Netbook boot hangs after vmlinuz and initrd.gz

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asiwiec
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Joined: Thu 20 Sep 2012, 12:55

Netbook boot hangs after vmlinuz and initrd.gz

#1 Post by asiwiec »

My netbook boot hangs after vmlinuz and initrd.gz lines. It seems that it cannot load the kernel. I tried different distros and every time my netbooks stops just before kernel. It's live system and I've never had any problem with it. Anyone had the same experience?

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KentC
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#2 Post by KentC »

Yes, I've had a similar experience but with a custom cheap low end pc I put together with spare parts and 100 bucks.

In the end, I had to add more power to my machine to get the Linux OS's to load, but funny as this was, Windows would load fine on the less power for me on the custom machine.

That's all I can share as I had to put Ubuntu 12.04 TLS as the version, rest ran too slow, and I was able to get puppy linux 4.3.1 to finally boot as well.

It maybe something with hardware specifics, as I was using LIVE CD and couldn't get those to load, but again, Windows CD or USB would work.

Kent C.

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Flash
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Location: Arizona USA

#3 Post by Flash »

How much RAM are we talking about here? Too little RAM is the most common cause of such things. Generally speaking, 256 MB is about the minimum required for a trouble-free Puppy; 512 MB is even better.

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KentC
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#4 Post by KentC »

He's right about the following, I have an old desktop from the 80's I run on puppy linux 4.3.1 in emergencies, and it just blanks out after awhile on 128MB DIMM.










Kent C.

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mikeb
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#5 Post by mikeb »

Ok perhaps the question is what does it run?

When you say it cannot load the kernel it sounds like it is but failing to run the initrd stage which the kernel loads.

I think it may be more to do with the installation method...what have you used with regard to puppy testing

Any more system details would be helpful too

mike

ps kent you have a avatar schizophrenia...
but more curiously any idea about that big blank gap.

Finally what emergencies?

asiwiec
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Joined: Thu 20 Sep 2012, 12:55

boot procedure

#6 Post by asiwiec »

Thank you all for prompt answers. As an additional explanation I can say that I've been using live usb for the last few years and never had a problem like this one. Interestingly I have two identical acer aspire one netbooks, both with 1.5GB RAM and only one of them has a boot problem. I've tried different puppy varieties as well as some other linux distros like peppermint, ubuntu, porteus and it seems that boot stops just before loading kernel. The system recognizes usb drive, I can see the different loading options and the next screen is blank with the cursor blinking. Any idea what's wrong with the netbook?

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mikeb
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#7 Post by mikeb »

Ok in that case I go with the hardware problem theory...

Some ram instability as others are saying.

mike

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KentC
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#8 Post by KentC »

Like I said, when I had that issue, I had to definitely add more AC power, then magically everything started to load. I had this issue originally with this same machine, and I had to run memtest86+ to verify the RAM stick I had was jamming up the boot kernel [Windows 8].


So there are two scenarios and my fixes [same pc, yeah, it was cheap and that's the price you pay when quality isn't there]

Try this guide as it's designed for your h/w:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_Aspire_One

I would say, try to load Windows XP or 7 to see if your pc will load any type of OS to narrow it down.


Kent C.

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KentC
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#9 Post by KentC »

mikeb wrote: ps kent you have a avatar schizophrenia...
but more curiously any idea about that big blank gap.

Finally what emergencies?
I did, settled for the slick Puppy Linux Avatar.

Well, I can post the specs of this old school wonder, I mean it's still got ISA architecture, and basically running off just the CD.
.
The screen just blacks out if I leave it sit too long. This is before I figured out Puppy Linux 4.3.1 like I know it now.

The emergency I ran into which for me was ironic, work laptor ac adapter died, custom home pc IDE HDD died, and other box was a CentOS server.

So basically in this scramble, I had to pull out the old school desktop, and load Puppy Linux to get online for a short duration. For some reason, I felt that was fate that lead to that happening.

Wouldn't happen again but hey, that was the situation, and Puppy Linux saved me!


Kent C.

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mikeb
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#10 Post by mikeb »

Old faithful saved the day.

I recently passed on our original kayak... pentium 2 air cooled ..66mhz bus and started off with 64MB ram/4.3 scsi drive. But built like a brick outhouse and weighed it too.
Last thing i used it for was talking to smart batteries as a headless machine. Interestingly enough it ran well with XP though NT4 was the turbo choice...linux did not have a decent video driver for it (cirrus) or working sound though it was ok otherwise.
Not sure what the new owner will make of it..I think their definition of old computer would have been a pentium 4 storage heater.

mike

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