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Fantastico
n00b
Joined: 26 Jun 2005
Posts: 48
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 Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:44 pm Post subject: Grub: Please append correct "root=" boot option |
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I'm at the restart phase of the 2006 handbook on an x86 Dell system and I'm getting this error when trying to boot to it for the first time:
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VFS cannot open root device "hda4" 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)
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Here are some notes:
- I have had this working fine under Lilo (Ext2) before, but I decided to erase everything (including gentoo) and start over with Grub and Ext3.
- I ran the Ext3 file system creation utility on my boot and root partition which appeared to erase them (I did not fdisk this time as I already had partitions). I believe the Ext3 utility is sufficient to erase the partitions.
- The kernel appears to be working, I see the drivers for my sound/video/etc loading just fine. It is when it tries to mount the root partition that there seems to be a problem.
- I've had no indications of disk problems, have manually mounted drives and installed files to them just fine while doing the install cd. I can boot off of the install cd and manually mount any of my partitions.
- Grub starts normally and lets me choose between windows XP and Gentoo, Windows XP boots normally when chosen.
- This is not a genkernel setup.
hda1 is my boot
hda2 is my NTFS XP partition
hda3 is my swap
hda4 is my root drive for gentoo.
Here is what my grub.conf looks like (it's mostly straight out of the handbook, I only modified the hda numbers for my setup).
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# 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 15
# 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
# Windows
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# Gentoo
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.17-r4
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.17-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/hda4
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wah
Guru
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Posts: 453
Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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Hi - two things I can think of off hand:
1. What is your IDE/SATA controller and are you sure you compiled the driver INTO the kernel?
2. Are you sure you compiled ext3 support into the kernel?
Cheers,
W.
_________________
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i92guboj
Bodhisattva
Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 10315
Location: Córdoba (Spain)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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That seems ok in a fast view.
Did you include the ext3 support INTO the kernel (not as a module)? |
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dkostic
Apprentice
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 220
Location: Madison, NJ
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| Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:06 pm Post subject: Re: Grub: Please append correct "root=" boot opti |
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| Code: |
# 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 15
# 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
# Windows
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# Gentoo
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.17-r4
# Partition where the kernel image (or operating system) is located
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.17-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/hda4
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I *might* be about to say something really, really dumb but if your Gentoo root partition is /dev/hda4, shouldn't your grub.conf read "root (hd0,3)" instead of "root (hd0,0)"? (And if I'm right, you probably should make the same change in the splash.xpm.gz line so you can see the background image  .)
_________________
Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop, 1.7 mHz Celeron M, 100 Gb hard disk, 512 Mb RAM, 2006.0, 2.6.16-r7 kernel
Homemade desktop, 3.2+ mHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, 120 Gb hard disk, 1 Gb RAM, 2005.0, 2.6.14-r2 kernel |
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i92guboj
Bodhisattva
Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 10315
Location: Córdoba (Spain)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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It is not dumb, it is a common confussion that I also suffered years ago when started using grub.
In grub, when you say root(hd0,0) you are referring to the root that grub will use to boot. Grub does not care at all about the root partition, in fact, even the kernel does not cara at all about it until the latest stage of the boot proccess. For grub, the only important partition is /boot, and that is the grub's root partition. Our real root (/) partition, is only a competence for the kernel, and that is fine here (root=/dev/hda4).
Related to this, why, if we are referring to our usual /boot as root in grub.conf, we need to put this line like
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kernel /boot/whateverkernel...
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EDIT
To clear things up, just a simple
| Code: |
kernel whateverkernel...
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Should be enough, since we are already at /boot, even more, to include /boot in the path is just an error, and it works just cause the recursive link is there.
/EDIT
Well, we really dont need, it is a common mistake, and that is why most distros, gentoo as well, includes a link into /boot, that points to itself, that way, if someone makes the above mistake, the kernel will still be found.
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$ ls -l /boot
total 4,0K
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 ago 3 22:04 boot -> .
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4,0K jul 29 14:28 grub
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So, the root for boot is ok, as long as hd0,0 (hda1) is really your boot partition. Anyway, as seen in the first post
| Code: |
VFS cannot open root device "hda4" 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)
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It is a kernel panic, and not a grub issue, so, grub issues are automatically discarded, the only relevan line of grub.conf once the kernel manages to start the boot, is the kernel line, in this case:
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kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.17-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/hda4
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If the root partition /dev/hda4 is fine, the most probable cause of this error is that the ext3 fs support is not build into the kernel, but as a module, or not built at all. |
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dkostic
Apprentice
Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 220
Location: Madison, NJ
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:06 am Post subject: |
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Thank you, 6thpink, for straightening that out for me! Sorry it doesn't help Fantastico with his problem, but it helps me with mine .
_________________
Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop, 1.7 mHz Celeron M, 100 Gb hard disk, 512 Mb RAM, 2006.0, 2.6.16-r7 kernel
Homemade desktop, 3.2+ mHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, 120 Gb hard disk, 1 Gb RAM, 2005.0, 2.6.14-r2 kernel |
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jmbsvicetto
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 4734
Location: Angra do Heroísmo (PT)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| 6thpink wrote: |
Related to this, why, if we are referring to our usual /boot as root in grub.conf, we need to put this line like
| Code: |
kernel /boot/whateverkernel...
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EDIT
To clear things up, just a simple
| Code: |
kernel whateverkernel...
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Should be enough, since we are already at /boot, even more, to include /boot in the path is just an error, and it works just cause the recursive link is there.
