hdd problem while booting 2004.0

Message

dr_dre · Post by **dr_dre** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:48 am

i am having a problem booting gentoo 2004 that a few other users have had on this forum but
none of the solutions posted seem to help me.

upon booting gentoo i get the message:
can't open root device hdc9 or unknown block (0,0)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS unable to mount root on unknown (0,0)

my grub.conf is

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
title=Gentoo 2.6.3
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/hdc9

my fstab is

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

/dev/hdc7 /boot xfs noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/hdc9 / xfs noatime 0 0
/dev/SWAP none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

i have one seagate 7200rpm 160GB SATA drive carved up as follows

Disk /dev/hdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 522 4192933+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc2 523 19457 152095387+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdc5 523 1044 4192933+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/hdc6 1045 15338 114816523+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc7 * 15339 15343 40131 83 Linux
/dev/hdc8 15344 15406 506016 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdc9 15407 19457 32539626 83 Linux
Command (m for help):

I can mount and use all the drives, just seems that upon booting it can't find /dev/hdc9
I dont think its a problem with the way the drives are paritioned as it can load stuff
from /dev/hdc7 when booting. XP boots fine.

my kernel has been compiled with ext2 ext3 xfs fat32 ntfs and Serial ATA support

any ideas?

dre

rewt · Post by **rewt** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:55 am

2 things strike me about your config:

your WinXP should be:

Code: Select all

title=Windows XP 
rootnoverify (hd0,0)

and
/dev/SWAP
should be

Code: Select all

/dev/hdc8

dr_dre · Post by **dr_dre** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:08 am

change to /dev/hdc8 did nothing for the linux and rootnoverify broke my windows

dleifelohcs · Post by **dleifelohcs** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:19 pm

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)

should actually be:

Code: Select all

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

this will fix your windows, at least

Takker · Post by **Takker** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:48 pm

Let me guess: SATA drive?!

OK well here we go:
Look at this thread:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=150285

especially the

-> I enabled (or well let me say make menuconfig did) the "Device Drivers -> SCSI device Support -> SCSI Low Level Drivers -> Serial ATA (SATA)" settings. REMEMBER: As I wrote above this makes your SATA drive become "sda" instead of "hda".

thing.

dr_dre · Post by **dr_dre** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:21 pm

still no joy

i have checked http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=122656
and http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=150285.
i changed my fstab to reflect /sda7 etc and my grub.conf but i get the
same error. If it can read /dev/hdc7 for boot why cant it read /dev/hdc9?
a bit of info that came to light just now :
in my bios if i set SATA mode to xp/2000 then the gentoo 2004 live cd crashes while booting (it detects the drive, just hangs while saying attached ide drive /hde something something something). A fedora core rescue disk will not see the drive at all and neither will an older version of any gentoo livecd. a fedora core normal install sees it as /sda. If i set my bios to SATA mode winme/win98 and set the PATA (my cdrom in this case) as a primary device then the gentoo 2004 live cd sees it as /dev/hde. everyone else who has had this problem has found a solution so i am sure i am missing something fundamental and stupid. any more ideas guys?

amadan · Post by **amadan** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:21 am

a bit of info that came to light just now :
in my bios if i set SATA mode to xp/2000 then the gentoo 2004 live cd crashes while booting (it detects the drive, just hangs while saying attached ide drive /hde something something something). A fedora core rescue disk will not see the drive at all and neither will an older version of any gentoo livecd. a fedora core normal install sees it as /sda. If i set my bios to SATA mode winme/win98 and set the PATA (my cdrom in this case) as a primary device then the gentoo 2004 live cd sees it as /dev/hde. everyone else who has had this problem has found a solution so i am sure i am missing something fundamental and stupid. any more ideas guys?

I am having this exact problem now (same hardware). I dont want to use the WinME/Win98 settings, as I have:

1 SATA HDD
1 PATA HDD
2 x PATA DVD drives

and the manual states that I can have at most 2 PATA devices with the WinME/98 settings. Is there a way to install Gentoo 2004.0 and retain the use of all my hardware?

Takker · Post by **Takker** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 8:31 am

Have you checked the "enhanched or compatibility mode" or whatever this is called in your bios? It's mentioned in some thread above.

Compa-Mode makes first SATA drive become /hdc, second /hdd.

dr_dre · Post by **dr_dre** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:00 pm

the way i understand it know is if my bios is set to enhanced sata mode then i have to set my devices to /sdax. meaning my grub.conf should be

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
title=Gentoo 2.6.3
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/sda9

and fstab should be

/dev/sda7 /boot xfs noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/sda9 / xfs noatime 0 0
/dev/sda8 none swap sw 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

and if i dont use the enhanced sata mode then i can use /dev/hdcx

well, neither of those work. my kernel seems fine, my drive seems fine but nothing has worked yet. i am at a real loss here.

funny thing is if i leave out the root=/dev/hdc (or sda) in grub i get the following

can't open root device hdc9 or unknown block (22,9)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS unable to mount root on unknown (22,9)

whereas if i specify a drive i get

can't open root device hdc9 or unknown block (0,0)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS unable to mount root on unknown (0,0)

dre

dr_dre · Post by **dr_dre** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:00 pm

the way i understand it now is if my bios is set to enhanced sata mode then i have to set my devices to /sdax. meaning my grub.conf should be

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
title=Gentoo 2.6.3
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/sda9

and fstab should be

/dev/sda7 /boot xfs noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/sda9 / xfs noatime 0 0
/dev/sda8 none swap sw 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

and if i dont use the enhanced sata mode then i can use /dev/hdcx

well, neither of those work. my kernel seems fine, my drive seems fine but nothing has worked yet. i am at a real loss here.

funny thing is if i leave out the root=/dev/hdc (or sda) in grub i get the following

can't open root device hdc9 or unknown block (22,9)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS unable to mount root on unknown (22,9)

whereas if i specify a drive i get

can't open root device hdc9 or unknown block (0,0)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS unable to mount root on unknown (0,0)

dre