SOLUTION: Funky startup problem... Please help

[penguinmaster]

I finished installing Gentoo, and reboot the macine. After rebooting, Grub appears, perfect (i have a dualboot with XP, which I am on now). I select Gentoo, and press enter. It starts up, text flashing on the screen, and then all of a sudden i see a quick scroll of text saying module not found, then a page more of text and then i receive the following:

Step 4: Determining root device
Root block device unspecified or not detected
Please specify a device to boot or "shell" for a shell.

I've tried going into the shell but not many commands are available it seems, or a solution... I'm really frustrated, could someone please help me?

[Vulpes_Vulpes]

Please post your grub.conf, fstab and a list of your partitions.

[spb]

Can you post grub.conf? It looks as though you haven't specified the right root device there.

[penguinmaster]

Here's my partition layout:
Hda1 : WinXP (NTFS)
Hda2 : /boot (Ext2)
Hda3 : swap
Hda4 : / (Ext3

here's my grub.conf:

Code: Select all

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.24
root(hd0,1)
kernel /kernel-2.4.24 root=/dev/hda4
initrd  /initrd-2.4.24

title=Windows XP
root(hd0,0)
chainloader +1

fstab:

Code: Select all

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/fstab,v 1.14 2003/10/13 20:03:38 azarah Exp $
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage
# efficiency).  It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to 
# switch between notail and tail freely.

# <fs>          	<mountpoint>    <type>  	<opts>      		<dump/pass>

# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/hda2		/boot		ext2		noauto,noatime		1 2
/dev/hda3		none		swap		sw			0 0
/dev/hda4		/		ext3		noatime			0 1
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0	/mnt/cdrom	auto		noauto,user		0 0
/dev/fd0		/mnt/floppy	auto		noauto,user		0 0

# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
none			/proc		proc		defaults		0 0

# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink). 
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
#  use almost no memory if not populated with files)
# Adding the following line to /etc/fstab should take care of this:

none			/dev/shm	tmpfs		defaults		0 0

oh ya, and i can get into linux when it asks for a device i put in /dev/hda2, but i don't know how that would work... and when i edited it to that in grub it didn't work.

Also, i have one final error. during linux starting up, the screen will blink for a second, then say this among other startup messages (which aren't errors):

**Can't synthesize input events - /proc/bus/input/devices missing

beats me...

[Vulpes_Vulpes]

You did ofcourse compiled Ext3 support with your kernel??? And devfs? Also 2.4.24 has a security hole so you better update to 2.4.25...

[penguinmaster]

um, i don't think i added Ext3 support, well, i don't remember compiling anything related to Ext3 besides setting the filesystem with: mke2fs -j, and devfs... i don't even remember hearing that name, heheh. Ya looks like i messed up bad. What do i need to do to get it working here?

[justanothergentoofanatic]

You need to boot from the livecd, mount your hard drives, chroot into your installation enviornment again, and recompile/reinstall your kernel.

-Mike

[penguinmaster]

Are you frigen serious... lol, so i basically have to reinstall gentoo... *sigh* OK, i'll do it, fine, . But how do I get the devfs and ext3 support? And what kernel should i install (command please). Sorry I'm very new to gentoo (and linux i guess) ^_^.

[daveb]

Are you frigen serious... lol, so i basically have to reinstall gentoo... *sigh* OK, i'll do it, fine, . But how do I get the devfs and ext3 support? And what kernel should i install (command please). Sorry I'm very new to gentoo (and linux i guess) ^_^.

No, you shouldn't to reinstall everything. You just need to recompile the kernel. Very good instructions for manually configuring your kernel can be found here.

[penguinmaster]

Thanks! Now finally, what kernel should i use, and what's the command for it? also how do i put it the devfs, and ext3 support. Sry for my extreme noobiness.. ^_^ oh ya, after recompiling the kernel, if i still get that error message about not finding /proc/devices or somethin I'll post, and definitely search too. oh and after i recompile the kernel, can i just unmount and restart? how many steps do i need to follow until i can restart? That's all for now, to your relief. Thanks again for all your help, all of you.

[daveb]

Thanks! Now finally, what kernel should i use, and what's the command for it? also how do i put it the devfs, and ext3 support. Sry for my extreme noobiness.. ^_^ oh ya, after recompiling the kernel, if i still get that error message about not finding /proc/devices or somethin I'll post, and definitely search too. oh and after i recompile the kernel, can i just unmount and restart? how many steps do i need to follow until i can restart? That's all for now, to your relief. Thanks again for all your help, all of you.

Well, since it looks like you've already got gentoo-sources-2.4.24 installed you might as well stick with that for now. First, boot from the LiveCD, then mount your hard drives, chroot into your installation (like when you were installing). Make sure your /boot partition is mounted as well. Then follow the instructions in 7.c.Default: Manual configuration. When you are done with that section, you'll need to edit your grub.conf as well to make sure it points to whatever you name your newly compiled kernel (or you could just overwrite your current kernel name kernel-2.4.24 and leave grub.conf alone). Once done with that, you can exit the chroot'ed environment and reboot.

