SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

Dethredic · 2009-06-10 16:08:19

So I am getting this error when I boot. I only have 1 hard drive, and it is /dev/sdb. That is where all my Arch partitions are. My CD/DVD drive is /dev/sr0.
No flash drives or anything like that either.

sd 3:0:0:0: [sda] 16777215 512-byte hardware sectors: (8.58 GB/7.99 GiB)
sda: unknown partition table
sd 3:0:0:0: [sda] Unhandled error code
sd 3:0:0:0: [sda] Result: hostbyte=0x04 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 224
Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 224
Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 225
Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 226

Not sure what is happening here, but I am 90% positive I don't have a /dev/sda.

Any help would be great.

Last edited by Dethredic (2009-06-10 16:08:41)

deej · 2009-06-10 16:14:18

If you've only one hard disk, then it should be /dev/sda. What makes you say it's /dev/sdb ? Are you
dual-booting ?

Deej

[Edit]

Could you post your /etc/fstab ?

Last edited by deej (2009-06-10 16:14:59)

Dethredic · 2009-06-10 16:29:41

Here you go.

# 
# /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      2
#/dev/dvd               /media/dvd  auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
#/dev/fd0               /media/fl   auto    user,noauto             0      0
#UUID=278BAC2B0D1BFE2F /mnt/vista ntfs-3g users,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0113,dmask=0002 0 0
UUID=1c9db261-e019-4150-a50b-5bc7e396ee11 swap swap defaults 0 0
UUID=3673f14d-7c32-41d7-bd2e-acadb7b6cb76 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
UUID=3a31593b-d2e7-4548-a07d-02cc37a1b084 / ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=5d202ff1-9530-4a2b-a621-0d3f3e9a2462 /boot ext4 defaults 0 2

[phil@Arch ~]$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfc51fc51

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2              14        1543    12289725   83  Linux
/dev/sdb3            1544       77060   606590302+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb4           77061       77825     6144862+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
[phil@Arch ~]$

deej · 2009-06-10 16:37:10

Well, a 640gb hard disk... ? Have you got windows installed on it ? I see a reference to
'/mnt/vista...' commented out in your fstab.

It appears that some such thing must be the case, hence the allocation of /dev/sdb to
your single hard drive. If you have installed arch to dual-boot with windows and then
remove [ however you did it ] windows, then Arch will not boot.

Tell us exactly what you did... omit no detail, however slight [ that's going too far, I know,
but I'm having a Sherlock Holmes moment ]

Deej

Dethredic · 2009-06-10 16:53:48

Ok.
I was a unhappy windows user. My hard drive was also starting to act up, so I bought a new one.
I burned an Arch CD, stuck in my new hard drive (windows one still there) and installed Arch on my new hard drive.
After a week I had Arch all set up and running nicely, so I removed my windows hard drive from my computer and threw it in the garbage (jk, it is sitting in a box somewhere).

(Arch boots, but I am having trouble with HAL, and people over @ HAL think this may be the issue)

Last edited by Dethredic (2009-06-10 16:58:23)

deej · 2009-06-10 17:09:35

Quick'n'easy ? Re-install Arch. If you've got it running 'just sweet' and baulk at the idea, just
elect not to format your /home during the install, then all will be as was.

Deej

Dethredic · 2009-06-10 18:51:35

Hmm, ok. I am gonna hold off on that unless it is really a big problem.

deej · 2009-06-10 19:10:18

The problem is Arch is looking for the other hard drive. It knows it was there... but where is it now ?
There will be a way of 'informing' Arch not to bother looking for it... I haven't checked how yet. Try
commenting-out the 'Windows' entry of your /boot/grub/menu.lst. It won't do any harm and it may
just solve the problem.

Deej

Dethredic · 2009-06-10 19:15:35

deej wrote:

The problem is Arch is looking for the other hard drive. It knows it was there... but where is it now ?
There will be a way of 'informing' Arch not to bother looking for it... I haven't checked how yet. Try
commenting-out the 'Windows' entry of your /boot/grub/menu.lst. It won't do any harm and it may
just solve the problem.
Deej

never had a windows section in my menu.lst. To boot into windows I just changed the hard drive priority in my BOIS. Not the easiest, but my goal was to not use windows again.

perbh · 2009-06-10 21:04:13

*chuckles* and because windows was still there - your arch disk was /dev/sdb ...

Just use a live cd and change your /etc/fstab to use /dev/sdaX instead of that friggin' uuid and then change your /boot/grub/menu.lst to indicate (with root=/dev/sdaX - on the line starting with 'kernel') where your kernel is situated.
Also - I would make sure that the bios only sees your one and only disk.

