1) Bootloader (uboot, redboot, adam2, grub, ...)
2) Linux kernel starts, tries to find the mtd partition called "rootfs", mounts it
3) Linux executes /etc/preinit
4) Preinit waits a few seconds for failsafe triggering
5) Preinit mounts or initializes the jffs2 overlay
6) Preinit loads kernel modules specified in /etc/modules.d/
7) Preinit executes hotplug2, a kernel uevent handler
8) Preinit hands control off to init to start the main boot
9) The init process executes all /etc/rc.d/ scripts to bring up services