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chefbender
n00b
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 5:17 pm Post subject: Gentoo Newbie in need of help, boot error on step 4a |
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I just installed Gentoo for the first time but I can't get it to boot. When I try I get the following error messge:
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Step4a: Mounting root
mount: Mounting /dev/hd4a on /newroot failed:Invalid argument
could not mount specified ROOT, try again
Root block device unspecified or not detected
Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell.
:
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My grub.conf looks like this:
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default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xp.gz
title=Gentoo
root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/kernel-2.4.20-gaming-r7 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda4
initrd (hd0,1)/initrd-2.4.20-gaming-r7
titile=WinXP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
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and finally, my /etc/fstab looks like this (comments edited out)
_______________________________________________
/dev/hda2 /boot reiserfs noauto,noatime,noatail 1 2
/dev/hda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda4 / reiserfs noatime 0 1
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,ro,user 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
__________________________________________________
I installed the kernel using genkernel 3.01beta6 (this is the one emerge genkernel installed so I went with it)
my widows partition is the first one on the drive and is ntfs, and the next three partitions are used for gentoo, all are reiserfs
I really don't know what to do here, I've browsed the forums a bit but haven't found any solutions to this, just others with the same problem.
I tried reinstalling the kernel with an older genkernel, but when I run it I get an error about it not being able to find the kernel config (my apologies, don't have the exact message for that right now)
Any ideas? Thanks very much, any help is greatly appreciated. |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:28 pm Post subject: Re: Gentoo Newbie in need of help, boot error on step 4a |
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| chefbender wrote: | I just installed Gentoo for the first time but I can't get it to boot. When I try I get the following error messge:
------------------------------------------------------------
Step4a: Mounting root
mount: Mounting /dev/hd4a on /newroot failed:Invalid argument |
The root partition should be mounted on / (root), for obvious reasons - never anywhere else AFAIK.
| chefbender wrote: | My grub.conf looks like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xp.gz
title=Gentoo
root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/kernel-2.4.20-gaming-r7 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda4 |
What is that ?
DId you put root on a ram disk on purpose?
If not, your kernel line should say just this:
| Code: | | kernel (hdx,y)/kernel-x.y.zz-blup root=/dev/hda4 |
If it was on purpose, then something went wrong - it has trouble relating the ramdisk to the real root I think.
| chefbender wrote: | and finally, my /etc/fstab looks like this (comments edited out)
_______________________________________________
/dev/hda2 /boot reiserfs noauto,noatime,noatail 1 2 |
This doesn't work - "noatail" is not an option, probably a typo from you.
(Or else it would never have booted your kernel).
Using Reiser for a /boot partition really doesn't accomplish anything - unless you enjoy wasting space.
| chefbender wrote: | /dev/hda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda4 / reiserfs noatime 0 1
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,ro,user 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
__________________________________________________
I installed the kernel using genkernel 3.01beta6 (this is the one emerge genkernel installed so I went with it) |
That should just duplicate the current livecd kernel and initrd image.
| chefbender wrote: | | my widows partition is the first one on the drive |
HA! Widows indeed ...
| chefbender wrote: | | and is ntfs, and the next three partitions are used for gentoo, all are reiserfs |
Except swap, that is.
That's swap.
| chefbender wrote: | I really don't know what to do here, I've browsed the forums a bit but haven't found any solutions to this, just others with the same problem.
I tried reinstalling the kernel with an older genkernel, but when I run it I get an error about it not being able to find the kernel config (my apologies, don't have the exact message for that right now)
Any ideas? Thanks very much, any help is greatly appreciated. |
First off, I would recommend scrapping the /boot partition and making it ext2 - no more is needed for /boot.
Second, root also won't benefit all that much from Reiserfs, since it has more overhead than ext3 on larger files (>4KB).
There are, admittedly, places with faverage filesizes below 4KB (mainly /etc), but the rest of root is about 100K on average, with excursions into the multi-megabytes.
Third, what is the deal with the ramdisk mounted as root ?
This scheme only works when root isn't that big, or you have 2GB+ of memory to spare... |
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chefbender
n00b
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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The ram0 line is there just because the install guide said it should be. I tried removing it but got the exact same error. The atail line is in fact a typo, in fstab it's just "notail".
As for /newroot, I don't know why it's trying to mount there....as far as I know I didn't tell it to anywhere during the installation. Thanks for the quick reply. |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| chefbender wrote: | | The ram0 line is there just because the install guide said it should be. |
What install guide were you using?
There is only one: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook.xml?part=1
That is the Install Handbook, for all future references please use that link 
| chefbender wrote: | | I tried removing it but got the exact same error. |
No, probably not the exact same error; but as I said earlier, to boot up without a ram disk you have to use the correct kernel parameters.
| Code: | | kernel (hd0,1)/kernel-2.4.20-gaming-r7 root=/dev/hda4 |
No more, no less...
| chefbender wrote: | | The atail line is in fact a typo, in fstab it's just "notail". |
Exactly - which is one of those "problems" with reiserfs for /boot I was talking about
| chefbender wrote: | | As for /newroot, I don't know why it's trying to mount there....as far as I know I didn't tell it to anywhere during the installation. Thanks for the quick reply. |
I'm still curious which "installation guide" that was.
