diff --git a/fedac/native/initramfs/init b/fedac/native/initramfs/init
index 65ca260bb9..076acf14cd 100755
--- a/fedac/native/initramfs/init
+++ b/fedac/native/initramfs/init
@@ -133,9 +133,39 @@ echo "gpu:" >> $LOG
 ls -la /dev/dri/ >> $LOG 2>&1
 ls -la /dev/fb* >> $LOG 2>&1
 echo "block devs:" >> $LOG
-ls /dev/sd* /dev/nvme* >> $LOG 2>&1
-echo "=== DMESG ===" >> $LOG
-dmesg >> $LOG 2>&1
+ls /dev/sd* /dev/nvme* /dev/mmcblk* 2>/dev/null >> $LOG
+echo "net ifaces:" >> $LOG
+ls /sys/class/net/ 2>/dev/null >> $LOG
+echo "rfkill:" >> $LOG
+for rf in /sys/class/rfkill/rfkill*; do
+    [ -d "$rf" ] || continue
+    echo "  $(basename $rf): type=$(cat $rf/type 2>/dev/null) soft=$(cat $rf/soft 2>/dev/null) hard=$(cat $rf/hard 2>/dev/null)" >> $LOG
+done
+echo "sound cards:" >> $LOG
+cat /proc/asound/cards 2>/dev/null >> $LOG
+echo "pci devices (storage/audio/net):" >> $LOG
+if [ -d /sys/bus/pci/devices ]; then
+    for d in /sys/bus/pci/devices/*; do
+        [ -d "$d" ] || continue
+        class=$(cat $d/class 2>/dev/null)
+        # 0x0c* = serial bus (eMMC), 0x0104* = RAID, 0x0106* = SATA, 0x0108* = NVMe
+        # 0x0280* = network wireless, 0x0403* = audio
+        case "$class" in
+            0x010*|0x028*|0x040*|0x080501|0x0805*)
+                ven=$(cat $d/vendor 2>/dev/null)
+                dev=$(cat $d/device 2>/dev/null)
+                drv=$(basename $(readlink $d/driver 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null)
+                echo "  $(basename $d) class=$class ven=$ven dev=$dev drv=${drv:-NONE}" >> $LOG
+                ;;
+        esac
+    done
+fi
+echo "=== DMESG (kernel ring) ===" >> $LOG
+# Capture 2s of /dev/kmsg output (busybox dmesg applet may be absent)
+( cat /dev/kmsg >> $LOG 2>&1 ) &
+KMSG_PID=$!
+sleep 2
+kill $KMSG_PID 2>/dev/null
 echo "=== CPUINFO ===" >> $LOG
 head -30 /proc/cpuinfo >> $LOG 2>&1
 echo "=== CMDLINE ===" >> $LOG
@@ -193,9 +223,18 @@ while true; do
         sync
         echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/printk 2>/dev/null
         printf '\033[?25l\033[2J' > /dev/tty0 2>/dev/null
+        # Enable all sysrq if kernel supports it (belt-and-suspenders)
+        echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq 2>/dev/null
+        # Try every reboot path in order — different kernels accept different ones
         reboot -f 2>/dev/null
         echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger 2>/dev/null
-        sleep 30
+        # Last resort: direct reboot(2) syscall via busybox `reboot`
+        busybox reboot -f 2>/dev/null
+        halt -f 2>/dev/null
+        sleep 5
+        # If we're still here, kernel panic is preferable to a silent freeze
+        echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger 2>/dev/null
+        sleep 5
         break
     fi
 
