Kernel panic when booting in laptop from Ventoy usb stick

[libertas]

Hi,

I've read about FatDog and its features and would like to try it.
Copied the 901 iso hybrid ISO file to a Ventoy powered USB stick.
When booting, right after grub (I think) there's a brief screen with a line complayning about not enough memory.
Then, a kernel panic.

Code: Select all

Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel...
CPU: 7 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.1.46 #2
Hardware name: Dell Inc. Latitude 5420/... BIOS 1.33.0 11/10/2023

Then a call trace and 15 seconds of hard press on the power button to switch off the machine.

Any idea of what is wrong and if there's a way to solve this?
Thank you.

[jamesbond]

Welcome to Fatdog64.

1. What's your machine spec?
2. For use with Ventoy, you may want to reach out for @Clarity's help; he's the expert of Ventoy around here. We ourselves don't regularly use Ventoy so it's hard for us to comment about it.

[libertas]

Hi jamesbond,

Code: Select all

$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 11th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 01)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 01)
0000:00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation TigerLake-LP Dynamic Tuning Processor Participant (rev 01)
0000:00:07.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Thunderbolt 4 PCI Express Root Port #0 (rev 01)
0000:00:07.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Thunderbolt 4 PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev 01)
0000:00:0d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:0d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Thunderbolt 4 NHI #0 (rev 01)
0000:00:0e.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller
0000:00:12.0 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Integrated Sensor Hub (rev 20)
0000:00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 xHCI Host Controller (rev 20)
0000:00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Shared SRAM (rev 20)
0000:00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (rev 20)
0000:00:15.0 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 20)
0000:00:15.1 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 20)
0000:00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Management Engine Interface (rev 20)
0000:00:17.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation RST VMD Managed Controller
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device a0be (rev 20)
0000:00:1d.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation RST VMD Managed Controller
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP LPC Controller (rev 20)
0000:00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller (rev 20)
0000:00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP SMBus Controller (rev 20)
0000:00:1f.5 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP SPI Controller (rev 20)
0000:00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (13) I219-V (rev 20)
0000:71:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
10000:e0:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP SATA Controller (rev 20)
10000:e0:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Tiger Lake-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev 20)
10000:e1:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: KIOXIA Corporation NVMe SSD Controller BG4

I've dd'ed the ISO image to another USB stick and the 'out of memory' error is the same.

[Clarity]

Hello @libertas. You have a reasonably powerful platform, so I don't suspect a cause for concern of RAM.

Code: Select all

Hardware name: Dell Inc. Latitude 5420/... BIOS 1.33.0 11/10/2023

Did you modify the OOTB FD901 ISO file in any way before attempting to boot it from the Ventoy launch screen?

Funny, and other members of the @fatdog team should/may have tested as well to confirm. Ventoy is too easy to do with a USB as it requires little to no thought in use and is fast to test or use FATDOG locally or within a VM.

@libertas, my questions so that I can replicate your USB is to ask:

• Which version of Ventoy is your USB?

• Which features did you set it up with?

  • Secure boot, or GPT or ??? (there are 4 ways to set a USB for user use)?

• When you launch the FD901 ISO on the Ventoy selection screen, is the next screen the FD boot Menu or a screen asking which to launch it 'before' you get to the FD boot Menu selection screen?

• Is FD814 ISO file also on your Ventoy USB? Tested?

• Has your laptop's UEFI been changed from how it was shipped? In other words do you have to hotkey(F12) during POST to have it boot your Ventoy USB?

If response is today, I will replicate and report today. (I am off to my 1st grandson's graduation this weekend, starting tomorrow, and will be unavailable until I return.)

So far, of all the ISO file boots tested over the last few years, I haven't had issues with @fatdog distros. They booted via Ventoy USB and the Ventoy PXE service in every launch attempt. FD boots operate as if they are traditional frugals with desktop use and sessions are saved/managed as expected. In other words, my tests have been reasonably flawless over the years in FD behavior ... boots to shutdown. This was reported on this forum last year, here.

@fatdog team
Please, take a moment and create a Ventoy USB and add your FATDOG ISO files, when time permits.
It takes less that 2 minutes. The USB will boot in any VM or on bare-metal, of course. It takes 2 seconds to list ISO files it has and boots FD ISOs, of choice, immediately. And please dont look at this idea as a request for support of Ventoy, for it is not. Ventoy is merely a launcher of ISO files with no interference with the ISO files which boot when launched.. As such, requires NO FD support whatsoever. Thus, it is just a tool to launch your FD ISO files to desktop.

