Comments on: Debian-based machines and the (initramfs) prompt http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/ Carpe Crap 'em Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:27:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: cabanur http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/comment-page-1/#comment-23326 cabanur Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:35:27 +0000 http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/#comment-23326 Hi! I had this same "initramfs" prompt, and for a while i have been trying to find the problem: i finally got it. My hard disk configuration: sda : 120 GB sda1: /boot sda2: / sda3: /home sda4: swap sdb: 2 TB sdc: 2 TB I installed mdadm to use sdb and sdc as RAID1. the problem was, it only added sdb to the array, so I had a single-device RAID1 configuration, and that was why i got this initramfs prompt. surprisingly, all I had to do to get back to normal boot was typing "exit" on the initramfs prompt. It would continue booting without any trouble at all. To solve the array problem, all I did is (while on kubuntu) "sudo mdadm --manage --add /dev/md0 /dev/sdc" Right now it's copying sdb to sdc (building the raid1 array), i think this will solve it all. By the way, while on initramfs, there's a lot of things I could do, mostly creating a random dir in /, lets say /blah, then mounting sda2 in /blah/, sda1 in /blah/boot, and sda3 in /blah/home. then i chroot'ed to /blah. Next, i executed /bin/bash, to get a normal prompt. From there, i could use most of my binaries, some things like shutdown didn't work, anyway. I used this to check /boot/grub/grub.cfg was OK, and /etc/fstab was also fine. I hope this helps anyone =) Hi!

I had this same “initramfs” prompt, and for a while i have been trying to find the problem: i finally got it.

My hard disk configuration:

sda : 120 GB
sda1: /boot
sda2: /
sda3: /home
sda4: swap

sdb: 2 TB
sdc: 2 TB

I installed mdadm to use sdb and sdc as RAID1. the problem was, it only added sdb to the array, so I had a single-device RAID1 configuration, and that was why i got this initramfs prompt.

surprisingly, all I had to do to get back to normal boot was typing “exit” on the initramfs prompt. It would continue booting without any trouble at all.

To solve the array problem, all I did is (while on kubuntu) “sudo mdadm –manage –add /dev/md0 /dev/sdc”

Right now it’s copying sdb to sdc (building the raid1 array), i think this will solve it all.

By the way, while on initramfs, there’s a lot of things I could do, mostly creating a random dir in /, lets say /blah, then mounting sda2 in /blah/, sda1 in /blah/boot, and sda3 in /blah/home. then i chroot’ed to /blah.

Next, i executed /bin/bash, to get a normal prompt. From there, i could use most of my binaries, some things like shutdown didn’t work, anyway. I used this to check /boot/grub/grub.cfg was OK, and /etc/fstab was also fine.

I hope this helps anyone =)

]]> By: tony http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/comment-page-1/#comment-9255 tony Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:53:41 +0000 http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/#comment-9255 Thanks admin for you urgent help. I will try that. Thanks admin for you urgent help. I will try that.

]]> By: admin http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/comment-page-1/#comment-9254 admin Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:21:54 +0000 http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/#comment-9254 Vi should be available if your Debian + Initramfs environment is new enough. If it isn't, you should be able to mount a disk and use a binary located there for editing. If all else fails, you can echo the line on to the menu.lst file, but be sure to use the double carrot >> and don't screw it up. It will be hard to get your changes back out. The current version of busybox should have at least these commands available: ash, awk, basename, blkid, cat, clear, cp, cttyhack, cut, depmod, echo, egrep, fgrep, grep, halt, init, insmod, ln, ls, lsmod, mdev, mkdir, mknod, modprobe, mount, mv, poweroff, reboot, rm, rmdir, rmmod, seq, sh, sleep, switch_root, touch, um Vi should be available if your Debian + Initramfs environment is new enough. If it isn’t, you should be able to mount a disk and use a binary located there for editing. If all else fails, you can echo the line on to the menu.lst file, but be sure to use the double carrot >> and don’t screw it up. It will be hard to get your changes back out. The current version of busybox should have at least these commands available:
ash, awk, basename, blkid, cat, clear, cp, cttyhack, cut, depmod, echo, egrep, fgrep, grep, halt, init, insmod, ln, ls, lsmod, mdev, mkdir, mknod, modprobe, mount, mv, poweroff, reboot, rm, rmdir, rmmod, seq, sh, sleep, switch_root, touch, um

]]> By: tony http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/comment-page-1/#comment-9253 tony Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:11:30 +0000 http://www.popmartian.com/tipsntricks/2007/08/09/debian-based-machines-and-the-initramfs-prompt/#comment-9253 I tried to edit my menu.lst file but tve vi editor is not available in the initramfs prompt. I tried to edit my menu.lst file but tve vi editor is not available in the initramfs prompt.

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