Arch Linux

timm

Member

From: Wisconsin

Registered: 2004-02-25

Posts: 417

Installation with Raid, etc... [dead issue, don't bother reading]

I'm trying to install arch using RAID and LVM, following the wiki procedure in Installing with Software Raid or LVM.

I am able to get to the point where I install the kernel.  When I install it, the bottom of the screen flashes the "wrong fs type, etc" error, then the installer acts as though it is installing it anyway, going through the installation, configuration, and fallback configuration stuff.

If I continue, when I get to grub installation, I get the error that the drive doesn't exist.  I've found some forum threads on this which indicate (I think) that I need to run makedevs before going to grub installation.  If I type, makedevs, I get a command not found error.

The filesystem seems to be up and working, so I'm not sure what next steps I take to troubleshoot this.

bump:

So I tried the quickinstaller for some better control, which seems to help.  I also found this in the forums, it allows me to run makedevs.  /dev/md0 is already mounted at /mnt are my root, so I skipped the first line, not sure what else I could do there.

mount /dev/hdxY /mnt
chroot /mnt /bin/bash
mount -t sysfs none /sys
mount -t proc  none /proc
makedevs
mount -a

Then vi /boot/grub/menu.lst :
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/md2 ro md=2,/dev/hda3,/dev/hdb3
Then launched grub as quoted in the wiki

Now, it doesn't say to exit the chroot to go on to grub - but it must be required because there is no /mnt/dev unless you do.  Once out, if I use

mount -o /dev /mnt/dev, I get a new error:

mount:  can't find /mnt/dev in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

Which it isn't, but /mnt/dev does certainly exist.

I'm working on the very edge of my linux knowledge here, and suspect I'm making a fundamental error, but (obviously) don't know what it is.:(

bump:

Found this in discussion about the current iso, no access to the computer today but this will be my next approach.   

ok bug indetified:
i really apologize for this because it's something that shouldn't happen at all, but im only a human too.
/dev is not correctly mounted in installation system (during archboot cleanup i thought this is not needed sad )
--> setup cannot bind /dev to installed system.
--> autodetection of filesystem will fail, which will cause the default initrd to fail on boot.

2 workarounds:
First workaround before entering setup:
mount -t ramfs none /dev
/etc/start_udev
now setup works as it should!
Second workaround:
while using setup:
edit /etc/mkinitcpio to not include autodetect in HOOKS= array

1 workaround if you already installed and system doesn't boot:
use the kernel26-fallback.img as initrd in your bootloader
after successfull boot just fix the ramdisk:
mkinitcpio -p kernel26

bump:

I backed out and started all over a couple times, finally installed via Duke with updates.  Found that I had to reinstall filesystems to my hard drive; something obviously got messed up, and ultimately found a couple of "typos" that had managed to mess me up.  Because I fixed so many things on the way to installation, I can't tell you exactly what I did, so I'm marking this thread as a dead issue so people don't bother reading it.

Last edited by timm (2007-10-05 02:25:54)