P.S. @fatdog
Is this a older kernel issue (as I glance over his last report)? Is there a 'test' FD ISO file available with a modern kernel than the one in v901, for testing?

[libertas]

Hi Clarity,

This is doesn't seem to be a Ventoy problem, because I dd'ed the FD901 ISO file to another USB stick and it doesn't boot, too.
Same issue.

I checked the md5sum of 901 and 814 and both are fine:

Code: Select all

$ md5sum Fatdog64-*.iso
216d4729e16d40e1c8f7e941ecc60889  Fatdog64-814.iso
6c53f424c5ab6d9916e61005bea1c052  Fatdog64-901.iso

The FD814 doesn't also boot from Ventoy.

I can't find a way to check the Ventoy version, but it's from November 2023.

The non-ventoy USB stick (FD901) appears like:

Code: Select all

# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 14.65 GiB, 15728640000 bytes, 30720000 sectors
Disk model: ProductCode     
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x27017210

Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *        0 1269759 1269760  620M  0 Empty
/dev/sda2         136   20615   20480   10M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

It's not using Secure Boot.
It's using EFI.

The boot process goes like:
- The rEFInd (that I set up) screen shows up, although I press F12 to be sure that I can select boot from the USB stick.
- In Ventoy, I choose the FD901 ISO. (Also tried the 814, as said above).
- Then, first option, boot in normal mode
- A fatdog screen shows up, I choose the default option, the image of the fat dog
- A very brief screen with a top blue line for rEFInd - Booting OS
Starting grub2.efi
- A screen with black background saying "Load grub.cfg from local disks"
Another option: Specify location of grub.cfg manually
- Can't identify this new screen, but from the above line should be grub2, has black background. Choose the default option: Start Fatdog64
Other options:
Fatdog64 with savefile in USB device
...
use larger font
...
Windows
Firmware configuration
Shutdown
Reboot
FatDog64 for slow BIOS and bootloaders
- Then the error:
Loading...
error: Out Of memory.
Booting ...
Press any key to continue...
- The kernel panic

Thank you for your interest.

[Clarity]

@libertas Thanks.
BTW: You will see the Ventoy version of your USB when it boots to the launch screen in the bottom right. For example:

Ventoy version.jpg (21.66 KiB) Viewed 3264 times

.

ALSO

• Yes, your reports indicate that this is NOT a Ventoy issue; nor related to Ventoy. This is a FD boot problem on your PC.

• From your last post, it appears that the large kernel FD901 does not have enough RAM to support booting.

  Code: Select all

  FatDog64 for slow BIOS and bootloaders
  - Then the error:
  Loading...
  error: Out Of memory.

• There is another method of booting FD901 where the 'boot-time RAM use' is different.

I've haven't used that booting method in years, so dont remember.

• The @fatdog people are aware of that method.

• Not sure if there's that ISO around.

• If it is around, merely drop it onto the USB and expect desktop

[Clarity]

@libertas @fatdog I wonder if there is a UEFI settings that affects what is available upon POST that restricts/controls RAM available for PC starts. Anyone know?

@libertas I only have desktops to tests which, in their current UEFI settings, do not have your problem. Is there a chance you might have a desktop to insert and boot your Ventoy USB? Just curious of results on your end.

[Clarity]

I am leaving now. Hope the FATDOG people will help.

[libertas]

Hi @Clarity,

Sorry, but I could not continue to answer.

The Ventoy version I use is 1.0.96.

The FD901 can boot from the Ventoy USB stick when run from a desktop computer.
So, it's really some mismatch between FD and this Dell laptop.

[smokey01]

How much memory does your laptop have? 4G or above should be fine.

[libertas]

Hi @smokey01 ,

Now, running from Devuan:

Code: Select all

$ free -mh
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15Gi       2.9Gi        11Gi       426Mi       1.5Gi        12Gi

[smokey01]

@libertas Somewhere on a vfat or fat32 partition you should have the following directory /EFI/boot/refind.conf

Make an entry like below in refind.conf.

menuentry "FD901 EFI" {
icon /EFI/boot/icons/os_fatdog.png
volume "PLAY"
loader /901/vmlinuz
initrd /901/initrd
options "savefile=direct:device:sda4:/901/fd64save.ext4"
}

On another partition create a directory called /901 and copy vmlinuz and initrd to it.

The icon, second line, points to the refind icons. Change this to suit.
The volume "PLAY" is the name of the drive Label which I call PLAY, change to suit but you must have a label name.
The loader and initrd lines should be as above.
You may need to change the options line to suit your drive. The one above is sda4 yours maybe something else.
If your PLAY partition is ext2,3 or 4 you can save to a directory EG: fd64save
If you are saving to a fat32/vfat you only get the option to save as a save file EG: fd64save.ext4

Hope this makes sense.

