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I'm an Ubuntu user since Hardy Heron and even in other distros, I've never been through such thing. I can't install Ubuntu 10.10 on my notebook, because I simply can't even start the Live CD... I always get the following message:

Kernel panic - not syncing attempted to kill init!

See the complete message in this pic:

http://i.stack.imgur.com/uzTS2.jpg

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Alright, I managed it to work! Indeed it was a problem with my CDs. I bought a brand new one and burnt the iso at the slowest speed available. And it worked. The weird thing is that I even tried to upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10 but my system broke down. Anyway, thank you guys! – obehdi Oct 16 '10 at 15:24

6 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Maybe this is a bug as txwikinger wrote. But sometimes the CD was not burnt correctly or has some scratches on it. You should try burning Ubuntu to another CD and boot again.

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Isn't there a feature to test the CD, before burning a new one... at least that is how it used to be. – txwikinger Oct 14 '10 at 19:16
+1 a corrupt CD could very well explain the problem. – Nathan Osman Oct 14 '10 at 22:30
Tried three different CDs so far, and used md5sum in all of them. Nothing worked. – obehdi Oct 16 '10 at 15:04
up vote 0 down vote

Submit at bug with this information at launchpad

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up vote 0 down vote

Try installing with the Alternate CD, work in many cases when the LiveCD fails. http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/alternative-download#alternate

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Tried the alternate CD as you suggested. I could at least start the installation but it crashes while copying the files from the disc. – obehdi Oct 16 '10 at 15:07
Did you do a disk check of the media? – Mike Nov 22 '10 at 5:52
up vote 0 down vote

Kernel panics are either due to a problem with the live cd or hardware problems.

To check the cd, when you download the iso, check the md5sum (using md5sum ubuntu.iso and then comparing it to what it should be). When it is burnt, you can check the md5sum of the cd.

If these are both fine, then the cd is probably fine.

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I checked the md5sum and it was ok. – obehdi Oct 16 '10 at 15:06
up vote 0 down vote

It's going to be difficult to report a bug with good information if you can't even boot the CD! Here's some information on how you can maybe get better help.

According to the Kernel Team's FAQ you can try these debugging procedures to see if they can help you. If not the FAQ recommends:

The Kernel Team is primarily IRC based as we are located in disparate cities throughout the world. We typically hang out on the #ubuntu-kernel channel on FreeNode, please be patient if we seem to be quiet.

Please make sure to reference the picture you've taken as it will be handy.

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up vote 0 down vote

I would run "Check disc for defects" option at the boot stage of the CD. If there's some defect, then check the ISO file you downloaded against md5sum, try to burn it again, etc. For some useful info: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto If the CD is OK,... listen to the other friends' advices above.

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