Bug#606976: Kernel panic with Squeeze (AMD64) d-i beta 2

[Ferenc Wagner <wferi@niif.hu>]

tag 606976 +moreinfo
thanks

Taro Sato <ubutsu@gmail.com> writes:

> I've tried d-i beta 2 on Dell XPS 630i.  I first tried creating a USB
> memory stick with the installer .iso on it (following a standard
> procedure); the install USB stick works on my other computer (Lenovo
> T410s).  However, on 630i it always fails at the beginning of the
> install process.  The message, when kernel panics, typically goes like
> this:
>
> ... (no apparent error messages thru this point) ...
> [0.597991] List of all partitions:
> [0.600310] No filesystem could mount root, tried:
> [0.602749] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
> unknown-block(8,3)
> ... (call trace output after this) ...
>
> (This output is from an attempt to use CD install medium.)

Hi,

I have to say that all of this looks very much out of place.  First of
all, the boot menu should start the kernel with the "quiet" parameter,
so you should see no messages before the kernel panic.

 1. Did you edit the command line in the boot loader or by any other
    means?

 2. What was your exact sequence of actions after powering on your
    computer with the CD in the drive?

The above message indicates that no initramfs was loaded with the
kernel, or maybe it was corrupt.  If you didn't remove the "quiet"
parameter from the kernel command line, you'd see the message

    Initramfs unpacking failed: junk in compressed archive

in the latter case.

 3. What messages do you get with the "quiet" parameter?

You could also try writing the mini.iso downloaded from
http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
to a pendrive and test that.  If you pendrive (the full device) is
/dev/sdb, then just do

    cat mini.iso >/dev/sdb

and try to boot from the pendrive.  This is very similar to the method
used for HD media, except that boot.img.gz is compressed.

> Is there any way to get Squeeze d-i to work on this machine?

There should be.  Please do the above tests and report back to help us
find out how.
-- 
Thanks,
Feri.