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Braedon
n00b
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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 Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:45 am Post subject: Booting from a SATA HDD |
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I just put together a new AMD64 computer, and i am attempting to install Gentoo on it. As i am new to linux, choosing Gentoo probably wasn't the best idea, but it is suposed to be the best for 64bit, so i would like to persivere.
My problem is that when i try to boot it (i have installed gentoo, but never had a sucessfull boot), i gets to the GRUB bootloader, i select Gentoo, and it comes up with a whole lot of code, and then says:
| Code: | >> determining root device...
!! Block device /dev/sda4 is not a valid root device...
!! the root block device is unspecified or not detected.
please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for shell...
boot()::_ |
I have looked around the forums, but i can't find anyone else with the exact problem, or any solution for similar problems that work(i have tried many).
Here is my setup:
My computer (if this helps):
AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+ dual core processor
Seagate 250GB Barracuda 9.0 SATA2 Hard drive
Asus A8R-MVP mobo
Corsair(value select) Dual Chanel kit 2x 1GB PC3200 DDR memory
Powercolor ATI Radeon X1600XT 256MB PCI-E
Samsung TS-H552 Dual Layer DVD Writer
My partition system:
| Code: |
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5 40131 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 6 68 506047+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda3 69 1285 9775552+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 1286 30401 233874270+ 83 Linux
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sda1 is my boot drive(obviously), ext2
sda2 is my swap(obviously)
sda3 is (when i get around to it) going to be a FAT32 with windows on it, currently blank ext3
sda4 is my root drive, with Gentoo on it, ext3
My Grub.conf
| Code: |
Default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.16
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.16-gentoo-r7 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap udev
initrd (hd0,0)/initramfs-genkernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.12-gentoo-r7
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note: this is only one of the many Grub.conf's i have tried. I have also tried compiling a kernel myself, but with similar results, and am currently back to the genkernel one as i am not sure if i did my own one correctly.
If anyone can help with this it would be much apreciated.
thanks, Braedon
Last edited by Braedon on Wed May 24, 2006 10:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ast0r
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Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 404
Location: Dallas, Tx - USA
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:50 am Post subject: |
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Please search the forums next time, as there are MANY threads detailing how to fix this issue.
The most likely cause is that your SATA driver is not compiled into the kernel.
The best way to fix it is to boot your LiveCD and try and recompile the kernel with the correct SATA support. If you don't already know which SATA controller you have, you can determine what it is by using
If you are unable to determine it from the output of lspci you can post it here and I'm sure someone can figure out which controller you have. Then you need to compile the driver for the SATA controller into the kernel statically because it needs to load the driver to read your SATA drive before it mounts the root filesystem is. If the driver is compiled as a module, then it won't be able to mount the root filesystem because the driver that it needs is sitting on the root filesystem, which it can't mount ...
Once your have finished recompiling the kernel, install it and reboot. |
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Braedon
n00b
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:12 am Post subject: Where is the controler? |
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Thanks for the reply
lscpi shows that i am using
ALi Corporation ULi M5288 SATA (rev 10)
(if i've read it correctly), but i can't rind it in the kernel config. Any idea where it should be?
Thanks
Braedon |
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mdeininger
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Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 1740
Location: Emerald Isles, observing Dublin's docklands
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 11:33 am Post subject: |
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I think I have this controller in an addon-board on my router. Try compiling this in:
| Code: |
Device Drivers --->
SCSI Device Support --->
<*> SCSI device support
<*> SCSI disk support
SCSI low-level drivers --->
<*> Serial ATA (SATA) support
<*> ULi Electronics SATA support
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also make sure that the support for SATA in the ATA/ATAPI section is *disabled*.
_________________
"Confident, lazy, cocky, dead." -- Felix Jongleur, Otherland
( Twitter | Blog | GitHub ) |
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Braedon
n00b
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:02 am Post subject: |
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Well, i tried that, and it no longer comes up with that error, now it shows:
| Code: | VFS: Cannot open root device "sda4" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS:unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) |
And yes Ast0r, i have searched the forums, as i did the first time, but as of yet i can't find any solution that works.
If anyone has any ideas, it would be much apreciated
Braedon |
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ashes
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Joined: 25 May 2006
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:01 am Post subject: |
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I'm a newb myself so my advice may not be very helpful. I basically had the same problem and I found that
$cat /etc/fstab
revealed that my devices werent actually setup, apparently you need to edit fstab on your own.
If gentoo gets to loading then i suppose you've realized the descrepency in naming conventions....
I'm now stuck at the ever descriptive grub error 15. If i have to boot that livecd one more time i'm going to murder someone. |
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Braedon
n00b
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:44 am Post subject: |
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I also had the grub error 15 at one point, and if i remember correctly, it was because i had a error in my grub.conf. It was a 0 instead of a ) or something. Anywya, i fixed that, and ended up with another error.
I also am getting very sick of booting from the live cd. I've done it so many times i can almost type all the comands without looking, mount /dev/sda4......
What do you mean by naming descrepency ashes, in case i havn't found it?
Thanks,
Braedon |
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jmbsvicetto
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 4734
Location: Angra do Heroísmo (PT)
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:52 am Post subject: |
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Hi Braedon.
The error message
| Code: | | VFS: Cannot open root device "sda4" or unknown-block(0,0) |
means that the kernel doesn't know how to deal with your storage controller and is thus unable to create a node for it.