[penguinmaster]

Actually i have vanilla-sources-2.4.24, will that affect me or anything? if gentoo-sources is better, I'd like it, would that erase my vanilla-sources kernel (which i wouldn't mind).

[daveb]

Actually i have vanilla-sources-2.4.24, will that affect me or anything? if gentoo-sources is better, I'd like it, would that erase my vanilla-sources kernel (which i wouldn't mind).

Nope, just me making a wrong assumption about which kernel you had installed. Just stick with that one for now. You can always install a different one later, when you feel more comfortable configuring your kernel.

Edit: If you want to try a different kernel, though, you can just

Code: Select all

emerge <kernel-name>

after chrooting into your environment. Then, change the symlink to your kernel. If you installed gentoo-sources-2.4.25, that would go something like:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/src
rm linux
ln -s linux-2.4.25 linux

Then you would follow the instructions on configuring your kernel, edit your grub.conf to point to your new kernel, exit, and reboot.

[penguinmaster]

Whoa, manual configuration! never done that before... And i assume that will enable me to provide support for devfs and ext3? And I know you said to leave 2.4.24 as is, but how can i update it?? update = good

[daveb]

Whoa, manual configuration! never done that before... And i assume that will enable me to provide support for devfs and ext3? And I know you said to leave 2.4.24 as is, but how can i update it?? update = good

If you don't feel comfortable doing manual configuration, you can always use the genkernel script to do it all automatically for you (you still need to make sure that you mount /boot first) by following the instructions in the section that follows manual configuration, but I've seen a fairly sizeable number of people having problems with it. I used it the first time I installed Gentoo (never having done manual config before either), but have updated and upgraded manually numerous time since then and never looked back. In my opinion, you might as well learn how to do it now, because at some point or another you'll end up wanting to anyways. The tricky part (at first) is figuring out which options to include or create as modules, but if you have a good idea of the hardware in your computer its not so bad (it'll just take some time). The configuration tool has help for most of the options so you can just take your time and read the help if you are not sure about specific options. Just be sure to enable what the Install Handbook tells you to, otherwise I guarantee that it won't work.

And yes it will allow you to enable support for a large number of file systems if you so desire.

As for updating, or changing your kernel, read the edit to my post above. (Which I was typing as you were posting )

[penguinmaster]

Thanks again! but time is short at the moment and i'll cut you a deal, right now I'll do a genkernel, and maybe this weekend I'll go for a manual config ^_^. If i use genkernel, how would i include the ext3 support and defs? I still need that list vital piece of info and then I'll be off!

[Rainmaker]

slightly offtopic:

if you're really short of time: a manual configuration is actually faster then a run from genkernel. Reason is that genkernel compiles a kernel with as much compatibility (hardware support, modules, option etc.) as possible. If you do a manual configuration, it only compiles the modules you selected, which saves you time.

even more offtopic:

edit /etc/make.conf and disable optimization for faster compiling (remove -O3 from MAKEOPTS)

[daveb]

Genkernel should do it automatically, since Gentoo required devfs and ext3 is a very commonly used filesystem. Just remember to mount your boot partition first, and note that genkernel will name your kernel for you. It tells you at some point what it is naming your kernel and also your initrd, which genkernel creates and will then be necessary for booting. Make sure you write these names down, because will have to modify your grub.conf as discussed here. Follow the section on grub for genkernel users -- it's a little different from the way you have it set up now.

Good luck.

[penguinmaster]

Hold UP! since i already used genkernel to install my current kernel, why am I having a problem here?! >_< supposedly nothing should be wrong, so to be blunt, WTF!

[daveb]

Well, then try editing grub.conf following the instructions for genkernel users. If that doesn't work, I'll just count you among the rest that have had problems with genkernel.

[penguinmaster]

well i did follow the instructions for my initial editing of grub.conf.......

EDIT: Also, if you didn't read earlier, when i get the error, and it asks to specify what device to load, if i specify /dev/hda2, it will boot, but that makes no sense to me...

[daveb]

here's my grub.conf:

Code: Select all

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.24
root(hd0,1)
kernel /kernel-2.4.24 root=/dev/hda4
initrd  /initrd-2.4.24

title=Windows XP
root(hd0,0)
chainloader +1

And from the install docs:

Code Listing 6: grub.conf for genkernel users

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.24
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.24 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3
initrd /initrd-2.4.24

# Only in case you want to dual-boot
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

[penguinmaster]

omg dude sry. I can explain: I printed out some of the documentation for when i installed... and that text you included did not get printed! I'm going to edit that right now! thanks!

EDIT: o wait, i think it changed or somethin, cause my printed page is a bit different on that line of code.. O well. leme go try

[daveb]

Heh. I just hope that fixes your problem.

[penguinmaster]

zeee problem is fixed! woo hoo! but i still get that other error during startup:

** Can't synthesize input events - /proc/bus/input/devices missing. What is this doing?