Need Linux Help! Kernel Panic....

[walter34payton2002]

I decided to finally get around to learning Linux. I figured it was about time. I chose Knoppix Version 5.1.1 English Bootable CD, downloaded it with Bit Torrent on my old laptop (I am going to toy with Linux on the old laptop rather than my system). I don't have good cd writing software on the laptop (can't burn iso images) so I decided to burn the entire file to cd from the laptop HDD , then transfer it to on my slave drive on my desktop and burn the .iso from there to a blank disk. The iso seemed to burn fine, but upon boot in the laptop, I make it to the Knoppix welcome screen, but after I hit enter I get the error:

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(1,3)

Incidentally, the caps lock and scroll lock indicator lights on the laptop blink constantly in unison after the error and nothing can be done except to power down at this point.

I am wondering if I got a bad burn or download. I would appreciate any help or fixes you may have. I may just download everything and do all the burning from my solid desktop machine than doing all the various transfers I did along the way.

The laptop specs are:
Dell Inspiron 1000
Celeron 2.2GHz
1.18GB RAM
Windows XP SP2
CDRW/DVD Drive
30GB 5400 rpm HDD

The laptop is my older system which is why I want to use it to toy with Linux

Did find this....may or may not help!

I experienced the same problem when I installed KNOPPIX V4.0.2 (CD) to my HDD
with the script "knoppix-installer". I chose "KNOPPIX CD Style".

Soon, I found a problem in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Please, boot yourPC fromCD again,
and look into this file. You will find lines just like these;

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11 Default
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 ro ##amdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init apm=power-off nomce quiet vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot

You can edit the 2nd line as follows (similar to the former KNOPPIX versions) ;
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 ro ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init apm=power-off nomce quiet vga=791

Save your changing and reboot your PC.

Regards

[walter34payton2002]

Thanks for the reply, Nitecrawler. I have much PC experience, but I am new to Linux, so I am not sure what to look for even as far as the desktop is concerned. Linux doesn't fully load as I can tell?! I get black screen with upper left corner penguin logo and the error message. That is it- can't DO ANYTHING. How to play with those files? Do I attempt to modify boot files from the cd in Windows? Sorry, Nitecrawler, I am not on planet Windows anymore so I may need more specifics. Would you know how I would specifically do those mods? Remember I can't access anything at all IN LINUX because after the error-NOTHING- just the error message, logo, and a freeze. Thanks.

[Adrynalyne]

Bad burn.

It has to be. Everything is read only on the CD. You can try fixing grub yourself, although I doubt it will help.

At the OS selection sceen, try hitting something like F1, F2, or F3. I dont remember the exact key, and I cannot reboot my Linux install right now. Anyway, follow the instructions on screen to edit the boot menu.

Personally, I'd redownload, check the MD5 hash to verify its not corrupt, burn it and check the hash again.

Of course, if it was me, I wouldnt use knoppix

[walter34payton2002]

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

Bad burn.

It has to be. Everything is read only on the CD. You can try fixing grub yourself, although I doubt it will help.

At the OS selection sceen, try hitting something like F1, F2, or F3. I dont remember the exact key, and I cannot reboot my Linux install right now. Anyway, follow the instructions on screen to edit the boot menu.

Personally, I'd redownload, check the MD5 hash to verify its not corrupt, burn it and check the hash again.

Of course, if it was me, I wouldnt use knoppix

Hey, thanks a lot Adrynalyne. I got rid of it and I am going to try Ubuntu. What do you recommend for first time Linux user? I am looking for bootable cd. By the way, I took the liberty to read your Linux blog and I am seeing some the exact pitfalls you discussed.

[Adrynalyne]

Ubuntu isn't a bad place to start, blog aside

Check out Sabayon too. There is a link on my blog.

[cthisbear]

Puppy Linux live boot cd.
All flavours, all fast 7 releases in 2006. Puppy 2.14 new for 2007.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Puppy214

For your Dell laptop boot Puppy with these commands, just type one letter to
halt the boot process...eg type .... Puppy acpi=strict etc

This comes from Rudy Puppy and certainly cured a Dell laptop with problems.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/RudyPuppy

Rudy is a much bigger download. Puppy ranges from 12 megs to 500 megs whatever. The official Puppy 2.14 is 86.5MB.

The default parameters for Rudy Puppy boot are
acpi=strict acpi=noirq pci=biosirq pci=nosort irqpoll routeirq.
These are known to help acpi function on buggy machines like my hp pavilion notebook, but should not harm for general use.

Versions of Puppy Linux are located here.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/VersionsPuppy

Puppy is built from the ground up by and that is why it is so fast.
The developer Barry Kauler lives in the outback of Western Australia

Burn Puppy Linux with this in Windows and it can then save back to its own CD. ( Download Now BurnCDCC™)
This utility is used to burn an ISO file to a CD/DVD/BD disc. Many new systems come with a limited CD/DVD software package which lacks the ability to burn ISO files. 3 files and no install needed.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

My preference is to copy the 2 main files into your root directory...Puppy boots, sees the files and boots the computer into memory. If you like your settings you can save them onto the hard drive.
To connect to the Internet go to the Blue Connect Icon, select Ethernet 0, test Ethernet 0, test Auto DHCP, save and exit. Click connect icon again and
Enable the Firewall...5 hits on Enter key.

