[Debian-olpc-devel] debxo-0.5 initramfs-tools upgrade makes initrd that won't boot

[James Cameron]

This problem has been seen before, but I just experienced it and enjoyed
exploring it, ...

Context: XO-1 with DebXO 0.5

Problem: system won't boot after a forced upgrade of the held package
initramfs-tools; the symptom is no LCD panel output after OpenFirmware
transfers control to the kernel.  A serial console shows: 


Begin: Mounting root file system ...
Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ... done.
Begin: Waiting for root file system ... 
Gave up waiting for root device.  Common problems:
 - Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
   - Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
   - Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
 - Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! mtd:root does not exist. Dropping to a shell!


Analysis: the upgrade from 0.92l.2 to 0.92o created a new /boot/initrd.img
which is missing the display frame buffer driver (lxfb.ko) and the NAND Flash
driver (cafe_nand.ko)

Workaround: boot from SD card, mount the boot partition on the NAND
flash (mount -t jffs2 mtd:boot /mnt/), restore the initrd image from the
backup file or copy it from the original image, or SD card if the same
kernel version was used.  Reboot.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/