Arch Linux

Reasons

Member

From: Washington

Registered: 2007-11-04

Posts: 572

Root Device doesn't exist

I compiled a new kernel today, same steps as I always did but when I booted it I got the great

Attempting to create root device /dev/sda6
ERROR: Failed to parse block device name
ERROR: root fs cannot be detected

Root device /dev/sda6 doesn't exist

I tried both sda and hda in the menu.lst for the heck of it but to no luck.

tigrmesh

IRC Op

From: Florida, US

Registered: 2007-12-11

Posts: 794

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

Did you make any other changes?  Is there anything in pacman log about the new kernel?  What kernel version did you upgrade to?

quantax

Member

Registered: 2007-08-16

Posts: 24

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

Hi,

I have the same problem on my family's box.
I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.24.4-1.
There is nothing terribly unusual in the setup. It uses ext2 and ext3.
Unfortunately I have no access to the box atm, since it is at the other end of the country.

Help!

Last edited by quantax (2008-05-05 20:29:06)

Reasons

Member

From: Washington

Registered: 2007-11-04

Posts: 572

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

Did you make any other changes?  Is there anything in pacman log about the new kernel?  What kernel version did you upgrade to?

This is .25. If it matters / is on resizerfs though I did include that fs in the build.

Reasons

Member

From: Washington

Registered: 2007-11-04

Posts: 572

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

I just rebuilt the kernel at in the end it gives me

  DEPMOD  2.6.25-vaio
==> Installing additional files
  -> Fixing permissions
cp: cannot stat `arch/x86_64/Makefile': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `arch/x86_64/kernel/asm-offsets.s': No such file or directory
  -> Adding headers
  -> Adding CLUSTERIP file for iptables
  -> Adding wireless headers
  -> Adding vmlinux
PKGBUILD: line 179: cd: /home/shawn/Desktop/kernel/pkg/lib/modules/2.6.25-reasons: No such file or directory
  -> Installing mkinitcpio.conf and preset file for kernel
  -> Removing unneeded architectures
==> Tidying install...
  -> Removing info/doc files...
  -> Compressing man pages...
  -> Stripping debugging symbols from binaries and libraries...
==> Creating package...
  -> Generating .PKGINFO file...
  -> Adding install script...
  -> Compressing package...
==> Leaving fakeroot environment.
==> Finished making: kernel26reasons (Mon May  5 16:39:09 PDT 2008)

Just realized the names didn't match up. Trying that right now.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-05-05 23:48:13)

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

That error you're getting means that it didn't even get to consider a filesystem - the device node does not even exist. So I'd think the problem is at the lower level - the device driver?

Reasons

Member

From: Washington

Registered: 2007-11-04

Posts: 572

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

It turned out to just be the name in the .config not matching, a really stupid mistake on my part. However, it didn't make the makefile in /usr/src/[kernel]x86... which makes it so I can't build my webcam driver against the kernel which it depends. I'll post the errors once I get back to the laptop.

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

Sorry, by "that error" I meant the one in the first post. But I'm happy that you resolved the problem. This is a very wild guess: With the webcam driver, you can probably pass a parameter like --kernel-sources=<dir> to configure, so that it can find the sources. makefile should not be necessary.

quantax

Member

Registered: 2007-08-16

Posts: 24

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

I managed to downgrade the kernel.
I also had to downgrade klibc* and mkinitcpio.
But I am not sure what actually is the problem.

Anyone with more insight in this matter?

BTW, I'm not using [testing] on this machine. Just installing from the standard Arch repos.

Last edited by quantax (2008-05-10 12:00:31)

quantax

Member

Registered: 2007-08-16

Posts: 24

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

Ok, I "solved" the problem by doing a full -Syu.
Maybe someone forgot a dependency somewhere...

jvalente

Member

Registered: 2008-02-03

Posts: 3

Re: Root Device doesn't exist

I've reached to a solution. I realized that the stock kernel recognize my disk as sda and the new kernel as hda, so i changed my /etc/fstab sda* to hda* and  root=/dev/sda3 to /dev/hda3 at /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Kind of weird.

Thanks.