kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

egn · 2009-05-11 15:50:00

Hi,

I'm getting this error on boot which is giving me a recovery shell. I have tried passing root=/dev/sda2 (my root partition) and rootdelay=8 (and higher) which the error suggested with no luck. This started after a kernel upgrade.

<other dmesg stuff>
:: Running Hook [keymap]
:: Loading keymap...done.
:: Running Hook [filesystems]
:: Loading root filesystem module...
Attempting to create root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5'
ERROR: Failed to parse block device name for '/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5' unknown
ERROR: root fs cannot be detected. Try using the rootfstype= kernel parameter.
Waiting for other devices to settle...done.

Root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5 doesn't exist, attempting to create it
ERROR: Failed to parse block device name for '/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5'
ERROR: Unable to create/detect root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5'
Dropping to a recovery shell... type 'exit' to reboot

Thanks,
Erik

gaudencio · 2009-05-11 18:45:09

you're not the only one....I'm on an acer aspire one and it happened today after an upgrade. I've never messed around with the kernel, although weirdly enough I was just reading up about how to compile from scratch, but I never actually touched anything, I swear!
Any help?

gaudencio · 2009-05-11 18:46:57

by the way, as much as I'd like to get to the bottom of this, I've got to use the computer, so if there's no responses by the time I finish dinner I'm going to do a reinstall.

egn · 2009-05-11 18:54:51

I'm following this thread http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=550946 but I've booted the live CD, mounted my file systems, chrooted, and rebuilt the kernel a few times (mkinitcpio -p kernel26 and pacman -Sy kernel26) and it still has the same error on boot.

Zariel · 2009-05-11 20:01:33

Is the initrd loaded properly? Can you post your /boot/grub/menu.lst, mkinitcpio.conf. Are you using the stock kernel or a custom one?

egn · 2009-05-11 20:11:58

Using a stock kernel.

menu.lst

timeout   4
default   0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

# boot sections follow
# each is implicitly numbered from 0 in the order of appearance below
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/b9f2a835-6843-48e4-b3a4-1af321f70de5 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img

mkinitcpio.conf

MODULES="pata_acpi pata_jmicron ata_generic scsi_mod ahci ata_piix"
BINARIES=""
FILES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata usbinput keymap filesystems"

egn · 2009-05-11 20:34:57

I have solved this temporarily by reverting to the kernel pkg that I had in pacman's cache.

1.) boot from the live CD
2.) followed http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=550946 to chroot to my install (I have /boot on a separate partition, so I had to mount that in addition to the commands given in that thread)
3.) pacman -Rd kernel26
4.) cd /var/cache/pacman/pkg
5.) pacman -U kernel26-2.6.29.2-1-i686.pkg.tar.gz
6.) rebooted

jfca283 · 2009-05-20 10:30:17

i can't fix it
i've edited
/etc/mtab
/etc/fstab
/boot/grub/menu.lst
with /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/uiid-xxxxxx
but nothing
always the same error
what can i do?
downgrade the kernel?
is this a major bug of this kernel version?
is annoying and difficult to fix i think

wottam · 2009-05-21 05:26:41

Happening the same here... everything works fine till I update kernel26 to version 2.6.29.3-1. And it is reproducible, I installed a new system (I wanted to switch to ext4) but after the kernel update I'm stuck in the same place.

jfca283 · 2009-05-21 07:51:19

i migrate to ubuntu 9.04
it's a huge bug this issue
but on my Destop PC i'm still with arch
i only migrate my HTPC from arch to ibex 9.04

wottam · 2009-05-21 11:33:32

I don't know what to do either :S, I'll file a detailed bug report when I get home so that devs can take a look on this. Actually, kernel version 2.6.29.4 was released yesterday, maybe it'll help. I'll try building a custom kernel (both versions) to see if I can bypass the malfunctionality.

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 13:46:05

Try to remove the /dev/disk-by-uuid-blebleble and add /devsda2 or /dev/sda1 where you have your root partiotion or /boot partitin

wottam · 2009-05-21 14:28:03

That won't help SpeedVin. Actually, I have never used UUID and jfca283 tried it already. By the way, I tested latest kernel from [testing] and it does not work either

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 15:07:57

Maeybe compile the modules to kernel (Just write them to mkinitcpio.conf)
Taht modules is ext4 (if you have root on ext4)
Modules to ext4 works and drivers to your hardware hard disc (ATA/PATA/SATA/SCSI).

Last edited by SpeedVin (2009-05-21 15:35:00)

bender02 · 2009-05-21 15:32:08

SpeedVin wrote:

Mayebe compile the modules to kernel (Just write them to mkinitcpio.conf)

Just for the record, this sentence means something completely different than intended by SpeedVin, judging by the rest of the post.
There are two different things:
1) kernel (the file is /boot/vmlinuz26)
2) initramfs (also called initcpio) (the filenames are usually /boot/kernel26.img and /boot/kernel26-fallback.img) which is just a compressed archive of a bunch of files. This is what is loaded right after the kernel is loaded on boot, this is where you're having problems and this is what is influenced by /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, and what is regenerated by running 'mkinitcpio -p kernel26' (which should be done every time you edit mkinitcpio.conf).

