This is the story:
I've got a spare 20Gb on my main drive, so I partitioned 10Gb of it and put ReiserFS on it. Then I did a single partition install of the latest stable Debian to that logical partition (/dev/hde7). I skipped the bootloader installation because I'd planned to use the already installed Gentoo bootloader to load it.
So, after installing Debian to /dev/hde7 (which went flawlessly), I rebooted into Gentoo and edited grub.conf to add an entry to boot Debian.
The entry looks like this:
title=Debian
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
When I select debian from the boot menu however, the kernel loads and starts booting up, but then it stops with the following error messages:
VFS: Cannot open root device "hde7" or 21:07
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 21:07
Any ideas what's going wrong? I can still boot into Gentoo fine...
Problems Dual Booting Debian [SOLVED]
Message
Problems Dual Booting Debian [SOLVED]
Last edited by JoeDuncan on Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You don't have to append root=hde7. This should be sufficient:
But is the kernel located in "/"? Isn't it in /boot ?
Code: Select all
title=Debian
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
I have a couple ideas of what might be happening. You say you installed debian to /dev/hde7. Does that mean you created partition with a mount point of / on /dev/hde? Also, does the kernel really load?
Is it possible it is not actually loading your kernel? I usually create a seperate boot partition, and if you had created a seperate boot partition on /dev/hde7 that would make more sense to me. I think you need to specify exactly where the kernel image is located. Maybe you should change your grub entry to the following:
title=Debian
root (hdX,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
It also looks like your root(hd0,6) line might not be correct. I am not 100 percent sure what /dev/hde maps to on your system but in my system I have:
/dev/hda which maps to (hd0)
cdrom drive on /dev/hdb
/dev/hdc which maps to (hd1)
cdrom drive on /dev/hdd
I think those numbers just count up depending on how many hard drives you have in your system, starting at 0.
Is it possible it is not actually loading your kernel? I usually create a seperate boot partition, and if you had created a seperate boot partition on /dev/hde7 that would make more sense to me. I think you need to specify exactly where the kernel image is located. Maybe you should change your grub entry to the following:
title=Debian
root (hdX,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
It also looks like your root(hd0,6) line might not be correct. I am not 100 percent sure what /dev/hde maps to on your system but in my system I have:
/dev/hda which maps to (hd0)
cdrom drive on /dev/hdb
/dev/hdc which maps to (hd1)
cdrom drive on /dev/hdd
I think those numbers just count up depending on how many hard drives you have in your system, starting at 0.
The kernel is definitely in "/" of /dev/hde7, I have mounted that partition from Gentoo and looked, and I have tried setting:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
in grub, but then it says it can't find the kernel and doesn't go anywhere at all.
I'm sure the kernel's loading, otherwise it wouldn't be able to panic, and I can see all the normal debug messages ("dmesg"s) being displayed on the screen up until the kernel panic.
I have a separate "/boot" partition for my Gentoo, but didn't want to muck it up by pointing Debian to the same place, nor did I want to install a bootloader on /dev/hde7 because the one already on /dev/hde (the MBR) should be able to boot Debian fine as long as I can properly tell it where the kernel and root partition are (that's "/" not "/root") but that seems to be what I am having a problem with.
I told Debian to install in a single partition on /dev/hde7 and skipped the bootloader install, but I'm not sure why that resulted in the kernel being installed in "/vmlinuz" instead of "/boot/vmlinuz", however, that's where the installed told me to find it when it gave manual bootloader config info, and that's where it is when I verify it by mounting /dev/hde7.
As for the grub partition reference, I'm sure it's correct because grub starts numbering logical partitions at (hdX, 4) regardless of how many primary partitions there are (just like Linux starts numbering them and /dev/hdX5). I already have two logical partitions (one for "/home" and the other for "/" of Gentoo), so it's /dev/hde7 in Linux and (hd0, 6) in grub. (I have a PCI ATA133 card which is why my first BIOS drive is hde and not hda...)
Anyways, I will try this line:
kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
and let you know what happens.
Thanks!
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
in grub, but then it says it can't find the kernel and doesn't go anywhere at all.
I'm sure the kernel's loading, otherwise it wouldn't be able to panic, and I can see all the normal debug messages ("dmesg"s) being displayed on the screen up until the kernel panic.
I have a separate "/boot" partition for my Gentoo, but didn't want to muck it up by pointing Debian to the same place, nor did I want to install a bootloader on /dev/hde7 because the one already on /dev/hde (the MBR) should be able to boot Debian fine as long as I can properly tell it where the kernel and root partition are (that's "/" not "/root") but that seems to be what I am having a problem with.
I told Debian to install in a single partition on /dev/hde7 and skipped the bootloader install, but I'm not sure why that resulted in the kernel being installed in "/vmlinuz" instead of "/boot/vmlinuz", however, that's where the installed told me to find it when it gave manual bootloader config info, and that's where it is when I verify it by mounting /dev/hde7.
