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Chalumeau

Member

Registered: 2012-07-09

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Hello,  Hope to get some help with this.   I've been using Ubuntu for a couple years.  Thought I'd try Arch, so I downloaded the archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-i686.iso and burned it to CD.   Started up my Dell Mini9 (with failed SSD - I use USB only now for Ubuntu) with an external USB optical drive and the archlinux iso connected.  I had to pre-partition the 16G USB stick in advance with parted magic, then I skipped to manually configuring filesystems and mount point within the netinstall program.   That went ok.   Downloaded all the files from the mirror and got through looking at the config files and making some entries (just a few like hostname, locale, etc).  Installed Grub ok, created root password etc.   

Went to reboot and got this:

unable to find root device /dev/sda2
you are being dropped to a recovery shell

I've been looking around the Internet off and on for a couple days.   Nothing specific to my situation with no hard drive or SSD and using USB drive only.   Any help would be apprecitated.

Thanks !

Bob

Last edited by Chalumeau (2012-07-11 01:16:04)

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: [SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Well, /dev/sda2 is the second partition of the first disk. If you say the SSD is broken, the system will still probably see it as sda, unless you disabled it from the BIOS or physically removed it. So I think you need to use /dev/sdb1, the USB stick.

This basically boils down to GRUB's menu.lst. Fire up Partition Magic and edit /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Unless you got something like this:

Waiting 10 seconds for device blablabla ...
ERROR: Unable to find root device 'blablabla'.
You are being dropped to a recovery shell
    Type 'exit' to try and continue booting
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
[rootfs /]# _

...in which case you will need to re-generate your initramfs. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Use the Fallback entry and then run:

$ sudo mkinitcpio -p linux

If you don't have a Fallback entry, press "e" when the GRUB menu shows up and rename "initramfs-linux.img" into "initramfs-linux-fallback.img". Then press "b" to boot. If that doesn't work, try it from a chroot: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … nger_boot.

Oh, and don't forget to mark it as solved (by editing the first post).

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I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

Chalumeau

Member

Registered: 2012-07-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Thanks ! for the quick reply.   SSD is physically removed.   My USB drive is /dev/sda ...

Fallback is listed and gives the same result.   I'll read through what you posted, try it and get back.

Bob

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Also, if you are trying to boot from a USB drive, make sure you include that in your hooks...

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Registered Linux User #482438

Chalumeau

Member

Registered: 2012-07-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Ok !  Success.   

It was the usb hook that was missing.   For any newbie (like me) viewing, in this file:  /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
add usb in the Hook line between udev and autodetect.   Do this during the initial file configuration as you
set the system up with the LiveCD.

Bob

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [SOLVED] USB Installation Failed

Ok !  Success.

Good to hear. Please remember to mark your thread a [Solved].

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438