[Gllug] Debugging kernel loading initrd

[John Edwards]

Hi

Is there anyway that I can get a kernel to print debugging messages
to the console on what it is doing, especially when loading an
initrd/initramfs?


Background to problem:

I have an old Pentium system where the initrd (gzip'ed cpio initramfs)
is not being run by the kernel. No error messages are being displayed
and the system stops booting but responds to the keyboard
Ctrl-Alt-Del. So the kernel has not crashed.

The same kernel and initrd can boot on Pentium II and above CPUs, but
fails on four different Pentium I machines. The kernel can boot other
initrds (eg Debian's), but other kernels can not boot that initrd. I
have tried booting Pentium machines from hard drive, CDROM and PXE,
with the same problem each time.

Looks like the problem is with the initrd, but I can not find a way to
get any useful information about what is causing this.


If anyone wants more details on this particular problem see:
    http://marc.info/?t=120871027200001&r=1&w=2


-- 
#---------------------------------------------------------#
|    John Edwards   Email: john at cornerstonelinux.co.uk    |
#---------------------------------------------------------#
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 196 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/gllug/attachments/20080426/09be6bd3/attachment.pgp>
-------------- next part --------------
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug