On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 16:38, Andrew Reid<rei...@bellatlantic.net> wrote: > On Tuesday 07 July 2009 15:26:54 Kelly Clowers wrote: > >> Is there a way to get a shell inside the initramfs, to >> look around? > > You can boot with "break=mount" as a kernel option, it > will drop you into a busybox shell just before mounting > the root directory. The initramfs environment doesn't > inherit environment variables from the boot scripts, but > you can browse the file system and run the scripts and > stuff.
Thanks, that might help. > I've run into similar problems when the initramfs > didn't include the right driver module for the disk drive -- > the result is that the BIOS can see the drive, and GRUB > can see it, but the kernel can't -- you get symptoms > similar to what you describe, and it's also consistent > with the LiveCD working, as it presumably has a full > kernel. > The solution in that case is to get the right module into > the initramfs, most simply by just listing it by name > in /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and rebuilding the > initramfs. > > I haven't mentioned it because it doesn't make sense > in your case -- you're restoring an RMA'd drive on > an old box, where presumably the motherboard SATA > device hasn't changed, so the initramfs you restored > from back-up should work, plus you said you rebuilt the > initramfs several times. Yeah, and anyway, it isn't like I am using rare drivers - it is an Intel MB, and I don't even have LVM or anything. Anyway, thanks for the advice, I will see what I can do with it. > The other way to investigate the initramfs, incidentally, > is to just unpack it somehwere -- it's a cpio archive, you > can google for instructions. Also good to know. Thanks, Kelly Clowers -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
