# Genkernel initramfs not mountable?

## fuzzykiller

Quick facts:

VMware

LVM2

Genkernel initramfs (and only initramfs)

Kernel 3

It used to work with Kernel 2.6 and Kernel 3.

I think my problem started with a recent genkernel update.

Error summary:

```
UDF-fs: No partition found (1)

List of all partitions:

0810         4194304 sdb  driver: sd

  0811         4193280 sdb1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sdb1

0800        20971520 sda  driver: sd

  0801          131072 sda1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda1

  0802        20839424 sda2 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda2

0b00         1048575 sr0  driver: sr

No filesystem could mount root, tried:  ext3 ext2 ext4 vfat iso9660 udf

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(1,0)

Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 3.0.0-gentoo #1

Call Trace:

 [<c14a96df>] ? panic+0x57/0x13a

 [<c1629bfe>] ? mount_block_root+0x230/0x23f

 [<c1002930>] ? xen_hvm_need_lapic+0x40/0x40

 [<c1629c53>] ? mount_root+0x46/0x5a

 [<c1629dad>] ? prepare_namespace+0x146/0x182

 [<c10ce52f>] ? sys_access+0x1f/0x30

 [<c1629302>] ? kernel_init+0x129/0x136

 [<c16291d9>] ? parse_early_options+0x23/0x23

 [<c14acc76>] ? kernel_thread_helper+0x6/0x10
```

