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sandman2036
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 Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:30 am Post subject: Gentoo 2004.3 on lx164 EV56 |
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I'm installing Gentoo on a lx164 board using a sym53c8xx card to boot. the entire "stage 1" install went smooth until I came to a boot loader. I'm trying to use aboot but when I try to execute "swriteboot -f3 /dev/sda /boot/bootlx" the out put reads
Existing disk label is corrupt
Couldn't get a valid disk label, exiting
My disk partition looks something like this
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 5 120 118784 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 121 365 250880 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 366 4357 4087808 83 Linux
At this point Im at a loss of what I can do.
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dbackeberg
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:22 pm Post subject: AlphaBIOS or SRM |
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Are you using AlphaBIOS or SRM? If you're using SRM, you should be using a BSD-style partition table.
What does the system look like when you're first booting? Does it display a pretty graphic that says alpha, or do you get a blue and white (or black and white) screen, that dumps you to a >>> prompt? |
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sandman2036
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| Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:26 am Post subject: |
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Originally it was the alpha bios when it was an nt machine but since then I loaded the SRM console.
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dbackeberg
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| Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| sandman2036 wrote: | | I loaded the SRM console. |
If you're using the SRM, you need to partition your drive to use BSD disk labels. See the Gentoo alpha handbook for information about how to format your drive in this manner using fdisk. (hint: use b to initialize your drive rather than o)
If you're really careful about it, I THINK you can reuse your current sector settings when you change your partition table. Use the sector numbers from your current fdisk output, but that's not a guarantee, just a wish. |
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sandman2036
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| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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Would this require starting over or just plaing with the boot partition.
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dbackeberg
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| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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| sandman2036 wrote: | | Would this require starting over or just plaing with the boot partition. |
I'm not sure. I've never been in that situation. Here's what I would try:
fdisk -l /dev/sda
write down all the output, or just review your earlier entry in the forum. Note all the sector counts.
fdisk /dev/sda
b (for new BSD disklabel)
n (for new partition)
set the same begin and ending blocksize, etc. until you've recreated the partition table you had before, only with a bsd disklabel
w to save.
There are some utilities to try to reread your partition table without rebooting, but I'm not sure if they work on Alpha:
partprobe (part of gnu parted)
blockdev --rereadpt
Regardless of whether those seem to work, try rebooting, then try to mount the partitions and see if you can manage to not have to start over again. If you're lucky, everything will still be there. |
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sandman2036
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:41 am Post subject: |
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If I write A BSD disk label can I do this on a ext2 partition or do I have to do this on a BSD type partition
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sandman2036
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:25 am Post subject: |
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Every thing seems to be in order. It wasnt until about an hour ago I realized I was reading the x86 book rather than the Alpha one.
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dbackeberg
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| sandman2036 wrote: | | Every thing seems to be in order. It wasnt until about an hour ago I realized I was reading the x86 book rather than the Alpha one. |
Oops! Yeah, the alpha book will definitely get you where you want to go faster. But at some point you must have been reading the alpha book, or you wouldn't have known about swriteboot. |
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Gentoo on Alternative Architectures
