EC2 Kernel Panic / Fatal Diagnostic Troubleshooter (Part 1)
Use the interactive troubleshooter below to identify your EC2 kernel panic or fatal error symptom, review the raw evidence, understand the root cause, and apply the recommended fix.
🚨 Step 1: What specific error symptom are you experiencing?
Please click the most accurate description:
Quick Reference Table
| # | Scenario | Key Error Signal | Root Cause | The Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fatal / panic | FATAL: kernel too old / Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! | The crash is caused by an incompatible kernel and userland. | N/A |
| 2 | fatal | FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.34-4-virtual/modules.dep: No such file or directory | This is caused by a missing ramdisk, missing correct modules from the ramdisk, or the Amazon EBS root volume is not correctly attached as /dev/sda1. | N/A |
| 3 | panic | Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,1) | This is triggered by a root filesystem mismatch or a hardware device failure on an instance store-backed instance. | Terminate the instance and launch a new instance using a modern kernel. |