Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

zgerrz · 2007-06-10 20:51:53

After a fresh install I could boot into Arch just fine, but I ran into troubles trying to configure pacman correctly. I booted into my Ubuntu install and fixed things from there by chrooting into my arch install. I was able to use pacman to run a full system update which also updated by kernel. After rebooting and attempting to boot directly into Arch Linux, I got an error stating that the root device /dev/sdc1 could not be found or created (this is where my root drive for Arch is). I'm not sure what the problem is since the drive appears to function ok under Ubuntu Linux.

Here is my fstab:

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>        <dir>         <type>    <options>          <dump> <pass>
none                   /dev/pts      devpts    defaults            0      0
none                   /dev/shm      tmpfs     defaults            0      0


/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom   iso9660   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1   iso9660   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd   udf   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0   vfat   user,noauto   0      0
/dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda7 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
#/dev/sdc1 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda6 /mnt/downloads ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdb5 /mnt/music ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdb6 /mnt/gamearchive ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc5 /mnt/videos ext3 defaults 0 1

Here is my GRUB:

# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS 
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/hda        (hd0)
#  /dev/hdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/hda3       (hd0,2)
#

#  FRAMEBUFFER RESOLUTION SETTINGS
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#          | 640x480    800x600    1024x768   1280x1024
#      ----+--------------------------------------------
#      256 | 0x301=769  0x303=771  0x305=773   0x307=775
#      32K | 0x310=784  0x313=787  0x316=790   0x319=793
#      64K | 0x311=785  0x314=788  0x317=791   0x31A=794
#      16M | 0x312=786  0x315=789  0x318=792   0x31B=795
#     +-------------------------------------------------+

# general configuration:
timeout   7
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   (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdc1 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdc1 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

# (2) Ubuntu Linux
title Ubuntu Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro noquiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

# (1) Windows
#title Windows
#rootnoverify (hd0,0)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

aris002 · 2007-06-10 22:28:09

Just a guess. Have run "mkinitcpio" properly?

ataraxia · 2007-06-10 22:35:22

How does your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf look? You might see this if you didn't have "udev" in HOOKS.

zgerrz · 2007-06-10 23:10:41

I did run mkinitcpio but I'm not sure what is supposed to come up that is normal.

Here is my mkinitcpio.conf file:

# vim:set ft=sh
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run.  Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES="piix ide_disk reiserfs"
MODULES="pata_pdc2027x ata_generic ata_piix sata_promise"

# BINARIES
# This setting includes, into the CPIO image, and additional
# binaries a given user may wish.  This is run first, so may
# be used to override the actual binaries used in a given hook.
# (Existing files are NOT overwritten is already added)
# BINARIES are dependancy parsed, so you may safely ignore libraries
BINARIES=""

# FILES
# This setting is similar to BINARIES above, however, files are added
# as-is and are not parsed in anyway.  This is useful for config files.
# Some users may wish to include modprobe.conf for custom module options,
# like so:
#    FILES="/etc/modprobe.conf"
FILES=""

# HOOKS
# This is the most important setting in this file.  The HOOKS control the
# modules and scripts added to the image, and what happens at boot time.
# Order is important, and it is recommended that you do not change the
# order in which HOOKS are added.  Run 'mkinitcpio -H <hook name>' for
# help on a given hook.
# 'base' is _required_ unless you know precisely what you are doing.
# 'udev' is _required_ in order to automatically load modules
# 'modload' may be used in place of 'udev', but is not recommended
# 'filesystems' is _required_ unless you specify your fs modules in MODULES
# Examples:
#    This setup specifies all modules in the MODULES setting above.
#    No raid, lvm2, or encrypted root is needed.
#    HOOKS="base"
#
#    This setup will autodetect all modules for your system and should
#    work as a sane default
#    HOOKS="base udev autodetect ide scsi sata filesystems"
#
#    This setup will generate a 'full' image which supports most systems.
#    No autodetection is done.
#    HOOKS="base udev ide scsi sata usb filesystems"
#
#    This setup assembles an ide raid array with an encrypted root FS.
#    Note: See 'mkinitcpio -H raid' for more information on raid devices.
#    HOOKS="base udev ide raid encrypt filesystems"
#
#    This setup loads an lvm2 volume group on a usb device.
#    HOOKS="base udev usb lvm2 filesystems"
HOOKS="base udev autodetect sata scsi pata keymap filesystems"

I will run the command again because I ran it while under Ubuntu Linux under a chroot which may have messed up some settings. I will post back those results soon.

EDIT: I cannot even run mkinitpcio because the system drops me down to a ramfs command prompt that doesn't recognize any commands besides "reboot" as far as I can tell.

The system appears to stall after the filesystems HOOK is checked. That may be the problem but I don't know why.

Last edited by zgerrz (2007-06-10 23:17:01)

aris002 · 2007-06-11 08:39:39

Try this step by step (just adjust things to your system):
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 95#p202095

Arch Linux

#1 2007-06-10 20:51:53

Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

#2 2007-06-10 22:28:09

Re: Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

#3 2007-06-10 22:35:22

Re: Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

#4 2007-06-10 23:10:41

Re: Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

#5 2007-06-11 08:39:39

Re: Unbootable Arch system cannot find root device

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