Arch Linux

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Annoying boot errors

Hello there.

Some of the good guys from #archlinux tried to help me out but since we didn't find the solution I'll ask and explain here. When I choose from MBR archlinux this is what I get at some point:

Attempting to create root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971' Error failed to parse block device for /dev/disk/by-uuid/f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971 Error: root fs cannaot be detected. Try using the root fstype= kernel parameter.

Let start from the beginning which is the installation. I've burn i686 core version iso and start the installation. At the point where you have to partition disks I selected sdb for partitioning since this partition is my 8gb usb stick! I've created the whole partition in ext3 and select it for / mount point. I'm pretty sure I didn't blow anything up till now since from another terminal I was checking if this partition is the correct by executing the command 'fdisk -l'. Also I've chose sda3 for swap since this partition is already swap for my current opensuse distro. Installation went fine, at the end I just had to chose the root password and ofcaurse bootloader. I selected install bootloader and when it asked me where to isntall I selected nowhere (since MBR is alredy installed on sda1 partition - opensuse partition), I only needed the info how it looks like. So I rebooted and went to opensuse to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst in opensuse.
You will ask how did look like the menu.lst from Arch? Here it is:

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

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/sda        (hd0)
#  /dev/sdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/sda3       (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
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#  for more details and different resolutions see
#  http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#Framebuffer_Resolution

# general configuration:
timeout   5
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  [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

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

Ofcaurse this is the arc's menu.lst whic istn't actually loaded! The first thing that I was surprised was that Arch actually mixed partitions...  kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro It put sda3 ... don't know how but it did... Anyhow here is also the fstab of arch:

#
# /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             /media/cd   auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
#/dev/dvd               /media/dvd  auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
#/dev/fd0               /media/fl   auto    user,noauto             0      0

UUID=48c4358d-a8a9-48cb-b5a3-a39830b22a02 swap swap defaults 0 0
UUID=f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971 / ext3 defaults 0 1

Those two entried I DID NOT EDIT.

So now comes the actual menu.lst that is on opensuse, modified one:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Apr 21 00:01:47 CEST 2009
default 0
timeout 2
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.21-0.1
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.21-0.1-pae root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-TOSHIBA_MK1234GSX_27KLTKHBT-part1 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-TOSHIBA_MK1234GSX_27KLTKHBT-part3 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.21-0.1-pae

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.21-0.1
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.21-0.1-pae root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-TOSHIBA_MK1234GSX_27KLTKHBT-part1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x317
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.21-0.1-pae

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
    rootnoverify (fd0)
    chainloader +1

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux  [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root   (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971 ro rootdelay=10
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

#/kernel26-fallback.img
# (1) Windows
#title Windows
#rootnoverify (hd0,0)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

And here is the 'blkid' output just to make it sure that sdb1 is sdb1:

/dev/sda1: UUID="2ebd3dd8-f52a-45eb-b3d9-ab383674bf77" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" UUID="48c4358d-a8a9-48cb-b5a3-a39830b22a02"
/dev/sda5: UUID="c7b1fec5-3032-474f-abc8-c1724aa76c00" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: UUID="af335020-ca87-43ca-aa05-532bf33c203e" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971" TYPE="ext3"

Ok so now I've tried also some other things. I've chaned:
1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f4628f6a-97a6-4be0-8fd5-c2dcfcf0f971 ro rootdelay=10 into kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdb1 ro rootdelay=10

2)initrd /boot/kernel26.img into initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img <- this one I temporary changed. In mbr I pressed e than I write -fallback pressed enter and pressed b to boot it but the results are the same.

3)I hope you guys will help me out. It's kinda frustrating just trying to get into arch for two days now

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

Where are all the good guys when you need them

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Annoying boot errors

Are you sure you set up mkinitcpio right? Make sure the module for your HD controller and root filesystem are in the initpcio image.