"Complete" kernel log from serial console:

```
IP route cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)

TCP established hash table entries: 131072 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes)

TCP bind hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)

TCP: Hash tables configured (established 131072 bind 65536)

TCP reno registered

UDP hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)

UDP-Lite hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)

NET: Registered protocol family 1

RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.

RPC: Registered udp transport module.

RPC: Registered tcp transport module.

RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.

pci 0000:00:00.0: Limiting direct PCI/PCI transfers

Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...

Freeing initrd memory: 888k freed

Simple Boot Flag at 0x36 set to 0x1

audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)

type=2000 audit(1313003995.395:1): initialized

HugeTLB registered 2 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages

msgmni has been set to 1507

Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253)

io scheduler noop registered

io scheduler deadline registered

io scheduler cfq registered (default)

pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5

acpiphp: ACPI Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.5

acpiphp: Slot [32] registered

acpiphp: Slot [33] registered

acpiphp: Slot [34] registered

acpiphp: Slot [35] registered

acpiphp: Slot [36] registered

acpiphp: Slot [37] registered

acpiphp: Slot [38] registered

acpiphp: Slot [39] registered

acpiphp: Slot [40] registered

acpiphp: Slot [41] registered

acpiphp: Slot [42] registered

acpiphp: Slot [43] registered

acpiphp: Slot [44] registered

acpiphp: Slot [45] registered

acpiphp: Slot [46] registered

acpiphp: Slot [47] registered

acpiphp: Slot [48] registered

acpiphp: Slot [49] registered

acpiphp: Slot [50] registered

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acpiphp: Slot [52] registered

acpiphp: Slot [53] registered

acpiphp: Slot [54] registered

acpiphp: Slot [55] registered

acpiphp: Slot [56] registered

acpiphp: Slot [57] registered

acpiphp: Slot [58] registered

acpiphp: Slot [59] registered

acpiphp: Slot [60] registered

acpiphp: Slot [61] registered

acpiphp: Slot [62] registered

acpiphp: Slot [63] registered

acpiphp: Slot [160] registered

acpiphp: Slot [192] registered

acpiphp: Slot [224] registered

acpiphp: Slot [256] registered

acpiphp: Slot [161] registered

acpiphp: Slot [162] registered

acpiphp: Slot [163] registered

acpiphp: Slot [164] registered

acpiphp: Slot [165] registered

acpiphp: Slot [166] registered

acpiphp: Slot [167] registered

acpiphp: Slot [193] registered

acpiphp: Slot [194] registered

acpiphp: Slot [195] registered

acpiphp: Slot [196] registered

acpiphp: Slot [197] registered

acpiphp: Slot [198] registered

acpiphp: Slot [199] registered

acpiphp: Slot [225] registered

acpiphp: Slot [226] registered

acpiphp: Slot [227] registered

acpiphp: Slot [228] registered

acpiphp: Slot [229] registered

acpiphp: Slot [230] registered

acpiphp: Slot [231] registered

acpiphp: Slot [257] registered

acpiphp: Slot [258] registered

acpiphp: Slot [259] registered

acpiphp: Slot [260] registered

acpiphp: Slot [261] registered

acpiphp: Slot [262] registered

acpiphp: Slot [263] registered

Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled

serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A

ÿserial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

00:09: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A

00:0a: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

Non-volatile memory driver v1.3

Linux agpgart interface v0.103

agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel 440BX Chipset

agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0x0

uvesafb: failed to execute /sbin/v86d

uvesafb: make sure that the v86d helper is installed and executable

uvesafb: Getting VBE info block failed (eax=0x4f00, err=-2)

uvesafb: vbe_init() failed with -22

uvesafb: probe of uvesafb.0 failed with error -22

vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=0

vesafb: scrolling: redraw

vesafb: Truecolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0

vesafb: framebuffer at 0xd0000000, mapped to 0xf0880000, using 3072k, total 1310                                                                                                 72k

Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48

fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device

ACPI: Deprecated procfs I/F for AC is loaded, please retry with CONFIG_ACPI_PROC                                                                                                 FS_POWER cleared

ACPI: AC Adapter [ACAD] (on-line)

input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input0

ACPI: Power Button [PWRF]

XENFS: not registering filesystem on non-xen platform

brd: module loaded

loop: module loaded

scsi0 : ata_piix

scsi1 : ata_piix

ata1: PATA max UDMA/33 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0x10c0 irq 14

ata2: PATA max UDMA/33 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0x10c8 irq 15

pcnet32: pcnet32.c:v1.35 21.Apr.2008 tsbogend@alpha.franken.de

Fusion MPT base driver 3.04.19

Copyright (c) 1999-2008 LSI Corporation

Fusion MPT SPI Host driver 3.04.19

mptspi 0000:00:10.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

mptbase: ioc0: Initiating bringup

ioc0: LSI53C1030 B0: Capabilities={Initiator}

Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 2000.991 MHz.

Switching to clocksource tsc

scsi2 : ioc0: LSI53C1030 B0, FwRev=01032920h, Ports=1, MaxQ=128, IRQ=17

scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     VMware,  VMware Virtual S 1.0  PQ: 0 ANSI: 2

scsi target2:0:0: Beginning Domain Validation

scsi target2:0:0: Domain Validation skipping write tests

scsi target2:0:0: Ending Domain Validation

scsi target2:0:0: FAST-40 WIDE SCSI 80.0 MB/s ST (25 ns, offset 127)

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 41943040 512-byte logical blocks: (21.4 GB/20.0 GiB)

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Cache data unavailable

scsi 2:0:1:0: Direct-Access     VMware,  VMware Virtual S 1.0  PQ: 0 ANSI: 2

scsi target2:0:1: Beginning Domain Validation

scsi target2:0:1: Domain Validation skipping write tests

scsi target2:0:1: Ending Domain Validation

scsi target2:0:1: FAST-40 WIDE SCSI 80.0 MB/s ST (25 ns, offset 127)

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] 8388608 512-byte logical blocks: (4.29 GB/4.00 GiB)

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Cache data unavailable

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

ata2.00: ATAPI: VMware Virtual IDE CDROM Drive, 00000001, max UDMA/33

ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33

scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM            NECVMWar VMware IDE CDR10 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Cache data unavailable

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

 sdb: sdb1

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Cache data unavailable

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Cache data unavailable

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 1x/1x xa/form2 cdda tray

cdrom: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20

sd 2:0:1:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

 sda: sda1 sda2

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Cache data unavailable

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk

usbmon: debugfs is not available

ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver

ehci_hcd 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18

ehci_hcd 0000:02:00.0: EHCI Host Controller

ehci_hcd 0000:02:00.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

ehci_hcd 0000:02:00.0: irq 18, io mem 0xd8900000

ehci_hcd 0000:02:00.0: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00

usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002

usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1

usb usb1: Product: EHCI Host Controller

usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.0.0-gentoo ehci_hcd

usb usb1: SerialNumber: 0000:02:00.0

hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 1-0:1.0: 6 ports detected

ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver

uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver

uhci_hcd 0000:02:01.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19

uhci_hcd 0000:02:01.0: UHCI Host Controller

uhci_hcd 0000:02:01.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2

uhci_hcd 0000:02:01.0: irq 19, io base 0x00002040

usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001

usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1

usb usb2: Product: UHCI Host Controller

usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 3.0.0-gentoo uhci_hcd

usb usb2: SerialNumber: 0000:02:01.0

hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected

Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...

usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage

USB Mass Storage support registered.

usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual

i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:KBC,PNP0f13:MOUS] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12

serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1

serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12

mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice

input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input1

rtc_cmos 00:04: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0

rtc0: alarms up to one month, y3k, 114 bytes nvram

input: ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input2

device-mapper: ioctl: 4.20.0-ioctl (2011-02-02) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com

cpuidle: using governor ladder

cpuidle: using governor menu

EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17

usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid

usbhid: USB HID core driver

ENS1371 0000:02:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18

usb 2-2: new full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd

ALSA device list:

  #0: Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1371 at 0x2000, irq 18

Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.

nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (12056 buckets, 48224 max)

ctnetlink v0.93: registering with nfnetlink.

ip_set: protocol 6

ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team

TCP cubic registered

Initializing XFRM netlink socket

NET: Registered protocol family 10

ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team

IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver

NET: Registered protocol family 17

Registering the dns_resolver key type

Using IPI No-Shortcut mode

registered taskstats version 1

UDF-fs: No partition found (1)

List of all partitions:

0810         4194304 sdb  driver: sd

  0811         4193280 sdb1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sdb1

0800        20971520 sda  driver: sd

  0801          131072 sda1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda1

  0802        20839424 sda2 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda2

0b00         1048575 sr0  driver: sr

No filesystem could mount root, tried:  ext3 ext2 ext4 vfat iso9660 udf

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(1,0)

Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 3.0.0-gentoo #1

Call Trace:

 [<c14a96df>] ? panic+0x57/0x13a

 [<c1629bfe>] ? mount_block_root+0x230/0x23f

 [<c1002930>] ? xen_hvm_need_lapic+0x40/0x40

 [<c1629c53>] ? mount_root+0x46/0x5a

 [<c1629dad>] ? prepare_namespace+0x146/0x182

 [<c10ce52f>] ? sys_access+0x1f/0x30

 [<c1629302>] ? kernel_init+0x129/0x136

 [<c16291d9>] ? parse_early_options+0x23/0x23

 [<c14acc76>] ? kernel_thread_helper+0x6/0x10

