First time running Mandrake 10.0 from download. Has 2.4.25 and 2.6.3 kernels installed by default. Trying to create kernel 2.6.6 from scratch but won't boot to it. No errors during creation; only error is when booting to new kernel: "Kernel panic: no init found. Try passing init= option to kernel".

I thought it might be related to outdated module-init-tools lib so I dl'ed that and tried to install it. I think it was installed correctly but I can't tell because I still get the boot error. I'm sure patching the kernel would be easier, but I wanted to see if I could do it from scratch.

In a somewhat related problem, I'm also having problems updating my video drivers. I have a GeForce 5700 Ultra but it's using the generic 'vesa' drivers at 800x600 since that's the only set that would let me get a picture. The main reason I wanted to update the kernel was to have the kernel source for the Nvidia driver to compile.

Obviously I can't get the driver to compile w/ 2.6.6 so I (think) I have a copy of the 2.6.3 kernel source to compile with. (I'm guessing I have the correct files since I can now get further in the driver install). However, I'm now getting the error: "Unable to determine Nvidia kernel module filename". The Nvidia website doesn't have any info that I could find.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice for either of my problems, I would greatly appreciate it. I can still use my Linux system, but I would like it to be so much better.

Hello Crystalatice.

What is the procedure that you are using to "install" the new kernel?
Are you using lilo per chance?
Are you using bzImage to make your kernel?
At what point in the boot sequence do you get the init error?

Also on the nvidia drivers, I have found this command sequence very valuable as it allows you to build a driver for a kernel different than the one you are running. (but you must have this kernel installed.)


So you could run that from the 2.6.3 kernel and create drivers for the 2.6.6 kernel.

If you can give me a few more details, I may be able to help you diagnose this boot problem.

I am using LILO and bzImage. In a nutshell, I'm installing the kernel by using make xconfig, then make module, make module_install, make bzImage, edit LILO and update, reboot and try new kernel.

The error occurs right after "Mounted devfs on /dev" and "Freeing unused kernel memory".

BTW, is there anything special required to run the nvidia-installer command you gave? I tried it but it's giving the error "command not found".

So are you moving the newly made kernel somewhere after it is made?, ie /boot/vmlinuz? And you are running lilo after updating lilo.conf? Can you attach the relevant parts of your lilo? You are still able to boot using 2.6.3, correct?

When I have had a problem with kernels it is always something that I configured wrong. For example, just recently I built a kernel that didn't include reiserfs support. Unfortunately, my root disk was formatted using the reiserfs so it was unable to mount the root drive. Once I fixed that, everything was A-okay. Is there anything at all like this that you can think of?

On the nvidia-installer, this is something that you should download from nvidia. This is a binary file that you should execute and it will extract the installer. There is also a readme file at this site that you should download. It is extremely helpful.

Sorry, I can't give you an easy solution. I don't see anything definitive that is wrong yet...

When I unzipped the source I created a new file under /src/linux-2.6.6 and compiled using this path. I then updated lilo.conf to reflect the path created by the new make bzImage as shown below:

image=/boot/bzImage-2.6.6
label="new"
root=/dev/hdb1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
vga=788
read-only

I just copied the information from the default boot info but just changed the path. I am still able to boot to linux just fine.

Also, I still can't get the nvidia driver to work. I have the nvidia*.run file and ran it; no luck. So I did an extract only but even though I can see the nvidia-installer command, bash is telling me "command not found", whether I'm user or root. I ran the [i]sh NVIDIA*.run file w/ the switches you suggested; it downloaded a new file but gave the error "can't locate NVIDIA kernel" and stopped. I noticed on the Nvidia forum many people have problems w/ this driver, but they are at least able to install it; I can't even do that.

Check the date on the /boot/bzImage-2.6.6 file. Whenever I compile the kernel (and I have done it more times than I should admit ), it is never placed in this location. For me, when I run make bzImage, I will get a new kernel under: /usr/src/linux/arc/i386/boot/bzImage. I then move this to the /boot/ directory. Also, are you remembering to run lilo every time that you change your kernel? Even if the location of your kernel doesn't change, you still need to run lilo.

Also, try commenting out a few things in your lilo entry, for just the basics:

image=/boot/bzImage-2.6.6
label="new"
root=/dev/hdb1
# initrd=/boot/initrd.img
# append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
# vga=788
read-only


Hopefully, something here will help.