Dethredic · 2009-06-11 02:14:10

So in fstab I can just change:

UUID=1c9db261-e019-4150-a50b-5bc7e396ee11 swap swap defaults 0 0
UUID=3673f14d-7c32-41d7-bd2e-acadb7b6cb76 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
UUID=3a31593b-d2e7-4548-a07d-02cc37a1b084 / ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=5d202ff1-9530-4a2b-a621-0d3f3e9a2462 /boot ext4 defaults 0 2

to:

/dev/sda1 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda2 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda3 / ext4 defaults 0 1
/dev/sda4 /boot ext4 defaults 0 2

and in /etc/grub/menu.lst:

title  Arch Custom
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26-custom root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/3a31593b-d2e7-4548-a07d-02cc37a1b084 ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26-custom.img

to:

title  Arch Custom
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26-custom root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26-custom.img

and that should work?

oddsocks · 2009-06-11 03:15:56

Yeah, I think the kernel thinks that whatever drive it is on IS /dev/sda whether or not it is the second physical drive. I had that problem myself when I also decided to add a second drive (SCSI server drive) and installed arch on it. Although it is the "second drive" Arch knows it as the first drive (since it is installed on it).

perbh · 2009-06-11 12:20:58

Yeah but ... do _not_ use ext4 on /boot - most grub's dont support ext4 - and using a journalled filesystem on such a small partition is just like shooting sparrows with a cannon. For /boot - ext2 is good enough.

I have always hated that uuid because I have absolutely no idea which partition they are referring to. Oh I know how to check, but it doesn't "fall into your eyes" the way /dev/sdaX does.
I can see cases where one would like to use uuid, but for the vast majority of setups, I would say it is totally unneccessary and completely confusing. (just my 2c-worth)

ataraxia · 2009-06-11 13:05:05

Arch's grub works just fine with an ext4 /boot.

Dethredic · 2009-06-11 20:03:51

Can someone confirm my changes will work. I dont want to go through the pain if they won't.

whot · 2009-06-12 03:27:41

Dethredic - Did renaming the partions work?

Perbh - I'm curious and confused (not the 1st time).

I thought one of the reasons for using UUIDs is to prevent problems with, is it sda or sdb and what order a drive is enumerated or discovered by the OS?

Also, if originally sda had windows and it was the only OS installed, then you installed sdb with Arch. Wouldn't the Master Boot Record (MBR) be installed on sda? If so, the problem shouldn't be with the partion naming (ie. UUID vs sd?), but a missing MBR.

It looks like the BIOS can't find the primary bootloader or the partition table:

sd 3:0:0:0: [sda] 16777215 512-byte hardware sectors: (8.58 GB/7.99 GiB)
sda: unknown partition table

So, how do you restore the MBR?

perbh · 2009-06-12 04:21:10

@whot:

I thought one of the reasons for using UUIDs is to prevent problems with, is it sda or sdb and what order a drive is enumerated or discovered by the OS?

That is absolutely correct - but most setups (as I indicated above) has only one disk - and using uuid you have absolutely not the faintest clue what is what - I have seen more problems caused by uuid than what it has solved.
Also note that the uuid _will_ change (I may be wrong on this) if a disk changes from sda to sdb or vice versa - it is only valied if the original disk setup is used - which is _not_ the case with the OP.

Personally I will never let a distro touch the MBR - I install grub 'by hand' by using a live cd and let the distro only use the root filesystem and force it to install it's grub on the only partition I give it. That way _I_ am in control and I have never had any problems - no matter how exotic my setup may be - I have used 2 windows partition and 6 different linux's on the same disk. If I had used uuid - it would have driven me to drink trying to keep the partitions seperate.

Last edited by perbh (2009-06-12 04:23:19)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-10 16:08:19

SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#2 2009-06-10 16:14:18

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#3 2009-06-10 16:29:41

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#4 2009-06-10 16:37:10

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#5 2009-06-10 16:53:48

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#6 2009-06-10 17:09:35

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#7 2009-06-10 18:51:35

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#8 2009-06-10 19:10:18

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#9 2009-06-10 19:15:35

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#10 2009-06-10 21:04:13

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#11 2009-06-11 02:14:10

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#12 2009-06-11 03:15:56

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#13 2009-06-11 12:20:58

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#14 2009-06-11 13:05:05

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#15 2009-06-11 20:03:51

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#16 2009-06-12 03:27:41

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

#17 2009-06-12 04:21:10

Re: SDA Error on Boot, but no /dev/sda

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