Help needed with Installation

shariq_pj · 07-12-2005, 05:09 PM

Guys, I installed Mandrake Linux on my comp...

After all the installation it says

Failure to load...

Pass init= option to kernel...

Help me guys.. Linux is completely Alien to me...

ujjwal · 07-12-2005, 05:25 PM

Sounds like either an incomplete installation, or else linux is having trouble reading your hard disk. An easy way to check would be to reinstall mandrake, but if you don't want to do that, try this.

If you have access to windows, use a tool like explore2fs (You will need to use rfstool instead if you opted for reiserfs partitions). Browse through the linux partitions it finds, and see if one of them has the file /etc/init. If no such file exists, you have a corrupted installation and you need to reinstall mandrake.

If the file does exist, try booting with linux init=/etc/init

If this fails, the only other guess I can make is that linux is trying to mount the wrong partition as its root partition. Note down the name of the partition which contains the file (like hdb1, hda5, hdb2 etc), and when your boot options menu comes up, type

Code:

linux root=/dev/hdb1

Replace hdb1 with the name of the partition.

(If no command line interface is visible in your boot menu, press c to get it).

One more thing, is any other error/fatal warning displayed when starting linux?

praka123 · 07-12-2005, 05:31 PM

I think u need to pass the initrd path in GRUB.DO this:
in grub menu press 'e' to edit mandrake's path.find ur kernel's initrd name in /boot/initrd-2.6.xxx.img.add this initrd path in grub as for eg;

Code:

title           Mandriva
root            (hd0,8)
kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.14-2-686-smp root=/dev/sda8 ro
initrd          /initrd.img-2.6.14-2-686-smp
savedefault
boot

like this make a line below /kernel line(dont remember may be keyboard 'o' or read grub screen menu) with initrd /boot/in....img and try pressing 'b' for boot.if its a custom compiled kernel u may need to make initrd image as most distros need that