Have you compiled in the kernel <*> and not as a module <M> the driver mdeininger told you to use? Are you sure that have a single SATA controller? Most boards these days have two. Check again with lspci. If you have more than one, find out to which your disks are connected. Then compile the support for the proper driver into the kernel.
Don't forget to recompile your kernel, mount /boot, copy the kernel to /boot and update your bootloader.
_________________
Jorge.
Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh
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Ast0r
Guru
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 404
Location: Dallas, Tx - USA
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Also, don't forget that if you compile your own kernel, Grub uses a different format than it does for genkernel. |
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Braedon
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Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Well, thanks for all you help everyone, but i'm giving up for now. I'm installing windows 2000[cringe], as i just want to be able to use my uber new computer. I'l have another go at linux and gentoo later, i've left the other partitions intact.
Thanks,
Braedon |
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nicta2
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Joined: 08 Oct 2002
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 11:11 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Well, thanks for all you help everyone, but i'm giving up for now. I'm installing windows 2000[cringe], as i just want to be able to use my uber new computer. I'l have another go at linux and gentoo later, i've left the other partitions intact. |
Just pop in an Ubuntu or Knoppix CD. Gentoo is definitely not for you; no disrespect intended. |
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mdeininger
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Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 1740
Location: Emerald Isles, observing Dublin's docklands
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| Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 11:24 am Post subject: |
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| nicta2 wrote: | | Quote: | | Well, thanks for all you help everyone, but i'm giving up for now. I'm installing windows 2000[cringe], as i just want to be able to use my uber new computer. I'l have another go at linux and gentoo later, i've left the other partitions intact. |
Just pop in an Ubuntu or Knoppix CD. Gentoo is definitely not for you; no disrespect intended. |
i'm inclined to agree...
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"Confident, lazy, cocky, dead." -- Felix Jongleur, Otherland
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Braedon
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Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:58 am Post subject: |
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If anyone is still watching this thread, i tryed the latest ubuntu 64 version, it doesn't even boot from the cd properly to install, it gets to a point and hangs indefinatly, so htere is something wrong here...
---Braedon |
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mdeininger
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Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 1740
Location: Emerald Isles, observing Dublin's docklands
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| Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| Braedon wrote: | If anyone is still watching this thread, i tryed the latest ubuntu 64 version, it doesn't even boot from the cd properly to install, it gets to a point and hangs indefinatly, so htere is something wrong here...
---Braedon |
well, you could always just try the regular x86/i386 version...
_________________
"Confident, lazy, cocky, dead." -- Felix Jongleur, Otherland
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Braedon
n00b
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:33 am Post subject: |
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I have, i tried that first, cos i had a cd for it, but it did the same thing, so i downloaded the 64bit bersion, to see if that was the problem. I've had one thought since i last tried any of this stuff, my SATA hdd is listed in my bios as ide device 3, which is lower than than my cd drice, which is ide 1, as it is a ide drive. could this be causing the problem with the bootloader? Anyway, i'l try again from scratch some time.
---Braedon |
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luqas
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Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 588
Location: /US/Texas/Beaumont
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| Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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Next time you try it type the following commands once the cd boots and paste their output here - lspci and lsmod. This will list us your hardware and what modules loaded. Then maybe we can point you towards the right driver for your kernel.
Good Luck! |
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Rustylinux
Apprentice
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 154
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| Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:55 am Post subject: |
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| Braedon wrote: | Well, i tried that, and it no longer comes up with that error, now it shows:
| Code: | VFS: Cannot open root device "sda4" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS:unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) |
And yes Ast0r, i have searched the forums, as i did the first time, but as of yet i can't find any solution that works.
If anyone has any ideas, it would be much apreciated
Braedon |
I had the same problem but then by mistake i put the wrong bootloader info into my grub.conf. You have to know weather you used genkernel or not. If you did you would know becuase you have to execute it, if you just did a /usr/linux/menuconfig then you didn't use genkernel and compiled your kernel manually in which case i will post both grub.conf configurations for you.
This is the setup for x86:
Code Listing 3: grub.conf for non-genkernel users
# Which listing to boot as default. 0 is the first, 1 the second etc.
default 0
# How many seconds to wait before the default listing is booted.
timeout 30
# Nice, fat splash-image to spice things up 
# Comment out if you don't have a graphics card installed
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.12-r10
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 root=/dev/hda3
# The next four lines are only if you dualboot with a Windows system.
# In this case, Windows is hosted on /dev/hda6.
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,5)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Code Listing 4: grub.conf for genkernel users
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.12-r10
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/hda3 udev
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r10
# Only in case you want to dual-boot
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,5)
makeactive
chainloader +1
this is for amd64:
Code Listing 3: grub.conf for non-genkernel users
# Which listing to boot as default. 0 is the first, 1 the second etc.
default 0
# How many seconds to wait before the default listing is booted.
timeout 30
# Nice, fat splash-image to spice things up
# Comment out if you don't have a graphics card installed
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.12
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 root=/dev/hda3
# The next four lines are only if you dualboot with a Windows system.
# In this case, Windows is hosted on /dev/hda6.
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,5)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Code Listing 4: grub.conf for genkernel users
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.12
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/hda3 udev
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-amd64-2.6.12-gentoo-r10
# Only in case you want to dual-boot
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,5)
makeactive
chainloader +1 |
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Installing Gentoo