Only curious, note; it's wrong, don't use it, read the official Handbook. |
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chefbender
n00b
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| It was that same guide, the one there's a link to on www.gentoo.org, printed up a few days ago. In the grub config section it does say to put the ram0 line in if using a downloaded genkernel without GRP. Those extra bits appear only for that setup though. The notail was right in fstab, I just typoed in the post. I looked around a bit more and from what I gather the problem comes from reiserfs aor the new genkernel. So, I've decided to just try installing it again, using ext2/3 this time, and gentoo-sources instead of gaming. Thanks much for the fs advice. Hopefully this install will work out right. |
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jef0113
n00b
Joined: 10 Nov 2003
Posts: 37
Location: Be
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 8:43 am Post subject: |
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http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook.xml?part=1&chap=9#doc_chap4
| Quote: | Code listing 7: grub.conf for non-GRP genkernel users
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.22
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.4.22 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd-2.4.22
# Only in case you want to dual-boot
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1
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And the online install doc. tell's us to use the ram0 line when your using a recent version of genkernel 
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml
| Quote: | # If you're using a recent genkernel, use something like this:
title=My Example Gentoo Linux (recent genkernel)
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/kernel-KV root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/hda3 init=/linuxrc
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-KV
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from the "genkernel 3.0.1 how-to" topic
| Quote: | In the past we did root=/dev/hdx the way the new genkernel does it is root=/dev/ram0 to process the initrd.
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https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=124530&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Chefbender , i had the same problem as you , i was missing support for my file system , recompiled my kernel whit reiserfs support and everything worked like a charm |
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Azmodan
n00b
Joined: 25 Jan 2004
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| jef0113 wrote: | | Chefbender , i had the same problem as you , i was missing support for my file system , recompiled my kernel whit reiserfs support and everything worked like a charm |
Can I do this with genkernel ?
What is the quickest way to recompile the kernel with reiserfs support ? What do I need to do to clean my system of the unsuccesful kernels ?
Tanks.
_________________
In GPL we trust. |
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adaptr
Watchman
Joined: 06 Oct 2002
Posts: 6730
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
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| Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:13 am Post subject: |
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If you do a
this will build an initrd image containing all modules, so you don't need reiserfs support in the kernel to boot.
(Unless the /boot partition is reiserfs; search the forums for why this is essentially pointless and will only make things harder.)
If you want to recompile (build) the kernel with Reiserfs support built-in you have to make sure that you start with the .config file that genkernel uses!
| Code: | make menuconfig
Block devices -> Filesystems -> [*] ReiserFS
exit & save
make dep #VERY important! it needs to re-calculate all module dependencies
make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install |
and copy the bzImage to /boot & adjust your boot config.
This will take some practising; running genkernel is essentially foolproof.
To clean out the sources for the unsuccessful kernel builds you have to change to the source tree (/usr/src/whatever-version-it-is) and run
This will erase everything that was built and result in a clean source tree.
If, on the other hand, you need to erase the results of the builds, you have to:
| Code: | rm -f /boot/<version-of-kernel-image-to-delete>
cd /lib/modules
rm -rf <version-of-kernel-modules-to-delete> |
Note that even attempting to do this with the running kernel means you get to keep all pieces of the guaranteed cock-up that results... |
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Azmodan
n00b
Joined: 25 Jan 2004
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:50 am Post subject: |
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| adaptr wrote: | If you do a
this will build an initrd image containing all modules, so you don't need reiserfs support in the kernel to boot.
(Unless the /boot partition is reiserfs; search the forums for why this is essentially pointless and will only make things harder.) |
Oh no. This is my root (hda3) partition that is reiserfs. It is said in the instalation guide that it's pointless to use reiserfs for /boot so I didn't use it.
So. If I got the same error than this guy, what could have caused it if it's not reiserfs support ?
_________________
In GPL we trust. |
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wanradt
n00b
Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Estonia
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| Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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Azmodan, try
| Code: | | genkernel --menuconfig all |
then you can let most things for genkernel, but you can still tell, what you need from kernel. With kernel-2.4.22-gentoo-r5 i changed processor type, added reiserfs and ext3 to kernel (in filesystems section, by default they are modules) and if genkernel fails with compiling modules, you should disable VIA6220 support (in character devices, if you don't accidentally have such device). Without last thing i got just nothing. |
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michaelb
l33t
Joined: 06 Jun 2002
Posts: 686
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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In another thread, AkkerDK pointed out that when you use genkernel, initial ram disk support is left out. If you are following the install docs for using genkernel, this will cause it to fail on boot. Check your kernel config, and make sure | Code: | | 'Block devices -> RAM disk support -> Initial RAM disk (initrd) support' |
is selected.
_________________
Behold, The power of SEARCH! |
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Smash15
n00b
Joined: 31 Jan 2004
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| Azmodan wrote: | | adaptr wrote: | If you do a
this will build an initrd image containing all modules, so you don't need reiserfs support in the kernel to boot.
(Unless the /boot partition is reiserfs; search the forums for why this is essentially pointless and will only make things harder.) |
Oh no. This is my root (hda3) partition that is reiserfs. It is said in the instalation guide that it's pointless to use reiserfs for /boot so I didn't use it.
So. If I got the same error than this guy, what could have caused it if it's not reiserfs support ? |
Same problem here! My boot partition is ext3, and my root is ReiserFS, so I wonder if it's really ReiserFS related? |
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Sebbe
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 11:29 am Post subject: |
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Same problem here to. But i think i may have found the solution to my problem. I compiled my kernel with
So it used the default config for 2.4 kernels (/usr/share/genkernel/x86/kernel-config-2.4), and that config does include reiserfs but only as a module.
I think that's why my kernel is having problem mounting a reiserfs partition when the reiserfs module is located on the same partition it's trying to mount 
I'm recompiling my kernel with reiserfs now, so I'll get back with the results as soon as its done. But i'ts a P2 400MHz so it might take a while 
EDIT:
Yupp compiling reiserfs support into the kernel (not as module) worked for me. But now I have this problem instead: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38360 |
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Installing Gentoo
