Fedora Core 3: Kernel Panic: Unable to open initial console

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I am trying to configure a custom kernel for my older IBM laptop, &
can't seem to get it to boot. The error, mentioned in the subject line,
keeps popping up. Has anyone seem this & been able to fix it?

TIA,
Evan Carew
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In comp.os.linux.setup Evan Carew <elcarew@sbcglobal.net>:
[color=blue]
> I am trying to configure a custom kernel for my older IBM laptop, &
> can't seem to get it to boot. The error, mentioned in the subject line,[/color]

Best idea to start from your working distro kernel config.
[color=blue]
> keeps popping up. Has anyone seem this & been able to fix it?[/color]

Remote guess you have devfs in your kernel or a filled /dev onto
your hd?

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo [email]zvpunry@urvzvat.qr[/email] | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 367: Webmasters kidnapped by evil cult.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 17:30:18 +0000, Evan Carew wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am trying to configure a custom kernel for my older IBM laptop, &
> can't seem to get it to boot. The error, mentioned in the subject line,
> keeps popping up. Has anyone seem this & been able to fix it?[/color]

Did you disable built-in console/tty/serial console (I don't know what
you use) support in your new kernel config, or did you change it to a
loadable module perhaps?
--
mark south: world citizen, net denizen
echo [email]znexfbhgu2000@lnubb.pb.hx[/email]|tr a-z n-za-m

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Michael Heiming wrote:[color=blue]
>
>
> Remote guess you have devfs in your kernel or a filled /dev onto
> your hd?
>[/color]

devfs? Well, I'm curious what that would have to do with it, however, to
answer your question, devfs isn't enabled in the custom kernel, & the
kernel I am currently booting with is the stock kernel from the FC3
install media.
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Mark South wrote:[color=blue]
> On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 17:30:18 +0000, Evan Carew wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>I am trying to configure a custom kernel for my older IBM laptop, &
>>can't seem to get it to boot. The error, mentioned in the subject line,
>>keeps popping up. Has anyone seem this & been able to fix it?[/color]
>
>
> Did you disable built-in console/tty/serial console (I don't know what
> you use) support in your new kernel config, or did you change it to a
> loadable module perhaps?[/color]
This is a laptop & as such I would like to be able to use the graphic
screen as the console. As it happens, the 8250 serial console is enabled
as a built in along with the frame buffer stuff for my video card (a
neo-magic). Should I have serial turned off?

Evan
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In comp.os.linux.setup Evan Carew <elcarew@sbcglobal.net>:[color=blue]
> Michael Heiming wrote:[color=green]
>>
>>
>> Remote guess you have devfs in your kernel or a filled /dev onto
>> your hd?
>>[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> devfs? Well, I'm curious what that would have to do with it, however, to
> answer your question, devfs isn't enabled in the custom kernel, & the
> kernel I am currently booting with is the stock kernel from the FC3
> install media.[/color]

Then 'diff' the distro kernel against yours and see where the
culprit is, can't look into your system. ;-)

[..]

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo [email]zvpunry@urvzvat.qr[/email] | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 315: The recent proliferation of Nuclear Testing

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Michael Heiming wrote:[color=blue]
> In comp.os.linux.setup Evan Carew <elcarew@sbcglobal.net>:
>[color=green]
>>Michael Heiming wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>>
>>>Remote guess you have devfs in your kernel or a filled /dev onto
>>>your hd?
>>>[/color][/color]
>
>[color=green]
>>devfs? Well, I'm curious what that would have to do with it, however, to
>>answer your question, devfs isn't enabled in the custom kernel, & the
>>kernel I am currently booting with is the stock kernel from the FC3
>>install media.[/color]
>
>
> Then 'diff' the distro kernel against yours and see where the
> culprit is, can't look into your system. ;-)
>
> [..]
>[/color]
Diff two binary kernels?! No. On the other hand, in talking to someone
else, this looks like an initrd issue. It seems this issue has triped up
quite a few kernel compilers over the last few years & much of their
conversation can be found over at kerneltrap.org. As I said to the
individual who pointed it out, this looks like quite the ugly can of worms.

It seems that an unlucky confluence of initrd, devfs & sysfs (among
other things) can create these problems. It also looke like I am going
to have to spend quite a bit of time untangling the mess. Should
compiling a custom kernel be this hard? It never was before. thanks for
your help

Evan
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In comp.os.linux.setup Michael Heiming <michael+USENET@www.heiming.de>:[color=blue]
> In comp.os.linux.setup Evan Carew <elcarew@sbcglobal.net>:[color=green]
>> Michael Heiming wrote:[color=darkred]
>>>
>>>
>>> Remote guess you have devfs in your kernel or a filled /dev onto
>>> your hd?
>>>[/color][/color][/color]
[color=blue][color=green]
>> devfs? Well, I'm curious what that would have to do with it, however, to
>> answer your question, devfs isn't enabled in the custom kernel, & the
>> kernel I am currently booting with is the stock kernel from the FC3
>> install media.[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> Then 'diff' the distro kernel against yours and see where the
> culprit is, can't look into your system. ;-)[/color]

Ops, the distro kernel configuration with yours of course.
[color=blue]
> [..][/color]


--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo [email]zvpunry@urvzvat.qr[/email] | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 406: Bad cafeteria food landed all the sysadmins
in the hospital.

"Evan Carew" <elcarew@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:D6olf.3378$rq3.202@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...
[color=blue]
> Diff two binary kernels?! No. On the other hand, in talking to someone
> else, this looks like an initrd issue. It seems this issue has triped up
> quite a few kernel compilers over the last few years & much of their
> conversation can be found over at kerneltrap.org. As I said to the
> individual who pointed it out, this looks like quite the ugly can of
> worms.[/color]

"diff" the config files, and possibly the clean source code for the kernels.
[color=blue]
> It seems that an unlucky confluence of initrd, devfs & sysfs (among other
> things) can create these problems. It also looke like I am going to have
> to spend quite a bit of time untangling the mess. Should compiling a
> custom kernel be this hard? It never was before. thanks for your help[/color]

It's like when a car won't start: check for the easy things first, before
you assume you have to pull the engine block....