# uvesafb kernel problem

## lbalan79

Hello,

I have followed the tutorial for installing uvesafb. However when I boot up the machine I get a very ugly crash with a line after trace: Kernel panic not syncing - attempted to kill init!

The grub boot line looks like this: 

kernel /kernel-2.6.25-gentoo-r4 /root=/dev/sda4 video=uvesafb:1280x1024-32,mtrr:3,ywrap CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

Of course if I put video=uvesafb:off it will boot.

Any advice?

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## lbalan79

Bump. 

Also deserves to be noted the system is an amd64 and the kernel is manually compiled. If someone wants to take a look through the kernel config file I will gladly post it.

Thank you

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## yabbadabbadont

Aren't you supposed to be using an initrd (initramfs) image when you use uvesafb?  I'm pretty sure that you have to.  In which case, your "root=" parameter is wrong and you are missing something like "real_root=".  Maybe you should check the guide again to see if you missed some steps.

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## ppurka

 *yabbadabbadont wrote:*   

> Aren't you supposed to be using an initrd (initramfs) image when you use uvesafb?  I'm pretty sure that you have to.  In which case, your "root=" parameter is wrong and you are missing something like "real_root=".  Maybe you should check the guide again to see if you missed some steps.

 You need an initramfs only if you want a splash screen at the very beginning of the boot sequence. Otherwise, you will have to wait for the kernel to load and a few seconds after that the splash screen starts up.

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## yabbadabbadont

 *Quote:*   

> kernel /kernel-2.6.25-gentoo-r4 /root=/dev/sda4 video=uvesafb:1280x1024-32,mtrr:3,ywrap CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

 

If "/root=" is not a typo on your part when you made your post, then that is most likely your problem.

Edit: Well, maybe not.  It wouldn't explain why it boots when you turn off uvesafb...

@ppurka: thanks for the information.

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## lbalan79

Yes. I have tried both with / and without in the grub starting line. My guess would be that the initramfs referenced in the kernel and generated by v86d emerge is not really compatible with 2.6.25 and amd64 platforms. Not sure though because I recompiled klibc, the kernel and reemerged v86d multiple times: same effect.

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## lbalan79

I have played with this problem a little more and still no breakthrough. 

So to offer more insight, I have tried both compiling v86d 0.1.5 which is amd64 masked and v86d 0.1.3-r1 which is marked as stable.

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