Kernel panic on hard drive - Help!

M

marthamydear

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Installed Linux Qiana on my old HP Compaq nc6220 some months ago. Little by little things started going wrong. First, I lost the USB ports. Then the laptop wouldn't boot up until I would hit CTRL-ALT-DEL or CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE during the BIOS bootup period. Folks on this forum said it was my motherboard.

Unfortunately I was unable to retrieve anything off my hard drive because my USB ports didn't work nor could I burn a CD.

When I try booting up with a Qiana LIVE CD I get the following:

Kernel panic- not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0X00000007

Beneath that line it says, BOOT:

It allows me to type something in but I have no idea what I am supposed to do at that point.

So I bought another HP Compaq nc6220. I thought I could put the old hard drive in it and it would be like everything was normal again.

I installed the old hard drive in the "new" nc6220 and I get the same response. The "new" computer came with a hard drive with Windows XP installed and it works fine. So my problem must be with the hard drive.

Is there a workaround to fix this "kernel" thing? I'm a novice to please be gentle with me on instructions.

Thanks to all for help.
 


I beleive the issue is related to Memory not the hard drive. Does your system have the default 512Mb ram or has it been upgraded to 1.5 Gb? Linux Mint requires > 1 Gb of ram to function properly.
 
Thanks for the suggestion Ryan...

My "new" old nc6220 has 2 GB of RAM. I am getting the kernel notice on both computers, the "old" nc6220 and the "new" nc6220 depending on which laptop I have installed the same hard drive. I have not installed Linux on the "new" nc6220's hard drive yet. It's got Windows XP and I'm more focused on trying to see if I can get this kernel problem resolved on the hard drive that's got all my data on it.
 
Success!
Thank you Arochester. I read through the link which suggested I create a live CD for LUBUNTU, which I did. I put it in an external DVD/CD drive with the "old" hard drive (from my "old computer") that I had installed in my same model "new"old computer. I was able to see and burn to a flash drive all the files I wanted except many of them created "errors" apparently due to my not having "access rights." Not sure how to gain "access rights" because LUBUNTU has no provision to opening anything as an administrator.

But I'm a lot further ahead now for sure. Thanks.
 
Can anyone help me with the "permissions" thing? While using LUBUNDU I can go into its FILE MANAGER and see my folders and files. However when I want to cut-andpaste them over into my flash drive I get an error message telling me "Access permission denied." I tried to open the folder in the terminal mode and typed "SU"---it prompted me for my password and I typed in the password for the "old" computer from which this hard drive came out of. But it denied it. Is there a workaround to strip away all the "permissions" so I can just cut-and-aste all the files and folders onto a flash drive?
 
I had a Kernel Panic once..... :) Don't cry over spilled Fish, ('Cuz Tux will eat them for you :)), and let me know how it going for you, ok.....? :) What atanere said SHOULD work..... :3 But if the HDD is ROACHED.... Then..... :(
 
As atanere hinted Lubuntu (and the other *buntus) use sudo and not su to gain rights.
 
marthamydear said:
Success!
Thank you Arochester. I read through the link which suggested I create a live CD for LUBUNTU, which I did. I put it in an external DVD/CD drive with the "old" hard drive (from my "old computer") that I had installed in my same model "new"old computer. I was able to see and burn to a flash drive all the files I wanted except many of them created "errors" apparently due to my not having "access rights." Not sure how to gain "access rights" because LUBUNTU has no provision to opening anything as an administrator.

But I'm a lot further ahead now for sure. Thanks.
Click to expand...

As a suggestion from previous experience dealing with this, get yourself an account with Google Drive, or Dropbox or Mega or anything like that which is free. This will save the headache of having to go through a recovery nightmare. Mega offers 50G for free.
 
Ubuntu-based Linux Mint (Qiana) allows the simple SU command. Lubuntu allows SUDO SU to become the root user. Of course it's better to just use SUDO in most cases anyway.

Cheers!
 
atanere said:
Ubuntu-based Linux Mint (Qiana) allows the simple SU command. Lubuntu allows SUDO SU to become the root user. Of course it's better to just use SUDO in most cases anyway.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
And sudo -s
 
Thanks to all...
I am definitely able to right-click the file folder in my "old" hard drive that I have installed in the laptop while running LUBUNTU from an external CD drive. If I then click either the file folder or file that I want to cut-and-paste onto a flash drive, it starts transferring it however then I get an ERROR message that says, PERMISSION ERROR - OPERATION NOT PERMITTED. One of the important files I want to tranfer is all my emails from Thunderbird which I used on the old computer. This is a single file that contains all my folders as well as the emails I have received. Perhaps it's not possible due to all the passwords used in my email accounts?
 
