kernel panic after restoring grub (dual-boot)

Hi! I’m a newly resgistered member. :slight_smile:
I’m already a little familiar with GNU/Linux (I began with Mandriva Spring 2007 ;)), but I need your help since I cannot boot OpenSuse. :\

I installed it about a week ago and it worked alright. But I couldn’t link the Ubuntu grub since OpenSuse cannot support the ext4 file system. So I decided to restore the Ubuntu grub on the MBR, and I linked the grub menu from the OpenSuse partition to it with the help of those lines:

title OpenSuse 11.1
root (hd0,6)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

I then got an error 15, so I had to change the number in (hdx,y) from 7 to 6:

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.29-0.1
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.29-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part8 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.29-0.1-default

Then when I saw the OpenSuse splashcreen I thought the troubles were over. But I got this message :

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2771/kernelpanic.th.jpg](http://img40.imageshack.us/i/kernelpanic.jpg/)

I suspect I should change these lines :

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.29-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part8 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.29-0.1-default

But I do not know how I should precisely write it. Could you help me please?

Here are my grub menus :

from Ubuntu:

##      indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
uuid		3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic
uuid		3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=UUID=3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=UUID=3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid		3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

title		OpenSuse 11.1
root		(hd0,6)
configfile	/boot/grub/menu.lst

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.

from OpenSuse:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Sep  3 16:42:50 CEST 2009
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,7)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.29-0.1
    root (hd0,6)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.29-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part8 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31a
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.29-0.1-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.29-0.1
    root (hd0,6)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.29-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6E030L0_E12FB8YE-part8 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x31a
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.29-0.1-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: Linux other 1 (/dev/sda7)###
title Linux other 1 (/dev/sda7)
    rootnoverify (hd0,6)
    chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: Ubuntu 9.04 (/dev/sda5)###
title Linux other 1 (/dev/sda5)
    rootnoverify (hd0,5)
    chainloader +1

Oh! I’d like to add that I’m French, so that would account for any mistakes I did.
See u

Edit: I’ve forgotten to tell I did one additionnal change in the grub menu made by OpenSuse:
Some lines were added for NTFS partitions (used only for datas on a second disk), and I deemed them to be completely useless since they offered to boot Windows (and it is not installed).

Can you post a ‘fdisk -l’ from Ubuntu and tell us on which partition the openSUSE ‘/’ is located. AFAICS it’s trying to boot from /dev/sda8 and does not find an ‘init’. This means either initrd is corrupt or it’s not there. Since it’s /dev/sda8 it should say (hd0,7).

Of course!
Thanks a lot for this quick answer, it’s very kind. :slight_smile:

fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 30.7 GB, 30750031872 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3738 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7e1de9f2

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda2   *           1        3738    30025453+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5               1          69      554179+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6              70        1539    11807743+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7            1566        2434     6980211   83  Linux
/dev/sda8            2435        3738    10474348+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x611a82ff

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        3802    30539533+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2            3803       10604    54637065    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3           10605       14045    27639832+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb4           14046       19929    47263230    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5b6ac646

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1       19457   156288321    7  HPFS/NTFS

blkid:

/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" UUID="26614fd4-0efa-4dae-9776-3c7776df8978" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="3d98fb12-e6c5-455d-855c-499b304909dc" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sdb1: UUID="7604C9AC04C96FA3" LABEL="University" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb2: UUID="5E30E7BF30E79C71" LABEL="Audio" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb3: UUID="BCCCE219CCE1CE28" LABEL="Images" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb4: UUID="A29C04F99C04CA2D" LABEL="Vids" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="1b66f4bb-d975-4f6f-b05f-426668a236f0" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda8: UUID="d71e984c-ca8a-469e-a28d-d5acc52fc758" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sdc1: UUID="2B169E1F562060F1" TYPE="ntfs" 

OpenSuse is installed on /dev/sda7/ and the home is on /dev/sda8/ (according to partition editor).

With root (hd0,7), OpenSuse would not load, so I changed it to (hd0,6), this is probably due to the fact that I erased a remaining partition from Fedora after the install of OpenSuse (sorry). So what should I do?

In Ubuntu, change this entry:

title		OpenSuse 11.1
root		(hd0,6)
configfile	/boot/grub/menu.lst

to this

# To boot the openSUSE installation on /dev/sda7 by symlinks
title openSUSE 11.1 (on /dev/sda7) by symlinks
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7
initrd /boot/initrd
savedefault
boot

FFI see this tutorial: HowTo Multiboot openSUSE from Ubuntu using the GRUB bootloader

Thank you swerdna!
It worked a little bit better. The boot sequence started this time, but it failed and ended with a prompt and the message to run fsck (something is apparently wrong with the filesystem). I tried to edit the log of the last boot in /var/log, but I did not find it, so I cannot tell you much.
Any ideas please?
Or maybe I would lose less time (and yours) by erasing everything and starting all over again?
Thank you guys!

Before erasing try running fsck. I’m assuming it’s suggesting running it on sda7 (adjust appropriately):

fsck.ext3 -f -p /dev/sda7

and tell us what it says/what happens