Ok so I am hoping that someone can come up with a solution for me fairly quickly since I am going out of town tomorrow morning and I really want to be able to use my laptop during my trip. My laptop was up and running with no problems this morning and I shut it down just like normal, no changes to anything in that time frame.

Now when I try to boot normally the boot process freezes at the OS loading screen and the caps lock light flashes. If I try to boot in the recovery mode then I get the computer freezes with the following output being the last lines on the screen:

Begin: Running /scripts/init-bottom ...
Done.
run-init: /sbin/init: No such file or directory
[ 4.324000] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
[ 4.324000] _

At this point it stops and nothing happens. The cursor flashes but it does not accept any input, and once again the caps lock light flashes. Any ideas on what I can try? I unfortunately don't have any of my live cds home with me, they are all up in my dorm at school which I wont be back to for a bit more than a week at this point.

This is all on a Gateway laptop that I have running Linux Mint. I will be checking back here fairly often tonight so if you have any questions to clarify then I will answer them as quickly as I can.

I have already tried searching google but I didnt find anything that helped so far. Help will be rewarded with rep. Please, any suggestions are much appreciated and thank you to anyone that helps.

The majority of kernel panic - not syncing errors seem to be a "after I updated" (yum SPM or other update managers).

Have you run any updates, or do you have updates on automatic?

I can't figure out how to see the last updates, and you would need to find out those before attempting uninstalling any updates.

Can you boot into a terminal (alt or ctrl F1 normally while booting)

I'll be online for a while, so throw anything you can think of right here, I'll check it.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d The majority of kernel panic - not syncing errors seem to be a "after I updated" (yum SPM or other update managers). Have you run any updates, or do you have updates on automatic? I can't figure out how to see the last updates, and you would need to find out those before attempting uninstalling any updates. Can you boot into a terminal (alt or ctrl F1 normally while booting) I'll be online for a while, so throw anything you can think of right here, I'll check it.

Well I was out at a friends for a while so it looks like you have signed off already. I dont think that I have updated anything, at least not since or durring the last time it was running. I am not real sure if I can boot into a terminal, I just tried spamming both alt and ctrl F1 during boot and I still got the same error. If I just leave it to boot on its own then it freezes on the OS splash screen, when I was hitting alt F1 and ctrl F1 it froze with output saying what was happening.

So if I am able to get it to boot to a terminal then what should I try? If I can't then what might anyone suggest?

Quote: Originally Posted by Snake2Snipe Well I was out at a friends for a while so it looks like you have signed off already. I dont think that I have updated anything, at least not since or durring the last time it was running. I am not real sure if I can boot into a terminal, I just tried spamming both alt and ctrl F1 during boot and I still got the same error. If I just leave it to boot on its own then it freezes on the OS splash screen, when I was hitting alt F1 and ctrl F1 it froze with output saying what was happening. So if I am able to get it to boot to a terminal then what should I try? If I can't then what might anyone suggest?

Whichever updated you use, you need to find the log file. I hope you know a little about the command line.

I can't figure out where they are, google isn't helping, with so many guides on how to use the ultimatly easiest GUI tool, its kinda sad that there is hardly any troubleshooting info.

Wish i knew what to look at, never had to troubleshoot it though, and thus I don't even know the filename. I can't even begin to guess where the file would be, Maybe in etc?

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Whichever updated you use, you need to find the log file. I hope you know a little about the command line. I can't figure out where they are, google isn't helping, with so many guides on how to use the ultimatly easiest GUI tool, its kinda sad that there is hardly any troubleshooting info. Wish i knew what to look at, never had to troubleshoot it though, and thus I don't even know the filename. I can't even begin to guess where the file would be, Maybe in etc?

I really dont know of anything that may have even possibly been updated. Well I am back from my trip and up in my dorm with my live cds. I am able to boot from the live cd that I used to initially install Mint onto my laptop and I am able to browse around the hard drive and look at the contents.

I am not really sure what log file I should be looking for since I really don't know all that much about or in linux. I did quickly check to make sure that /sbin/init does exist, so I am not really sure where to go from here. I dont really want to have to reinstall everything since I have some stuff set up that I dont want to have to mess with again, but I would really like to have use of my laptop for classes which start in the morning so if that is really my best option then I will resort to it.

You might get a faster and better response from the linux mint forums. Seeing as u have not changed ur xorg or updated i'm lost.

