[SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

deticxe · 2012-02-17 13:47:03

I can't boot Arch using the installation media. Neither can I boot the GParted liveCD.

Media: netinstall image for x86-64 CPU (checksum verified, tried redownloading / burning to a new disc)
Current OS: Windows 7
Hardware info:
CPU: Intel i5 2500k
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO
Hard drives:
1x1TB drive with windows 7 installed, format NTFS, boot sector: GPT
2*2TB media drives
1*110GB unparittioned unformatted drive i'm trying to install arch on

What could be causing the installation media to hang? Is it likely to be a HDD, RAM, firmware problem? Thanks to anyone who can help.

Last edited by deticxe (2012-02-18 01:55:33)

DSpider · 2012-02-17 13:54:34

Is the error something about 30 seconds, can't find "ARCH_201108" ?

How are you writing these CDs (which program)? Did you try from a USB stick?

deticxe · 2012-02-17 13:59:23

No error, just hangs at this point. I havn't tried using a USB stick - doing this now.

(Used OS X disk utility the first time, and imgburn on windows the second)

Edit: This occurrs about midway through the boot procedure, I'd say. I should say that I have successfully booted Arch from the cd before, a few months ago with slightly different hardware.

Last edited by deticxe (2012-02-17 14:05:10)

deticxe · 2012-02-17 14:38:08

Okay - using the flahs drive yes I get the message:

Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201108

and then a few more successful lines before hanging on the line i mentioned previously.

What might this be?

DSpider · 2012-02-17 18:27:35

Yeah, it's an incredibly common error. I hope the Arch devs drop the whole concept of using labels for the (official) 2012 release. Now you could try Archboot, or you could try this method (from Windows): SYSLINUX: Boot the entire ISO from RAM using MEMDISK

debdj · 2012-02-17 18:55:57

just asking.. did you recently resize/create any disk partitions on the hard disk arch is on?

djgera · 2012-02-17 19:01:10

@DSpider: Please stop FUD about archisolabel and related message. I suggest to learn how boot things really works.

Reaching such message is because some of these things fails:

1) User does not setup a filesystem label when copy ISO contents to booteable media (usb drives). In that case, if users insist in not using label, there is a boot option archisodevice=...
2) Broken/incompatible/unsupported hardware/firmware on Linux and sometimes with udev built-ins (cdrom_id, ...). -> Needed modules not loaded or loaded but not working for boot medium.

Again, archboot work in a really different way than archiso. It just work on initramfs (rootfs), so there is no need to detect and mount boot media then switch_root.

So please finish with these false alarms. I already read several of your messages in different places on this forum, repeating the same thing over and over again.

PS1: Archiso will continue using the great label-system.
PS2: memdisk is the most discourage method to boot especially in x86_32.

DSpider · 2012-02-17 19:21:25

djgera, my first posting on this forum was about the famous 30 seconds error:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=78664

Then again in 2010: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=93645

As you can see, this error holds a very special place in my heart. Please don't take it away from me, Arch devs! Please, continue using labels. There are just not enough topics on this forum about it. Everything is just peachy.

deticxe · 2012-02-18 01:55:16

I solved this by using UNetBootin to make a bootable flash drive, and aside from the occasional warning message installation proceeded smoothly. (Apart from the bootloader not installing, which I'm now trying to do outside of the installer...)

This might solve it, too:
"Note: If you get the famous 30 seconds error (especially with the i686 version), press the Tab key at the "Boot Arch Linux" entry and add "vmalloc=256M" at the end for the netinstall image and "vmalloc=448M" for the core image."

Thanks guys!

DSpider · 2012-02-20 22:07:54

No, that part is for MEMDISK-loaded images only.

I'm glad the UNetBootin method worked out for you.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-17 13:47:03

[SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#2 2012-02-17 13:54:34

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#3 2012-02-17 13:59:23

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#4 2012-02-17 14:38:08

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#5 2012-02-17 18:27:35

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#6 2012-02-17 18:55:57

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#7 2012-02-17 19:01:10

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#8 2012-02-17 19:21:25

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#9 2012-02-18 01:55:16

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

#10 2012-02-20 22:07:54

Re: [SOLVED] Installation media fails to boot at "Mounting....'

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