diff --git a/fedac/native/kernel/config-minimal b/fedac/native/kernel/config-minimal
index e41949dee3..833ebf2672 100644
--- a/fedac/native/kernel/config-minimal
+++ b/fedac/native/kernel/config-minimal
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ CONFIG_HOTPLUG_CPU=y
 CONFIG_LEGACY_VSYSCALL_XONLY=y
 # CONFIG_LEGACY_VSYSCALL_NONE is not set
 CONFIG_CMDLINE_BOOL=y
-CONFIG_CMDLINE="console=tty0 quiet loglevel=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 init=/init mitigations=off snd_intel_dspcfg.dsp_driver=0 snd_hda_intel.power_save=0 nmi_watchdog=0 tsc=reliable no_timer_check acpi_backlight=native thinkpad_acpi.brightness_enable=1 i8042.reset i8042.nomux"
+CONFIG_CMDLINE="console=tty0 quiet loglevel=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 init=/init mitigations=off snd_hda_intel.power_save=0 nmi_watchdog=0 tsc=reliable no_timer_check acpi_backlight=native thinkpad_acpi.brightness_enable=1 i8042.reset i8042.nomux"
 # CONFIG_CMDLINE_OVERRIDE is not set
 CONFIG_MODIFY_LDT_SYSCALL=y
 # CONFIG_STRICT_SIGALTSTACK_SIZE is not set
@@ -3336,7 +3336,18 @@ CONFIG_TYPEC_UCSI=y
 CONFIG_UCSI_ACPI=y
 CONFIG_USB_ROLE_SWITCH=y
 CONFIG_USB_ROLES_INTEL_XHCI=y
-# CONFIG_MMC is not set
+CONFIG_MMC=y
+CONFIG_PWRSEQ_EMMC=y
+CONFIG_PWRSEQ_SIMPLE=y
+CONFIG_MMC_BLOCK=y
+CONFIG_MMC_BLOCK_MINORS=32
+CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI=y
+CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_IO_ACCESSORS=y
+CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_PCI=y
+CONFIG_MMC_RICOH_MMC=y
+CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_ACPI=y
+CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_PLTFM=y
+CONFIG_MMC_CQHCI=y
 # CONFIG_SCSI_UFSHCD is not set
 # CONFIG_MEMSTICK is not set
 CONFIG_NEW_LEDS=y
@@ -4355,7 +4366,10 @@ CONFIG_OBJTOOL=y
 #
 # Generic Kernel Debugging Instruments
 #
-# CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ is not set
+CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ=y
+CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ_DEFAULT_ENABLE=0x1ff
+CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ_SERIAL=y
+CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ_SERIAL_SEQUENCE=""
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_FS is not set
 CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_KGDB=y
 # CONFIG_KGDB is not set
diff --git a/fedac/native/src/ac-native.c b/fedac/native/src/ac-native.c
index f45cbf7ea4..4e5109594e 100644
--- a/fedac/native/src/ac-native.c
+++ b/fedac/native/src/ac-native.c
@@ -1176,8 +1176,14 @@ static int auto_install_to_hd(ACGraph *graph, ACFramebuffer *screen,
             if (rem == 1) continue; // removable = USB
         }
 
-        // Try partitions 1-8
-        for (int p = 1; p <= 8 && !installed; p++) {
+        // Two-pass partition scan. Pass 0: probe p1..p16 for an existing
+        // vfat partition (non-destructive) — finds the Chromebook ESP at
+        // p12 before we would otherwise reformat p1 (stateful/ext4) on
+        // Chromebooks and clobber user data. Pass 1: fall back to the
+        // p=1 rescue reformat for stock Linux layouts where no ESP exists.
+        for (int pass = 0; pass < 2 && !installed; pass++) {
+        int allow_rescue_mkfs = (pass == 1);
+        for (int p = 1; p <= 16 && !installed; p++) {
             char devpath[32];
             // NVMe + eMMC use "p<N>" suffix (name ends in a digit); SATA
             // just appends the number to the base name.
@@ -1197,7 +1203,9 @@ static int auto_install_to_hd(ACGraph *graph, ACFramebuffer *screen,
                 // sfdisk created it but mkfs never succeeded), try to format
                 // it now. Only attempt this on the first partition (which is
                 // the ESP slot) and only if the partition is large enough.
-                if (p == 1) {
+                // Gated to pass==1 so we never clobber Chromebook p1 STATE
+                // when an existing vfat ESP is available elsewhere (e.g. p12).
+                if (p == 1 && allow_rescue_mkfs) {
                     long long part_bytes = 0;
                     int pfd = open(devpath, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
                     if (pfd >= 0) {
@@ -1733,6 +1741,7 @@ static int auto_install_to_hd(ACGraph *graph, ACFramebuffer *screen,
 
             umount("/tmp/hd");
         }
+        }
     }
 
     if (installed && display) {