Problem booting from PXE/kickstart on FC7

[Mike Wright]

Gary Schlachter wrote:
> 
> 
> Mike Wright wrote:
> 
>> Gary Schlachter wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike Wright wrote:
>>>
>>>> Gary Schlachter wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Mike Wright wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Gary Schlachter wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>    I am trying to use PXE/kickstart to load FC7 on an appliance.  
>>>>>>> My initrd.img and vmlinuz are from FC7 and are loading but my 
>>>>>>> console output looks like the following:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <big snip />
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Switching to new root and running init.
>>>>>>> umounting old /dev
>>>>>>> umounting old /proc
>>>>>>> umounting old /sys
>>>>>>> switchroot: mount failed: No such file or directory
>>>>>>> Booting has failed.
>>>>>>> Kernel panic - not syncing:  Attempted to kill init!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Gary,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'll take a stab at it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I nfs install f7 using pxeboot and kickstart.  I seem to remember 
>>>>>> struggling with something similar.  It turned out that in the 
>>>>>> pxeboot stanza I had broken the APPEND line using "\".  Big 
>>>>>> no-no.  The "\" is for readability.  The APPEND line and all its 
>>>>>> options must be on a single line.  Once I'd done that it worked 
>>>>>> correctly.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If that doesn't solve the problem would you post your pxeboot 
>>>>>> stanza? Might be a clue there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> hth,
>>>>>> Mike Wright :m)
>>>>>>
>>>>> I finally got my initrd.img to load.  I found a post about changing 
>>>>> the init script in the initrd.img from
>>>>>
>>>>>    mount /sysroot
>>>>>
>>>>>       to
>>>>>
>>>>>    mount -o defaults --ro -t ext3 /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /sysroot
>>>>>
>>>>> and that did the trick.  However now my kickstart file is not being 
>>>>> used.  My pxelinux.xfg/default looks like
>>>>>
>>>>>       label linux
>>>>>       kernel vmlinuz
>>>>>       append initrd=initrd.fc7.img 
>>>>> ks=nfs:10.254.13.1:/home/tftpboot/kickstart/10.254.13.112-kickstart 
>>>>> ramdisk_size=9216
>>>>>
>>>>> I have tried with and without the ksdevice=eth0 on the "append" 
>>>>> line as well.  It is like the "ks=" is being ignored by the kernel 
>>>>> alotugh I can see it as a kernel option on the console.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hmmm, couple possibilities:
>>>>
>>>> Is the nfs server running and has the kickstart file been exported?  
>>>> Is that machine running iptables and are the required nfs ports open?
>>>>
>>>> When I was trying to debug my setup tcpdump was definitely my best 
>>>> friend.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Yes to all since I am able to boot other systems with FC1 from the 
>>> same setup.  My PXE prompt has multiple options one of which is 
>>> Fedora Core 1 and another is Fedora Core 7.
>>>
>>
>> Our APPEND lines are very different.  Here's mine:
>>
>> APPEND ksdevice=eth0 load_ramdisk=1 initrd=images/fc7-install.img 
>> network ks=nfs:lan51:/opt/fc7/ks.cfg
>>
> My default file looks like below with no line breaks:
> 
> prompt 1
> default linux
> timeout 100
> 
> label linux
> kernel vmlinuz
> append ksdevice=eth0 load_ramdisk=1 initrd=initrd.fc7.img network 
> ks=nfs:10.254.13.1:/home/tftpboot/kickstart/10.254.13.112-kickstart 
> ramdisk_size=9216
> 
> When I get to the boot line, I type "linux".  The vmlinuz and 
> initrd.fc7.img are loaded. Then a "Ready" message appears.  Then the 
> system boots with Fedora Core 7.  Is there any way I could try your 
> fc7-install.img?  I still wonder if that is where my problem lies.

I took vmlinuz and initrd.img from F-7-i386-DVD.iso/images/pxeboot. 
Files sizes are vmlinuz: 1856340 and initrd.img: 5674432.

I just reread the thread and think your custom initrd.img is a problem. 
  There shouldn't be any need to use lvm to read a cd/dvd.  I always 
just use the kernel and ramdisk image from the iso.

> 
> Thanks,
> Gary
>