Re: Brain transplant for Debian testing box.
Depending on how you configured your custom kernel, it may well work
just fine with your new board and CPU. I haven't done this, but if I
were in your situation (and my kernel didn't like my new MB), the first
thing I would try is installing a standard kernel image. The install CD
for testing comes with a rescue option; I think you just type "rescue"
instead of "linux". The options are detailed in the boot options
documentation on the CD (hit F1, F2, etc. at the boot prompt). Mount /
and chroot into it. Mount other necessary filesystems like /usr
and /var. "aptitude install kernel-image-2.6-686" or whatever is
appropriate. Make sure your boot loader is configured to use your new
kernel and reboot.
I haven't used this process, but it seems like it should work. Once you
have a standard kernel image working, you can compile your custom
kernel.
-Jeff
On Mon, 2005-10-10 at 09:15 -0700, Scott Denlinger wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm running Debian testing, and my processor recently died. I used this as an
> opportunity to upgrade my processor and system board, and now I need to figure
> out how to use my old hard drives, which contain a perfectly functional Debian
> testing system, with my new board and processor. Basically, my question is
> whether I can use my current partititions and data, and just compile a new
> kernel to match my new system's hardware configuration. The system board,
> processor, and several peripherals no longer match exactly, so I definitely
> need a new kernel.
>
> I thought I might be able to boot into something like Knoppix, let Knoppix tell
> me what *it's* using for modules, then use that info. to compile my new kernel,
> but I'm not sure how I can do that from Knoppix, and I've not come across
> anything on the web which describes how this would work. Can I recompile a
> kernel just by mounting the root and boot partitions Knoppix recognizes and
> then compile a new kernel using Knoppix's sudo? Would anything I compile in this
> scenario boot properly when I'm done and no longer want to boot Knoppix?
>
> Or, are there some basic parameters I can pass on the command line as my OLD
> kernel (custom 2.6.4) starts to boot (I use LILO) that would drop me into a
> basic single user shell from which I could recompile? I would have to pass in
> enough info. to get it to deal with my new Pentium 4 processor--the old one was
> a K7 Athlon.
>
> The worst-case scenario is that I could just wipe out my current disk
> configuration and reinstall completely, since I've got my critical data backed
> up, but I'm intrigued by the challenge of getting a new kernel to work with the
> setup I have.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice.
>
> Scott Denlinger
>
>
Reply to: