[solved] Unable to determine major/minor number of root device

Silvo · 2011-12-18 05:35:10

Hi,

Sorry that there are a lot of these posts, but I've tried all the advice in the other threads and nothing seems to work.

I tried to boot Arch today, and got this error message: "Unable to determine major/minor number of root device". I am then dropped to some kind of recovery shell that I cannot use because keyboard input doesn't appear to be working (it's a USB keyboard). The message mentioned the UUID of the partition I was trying to load, but I didn't write that bit down, sorry.

The fallback mode has the same error, and in neither can I progress any further than the recovery shell thing.

I have a working LinuxMint partition, that I can load from the same GRUB menu I use to select Arch (it's GRUB2 that i'm using).

Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly what changes I made that might have caused this to happen. Last time I booted Arch I made so many changes and updates, it could really have been anything. I *think* there was a kernel update, but I can't be sure.

I have tried the following things, to no avail:
1. Change the reference to UUID=1234abcd1234abcd to /dev/sda7, but the only change that makes is the error message complains about /dev/sda7 instead of a UUID...
2. Change my HOOKS in mkinitcpio.conf to remove the "autodetect" bit, from some advice from here: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/18810. I then chrooted from Linux Mint into my Arch partition and ran "mkinitcpio -p linux", which gave me a whole lot of errors:

[root@griffin /]# mkinitcpio -p linux
==> Building image from preset: 'default'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Starting build: 3.1.5-1-ARCH
  -> Parsing hook: [base]
  -> Parsing hook: [udev]
  -> Parsing hook: [scsi]
==> ERROR: module not found: `libcxgbi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cxgb3i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cxgb4i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla4xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `hptiop'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bnx2fc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sg'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `osst'
==> ERROR: module not found: `iscsi_tcp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `arcmsr'
==> ERROR: module not found: `initio'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_fc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mpt2sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `be2iscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ips'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libfcoe'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fcoe'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fdomain'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qlogicfas408'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_wait_scan'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_spi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_tgt'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla1280'
==> ERROR: module not found: `iscsi_boot_sysfs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bfa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `tmscsim'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ses'
==> ERROR: module not found: `pmcraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ipr'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bnx2i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `gdth'
==> ERROR: module not found: `hpsa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libsrp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_srp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sd_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `raid_class'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic94xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libiscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dmx3191d'
==> ERROR: module not found: `st'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libosd'
==> ERROR: module not found: `osd'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ppa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `a100u2w'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dpt_i2o'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_9xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `stex'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ch'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mvsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_xxxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fnic'
==> ERROR: module not found: `advansys'
==> ERROR: module not found: `isci'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_rdac'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_emc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_alua'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_hp_sw'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aha152x_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fdomain_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sym53c500_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qlogic_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libiscsi_tcp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `vmw_pvscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sym53c8xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `lpfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla2xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aacraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `atp870u'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_mm'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_mbox'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_iscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sr_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `pm8001'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dc395x'
==> ERROR: module not found: `BusLogic'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic7xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic79xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `DAC960'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cpqarray'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cciss'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptbase'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptctl'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptscsih'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptspi'
  -> Parsing hook: [sata]
  -> Parsing hook: [filesystems]
  -> Parsing hook: [usbinput]
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: 'fallback'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: 3.1.5-1-ARCH
  -> Parsing hook: [base]
  -> Parsing hook: [udev]
  -> Parsing hook: [scsi]
==> ERROR: module not found: `libcxgbi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cxgb3i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cxgb4i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla4xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `hptiop'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bnx2fc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sg'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `osst'
==> ERROR: module not found: `iscsi_tcp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `arcmsr'
==> ERROR: module not found: `initio'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_fc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mpt2sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `be2iscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ips'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libfcoe'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fcoe'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fdomain'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qlogicfas408'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_wait_scan'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_spi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_tgt'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla1280'
==> ERROR: module not found: `iscsi_boot_sysfs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bfa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `tmscsim'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ses'
==> ERROR: module not found: `pmcraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ipr'
==> ERROR: module not found: `bnx2i'
==> ERROR: module not found: `gdth'
==> ERROR: module not found: `hpsa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libsrp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_srp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sd_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `raid_class'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic94xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libiscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dmx3191d'
==> ERROR: module not found: `st'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libosd'
==> ERROR: module not found: `osd'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ppa'
==> ERROR: module not found: `a100u2w'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dpt_i2o'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_9xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `stex'
==> ERROR: module not found: `ch'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mvsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `3w_xxxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fnic'
==> ERROR: module not found: `advansys'
==> ERROR: module not found: `isci'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_rdac'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_emc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_alua'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_dh_hp_sw'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aha152x_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `fdomain_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sym53c500_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qlogic_cs'
==> ERROR: module not found: `libiscsi_tcp'
==> ERROR: module not found: `vmw_pvscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sym53c8xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `lpfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `qla2xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aacraid'
==> ERROR: module not found: `atp870u'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_sas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_mm'
==> ERROR: module not found: `megaraid_mbox'
==> ERROR: module not found: `scsi_transport_iscsi'
==> ERROR: module not found: `sr_mod'
==> ERROR: module not found: `pm8001'
==> ERROR: module not found: `dc395x'
==> ERROR: module not found: `BusLogic'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic7xxx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `aic79xx'
==> ERROR: module not found: `DAC960'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cpqarray'
==> ERROR: module not found: `cciss'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptfc'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptsas'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptbase'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptctl'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptscsih'
==> ERROR: module not found: `mptspi'
  -> Parsing hook: [sata]
  -> Parsing hook: [filesystems]
  -> Parsing hook: [usbinput]
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Image generation successful

I'm not sure if those errors matter, because it said "image generation successful" at the end there. But same error message upon booting...

And at this point I am out of ideas, and can't seem to find any more relevant advice. Help please?

Last edited by Silvo (2011-12-18 06:16:06)

Silvo · 2011-12-18 06:15:47

OK, I really jumped the gun on this one.

I managed to fix this, following advice from here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=130268

1. Chroot into Arch
2. Downgrade to previous kernel: "pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/<prior working linux kernel>". This allowed me to boot into Arch again.
3. Update mirrors (not sure if this is needed), by replacing /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist with /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.pacnew and uncommenting desired mirrors
4. Update/upgrade packages: pacman -Syyu

The newer kernel installed properly, with no errors. Can boot, everything is good.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-12-18 05:35:10

[solved] Unable to determine major/minor number of root device

#2 2011-12-18 06:15:47

Re: [solved] Unable to determine major/minor number of root device

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