I usually edit Mozilla Seamonkey preferences to start page
.. http://scroogle.org/ Google without the records
Advanced ..tick ..enable Java - untick enable updates
Cookies ...accept for 0 days, and current session only and History..0 Days

Partitioning a hard drive is always best of course.
If you save to the hard drive Puppy will boot in around 30 seconds.
Have Windows or boot with the cd. Puppy was one of the first to be able
to delete, and or read / write to NTFS, windows files. Great for getting rid of the nasties, trojans, unremovable files. Care needed here.
Regards Chris.

[Adrynalyne]

Puppy isn't for people brand new to Linux, imo.
Or at least, there are easier distros to start with.

[walter34payton2002]

Thanks, cthisbear. I'll check that out. I'm going to play with Knoppix for a while, but I am already getting the feel for Linux pretty fast. I got Knoppix up and running. Adrynalyne was right, it was a bad burn. On my core2 desktop machine I do all the downloading and burning now to avoid the problem I had earlier (I got NERO there so ISO's are no prob.). Linux was making me feel like a noob and I don't like to feel that way when it comes to computers so I am going to get read up on Linux well while toying around with Knoppix, then I am going to try Puppy and a few other distros. Once I find one I just may sub out Windows on the old laptop for it (I don't know if I want to partition because that HDD has only 30GB capacity.

Can anyone give me an example of what different distros offer from one another? Are the differences vast or slight? Why is this- Is is because of the special tasks you may want the OS to excel at?

[cthisbear]

adrynalyne
(Puppy isn't for people brand new to Linux, imo.
Or at least, there are easier distros to start with.)

(Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.)

Your own self quote should be a pointer to your own reply.

Quite simply Puppy is the easiest, fastest intro to Linux.
First boot, 60 seconds, select US keyboard, Xorg screen manager for
the Dell laptop and you are there. Gee too hard for anyone.
And if you save your settings as I described...that took 3 minutes..TOPS..
and you are on the internet..reboot and 30 seconds you are back..
can still have Windows or the worlds fastest, easiest Live boot cd,
try it and put the fun back into computing.
Chris

[Adrynalyne]

Configuration, and package managers differ the most. As well, some are better built than others.

[Adrynalyne]

Originally Posted by cthisbear

(Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.)

Your own self quote should be a pointer to your own reply.

You misunderstanding the quote is astounding.

Did ya note the imo in my reply?

You state things as fact, when indeed, if Puppy was as easy for everyone as you say it is, it would be higher than Ubuntu on distrowatch. Or, maybe the users who download are wrong too.

Thanks for playing.

At any rate, if you want a debate, fine. Start your own thread, and I will be happy to engage.

[Adrynalyne]

Originally Posted by walter34payton2002

Thanks, cthisbear. I'll check that out. I'm going to play with Knoppix for a while, but I am already getting the feel for Linux pretty fast. I got Knoppix up and running. Adrynalyne was right, it was a bad burn. On my core2 desktop machine I do all the downloading and burning now to avoid the problem I had earlier (I got NERO there so ISO's are no prob.). Linux was making me feel like a noob and I don't like to feel that way when it comes to computers so I am going to get read up on Linux well while toying around with Knoppix, then I am going to try Puppy and a few other distros. Once I find one I just may sub out Windows on the old laptop for it (I don't know if I want to partition because that HDD has only 30GB capacity.

Can anyone give me an example of what different distros offer from one another? Are the differences vast or slight? Why is this- Is is because of the special tasks you may want the OS to excel at?

http://users.adelphia.net/~obitus2000/linux_faq_p1.html

This may provide some insight.

[Adrynalyne]

cthisbear

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/index.ph...d=16&Itemid=27

Download, burn, boot. Full hardware accelerated desktop with more eyecandy than Vista, full office suite, KDE Desktop Environment and also, online. No configuration required. Mini version fits on a CD.


How is that for ease of use?

Sounds like a fun environment to learn on, imo.

To think, I did that without referring to you as ignorant.

[walter34payton2002]

Hey, cthisbear......BIG THANKS for scroogle. This is something everyone should know about.

[walter34payton2002]

Adrynalyne......Which distro would you say supports Conroe the best. I know Sabayan supports EM64T, but anything excel particularly with Conroe?

[Adrynalyne]

Anything with the latest kernel should suffice.

Latest kernel being 2.6.20.

You won't find anything specifically tailored for dual core cpus vs single though, unless maybe Gentoo, which I promise, you are not ready for. Sabayon is based on gentoo, but not as bleeding edge. Linux has had multi cpu support for quite a while.