Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00

Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00

[Valerio Vanni]

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217083

I got this error after upgrading a Debian machine (x86-64) from Stretch 
to Buster. Upgrade is successful, but the next boot it crashes.

The machine is an Asus B360M-A with an Intel i7-8700 CPU and 16GB DDR4.
My kernel is 4.20.17 (from kernel.org, not a distribution kernel), but I 
tried with 4.19.273 and 5.10.169 with the same .config.

Re: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00

[Slade Watkins]

On Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 12:46 PM Valerio Vanni <valerio.vanni@inwind.it> wrote:
>
> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217083
>
> I got this error after upgrading a Debian machine (x86-64) from Stretch
> to Buster. Upgrade is successful, but the next boot it crashes.

Thanks for the details. What was the last known good kernel version
that did not exhibit this issue on your system? Bisecting against that
is your best bet to try and find where a change was introduced that
might be causing this issue to occur.

>
> The machine is an Asus B360M-A with an Intel i7-8700 CPU and 16GB DDR4.
> My kernel is 4.20.17 (from kernel.org, not a distribution kernel), but I
> tried with 4.19.273 and 5.10.169 with the same .config.

Also just a quick note, since I noticed you mention it here: 4.20.y is
not supported (see kernel.org for a list of supported releases).
4.19.y and 5.10.y, however, are.

-- Slade

Re: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00

[Valerio Vanni]

Il 24/02/2023 19:06, Slade Watkins ha scritto:

>> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217083
>>
>> I got this error after upgrading a Debian machine (x86-64) from Stretch
>> to Buster. Upgrade is successful, but the next boot it crashes.
> 
> Thanks for the details. What was the last known good kernel version
> that did not exhibit this issue on your system?

There isn't a last known good version. As I said, the issue appeared 
after an OS upgrade, not after a kernel one.
4.20.17 on Stretch was [1] working. After upgrade to Buster, kernel 
panic came out and I decided to try with other kernel versions.

>> The machine is an Asus B360M-A with an Intel i7-8700 CPU and 16GB DDR4.
>> My kernel is 4.20.17 (from kernel.org, not a distribution kernel), but I
>> tried with 4.19.273 and 5.10.169 with the same .config.
> 
> Also just a quick note, since I noticed you mention it here: 4.20.y is
> not supported (see kernel.org for a list of supported releases).
> 4.19.y and 5.10.y, however, are.

I know, it's the reason why I downloaded and tried 4.19.273 and 5.10.169 
before opening the bug report. I wanted to report on a supported version.
Yesterday I tried also 6.2, with the same result.

[1] And *is* working in the original place. I always test OS upgrades on 
a cloned drive. I can restore from image the screwed copy, retry upgrade 
etc. Also dangerous things.

Re: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00

[Valerio Vanni]

Il 25/02/2023 13:28, Valerio Vanni ha scritto:
> Il 24/02/2023 19:06, Slade Watkins ha scritto:
> 
>>> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217083
>>>
>>> I got this error after upgrading a Debian machine (x86-64) from Stretch
>>> to Buster. Upgrade is successful, but the next boot it crashes.
>>
>> Thanks for the details. What was the last known good kernel version
>> that did not exhibit this issue on your system?
> 
> There isn't a last known good version. As I said, the issue appeared 
> after an OS upgrade, not after a kernel one.
I updated bugzilla and I update also here.

I use serial console to collect diagnostic data, but now I've found that 
it misses lines.
In kernel boot line I put "console=ttyS0 console=tty0" so I get both 
local and serial console.

But the issue is: tty0 shows more messages. Is there a way to get 
everything also on ttyS0? It would be useful, since you cant' scroll 
tty0 after a kernel panic.

When kernel loads, tty0 scrolls very fast. I could see some more line 
but wasn't able to read them.
The only way I found was adding a (slow) speed to ttyS0, 
"console=ttyS0,1200" on kernel boot line.
This slowed down ttyS0, and tty0 was forced to go at the same pace.

So I could read a line (only on tty0), between "Run /sbin/init as init 
process" and start of kernel panic.
That line complained that it could not find something in /usr/lib/.... 
At that stage, /usr was not mounted yet.

Then I restored full disk image on the machine, an before upgrading from 
stretch to buster I merged / and /usr, so that /usr/lib/... was 
available from / mount.

After that, kernel panic did not show anymore.