Arch Linux

AJones

Member

Registered: 2010-09-04

Posts: 26

ERROR upon new installation

Hi:

I just installed Arch Linux 2010-05-10 for AMD 64 bit computer, I am booting Win7, Debian on one HD and Arch Linux on the second HD, but the Second HD /dev/sdb does not get recognized. The error is similar to other posts in this forum, I am unable to solve it inspite of all my efforts.

The error is as follows

Root device '/dev/sdb1' doesn't exist. attempting to create it

Error: Unable to determine major/minor number of root devices '/dev/sdb1'

It later puts me in a command prompt [/ramfs/] and am unabel to do anything ath  is point. How do I rectify this error.

Thanks

Alan

skodabenz

Banned

From: Tamilnadu, India

Registered: 2010-04-11

Posts: 382

Re: ERROR upon new installation

Bootloader used, fdisk/gdisk output, link to the 'other' posts etc. Please?

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My new forum user/nick name is "the.ridikulus.rat" .

AJones

Member

Registered: 2010-09-04

Posts: 26

Re: ERROR upon new installation

The bootloader used is Grub2

Menu entry is this

menuentry "Arch Linux " --class archlinux --class
gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    echo    Loading Arch Linux from sdb1 ...
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 3c29ebc8-7a62-4697-80cf-6bd197ab14c7
    echo    Loading Linux vmlinuz26 ...
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/3c29ebc8-7a62-4697-80cf-6bd197ab14c7 rootfstype=ext4 ro rootdelay=1
    echo    Loading initial ramdisk ...
    initrd    /boot/kernel26.img

fdisk -l is this

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8e212a79

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        7650    61440000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            7650       25497   143360000    5  Extended
/dev/sda3           25497       38245   102400000   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           38245       60802   181185536   83  Linux
/dev/sda5            7650       25497   143358976    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x12345678

  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        2550    20482843+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2   *        2551       12749    81923467+  a5  FreeBSD
/dev/sdb3           12750       20398    61440592+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb4           20399       30401    80349097+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Thanks for your concern

Regards,
Alan

AJones

Member

Registered: 2010-09-04

Posts: 26

Re: ERROR upon new installation

People Please help me

Regards,
Alan

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,326

Re: ERROR upon new installation

Sorry, I  have not worked with Grub2 as of yet.  You might try using a different node other than specifying the drive by UUID.  I have fought that on the original GRUB.

Please use BBcode 'code' tags around the copied output from your commands.  It makes it far more readable by using mono spaced fonts, sets them aside from dialog, and adds scroll bars for long passages.   Also, please be careful about bumping threads.

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How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

AJones

Member

Registered: 2010-09-04

Posts: 26

Re: ERROR upon new installation

Hi There:
It does not help, I tried changing the root=/dev/sdb1, it is not reading /mounting sdb HD. The second HD is an external USB mounted HD, IS there a problem with external, USB HDs. It boots upto reading CD-ROOM and then throws it into recovery shell to [ramfs/]. Thanks much for your help.

Regards,
Alan

skodabenz

Banned

From: Tamilnadu, India

Registered: 2010-04-11

Posts: 382

Re: ERROR upon new installation

Is the usb-storage kernel module present inside the initramfs generated by mkinitcpio. There seems to be a mismatch between root= in kernel cmdline (uuid) and the actual root =/dev/sdb1 . Also check whether grub2 can detect the usb drive using insmod usb_ms .

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My new forum user/nick name is "the.ridikulus.rat" .

AJones

Member

Registered: 2010-09-04

Posts: 26

Re: ERROR upon new installation

I tried insmod usb_ms, it did not work, I dont know how to check the usb-storage kernel module present inside the initramfs generated by mkinitcpio. "usb" hook was not present inside mkinitcpio.conf, I put it there, I still dont get past [ramfs/]. I am new to Arch Linux, this is different from Debian. I just wanted to learn to use Arch Linux. I have limited capabalities within [ramfs/].  I am stumped, I cannot get past this error. This error seems to be prevelant, I googled the main error and found many hits to it. I notice that the external HD is not been recognized.

Thanks all for your help.

Kind Regards,
AJ