---

Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

B: thank you for your replay. I didn't actually modify mkinitcpio, since on the beginners guide: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beg … tcpio.conf was mentioned that I don't need to modify it. However this is my mkinitcpio.conf:

MODULES=""
BINARIES=""
FILES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems"

My /etc/mkinitcpio.d/kernel26.preset

  4 # DO NOT EDIT THIS LINE:
  5 source /etc/mkinitcpio.d/kernel26.kver
  6 ########################################
  7 ALL_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
  8
  9 PRESETS=('default' 'fallback')
 10
 11 #default_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
 12 default_image="/boot/kernel26.img"
 13 #default_options=""
 14
 15 #fallback_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
 16 fallback_image="/boot/kernel26-fallback.img"
 17 fallback_options="-S autodetect"

and /etc/mkinitcpio.d/kernel26.kver

  1 # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
  2 ALL_kver='2.6.29-ARCH'

I don't know how to check if modues for my HD and / fs are in the initcpio image. Which one is the initpcio image?

In /boot/ I have following files, which one we are talking about? grub  kernel26-fallback.img  kernel26.img  System.map26  vmlinuz26

Last edited by frojnd (2009-04-26 16:22:37)

gazj

Member

From: /home/gazj -> /uk/cambs

Registered: 2007-02-09

Posts: 681

Website

Re: Annoying boot errors

try putting "ext3" (or any other filesystem you used for /) in the modules array.  Then rerun mkinitcpio

---

dotfiles : shots : musik : linux : .bin : dwarf blog

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

I've put ext3 in the modules so now the /etc/mkinitcpio.con is:
MODULES="ext3"
BINARIES=""
FILES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems"

What do you mean with "rerun mkinitcpio". I'm editing those files in another system while mounting the /.

gazj

Member

From: /home/gazj -> /uk/cambs

Registered: 2007-02-09

Posts: 681

Website

Re: Annoying boot errors

The mkinitcpio.conf files tells mkinitcpio how to make the initial ram disk image needed to boot your kernel.  After you have made changes to your mkinitcpio you need to rebuild a new initial ram disk (initrd).  You must be in your arch system to do this.  If you boot from your arch installation cd there will be an option too boot your hard disk installation using the cd's kernel and startup.  Read the message on the cd boot: screen to see how do that.

Once your in make changes to mkinitpio.conf then run this command

mkinitcpio -g /boot/kernel26.img

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dotfiles : shots : musik : linux : .bin : dwarf blog

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

If you boot from your arch installation cd there will be an option too boot your hard disk installation using the cd's kernel and startup.

I boot from CD mount /dev/sdb1 and thene execute mkinitcpio -g /boot/kernel26.img which was successful, but I'm still not able to get into arch. I can't actually boot into my system since this is the error.

fphillips

Member

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2009-01-24

Posts: 202

Re: Annoying boot errors

When you are in the live CD environment, and mount your root fs to /mnt for example, you need to either chroot /mnt, or specify /mnt to the mkinitcpio options so that it writes to /mnt/boot/ instead of /boot (which is just a ramdisk). See the -b/g/s options for mkinitcpio.

Last edited by fphillips (2009-04-29 05:22:20)

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

fphillips: first I mounted /dev/sdb1 to /mnt and then I executed: mkinitcpio -g /mnt/boot/kernel26.img The status at the end of the process was successful.

Zariel

Member

Registered: 2008-10-07

Posts: 446

Re: Annoying boot errors

You need to do this, except ignore all the bits related to grub and just do mkinitcpio bit.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rei … stallation

Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,549

Re: Annoying boot errors

I doubt this is a problem here, but for future reference, re-do the initcpio with 'mkinitcpio -p kernel26'.

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

I did mount and chroot as on that wiki:

cd /
mount -t ext3   /dev/sdb1 /mnt
chroot /mnt

after that I've run mkinitcpio -p kernel26 output of it can be found here:  http://pastebin.com/m341e849f

Then I've: exit, reboot and on my surprise I was still not able to get into arch

frojnd

Member

Registered: 2008-09-20

Posts: 125

Re: Annoying boot errors

More suggestions would be nice to hear.