/EDIT
Well, we really dont need, it is a common mistake, and that is why most distros, gentoo as well, includes a link into /boot, that points to itself, that way, if someone makes the above mistake, the kernel will still be found.
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Well, it's true that you don't need /boot in the path when you're using a /boot partition. However, keeping the /boot in the path will still work if you decide to drop the /boot partition and have /boot as a dir inside the / partition.
So, I wouldn't say that having /boot in the path is a mistake. It's just a precaution or consistency choice!
_________________
Jorge.
Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh
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Fantastico
n00b
Joined: 26 Jun 2005
Posts: 48
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:59 am Post subject: |
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Ok guys thanks for the input.
I was "pretty sure" I selected Ext3 in the kernel but I will double check that. I suppose I can chroot in and run the kernel setup and see what it says.
thanks I will try that.
As for the SATA I think I just use EIDE as this wasnt a particularly fancy system. |
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jmbsvicetto
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 4734
Location: Angra do Heroísmo (PT)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:02 am Post subject: |
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Fantastico,
| Code: | | VFS cannot open root device "hda4" or unknown block(0,0) |
this means that you didn't compile the support for your storage controller in the kernel <*> and not as a module <M>. Look at the output of lspci to identify your storage controller.
_________________
Jorge.
Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh
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wah
Guru
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Posts: 453
Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:02 am Post subject: |
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| Fantastico wrote: | Ok guys thanks for the input.
I was "pretty sure" I selected Ext3 in the kernel but I will double check that. I suppose I can chroot in and run the kernel setup and see what it says.
thanks I will try that.
As for the SATA I think I just use EIDE as this wasnt a particularly fancy system. |
NP dude - that's why the folks are here...however, between SATA and EIDE, you really need to know what you have as it affects what drivers you use...what's your setup (ie - do a lspci from the livecd and post the results). I've got a good grasp of the IDE/SATA drivers (many long nights  ), so I can help you be positive!
Cheers,
W.
_________________
- AMD64 3000+, MSI K8N-SLI, Nvidia Geforce 6600 PCIE, 2GB OCZ Dual-Channel PC3200,2x160GB SATA
- Registered Linux User #418541 |
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wah
Guru
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Posts: 453
Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:04 am Post subject: |
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| jmbsvicetto wrote: | Fantastico,
| Code: | | VFS cannot open root device "hda4" or unknown block(0,0) |
this means that you didn't compile the support for your storage controller in the kernel <*> and not as a module <M>. Look at the output of lspci to identify your storage controller. |
Hate to double post, but jmbsvicetto is right...that's what I'm getting at regarding your drivers
Cheers,
W.
_________________
- AMD64 3000+, MSI K8N-SLI, Nvidia Geforce 6600 PCIE, 2GB OCZ Dual-Channel PC3200,2x160GB SATA
- Registered Linux User #418541 |
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Fantastico
n00b
Joined: 26 Jun 2005
Posts: 48
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| wahman143 wrote: | | jmbsvicetto wrote: | Fantastico,
| Code: | | VFS cannot open root device "hda4" or unknown block(0,0) |
this means that you didn't compile the support for your storage controller in the kernel <*> and not as a module <M>. Look at the output of lspci to identify your storage controller. |
Hate to double post, but jmbsvicetto is right...that's what I'm getting at regarding your drivers
Cheers,
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Ok I checked and EXT3 was enabled.
Here are the controllers it found:
IDE interface: Intel 82801 IDE controller
IDE interface: Intel 82801 SATA controller
There are a lot of options on the ATA/ATAPI screen. So far I have ATA/ATAPI support, IDE/ATA disk2 support, Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk support, generic PCI IDE bus master support. There are a bunch of specific chipsets and mine does not match with them. I do not have SATA support enabled (plus it says it conflicts with libata SATA driver). The drive is definitely not SATA, it's EIDE. The only intel chipset listed does not really match up with what I have. Intel pIIX chipset or something. Not sure what to select here. I did pick the default things that the guide told me though as far as I can tell. Everything I mentioned that is selected is [*] not module [M]. |
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jmbsvicetto
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 4734
Location: Angra do Heroísmo (PT)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 3:01 am Post subject: |
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| Fantastico wrote: |
IDE interface: Intel 82801 IDE controller
IDE interface: Intel 82801 SATA controller
There are a lot of options on the ATA/ATAPI screen. So far I have ATA/ATAPI support, IDE/ATA disk2 support, Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk support, generic PCI IDE bus master support. There are a bunch of specific chipsets and mine does not match with them. I do not have SATA support enabled (plus it says it conflicts with libata SATA driver). The drive is definitely not SATA, it's EIDE. The only intel chipset listed does not really match up with what I have. Intel pIIX chipset or something. Not sure what to select here. I did pick the default things that the guide told me though as far as I can tell. Everything I mentioned that is selected is [*] not module [M]. |
Well, you do have an IDE and a SATA controller. Don't enable the support for SATA on ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support.
You need to compile support for the Intel PIIXn chipsets on the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support and Intel PIIX/ICH SATA support on SCSI low-level drivers.
_________________
Jorge.
Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh
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tylerwylie
Guru
Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 458
Location: /US/Georgia/Atlanta
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| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:08 am Post subject: |
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Lots of people had this issue with newer gentoo kernels due to most of that stuff being included by default in older basic configs, while nowadays they aren't.
I had this issue with my SATA driver, went into SCSI options enabled it and it worked, good to go. |
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Installing Gentoo
