* reboot with the CD * adjust /etc/mkinitcpio.conf The HOOK line looks at me like the following: HOOKS="base udev modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck resume" Try to remove 'autodetect'; it may strip modules that are needed by accident; 'resume' is necessary for s2disk. * re-create your initrd mkinitcpio -k YOURKERNELVER -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img KERNELVER can be found out by ls /lib/modules The problem is that I can't access Arch period. I get the CD splash screen, I hit enter to boot, cue the subject title.

I am not sure why error -26 either, can something else access the init files before they get launched? -- Serge Hooge () ascii ribbon campaign - against HTML e-mail /\ - against proprietary attachments

Op 10 apr. 2016 21:32 schreef "Serge Hooge" :

I apologize for crossposting from the forum, but I am not getting any replies there so far.

I recently became an owner of a Thinkpad 770, which rather ancient by modern standards and decided to give it a spark of fresh life by installing Arch on it.

The CD boots okay, but when I try to actually boot x86 Arch, it Kernel Panics with the subject title. It tries /bin/init, /sbin/init and /bin/sh, failing with the same message for all of them.

Probably a stupid question, but have you checked the integrity of the disc? If you still have it (or can find it), try the md5sum/sha-1sum of the iso, or, failing that, try mounting the cd and then copying files off it. If there are errors and/or unreadable files, any OS will complain loudly (though Windows will mostly complain in it's journal^weventlog). Just a thought. Mvg, Guus Snijders

Alright, I'll tackle those one-by-one. Jens Adam wrote:

... to get the most obvious question out of the way:

What's the exact processor type? And do other i686-type distributions work okay? It's a Pentium II, i686-compatible. I've seen multiple reports of various distros working a-okay on it, including Arch.

Might consider swapping it out for something better later on. Haven't tried other distros yet. Guus Snijders wrote:

Probably a stupid question, but have you checked the integrity of the disc? If you still have it (or can find it), try the md5sum/sha-1sum of the iso, or, failing that, try mounting the cd and then copying files off it. If there are errors and/or unreadable files, any OS will complain loudly (though Windows will mostly complain in it's journal^weventlog). I verified the ISO after I wrote it, so the CD should be okay.

Also, try testing the RAM with something like memtest. It's not uncommon for older laptops to have failing dimms... I thought about it and it passed fine before. I ran it again and it returned full of errors on every land, so looks like it is indeed a failing memory.

I guess I'll order some new DIMMs and see how it goes. Thanks for the help! -- Serge Hooge () ascii ribbon campaign - against HTML e-mail /\ - against proprietary attachments

On mié, 2016-04-13 at 22:22 -0400, Serge Hooge wrote:

Just an update, I got the RAM changed with the brand new sticks, but the problem persisted.

Seems to be an issue with systemd-based distros, because I managed to get Devuan, FreeBSD and Slackware booted, while modern Debian crashed on me with the same result as Arch.

Serge, your problem got me thinking and I remembered a similar situation I had many years ago with some Dell OptiPlex boxes that wouldn't boot Linux even with a gun to their PSUs. The solution was to add the 'acpi_os_name="Microsoft Windows"' boot parameter to the kernel boot command line. See https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel- parameters.txt for all the acpi tricks you may try with yout laptop. -- Pedro A. López-Valencia http://about.me/palopezv Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. -Ronald Reagan