I hope you are not actually running Thunderbird as you try to do this. That is the only thing I can think of the might give you a permission error. I'm not sure you even need root priviledges to copy this, but I assume you are using sudo just in case. Your email passwords are not hindering this operation.

Typically Thunderbird is stored in a number of files and folders called your "profile." Your profile is in a hidden folder (.thunderbird) in your home folder. If you save this profile to your flash drive, then restore it later in a new computer, then Thunderbird will have ALL of your information, not just your email. Your email server settings, your passwords, all your email accounts... it will all be restored. You don't want Thunderbird running when you copy your profile folder, or when you restore it.

See Mozilla's instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb

Cheers!
 
marthamydear said:
Thanks to all...
I am definitely able to right-click the file folder in my "old" hard drive that I have installed in the laptop while running LUBUNTU from an external CD drive. If I then click either the file folder or file that I want to cut-and-paste onto a flash drive, it starts transferring it however then I get an ERROR message that says, PERMISSION ERROR - OPERATION NOT PERMITTED. One of the important files I want to tranfer is all my emails from Thunderbird which I used on the old computer. This is a single file that contains all my folders as well as the emails I have received. Perhaps it's not possible due to all the passwords used in my email accounts?
Click to expand...

Not sure about Thunderbird, but I think atanere knows more about that than I do..... :D Try to find out the name of the File Manager of the GNU/Linux Distro you're using (i.e., PCMan FM, Dolphin, Nautilus, etc., etc.)...... :) Then, type in sudo name-of-file-manager..... :D
 
No I am not trying to run Thunderbird while I copy the profile to the flash drive.
I'm either doing something wrong or I don't understand the procedure doe copying a folder or file to a flash drive while running LUBUNTU from an external drive.

Here's what I'm doing:

1. I boot up the "new" laptop from the LUBUNTU LIVE CD that's in the external drive. The hard drive that is in the new laptop is the OLD hard drive that has all the files (including the Thunderbird PROFILE file that to save onto the CORSAIR flash drive. I select the option of running LUBUNTU without installing onto the laptop.

2. Once LUBUNTU has loaded I then select its FILE MANAGER. The FILE MANAGER lists my old hard drive as "39 GB VOLUME."

3. I insert the CORSAIR flash drive into the USB port.

4. The FILE MANAGER recognizes the flash drive as "CORSAIR" (no quotes).

5. I left click the "39 GB VOLUME drive and it brings up all the file folders as "/media/lubuntu/f3709e3f-2559-4cfs-9607-d830ddc40fd9" (no quotes).

6. I double click the HOME file folder which then shows on the panel my name of the home folder which is "chevrolet" (no quotes).

7. I double click CHEVROLET and its contents of folders is displayed. My Thunderbird PROFILE folder uis in a folder called DOCUMENTS. I right click DOCUMENTS and then "OPEN FOLDER IN TERMINAL."

8. I then type sudo -s

9. It brings up in TERMINAL: "root@lubuntu:/media/lubuntu/f3709e3f-2559-4cfs-9607-d830ddc40fd9/home/chevrolet/documents#" (no quotes)

10 I then type "CP documents corsair" (no quotes). I've also tried CP documents /media/usb/corsair without any luck.

I'm doing something wrong.

Any suggestions would be soooo appreciated!
 
Your last post is a bit long and complicated for my poor brain to take in.

In the File Manager can you see the contents of your old Hard Drive?

In the File manager can you see the contents of your USB (albeit empty)?

Try HIGHLIGHTING everything that you want to save and COPY and PASTE from your Hard Drive to your USB.

Be aware that there are hidden files. Your File Manager should have the ability to "show hidden files". They are normally prefixed by ".".
 
I'm also confused, but lets try to work it out.

I think that "Cheverolet" is your user name. And your home folder is /home/chevrolet -- I hope that part is right.

Within your /home/chevrolet home folder is a Documents folder. That is common with all Linux distributions.

That is NOT where your Thunderbird profile is, unless you made changes when installing or configuring Thunderbird.

Your Thunderbird profile would be located in /home/chevrolet/.thunderbird -- note the "." in front of the folder name. The "dot" makes that folder hidden so you don't normally see it. When you have the file manager open, you can type CNTL-H (control key plus the H key) to show hidden files and folders. There is probably also an option in the View menu to "Show hidden files" that does the same thing.

