[CentOS] Kernel Panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill Init!

Mon Aug 20 17:16:39 UTC 2012
Joseph Koenig <joe at creativeanvil.com>

>> Just installed CentOS 6.3 from a minimal install disc. All was well, so
>> I ran a yum update, as well as installed some additional packages
>> (mysql, httpd, libjpeg, libpng, and more that I don't remember off the
>> top of my head). Went to reboot the machine and now it won't book up. As
>> it starts to boot, says:
>>
>> Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
>> Pid: 1, comm: init Not tainted 2.6.32-279.5.1.el6.x86_64 #1
>> Call Trace:
>> [<ffffffff814fd24a>] ? panic+0xa0/0x168
> <snip>
> My first reaction is when the menu, or the "about to boot kernel..." line
> comes up, edit that, then add rdshell to the end of your kernel line, and
> let it boot. If it gets to the rdshell, you might check to see if there's
> an agreement between the root (hdx,x) line in grub.conf and what the
> system leads grub to think is the first h/d.
Thanks for the suggestion - just tried and doesn't get to rdshell. The 
panic happens within a few seconds (if not less) from when I edit the 
kernel line and hit enter to start booting.
> Also, here's what I'm assuming: a) the PERC controller is actually
> presenting the drives to the system, and b) that grub was in fact
> installed.
Yes, grub was installed, and it would seem PERC controller is presenting 
drives to the system - at least it was. Before I ran a yum update after 
installing the system, I could boot it and log in just fine.

Worth reinstalling from the minimal install disc again just to make sure 
that still works? Would that rule out something having gone awry with my 
RAID card or disk?
>
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