*******  How to fix your system when you've blow up your kernel *******

Since many of the documents, or files downloadable from my site may affect
your systems ability to boot, I figured i'd write up some notes for what
you'd likely have to do to get it bootable without having to re-install.

The first step is to actually figure out where your system is stopping.  You
can figure this out by booting into the "Configure (Expert)" mode
available in the lilo boot menu (hold down shift when the Xandros graphic is
displayed).

This should give you an indicator of whether it's the loading of a module
you've installed (possibly one of my backports, or a module you received from
somewhere else), or it's the actual kernel itself (did you just recompile?).

---------------------------

If it's just an unimportant module (like a new sound driver), the easiest
thing to do, is simply remove the problem module and reboot.

There will be error messages during bootup about not being able to load the
module, but you can fix that once you've got the system up.

You will need to know what partition you've installed the Xandros Root
directory onto.  Most often, it will be something like /dev/hda1 for a
takeover-disk, or /dev/hda5 if you did a windows partition resize.

The procedure to delete a simple module would go something like this
(this is untested, please let me know how well it works).

  1) Insert Xandros installation CD
  2) Hold down shift key when Xandros graphic is displayed
  3) Select "Rescue Console" from the menu provided.
  4) wait until you see the command prompt.
  5) Type:
  
       mount /dev/hda1 /mnt    (where hda1 is your root partition)

  6) cd /mnt/lib/modules/2.4.19-x1/kernel/drivers  (2.4.19-x1-smp for SMP
systems)

  7) Now delete the module you just installed.  As an example, i'll say I
just installed a new ac97_codec audio driver.  The command i'd use at this
point is:

       rm sound/ac97_codec.o
       
  because I know I put the module in the sound directory.
       
  8) Now unmount your hard disk and exit by typing:
  
     cd /
     umount /mnt
     exit
     
this should eject the CD, and allow you to boot your system.

You may need to perform this procedure multiple times if you installed many
different modules, and you are noticing them failing when you watch the
"Configure (Expert)" bootup text.

-------------------------

If you find you may need to completely re-install the xandros kernel, you'll
need to follow steps similar to this.  (Again, these are untested, please
let me know how well they work).

  1) Insert Xandros installation CD
  2) Hold down shift key when Xandros graphic is displayed
  3) Select "Rescue Console" from the menu provided.
  4) wait until you see the command prompt.
  5) Type:
  
       mount /dev/hda1 /instmnt            (where hda1 is your root partition)
       chroot /instmnt
       mount -t proc proc /proc
       mount -t devfs devfs /dev
       mount -a
       
       mount /dev/hdc  /mnt/cdrom0/        (where hdc is your cdrom)
       
       cd /mnt/cdrom0/dists/xandros1.0/main/binary-i386/base
       
       dpkg -i xandros-kernel-image-2.4.19-x1_1.0.8-1_i386.deb
                                     (replace with -smp package for SMP users)

       cd /
       rm /etc/lilo.conf
       detect probe                     (this should regenerate the lilo.conf)
       umount -a
       exit
       umount /instmnt
       exit
       
       
This should generate a new lilo.conf and build you a new valid boot loader
with the kernel you just re-installed.

Send me an email to jammysnet (at) hotmail.com if you have any questions.

Last Update: July 12th