By the way, y'all, did you try to boot with the fallback initramfs? If yes, then the problem is that you're missing some module in the default initramfs and SpeedVin's suggestion is a good one - add your filesystem and harddisk driver modules to mkinitcpio.conf and regenerate the initramfs.

EDIT: I forgot to say: when you write 'compile the module into the kernel', that means that you *compile* your own kernel and edit its config so that those modules are really compiled in.

Last edited by bender02 (2009-05-21 15:34:48)

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 15:34:19

bender02 wrote:

SpeedVin wrote:
Mayebe compile the modules to kernel (Just write them to mkinitcpio.conf)
Just for the record, this sentence means something completely different than intended by SpeedVin, judging by the rest of the post.
There are two different things:
1) kernel (the file is /boot/vmlinuz26)
2) initramfs (also called initcpio) which is just a compressed archive of a bunch of files. This is what is loaded right after the kernel is loaded on boot, this is where you're having problems and this is what is influenced by /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, and what is regenerated by running 'mkinitcpio -p kernel26' (which should be done every time you edit mkinitcpio.conf).
By the way, y'all, did you try to boot with the fallback initramfs? If yes, then the problem is that you're missing some module in the default initramfs and SpeedVin's suggestion is a good one - add your filesystem and harddisk driver modules to mkinitcpio.conf and regenerate the initramfs.

Yes you're right i don't know how to say this.
Thanks for correct

wottam · 2009-05-21 15:59:42

Let's try it, be back in a while... and thanks to you both

wottam · 2009-05-21 16:26:24

sigh... it didn't work. At least, by adding 'ext3' to the modules section in mkinitcpio.conf. How would I find the right module for my hard disk, if it is not a lot to ask?

UPDATE: I just added all the modules that get loaded during the live cd boot and it didn't make a difference.

Last edited by wottam (2009-05-21 16:37:40)

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 16:50:05

You just have to search for modules to ext3 and for your hard drive :0
What do you have hard disc?

Last edited by SpeedVin (2009-05-23 06:15:44)

wottam · 2009-05-21 17:34:39

My hard disks are Western Digital Raptor and Seagate 7200.11. I tried to load ext3, pata_sis, ata_generic, sata_sis and even scsi_mod without success. May it be the motherboard controller? I can't remember right now the exact model of my motherboard, but I'll look into it as well (I'm starting to run out of ideas)

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 17:41:01

Let's try libata and scsi_mod
Are you using AHCI?

Last edited by SpeedVin (2009-05-21 17:41:45)

wottam · 2009-05-21 17:54:39

Yes, configuration in the BIOS (motherboard is Asus P5W DH by the way) marks SATA as AHCI. libata and scsi_mod didn't make it to work though. I have added to the MODULES section all the modules that are loaded during the live cd booting process, which succesfully detects my hard disks. If I downgrade the kernel, everything works, it is by updating to 2.6.29.3 when it fails (and 2.6.29.4, too, so waiting for a newer version is not an option).

Again, thanks for your help. If we work it out, I owe you one beer (or a bottle of Zubrowka ;D)

SpeedVin · 2009-05-21 18:01:52

Maebye compile your own kernel based on 2.6.29.4

wottam · 2009-05-21 18:10:09

Would that actually be of any help? I tried the one in [testing] and it didn't work. I think I'll need to give it a shot, just in case...

wottam · 2009-05-21 18:55:56

Finally

I fixed it by changing in BIOS "Configure SATA as" from "AHCI" to "Standard IDE". So, it seems that I have located where the problem is (though, by no means why it is caused), which should help finding a solution.

Thanks to all of you who answered the post, now I'll do a little research on AHCI to find out what I just disabled

Arch Linux

#1 2009-05-11 15:50:00

kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#2 2009-05-11 18:45:09

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#3 2009-05-11 18:46:57

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#4 2009-05-11 18:54:51

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#5 2009-05-11 20:01:33

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#6 2009-05-11 20:11:58

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#7 2009-05-11 20:34:57

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#8 2009-05-20 10:30:17

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#9 2009-05-21 05:26:41

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#10 2009-05-21 07:51:19

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#11 2009-05-21 11:33:32

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#12 2009-05-21 13:46:05

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#13 2009-05-21 14:28:03

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#14 2009-05-21 15:07:57

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#15 2009-05-21 15:32:08

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#16 2009-05-21 15:34:19

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#17 2009-05-21 15:59:42

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#18 2009-05-21 16:26:24

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#19 2009-05-21 16:50:05

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#20 2009-05-21 17:34:39

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#21 2009-05-21 17:41:01

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#22 2009-05-21 17:54:39

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#23 2009-05-21 18:01:52

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#24 2009-05-21 18:10:09

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

#25 2009-05-21 18:55:56

Re: kernel errors with on boot with root= device, drops to recovery shell

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