Re: Kernel panic: No init found.
On Wed, 12 Mar 2003 13:09:50 -0500 (EST)
Reid Mumford <reid@pha.jhu.edu> wrote:
> I have a problem that has brought my laptop down.
>
> Any ideas on how to save this system without having to reinstall?
Your filesystem was corrupted and you've lost some files (or pieces of files).
You may be able to get back to a semblance of a working system, but even
if you do, there's no way for you to know what other filesystem
corruption is waiting to bite you.
Your safest bet for the long term is to back up any data you want to save and reinstall the system.
I've developed some shortcuts which you may find useful:
1. On a blank floppy, make a mini-etc file tree, and copy into it the
configuration files in /etc/ you've changed from the defaults. You may also wish to save some files from your home directory, like .bashrc if you've changed it from defaults.
2. Do "dpkg --get-selections" and redirect the results to a file on the floppy. I use /floppy/debs.installed.
3. When you reinstall, install only the base system.
4. When you log in after reinstallation, mount the floppy and do "dpkg
--set-selections</floppy/debs.installed to tell the system which packages you want to have on the system.
5. Do "apt-get dselect-upgrade" to get and install the packages.
6. Copy your configuration files from the floppy to the hard drive, overwriting the defaults.
When you reinstall, using a filesystem type other than ext2 will reduce the chance you'll need to do this again. Others with experience of different filesystem types may wish to chime in here. I use JFS, but I'm considering changing to ReiserFS.
Kevin
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