Bus Error when trying to write file system

guruwannabe · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2012 Posts: 2

Hi, I am installing Gentoo to try and learn Linux but am stuck at Para 4 of the installation guide.

I am installing Gentoo in VirtualBox on an Ubuntu 11.04 host using an AMD64 ISO.

I have created my partitions and am now trying to allocate the file system to them but I keep getting a Bus Error:

livecd ~ # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
Bus Error

Does anyone know what this is and how to solve it?

Instructions for dummies are appreciated.

Thanks

DONAHUE · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject:

AMD64 ISO has fallen on hard times
use system rescue cd instead
_________________
Defund the FCC.

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

If you feel more comfy with ubuntu, just create partitions and filesystems with it.

guruwannabe · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2012 Posts: 2

After being made aware the problem was with reading information from the ISO CD, I created a new VM and mounted the ISO image in it so Gentoo could read from this instead of having to use the CD. It seems to have done the trick as I have now managed to successfully write the file system to the partitions and complete Chap 4.

Thanks for your help

jlpoole · Guru Joined: 01 Nov 2005 Posts: 481 Location: Salem, OR

I had the very same problem. My AMD had an old HP CD reader on it. So I tried the referenced RescueCD, but I couldn't even get the CD to read. So I swapped out CD readers on the machine and then used the Gentoo ISO and I was able to mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda1 and mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3. So let my posting demonstrate that the CD reader itself, may be the culprit.