Arch Linux

lokasenna

Member

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 7

Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

I made a kernel using 2.6.24.2 to get support for my Realtek-8187 but it fails when loading. I get a failure when it crosses the checking filesystems area. I've tried everything I could think of, and combed the kernel options but I can't find anything that would possibly fix the problem. The original kernel boots fine so it's probably something I missed in my kernel.

lokasenna

Member

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 7

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

Bumpity Bump

fwojciec

Member

Registered: 2007-05-20

Posts: 1,411

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

What's the filesystem on the partition that causes trouble?  I remember that when I used to compile my own kernel I had to add "reiserfs" to the modules section of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf in order to be able to boot without issues.

lokasenna

Member

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 7

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

Reiserfs as well, would I still need to do that even when I built in the reiserfs filesystem? If yes, then could you link a tutorial or tell me how to do it? Thanks a lot.

fwojciec

Member

Registered: 2007-05-20

Posts: 1,411

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

I don't know about a tutorial, but it should be easy enough to do -- building a kernel on a system with reiserfs has nothing to do  with it though.  Anyways, all you have to do is to edit the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file, add "reiserfs" to the modules line (should be right at the top of the file) and then regenerate the kernel image with mkinitcpio -p [your kernel name] command.  That's all there is to it.

I can't guarantee that it will work though since I've no idea how you compiled your kernel...

lokasenna

Member

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 7

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

I couldn't get it to work with that. I'm guessing it creates an initrd image? It created an executable which I placed in boot and put as initrd in grub but it still didn't work. I need to go to sleep right now, but I'll post further information tomorrow. Thanks for your help dude.

Is there a particular option I need to have enabled in the kernel to work with what you suggested?

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

If you've built reiserfs in, you have no module to add to an initrd image. I'm guessing you weren't planning to use initrd anyway, right?

Some more details about this "failure" would help others to help you. You could also boot up with a live CD and run a fs check from that - you may actually have a fs problem that needs rectifying first.

fwojciec

Member

Registered: 2007-05-20

Posts: 1,411

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

Sorry, I think I've misread your earlier post about reiserfs being built into the kernel   It was late...

In my experience of building custom kernels for Arch the method that seemed to work best was to rename and customize the default Arch kernel by editing the standard PKGBUILD and the building the custom kernel with makepkg.  Here is what I would usually do:

1) Copy the kernel26 directory from /var/abs/core/base/kernel26 to somewhere in my /home dir (you could also use /var/abs/local or something like that).
2) Run this patch from this thread (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=34815 -- post #9 by kano) in the directory I copied the kernel26 directory to in order to rename the kernel so that it can be installed in parallel to the default one.  Be careful, because the patch was written a while back and the last time I've tried it it was somewhat liberal with sed action and replaced some "kernel26" references in the sources array with the custom kernel name.  Not sure if this would happen with the current PKGBUILD as well, but it's something to keep an eye on and correct manually if necessary.
3) Add the patches I need to the PKGBUILD.
4) Build the kernel with makepkg.
5) Install the kernel with pacman -U.

That's just one way to do it but it worked fine for me in the past -- it should be a good method if all you need to do is to add a patch or two.

lokasenna

Member

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 7

Re: Problem Mounting With Custom Kernel

The screens lists some modules that couldn't load correctly before the error comes up. It says

:: Checking Filesystem
     Filesystem Check Failed
Please repair manually and reboot. Note that the root file system is currently mounted read-only...(instructions to mount it correctly)

I've tried editing all the options I could in fstab to get it to mount correctly but I still have no clue what's going on. As I said earlier, I doubt it's a problem with the filesystem because the initial Arch kernel boots just fine.

I'll try what fwojciec suggested, hopefully I can fiddle it into working. I can't get access to a wired solution anytime soon so I have to use Windows right now since wireless works with it.