As for the grub partition reference, I'm sure it's correct because grub starts numbering logical partitions at (hdX, 4) regardless of how many primary partitions there are (just like Linux starts numbering them and /dev/hdX5). I already have two logical partitions (one for "/home" and the other for "/" of Gentoo), so it's /dev/hde7 in Linux and (hd0, 6) in grub. (I have a PCI ATA133 card which is why my first BIOS drive is hde and not hda...)
Anyways, I will try this line:
kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
and let you know what happens.
Thanks!
Wrong. The kernel would very much like to know that its root partition is to be found at /dev/hda7.mayday147 wrote:You don't have to append root=hde7. This should be sufficient:
But is the kernel located in "/"? Isn't it in /boot ?Code: Select all
title=Debian root (hd0,6) kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
The problem is root (hd0,6) which tells grub to look for its files on hda7 instead of your boot partition. So put the debian kernel in the boot partition you use for gentoo too and change (hd0,6) so it points to your boot partition.
Please add [solved] to the initial post's subject line if you feel your problem is resolved. Help answer the unanswered
talk is cheap. supply exceeds demand
talk is cheap. supply exceeds demand
Ok, so:
kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
didn't work, it said this:
VFS: Cannot open root device "" or 03:01
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01
I'll try moving the kernel into Gentoo's "/boot" (which is (hd0,0)). So then my Debian entry should look like this?:
title=Debian
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
Currently my Gentoo entry (which boots fine) looks like this:
title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.28 r8
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.28-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/hde6
Thanks again!
kernel (hd0,6)/vmlinuz
didn't work, it said this:
VFS: Cannot open root device "" or 03:01
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01
I'll try moving the kernel into Gentoo's "/boot" (which is (hd0,0)). So then my Debian entry should look like this?:
title=Debian
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
Currently my Gentoo entry (which boots fine) looks like this:
title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.28 r8
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.28-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/hde6
Thanks again!
Code: Select all
]title=Debian
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7 Please add [solved] to the initial post's subject line if you feel your problem is resolved. Help answer the unanswered
talk is cheap. supply exceeds demand
talk is cheap. supply exceeds demand
Problems Dual Booting Debian [SOLVED]
Well, I fixed it.
This is what the problem was. Duh. I went to move the kernel from /dev/hde7 to /dev/hde1 and I noticed that it was a symlink! I also noticed there was another symlink there called "initrd.img" which I didn't know what it was, so I searched the grub manual for "initrd".
Apparently it's some kind of ramdisk that loads a temporary root fs during booting and requires special treatment in grub. (Incidently both /vmlinuz and /initrd.img are linked to files that are actually in the /boot directory of /dev/hde7...)
I had to add the line:
initrd /initrd.img
And then it all worked beautifully!
So my Debian entry is:
title=Debian
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
initrd /initrd.img
nixnut: (hd0) on my machine is not /dev/hda because I'm using a PCI ATA133 controller. So my first drive is /dev/hde (a, b, c, and d having been taken up by the onboard contorller). Thus my boot drive shows up as (hd0) in grub and /dev/hde in Linux...
Unfortunately during the config process I selected "manual package selection" which was a horrible mess (every KDE package listed flat and altogether, ack!), so I tried to go back and select "Desktop" but the installer wouldn't let me. So now I have a base Debian system with nothing else installed.
I did "apt-get install kde" but both "startkde" and "startx" are refusing to work... Regardless, this is another problem and a story for another day, I'm sure I'll find the answer on Google somewhere.
Thanks again!
This is what the problem was. Duh. I went to move the kernel from /dev/hde7 to /dev/hde1 and I noticed that it was a symlink! I also noticed there was another symlink there called "initrd.img" which I didn't know what it was, so I searched the grub manual for "initrd".
Apparently it's some kind of ramdisk that loads a temporary root fs during booting and requires special treatment in grub. (Incidently both /vmlinuz and /initrd.img are linked to files that are actually in the /boot directory of /dev/hde7...)
I had to add the line:
initrd /initrd.img
And then it all worked beautifully!
So my Debian entry is:
title=Debian
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hde7
initrd /initrd.img
nixnut: (hd0) on my machine is not /dev/hda because I'm using a PCI ATA133 controller. So my first drive is /dev/hde (a, b, c, and d having been taken up by the onboard contorller). Thus my boot drive shows up as (hd0) in grub and /dev/hde in Linux...
Unfortunately during the config process I selected "manual package selection" which was a horrible mess (every KDE package listed flat and altogether, ack!), so I tried to go back and select "Desktop" but the installer wouldn't let me. So now I have a base Debian system with nothing else installed.
I did "apt-get install kde" but both "startkde" and "startx" are refusing to work... Regardless, this is another problem and a story for another day, I'm sure I'll find the answer on Google somewhere.
Thanks again!