Kernel Panics

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This article or section is out of date.
Reason: Last major update to this page was November 2009. (Discuss in Talk:Kerne
l Panics#)
This page describes how to repair a computer whose kernel panics at boot. This h
as to do with the very basic OS kernel and the first part of the boot routine. (
For issues regarding graphical interface problems or program freeze-ups, etc., s
ave yourself some wasted effort and time, and please look elsewhere.)
Contents
1
2
3
4
5

Definition
What to do
Troubleshooting
Option 1: Check bootloader configuration
Option 2: Reinstall kernel
5.1 Start from the installation CD
5.2 Mount your partitions
5.3 Gather your files for later troubleshooting
5.4 Chroot to your normal root
5.5 Roll back to previous kernel version
6 Reboot
Definition
A decent definition of Kernel Panic comes to us from Wikipedia, which states in
part; "A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting a
n internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover; the term is largely
specific to Unix and Unix-like systems. The equivalent in Microsoft Windows oper
ating systems is the Blue Screen of Death."
See also Wikipedia:Kernel panic.
What to do
Basically, the problem is that the operating system doesn't start correctly. Var
ious behavior may be expressed, such as that one may get the computer to freeze,
or the operating system may give an error message of some sort or one may not g
o to the place they were expecting (Command prompt, Desktop or whathaveyou). Thi
s will require some basic troubleshooting from the command line, if you can boot
to it, or from a boot disk if it will get you a command prompt or your favorite
interface.
Troubleshooting
To make troubleshooting easier, ensure that the kernel is not in quiet mode. Rem
ove 'quiet' from the kernel line in GRUB, if it is found there. Upon boot, check
the output immediately before the panic, and decide whether there is any useful
information. There are probably too many causes for a kernel panic to keep well
-documented in this wiki. Make sure that your system's configuration in /boot is
correct, and that none of the computer's hardware is faulty - it is good idea t
o run memtest from the Arch install/rescue CD or another utility (red entries ar
e bad). If you believe the configuration in /boot may be erroneous, try Option 1
to repair your bootloader setup. If you believe the kernel panic is the fault o
f the kernel itself, follow Option 2 in order to reinstall the existing version
or an earlier kernel.

Option 1: Check bootloader configuration

Another possibility is an error in the bootloader's configuration. For example,
repartitioning hard drives can change partitions' order. GRUB users may recall w
hether repartitioning has occurred recently and make sure the root and kernel li
nes match up with the new partitioning scheme. And examine the file for typos an
d extraneous characters. An extra space, or a character in the wrong place will
cause a kernel panic.
Option 2: Reinstall kernel
Reinstalling the kernel is probably the best bet when no other major system modi
fications have taken place recently.
Start from the installation CD
The first step is booting the installation CD. Once booted, you are presented wi
th an automatically logged-in virtual console as the root user.
Mount your partitions
When booted, you are in a minimal but functional live GNU/Linux environment with
some basic tools. Now, you have to mount your normal root disk (or partition) t
o /mnt.
# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt
If you are using legacy IDE drives, then use the command:
# mount /dev/hdXY /mnt
If you use a separate boot partition, do not forget to mount it with:
# mount /dev/sdXZ /mnt/boot
Gather your files for later troubleshooting
This is a good point to stop and gather your information onto another drive or p
artition so that it can be analyzed and/or emailed for outside viewing before th
e files change again. Simply create a separate directory on your main partition
or mount a USB drive to contain the files. Then you may copy any files you will
need to keep unchanged during the next boot with your new kernel.
Chroot to your normal root
Now, you will have to chroot to the partition mounted in /mnt. Newer kernels use
an initial ramdisk to set up the kernel environment: when you reinstall a kerne
l, that initial ramdisk will be regenerated with mkinitcpio. One of mkinitcpio's
features is that it does automatic detection to find out what kernel modules ar
e required for starting up your computer. For this autodetection to work, /dev,
/sys, and /proc need to mounted in your chroot; make sure to read Change root.
To chroot to your normal root mounted at /mnt, run this command:
# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
If you do not want to use the Bash shell, remove /bin/bash from the arch-chroot
command.
Note: You need the arch-install-scripts package in order to use arch-chroot.
Roll back to previous kernel version
If you keep your downloaded pacman packages, you now can easily roll back. If yo
u did not keep them, you have to find a way to get a previous kernel version on
your system now.

Let us suppose you kept the previous versions. We will now install the last work
ing one.
First, you need to get the kernel details:
# find /var/cache/pacman/pkg -name 'linux-3*'
Now, use the kernel details in the command below.
# pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/linux-3.xx-x.pkg.tar.xz
(Of course, make sure that you adapt this line to your own kernel version. You c
an find the ones you still have in your cache by examining the directory above.)
Reboot
Note: If you choose to do anything else before you reboot, remember that you are
still in the chroot environment and will likely have to exit and login again.
Now is the time to reboot and see if the system modifications have stopped the p
anic. If reverting to an older kernel works, do not forget to check the arch-new
spage to check what went wrong with the kernel build. If there is no mention of
the problem there, then go to the bug reporting area and search for it there. If
you still do not find it, open a new bug report and attach those files you save
d during the troubleshooting step above.