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charlesnadeau
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:00 am    Post subject: Problem with SILO on an UltraSparc 10 Reply with quote

I installed Gentoo on my UltraSparc 10 over the week-end and I still have problem with SILO. When I boot, I get this error message:
Code:

VFS: Cannot open root device "hda4" or (03:04)
Please append a correct "root:" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on (03:04)
 Press L1-A to return to the boot prom


which is quite similar as the one reported here

Here are my partitions:
Code:

Disk /dev/hda (Sun disk label): 16 heads, 63 sectors, 17660 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 bytes

   Device Flag    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1             0       124     62496   83  Linux native
/dev/hda2  u        125      1117    499968   82  Linux swap
/dev/hda3             0     17660   8900640    5  Whole disk
/dev/hda4          1118     17660   8337168   83  Linux native


Here is my /etc/fstab:
Code:

/dev/hda1      /boot      ext3      noauto,noatime      1 1
/dev/hda4      /      ext3      noatime         0 0
/dev/hda2      none      swap      sw         0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0   /mnt/cdrom   iso9660      noauto,ro      0 0
none         /proc      proc      defaults      0 0
none         /dev/shm   tmpfs      defaults      0 0


And finally my SILO.conf:
Code:

partition = 1
root = /dev/hda4
timeout = 20
image = /boot/V24
label = V24


I tried to boot with SILO using different disks as explained here and none was successful.
In silo.conf I tried both
Code:

image = /boot/V24

and
Code:
image = V24

as per the comments here and none of them allowed me to boot.
I tried to boot by typing "1/V24 root=/dev/hda4" at the SILO prompt as suggested here
Since I am using a seperate partition to boot from, I copied silo.conf to /boot then ran "silo -C" as mentionned here .
I fsck.ext3 my /dev/hda3 partition and there is no errors with it whatsoever.
I compiled ext3 in my kernel (not as a module).
The kernel size is 2.7M.

Now the questions:
What is wrong with my configuration? What should I do? What's the next step?
How important is the fact that my /boot partition starts at cylinder 0 rather than 1? This post says it isn't important. If it has to start at 1, what is the quickest/simplest way to change from 0 to 1?
About a year ago, Blademan mentionned that creating a separate /boot partition wasn't advisable and that the documentation would be modified accordingly. I haven't seen it. Does it mean it isn't exact?

Thanks for your help!

Charles
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phygradmarko
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

Now the questions:
What is wrong with my configuration? What should I do? What's the next step?
How important is the fact that my /boot partition starts at cylinder 0 rather than 1? This post says it isn't important. If it has to start at 1, what is the quickest/simplest way to change from 0 to 1?
About a year ago, Blademan mentionned that creating a separate /boot partition wasn't advisable and that the documentation would be modified accordingly. I haven't seen it. Does it mean it isn't exact?


I don't see anything wrong with your setup... Strange... Anyhow, perhaps I can clear up a few questions you have. I DO have a seperate /boot and it DOES start on cylinder 0. I don't think this is your problem.

My silo.conf lives in /etc and resembles this:
Code:

partition = 1
root = /dev/sda4
timeout = 50
#password = __put_your_password_in_cleartext_here__
#restricted
image = /vmlinux-2.4.24-r1-U60-gcc
        label = vmlinux-2.4.24-r1-U60-gcc

(the coincidence between the image name and the label are only so I may keep track of my kernels; label them however you wish...).

You are absolutely sure you compiled ext3 support into the kernel (I don't think this is the problem but it wouldn't hurt to double check). Also, do you have the CMD640 chipset support in the kernel (also wouldn't hurt to check).

I almost believe I have run into this before... For the life of me I cannot remember the problem (if there was one).

The only other observation I can make is perhaps your disk formatting is incorrect... If you are running the stock drive (Model=ST38410A) then I believe the disk label should look like:

Code:

Disk /dev/hda (Sun disk label): 16 heads, 63 sectors, 16706 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 bytes


Your disk label shows 17606 cylinders. Perhaps you transposed two numbers...

Please let us all know if you find the solution to this problem...
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charlesnadeau
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 6:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

phygradmarko wrote:
You are absolutely sure you compiled ext3 support into the kernel (I don't think this is the problem but it wouldn't hurt to double check). Also, do you have the CMD640 chipset support in the kernel (also wouldn't hurt to check).

I almost believe I have run into this before... For the life of me I cannot remember the problem (if there was one).

