init not found?

Forum: USB booting
Topic: init not found?
started by: Mr. Ksoft

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on Mar. 25 2006,16:22

I'm trying to install DSL 2.2b on my 256MB Sony Micro Vault USB keydrive. I'm using the WinImage method because for some reason the app on the LiveCD refuses to work. I get it all copied onto the drive, boot my PC from the USB (using USBHDD), and watch it begin to boot. It stops after ~10 seconds and tells me it can't find an init, yet there is one on the drive. Anyone know a fix? I'm using the bootusb-0.8.0 file for the boot.

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on Mar. 28 2006,20:25

*bump* You people don't seem to want to help me.

I finally got it to install onto my keydrive via the LiveCD. No errors were spat out at me, and everything looked good. I booted my comp via USBHDD, got the DSL screen, pressed enter, it all looked good.

First I noticed it was very slow, but I thought it was just because of the USB key. It got down to creating directories on the ramdisk, where it sat for a minute before saying "timeout". Then it printed 2 screens of some error, then said "no init found. try passing the init= option to the kernel".

What's up with that? What should I pass to the kernel under the init= option?

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 29 2006,17:32

The init option should already be passed to your kernel upon bootup. For example, see the contents of the SYSLINUX.CFG text file.

You have some other problem that is preventing your system from working. Based on your explanation, I am not sure about the specific nature of the problem. However, you can try some alternative boot command like:

dsl noapic acpi=off waitusb

or

lowram noapic acpi=off waitusb

or maybe even failsafe:

failsafe waitusb

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on Mar. 29 2006,22:15

Hmph. I tried those... they all gave me a "KNOPPIX filesystem not found" error. I tried installing 2.3 to see if it would fix it, but now the computer hangs at "Searching for CD-ROM at /dev/sda1...". It should just find it, as that is, in fact, my USB drive's location. I'm confused...

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 30 2006,18:14

Is the directory and filename in UPPERCASE letters?

IE:

E:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on Mar. 30 2006,18:26

Yep, it's all in caps. So that's not the problem...

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on April 01 2006,17:17

I'm impatient... anyone going to help? I must have DSL on my keydrive!

Posted by desnotes on April 01 2006,18:16

Have you tried booting the USB on any other computers?

desNotes

Posted by cbagger01 on April 01 2006,21:17

OK, give this a try.

Download DSL version 2.1b
Burn it to CD
Boot from CD
Do a DSL USBHDD install from the menu.

See if it works any better than the 2.3 version.
DSL 2.1b contains a newer version of the linux kernel so it MIGHT work.

Posted by Mr. Ksoft on April 01 2006,23:09

I haven't yet been able to test it on my only other applicable machine, but I did try 2.1b. No difference, just says "looking for KNOPPIX CD-ROM in /dev/sda1" then, after a minute, says it cannot find the KNOPPIX filesystem and it drops me to a very limited command prompt.