing : no init found"

Am 26.03.2013 16:33, schrieb Dany De Bontridder:

...

It *did* happen. I'm not a kernel hacker and I wasn't able to fix the problem but I can read a message.

I'm not saying you can't read, just saying that you weren't booting the Arch kernel.

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participants (6)

Dany De Bontridder
Guus Snijders
Jan Alexander Steffens
P .NIKOLIC
Thomas Bächler
Tom Gundersen