The only other observation I can make is perhaps your disk formatting is incorrect... If you are running the stock drive (Model=ST38410A) then I believe the disk label should look like:

Phygradmarko,

Yes I compiled ext3 and CMD640 in the kernel (but ext2 as a module). I checked /proc/ide/cmd64x to see if I really have a CMD640 chipset and found that in fact I have a CMD 646:
Code:

Controller: 0
CMD646 Chipset.
--------------- Primary Channel ---------------- Secondary Channel -------------
                 enabled                          enabled
--------------- drive0 --------- drive1 -------- drive0 ---------- drive1 ------
DMA enabled:    yes              no              yes               no
DMA Mode:        DMA(2)           PIO(?)          DMA(2)            PIO(?)
PIO Mode:       ?                ?               ?                 ?
                polling                          interrupting
                pending                          pending
                enabled                          enabled

I will recompile my kernel with the CMD646 and ext2 inside the kernel (and not as module)

I also checked for the hard drive type and it seems from dmesg that I have an ST39140A:
Code:

Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta4-2.4
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
CMD646: IDE controller at PCI slot 01:03.0
CMD646: chipset revision 3
CMD646: chipset revision 0x03, MultiWord DMA Force Limited
CMD646: 100% native mode on irq 4,7e0
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1fe02c00020-0x1fe02c00027, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0x1fe02c00028-0x1fe02c0002f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
hda: ST39140A, ATA DISK drive
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
hdc: CRD-8322B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1fe02c00000-0x1fe02c00007,0x1fe02c0000a on irq 4,7e0
ide1 at 0x1fe02c00010-0x1fe02c00017,0x1fe02c0001a on irq 4,7e0 (shared with ide0)
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: 17803440 sectors (9115 MB) w/448KiB Cache, CHS=17662/16/63, (U)DMA
hdc: attached ide-cdrom driver.
hdc: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache, DMA
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
Partition check:
 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1 p2 p3 p4


Once my new kernel wil be compiled, I'll let you know if it works.
Thanks for your help!

Charles
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charlesnadeau
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

charlesnadeau wrote:
Once my new kernel wil be compiled, I'll let you know if it works.


I recompiled the kernel and booted with it. It passed the point where it blocked before but it blocked later where it displayed endlessly the following error message:
Code:

kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt-4c46, errno=8


I checked on Google and found two postings reporting the same problem as mine: it boils down to the fact that I compiled the ELF binary format as a module in my kernel instead of building it inside the kernel.
I rebuilt the kernel, rebooted and got error messages again:
Code:

insmod: Note: /etc/modules.conf is more recent than /lib/modules/2.4.24-sparc-r2/modules.dep
insmod: /lib/modules/2.4.24-sparc-r2/kernel/net/unix/unix.o: insmod net-pf1 failed


I Googled these error message and found a page where somebody detailled a simillar problem. I checked the date of /etc/modules.conf and of /lib/modules/2.4.24/modules.dep and found the discrepency. I checked again my kernel configuration, including in the kernel all the networking options I built as modules. I recompiled everything making sure "make dep" did its job properly. I rebooted and everything was fine! I got the login prompt!
However it is not the end of the story. It started to periodically print on the main console:
Code:

INIT: Id "c0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes


I searched Gentoo's forum and found, again, somebody with a very simillar problem. I modified my /etc/inittab then ran "init q" to force init to re-examine the /etc/inittab file. The message error displayed on the console disappeared but now I can't emerge. When I type
Code:
emerge sync


the system responds:
Code:

!!! rsync setting:  cannot open tty-output not recognized; exiting.


My /etc/inittab is now:
Code:

#
# /etc/inittab:  This file describes how the INIT process should set up
#                the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author:  Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@cistron.nl>
# Modified by:  Patrick J. Volkerding, <volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com>
# Modified by:  Daniel Robbins, <drobbins@gentoo.org>
# Modified by:  Martin Schlemmer, <azarah@gentoo.org>
#
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/inittab,v 1.6 2003/01/06 21:32:43 azarah Exp $

#
# Default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization, mount local filesystems, etc.
si::sysinit:/sbin/rc sysinit

# Further system initialization, brings up the boot runlevel.
rc::bootwait:/sbin/rc boot

l0:0:wait:/sbin/rc shutdown
l1:S1:wait:/sbin/rc single
l2:2:wait:/sbin/rc nonetwork
l3:3:wait:/sbin/rc default
l4:4:wait:/sbin/rc default
l5:5:wait:/sbin/rc default
l6:6:wait:/sbin/rc reboot
#z6:6:respawn:/sbin/sulogin

# SERIAL CONSOLE
#c0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0 vt100

# TERMINALS
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
c2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
c4:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
c5:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
c6:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux

# What to do at the "Three Finger Salute".
ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -r now

# Used by /etc/init.d/xdm to control DM startup.
# Read the comments in /etc/init.d/xdm for more
# info. Do NOT remove, as this will start nothing
# extra at boot if /etc/init.d/xdm is not added
# to the "default" runlevel.
x:a:once:/etc/X11/startDM.sh

# End of /etc/inittab


I searched on the Gentoo Forum and Google and found nothing. This is where I am stuck now. If you can spare any hints, let me know.

Thanks for your help.

Charles
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phygradmarko
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

!!! rsync setting: cannot open tty-output not recognized; exiting.


This is caused by the lack of ttyS0 due to your commenting out of the SERIAL CONSOLE (c0)

You need this console. I would uncomment this and restart init. It may require a reboot.
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charlesnadeau
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I uncommented the line, reboted and I still have the same error message...

Thanks!

Charles
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charlesnadeau
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found the bug... In my /etc/make.conf, I had this line:
Code:
SYNC="!!! rsync setting: cannot open tty-output not recognized; exiting."


I should be more careful with copy and paste.:oops: Sorry for the trouble.
Thanks!

Charles
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