[jamesbond]

Ok, 16GB should be more than enough.
This is most likely a bootloader bug or incompatibilities.

[rcrsn51]

The most reliable way to boot Fatdog off USB continues to be ISObooter.

[libertas]

@libertas Somewhere on a vfat or fat32 partition you should have the following directory /EFI/boot/refind.conf

Make an entry like below in refind.conf.

menuentry "FD901 EFI" {
icon /EFI/boot/icons/os_fatdog.png
volume "PLAY"
loader /901/vmlinuz
initrd /901/initrd
options "savefile=direct:device:sda4:/9001/fd64save.ext4"
}

On another partition create a directory called /901 and copy vmlinuz and initrd to it.

Hi @smokey01 ,

I'm trying to install FatDog from one USB stick (Ventoy or a dedicated one) to another one where I'm going to work.
In which of them should I add that?
Ventoy has a rEFInd dir, but no refind.conf.
Can't find any refind.conf in the Ventoy vfat/efi partition.
The dedicated USB that has been dd'ed with the FD image has no refind.

[smokey01]

@libertas Somewhere on a vfat or fat32 partition you should have the following directory /EFI/boot/refind.conf

Make an entry like below in refind.conf.

menuentry "FD901 EFI" {
icon /EFI/boot/icons/os_fatdog.png
volume "PLAY"
loader /901/vmlinuz
initrd /901/initrd
options "savefile=direct:device:sda4:/9001/fd64save.ext4"
}

On another partition create a directory called /901 and copy vmlinuz and initrd to it.

Hi @smokey01 ,

I'm trying to install FatDog from one USB stick (Ventoy or a dedicated one) to another one where I'm going to work.
In which of them should I add that?
Ventoy has a rEFInd dir, but no refind.conf.
Can't find any refind.conf in the Ventoy vfat/efi partition.
The dedicated USB that has been dd'ed with the FD image has no refind.

I'm pretty sure the Fatdog64 image you dd'd uses grub2 to boot and not refind. I like to boot directly with refind and not use grub2 at all, not a fan.
Later today I will manually create a bootable USB for Fatdog using refind. If it works I will post the process here.

[smokey01]

@libertas As promised.

I started with a new USB Flash Drive. SanDisk Ultra 32GB.
It was already formatted to vfat/fat32.

You can delete the contents (SanDisk security stuff) off the new flash drive if you wish as you won't need them.

I assume you can mount the Fatdog64-901.iso by clicking on it so go ahead and do that. Now you should see 22 items, 4 folders and 18 files. Now click on the efiboot.img to mount it and you will see 4 items, three folders and one file.

Copy the EFI folder from the efiboot.img and all of it's contents to the new flash drive. A long side the EFI folder create a new folder called FD901. This is where you put the vmlinuz and initrd file.

Now click on efiboot.img to unmount it. Then click on the Fatdog64-901.iso to unmount it.

On the USB drive go back into the EFI folder, then boot folder and open refind.conf.

Go to line 581 and add a few blank lines. We are going to create a new menu entry for refind.
The first menu entry is designed to boot from a flash drive using grub2. We are going to bypass grub altogether and boot directly from refind, faster and prettier.

Copy and paste the following menu entry above the existing one.

--------------------- Cut ------------------------------

menuentry "Fatdog64 Linux 901" {
icon /EFI/boot/icons/os_fatdog.png
volume FATDOG_LIVE
loader /FD901/vmlinuz
initrd /FD901/initrd
options "savefile=direct:uuid:EDB9-E30E:FD901/fd64save.ext4 waitdev=5"
}

---------------------- Cut -----------------------------------

Notice the uuid:EDB9-E30E:FD901 on the options line above, your USB will have a different uuid.
To get the uuid of your flash drive, open a terminal and type blkid. Look for your USB drive and replace the code above with yours.

Output from blkid command.
/dev/sde1: LABEL_FATBOOT="FATDOG_LIVE" LABEL="FATDOG_LIVE" UUID="EDB9-E30E" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="cbb4e39e-01"

Save the refind.conf file.

Now we need to tell your EFI BIOS in your laptop this is a boot partition for EFI.

Unmount your flash drive.

I assume you have access to Gparted. Load Gparted and select your Flash Drive.
It should only have one line to select from. If not make sure you select the correct partition.
Now select the Partition option then "Label File System" and type FATDOG_LIVE, notice it's all capitals with an underscore. Then click OK.