```

Grub config

```

default 0

timeout 5

hiddenmenu

title Gentoo

root (hd0,0)

kernel /linux-3 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 dolvm real_root=/dev/SysVG/Root vga=791 console=ttyS1,115200 console=tty0

initrd /initramfs-genkernel-x86-3.0.0-gentoo

title Gentoo NoX

root (hd0,0)

kernel /linux-3 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 dolvm real_root=/dev/SysVG/Root vga=791 softlevel=nox console=ttyS1,115200 console=tty0

initrd /initramfs-genkernel-x86-3.0.0-gentoo

```

I also tried it without any root option at all, which naturally leads to the following:

```

VFS: Cannot open root device "(null)" or unknown-block(254,2)

Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:

0800        20971520 sda  driver: sd

  0801          131072 sda1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda1

  0802        20839424 sda2 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sda2

0810         4194304 sdb  driver: sd

  0811         4193280 sdb1 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000sdb1

0b00         1048575 sr0  driver: sr

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(254,2)

Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 3.0.0-gentoo #1

Call Trace:

 [<c14a96df>] ? panic+0x57/0x13a

 [<c1629b8a>] ? mount_block_root+0x1bc/0x23f

 [<c1629c53>] ? mount_root+0x46/0x5a

 [<c1629dad>] ? prepare_namespace+0x146/0x182

 [<c10ce52f>] ? sys_access+0x1f/0x30

 [<c1629302>] ? kernel_init+0x129/0x136

 [<c16291d9>] ? parse_early_options+0x23/0x23

 [<c14acc76>] ? kernel_thread_helper+0x6/0x10

```

Kernel .config: http://pastebin.com/W4zD414D

I won't give you any other files for now, because I don't think they are relevant. I just want to know how on earth an initramfs can just stop working.

----------

## frostschutz

I'm using Linux 3.0.1 (didn't want to switch yet but a nasty radeon/KMS kernel panic made me).

With Initramfs, no problems whatsoever.

You sure your grub entry is correct and you're passing the initramfs archive at all? The file exists and is intact? The initramfs is supplied to the kernel by grub, so no device will be used to load it, and you won't see any error message related to device names when the initramfs can not be processed for some reason.

Maybe the genkernel initramfs can't handle Linux 3? I'm using my own custom Initramfs

----------

## fuzzykiller

Yes, the grub entry is correct, the initramfs file is read and its size displayed. Whatever the case, it used to work like this. I also tried ungzipping the initramfs, which worked just fine. I didn't unpack the cpio archive though.

I guess I'll upgrade to 3.0.1 just to be sure, but not today.  :Very Happy: 

----------

## frostschutz

Just for testing purposes, you could create an initramfs like described here http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs

if you don't want to go deep into it make one with rescue_shell() only. If that doesn't work you have a problem with your kernel - if it does work, you have a problem with the genkernel initramfs

----------

## fuzzykiller

Tried it, with kernel 3.0.1, with and without custom initramfs - doesn't work.  :Sad: 

Exactly the same error.

----------