If all you want is Thunderbird, you should be able to right-click on that .thunderbird folder, select copy, and then paste it into your Corsair drive. Once you store it on the flash drive, you might want to rename it and take the "dot" out of the filename, or you might forget that it is hidden there. It will still be hidden in any version of Linux that you use to open the Corsair. If you open it in Windows, it is not hidden.

If you want your entire home folder, you would start in /home and there you could see the cheverolet folder. Again, you should be able to right-click that folder, select copy, and then paste it into the flash drive (if it is big enough). You might want to check how much free space your flash drive has no matter which folder you try to copy.

If you do this from a command line, you need to start one level further up that where you indicated in your post above. That is, You can't be INSIDE the Documents folder, and then copy the Documents folder. Go up one level and try it. You may need to use a -r (recursive) switch if you have layers of sub-folders... ie, sudo copy -r documents corsair (or something like that).

But I don't think that is where your Thunderbird emails are stored. So you need to verify that if getting them is your primary objective.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm laughing at myself for suggesting the "copy" command. Yes, I'm old. Of course "cp" is the Linux command to copy files.

I loaded a Lubuntu live CD today to try to replicate your problem. I see how it fails with permission denied errors. I'll describe a step-by-step process to save your Thunderbird profile... assuming the profile is where it should be. If you have changed the profile location you will have to modify this procedure.

Load your live CD and plug in your flash drive. It will prompt you to open the flash drive with file manager, click OK and open it. Note the "location" that Lubuntu refers to the flash drive: /media/lubuntu/some-letters-numbers. Click the View menu, and select Show hidden (or use CNTL+H). Leave this window visible and running.

Open another instance of the file manager. Along the Places on the left, you need to click the one that is your old hard drive where Thunderbird is stored. This is the 39 GB Volume you found before. Double-click the home folder, then double-click the chevrolet folder. You should see all the hidden .folders now because you selected that setting above with the flash drive. So you should see a .thunderbird folder here now. You don't really need the whole folder, but it is easier to just get all of it. The actual profile is stored in a sub-folder with gibberish letters.default -- like xjnr8zvq.default. This is what you should really need, but also the profiles.ini that is in .thunderbird.

On your hard drive file manager, click the Tools menu and select Open Current Folder in Terminal. Type "sudo su" (without quotes) and hit enter. The end of the command prompt string will change from a $ to a # character. This confirms you have root access now. It's time to copy.

On your flash drive file manager, drag your mouse and highlight ALL of the location that it shows: /media/lubuntu/whatever --- right click on it and select copy. You'll use this in just a minute, if you have a wheel or middle-click button on your mouse.

cp -r .thunderbird (middle-click here now to paste the flash drive location)

So this should look something like:
cp -r .thunderbird /media/lubuntu/7ABF-48CF

Don't forget the dot (.) before thunderbird. Don't forget the space between thunderbird and /media/etc. Don't forget the -r switch so it gets sub-folders. If you don't have a middle-click (wheel) button you will have to manually type the flash drive location.

Hit enter. And be very patient.

There is no progress bar to tell you it is copying. You will quickly see a .thunderbird folder appear in the flash drive file manager, and if you have a LED on your flash drive it will be flickering as the data copies.

My profile folder is about 175 MB and it took probably a couple of minutes to transfer. Be patient, and watch your terminal window. When it is finished, your command prompt will come back. And the LED will stop flickering, if you have one. If your profile folder is large, this could take a long while.

When it's done you can right-click on the .thunderbird folder in the flash drive file manager, select Properties, and see the size and file count. You may want to rename the folder to remove the dot (.) so you will always see it when you view the contents of the flash drive... but it will have to be .thunderbird again when you restore it.

It should be much easier to restore the profile on your new hard drive. You shouldn't need to be root... just copy .thunderbird to your new home folder after you have installed Thunderbird (if it wasn't already installed).

Test and make sure its working before deleting your old hard drive. If you really stored your profile in Documents, then you'll have to adjust for that.

You can use this same procedure to save your /home/cheverolet/Documents if you want all of that. Or you can do the same thing to save your whole /home/cheverolet folder if your flash drive is big enough. But you have to be one-level up from the folder you want to copy when you execute the cp command.

I think the big hang-up with this is trying to do it from a live CD... I think it is trying to protect the hard drive. But root shall not be denied!

Cheers!
 
Thanks Atanere. I think I got it. I guess sometimes you just have to grind through these things. But I've got my files over on the flash drive and copied them back to my fresh HD which I ended up installing Lubuntu on instead of Linux Qiana. I really like Lubuntu so I decided to stick with it.

My laptop is running well now and I want to thank all the great folks who jumped in here to give me a hand!
 
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