Now click on Partition again and select Manage Flags. Put a tick on boot and esp. Then click close.

Now click on the green tick and the Apply button to save the changes.

Reboot your laptop and bring up your EFI BIOS and select the new flash drive.

It should boot Fatdog64-901, it did here.

Cheers

[libertas]

Hi @smokey01 ,

Thank you for your detailed help. I much appreciate it.
It would be nice that the text you've written could be part of Fatdog help or some FAQ.

The concept of Puppy/Fatdog is very nice, much work was and continue to be done by the developers, but it is so confusing to have a setup...
Information is scattered all over posts and it's not organized.

I'm still reading through your instructions and already hit a problem.
What is the recommended size of the EFI partition?
As per your instructions, EFI folder, vmlinuz and initrd should be able to fit there.
But the 'Fatdog help' says "3) If you flash drive was bigger than 256MB you can add another partition to use the remaining space for storage'.
256MB is not enough for EFI, vmlinuz and initrd, not even 512MB.

[jamesbond]

Thank you for your detailed help. I much appreciate it.
It would be nice that the text you've written could be part of Fatdog help or some FAQ.

It's already there: http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/fa ... rive2.html.
@smokey01's instructions are based on that one, modified so that you can use rEFInd directly instead of grub2.

The concept of Puppy/Fatdog is very nice, much work was and continue to be done by the developers, but it is so confusing to have a setup...
Information is scattered all over posts and it's not organized.

I can't say anything about Puppy, but with Fatdog, we try to gather these in the FAQ.

I'm still reading through your instructions and already hit a problem.
What is the recommended size of the EFI partition?

Short answer: read on below.
Long answer: it depends, but I won't delve into it - it's a distraction. We can continue on this once you've got the boot working.

As per your instructions, EFI folder, vmlinuz and initrd should be able to fit there.

Correct.

But the 'Fatdog help' says "3) If you flash drive was bigger than 256MB you can add another partition to use the remaining space for storage'.
256MB is not enough for EFI, vmlinuz and initrd, not even 512MB.

That particular FAQ entry was written at the time of Fatdog64-620, whose ISO size was ~224MB. Fatdog64 901 is now ~620MB. @smokey01 is correct, the size of the partition must at least fit all of these together, roughly, the size of the ISO (+ ome allowance).

But you may want to have some spare, because it is guaranteed that future Fatdog versions will be even bigger, so if you want to avoid re-partitioning in the future, you may want to allocate bigger size from day one.

----------

As an aside, did you try the ISOBooter method as recommended by @rcrsn51 (5 post above this one)? It's an excellent method to boot Fatdog64 (and many other Puppies too!); it can often help you if other methods doesn't seem to work.

[libertas]

Hi,

I was able to install FatDog in my desktop computer and to boot from this USB stick
A save directory was created and is being loaded.
The installed FatDog from the USB stick also boots from the Dell laptop where the problems booting the ISO file were insurmountable.

Regarding the ISOBooter, I tried it, but don't know if I did the correct procedure.
I think I used it from inside the deblive-multi-installer-5.
It has several tabs, Puppy, Grub2, ISO. I used this last one chossing Fatdog at the bottom.
Copied the generated text to grub.
When booting, there was the first boot screen, but not the second (isolinux) that allows one to choose to load or not the save file, etc.

I have other questions, but will open specific topics for them.
Thank you very much for your help.

[jamesbond]

No worries. To close the loose ends, were you finally able to boot Fatdog on that Dell laptop, using the refind method that @smokey01 suggested? If yes, it may be worthwhile for us to update the FAQ.

[smokey01]

Hi @smokey01 ,

What is the recommended size of the EFI partition?
As per your instructions, EFI folder, vmlinuz and initrd should be able to fit there.
But the 'Fatdog help' says "3) If you flash drive was bigger than 256MB you can add another partition to use the remaining space for storage'.
256MB is not enough for EFI, vmlinuz and initrd, not even 512MB.

Glad you got it working.

My example was to use a 32GB drive where the EFI folder and many other distributions could reside. I explained it this was for simplicity. A better method is to have two partitions. Partition 1 make it vfat. Place just the EFI folder here, make it bootable and esp.
Partition 2 the remainder of the drive, format to Ext2/3/4. This way you can save to a directory instead of just a save file. You can put many distributions here. You also need to give partition 2 a label name so it can be referenced from the refind.conf on partition 1.

[libertas]

No worries. To close the loose ends, were you finally able to boot Fatdog on that Dell laptop, using the refind method that @smokey01 suggested? If yes, it may be worthwhile for us to update the FAQ.

I could boot the installed FatDog, yes.