FC4 CD/DVD Installer Syslinux Crash Workaround

wtogami · #1 3rd July 2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.
VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block(8,3)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,3)
(... kernel traceback messages here ...)

http://people.redhat.com/wtogami/arc...inux-crash.jpg
If you boot the FC4 CD or DVD installer and see an error something like the above text or picture, then your motherboard chipset may be affected by the syslinux crash bug. This bug reportedly happens most often on Intel Pentium4 or Nocona chipsets 845, 865, 875, 915, 925, 945, 955, and very rarely on some AMD64 motherboards.

Simple Workaround
The majority of users can easily workaround this problem by using the "garbage"" workaround. Simply boot the CD/DVD, and at the first prompt type any line of garbage (the string "garbage" works fine), then ENTER. At this point you can use any regular installer command to start the installer, or simply ENTER.

Less than Simple Workaround
http://people.redhat.com/pjones/i915/booti915.iso
For some rare users the "garbage" workaround does not work. For these users, this 6MB sized i386 boot.iso replacement should theoretically work. Note that boot.iso is only usable with a network-based install.

http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/....cgi?id=159026
This bug is tracked in this Bugzilla report.

Ruxton · #2 14th July 2005, 06:20 AM

I was originally getting this crash.. now im getting the IRQ11 error after trying every fix on the forums, problem is... its still not booting. Do the new kernels that are out now fix this? and if so is there a way i can setup the install dvd's to use these?

Thanks

Quella · #3 24th July 2005, 06:31 PM

You saved me on this Install. I had an eMachine system that was getting Core4, and one again this group of people gave me the solution to my problems. I would have never guessed this one, but the simple one did the trick for me.

Quella

cruiseoveride · #4 26th July 2005, 07:11 PM

i had the same prob, but after that msg now i get a new one
saying
kernel panic - no syncing (blabla) spin locked on non initialized blahblah

how do i go around this one too

cruiseoveride · #5 26th July 2005, 07:38 PM

hay hay i fixed it
do the garbage trick then
type

linux acpi=off nofb

thats it!!!

tclovis · #6 27th July 2005, 03:37 AM

Hi Wtogami,
I´ve the same problem in boot CD FC4.
I tried all the tips and tricks, but not work for me.
Any ideas, help please

Use P4 chipset D865Perl with one SATA disk 120Gb, 01 Gb RAM

cruiseoveride · #7 27th July 2005, 08:00 AM

try and
disable acpi from the bios
set plugNplay OS = no
and disable APM (aka power management stuff)
see if that works

behdad · #8 3rd August 2005, 08:53 AM

Thanks cruise, the acpi & nofb worked for me too.

mailmaldi · #9 5th August 2005, 03:14 PM

i am afraid to install FC4 now after i installed on my friends & it stopped his windows from functioning...

please tell me if FC4 has any issues with SATA hdd?

i ve a samsung 80GB SATA

gavinw6662 · #10 7th August 2005, 02:26 AM

i just installed on the 845 chipset, and it went without a hitch. I had some initial problems, but that was me being excited and over looking some basic things. Ha ha ha.

david.wright · #11 9th August 2005, 02:55 AM

Thanks cruise, the acpi & nofb worked

cruiseoveride · #12 9th August 2005, 08:43 PM

its so screwed up, redhat have been in this game for so long, and they cant even put up proper acpi support,
SuSE 9.3 works fine acpi and all

forwardtokinjal · #13 12th August 2005, 04:27 PM

Hey guys, please help me out. I'm still not getting past the same Kernel Panic error. Even using booti915.iso does not work. It throws up improperly packed file kind of error (do not remember exact error message, but it meant this).

I have an IBM celeron m/c with intel 810 chipset, 10GB hdd. There is one primary partition(2GB) with win2k on it. another extended one of 2GB is also there. rest of the hdd is unformatted.

Please help me on this.

mnc-co-uk · #14 21st August 2005, 11:55 AM

installing on a AMD64 laptop using FC4 64 bit version - Boot sequence hung after SELinux messages, no errors displyed on console. Tried various linux kernel options to fix - no luck

Tried FC4 i386 version, error message was displayed on console as discribed in this main topic

I then switched back to FC4 64Bit version and tried workround as discribed above,

It worked!!!

So beware AMD64Bit users. Seems to have the same problem but with no error - just a hang

wasanka2000 · #15 31st August 2005, 08:51 AM

Hi All,

I'm a new bie to Linux and I'm using VMWare 5 to run Fedora 4 (32bit using iso's). But I can not install it properly. The installation process goes about 20% and crash when trying to install syslinux-3.08-2 package. Then it give a error message. Can any one help me to continue the installation. I ran FC3 in VMWare 5 successfully.

Thanks