Quote: Originally Posted by Snake2Snipe I really dont know of anything that may have even possibly been updated. Well I am back from my trip and up in my dorm with my live cds. I am able to boot from the live cd that I used to initially install Mint onto my laptop and I am able to browse around the hard drive and look at the contents. I am not really sure what log file I should be looking for since I really don't know all that much about or in linux. I did quickly check to make sure that /sbin/init does exist, so I am not really sure where to go from here. I dont really want to have to reinstall everything since I have some stuff set up that I dont want to have to mess with again, but I would really like to have use of my laptop for classes which start in the morning so if that is really my best option then I will resort to it.

OK, this is a shot in the dark, so if you're going to do a full restore you might as well try this:

Boot your laptop with your LiveCD

mount your root (/) partition read/write

chroot into the mounted partition from a command line:
> sudo chroot /path/to/mounted/rootsystem

It'll ask for you installed system's root password enter it, and now you should be 'in' your old system, well at least as far as command line and files are concerned.

Now, if my google search was correct Mint uses Grub, so go to /boot with
> cd /boot

List the files in the directory and make note of linux-x.y.zz (or vmlinuz-whatever) files write them down on a piece of paper, then open up menu.lst with either vim or nano with either:
>vim menu.lst
OR
>nano -w menu.lst

Look for entries in the file for the most recent version of linux-x.y.zz and change it to the older version.

Exit the editor (Ctl+x then Ctl+c for nano, shift+; then x for vim)

then you have to update the boot loader:
>grub-install /dev/harddrive_devicename

Then exit your system:
>exit

Umount the filesystem and reboot. Good Luck

Quote: Originally Posted by Snake2Snipe Well I was out at a friends for a while so it looks like you have signed off already. I dont think that I have updated anything, at least not since or durring the last time it was running. I am not real sure if I can boot into a terminal, I just tried spamming both alt and ctrl F1 during boot and I still got the same error. If I just leave it to boot on its own then it freezes on the OS splash screen, when I was hitting alt F1 and ctrl F1 it froze with output saying what was happening. So if I am able to get it to boot to a terminal then what should I try? If I can't then what might anyone suggest?

Also you can use the chroot to possibly fix the init file or check if it's there,

While in chroot:
> ls -l /sbin/init*

And hopefully it will pop up, if it didn't, there might be a backup of the old one if some process deleted the file and it should be something like .init or *init or something like that and to find that you will have to do a:
>ls -al /sbin | more

And press spacebar until you find it and then copy it as init:
>cp /sbin/whatever_file /sbin/init

Then reboot and try again. Good Luck

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Whichever updated you use, you need to find the log file. I hope you know a little about the command line. I can't figure out where they are, google isn't helping, with so many guides on how to use the ultimatly easiest GUI tool, its kinda sad that there is hardly any troubleshooting info. Wish i knew what to look at, never had to troubleshoot it though, and thus I don't even know the filename. I can't even begin to guess where the file would be, Maybe in etc?

Most system logs are in /var, could probably grep for it if he really needed to, but he might be able to fix it with the little bit of advise I gave him.

Quote: Originally Posted by boardboyd OK, this is a shot in the dark, so if you're going to do a full restore you might as well try this: Boot your laptop with your LiveCD mount your root (/) partition read/write chroot into the mounted partition from a command line: > sudo chroot /path/to/mounted/rootsystem It'll ask for you installed system's root password enter it, and now you should be 'in' your old system, well at least as far as command line and files are concerned. Now, if my google search was correct Mint uses Grub, so go to /boot with > cd /boot List the files in the directory and make note of linux-x.y.zz (or vmlinuz-whatever) files write them down on a piece of paper, then open up menu.lst with either vim or nano with either: >vim menu.lst OR >nano -w menu.lst Look for entries in the file for the most recent version of linux-x.y.zz and change it to the older version. Exit the editor (Ctl+x then Ctl+c for nano, shift+; then x for vim) then you have to update the boot loader: >grub-install /dev/harddrive_devicename Then exit your system: >exit Umount the filesystem and reboot. Good Luck

Ok so I am not able to run chroot. I am getting a permission denied error, and yes I am trying it using sudo. It is not asking for my password or anything, it is just failing. Also I havent found anything in any of the log files so far.

The volume seems to mount just fine, but when I browse the files I am unable to locate the /home folder, unless that is hidden in some really special way I am thinking that may be part of (if not all of) my problem. Unfortunately the stuff that I would want to really save is in my /home directory so I am guessing that at this point there is not a whole lot that I can do to save my stuff.

Quote: Originally Posted by Snake2Snipe Ok so I am not able to run chroot. I am getting a permission denied error, and yes I am trying it using sudo. It is not asking for my password or anything, it is just failing. Also I havent found anything in any of the log files so far. The volume seems to mount just fine, but when I browse the files I am unable to locate the /home folder, unless that is hidden in some really special way I am thinking that may be part of (if not all of) my problem. Unfortunately the stuff that I would want to really save is in my /home directory so I am guessing that at this point there is not a whole lot that I can do to save my stuff.

Sorry about the slow response, whenever I tried to get onto pcapex.com, or the forum page it would show up as a blank page, at work and at home :?

Your /home directory might be mounted as a separate partition, some distros do this as it is a safe way to upgrade/use different distros on the same system but keep the same window manager settings, files. You'll have to fdisk the disk when it's NOT mounted (although I doubt fdisk will let you look at the partitions if one of them are mounted) or you can scan the output from :
>dmesg

And it should give you a list of the partitions somewhere in the output of your drive(s).

Now your getting a little too advanced. Boardboyd you have the idea, but it's one too many step confusing. I don't know if LinuxMint has that capability LIVE anyhow.

I'm going to forward you to real experts.

Linux - Distributions - LinuxQuestions.org

Make a thread in the bottom forum (LinuxMINT doesn't have its own yet)

You can copy paste the stuff from here or just give it a fresh question. But they are going to be able to help you out a lot more than us.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Now your getting a little too advanced. Boardboyd you have the idea, but it's one too many step confusing. I don't know if LinuxMint has that capability LIVE anyhow. I'm going to forward you to real experts. Linux - Distributions - LinuxQuestions.org Make a thread in the bottom forum (LinuxMINT doesn't have its own yet) You can copy paste the stuff from here or just give it a fresh question. But they are going to be able to help you out a lot more than us.

lol advanced, this is what we had to do in the 2.1.x kernel days, back when kde and gnome were betas in pre-1.0 days. I spend many a hours recompiling the kernel and mplayer just right to get it to play dvd's on my tv with no artifacts and perfectly sync'd sound.

That's odd that the LinuxMint livecd doesn't have chroot, I thought that was standard fare for livecd's.

Quote: Originally Posted by boardboyd Sorry about the slow response, whenever I tried to get onto pcapex.com, or the forum page it would show up as a blank page, at work and at home :?

I had the same problem so I just decided to go ahead and reinstall. Just means that I have to set everything back up, kind of a pain but at least I have use of my laptop again.

I was kind of wondering if the /home folder was hidden or mounted somewhere else, but I wasn't able to find it and since I couldn't get into PCA either I decided that I would just reinstall and not worry about it.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Now your getting a little too advanced. Boardboyd you have the idea, but it's one too many step confusing. I don't know if LinuxMint has that capability LIVE anyhow.

Yeah I was starting to notice that myself a little bit. Not that I mind trying to do the advanced stuff, and I certainly want to learn to be able to, but I just didn't really have the time this time.

At this point I am just curious why this problem even happened since I really didnt do anything special any of the last several times that I had my laptop on. I guess it could have done some silent update, but it just seems strange that something updated itself and caused such a large problem that the system was no longer able to boot.

Anyway it really doesnt matter much at this point and rep to both of you, thank you for the help you tried to give.
EDIT: well it looks like I have to spread some rep before I can give to boardboyd but either way, thank you for your help.

Quote: Originally Posted by Snake2Snipe At this point I am just curious why this problem even happened since I really didnt do anything special any of the last several times that I had my laptop on. I guess it could have done some silent update, but it just seems strange that something updated itself and caused such a large problem that the system was no longer able to boot. Anyway it really doesnt matter much at this point and rep to both of you, thank you for the help you tried to give.

No problem, I know that going through chroot and stuff like that can be daunting when you're first starting off, but trust me it can save you hours of reinstalling and hardware troubleshooting.

I have experienced a kernel panic only on a few occasions:
- Bad RAM
- Dying harddrive
- Improperly compiled kernel

As for the init file being bad, my suggestion of seeing if there was a backup of the file (most linux distros if not all) is usually a safe bet in a case like this, as the backup file is usually saved as soon as the current system file (or sometimes any file) is opened for editing. Just some things to look try the next time something similar happens.

Quote: Originally Posted by boardboyd No problem, I know that going through chroot and stuff like that can be daunting when you're first starting off, but trust me it can save you hours of reinstalling and hardware troubleshooting. I have experienced a kernel panic only on a few occasions: - Bad RAM - Dying harddrive - Improperly compiled kernel As for the init file being bad, my suggestion of seeing if there was a backup of the file (most linux distros if not all) is usually a safe bet in a case like this, as the backup file is usually saved as soon as the current system file (or sometimes any file) is opened for editing. Just some things to look try the next time something similar happens.

Well I will keep that in mind if something like this happens again. I of course hope that it doesnt at least in the remaining year and a quarter or so that I have this laptop.