Can't acces to system!

Hyugga · 2010-06-24 18:39:11

I've recently upgraded my system with pacman -Syu but it can't boot.
It says something like it can't find dev/sda5 (where the system is installed)
then i get to a recovery terminal o something.
Help please!

Hyugga · 2010-06-24 18:41:18

I tried to acces the partition with an ubuntu live cd but i get the following message:

mount special device dev/sda5 does not exist

George.Harmony · 2010-06-24 18:46:04

Can you provide the output from

fdisk -l /dev/sda

probably the first place to start

And just a thought but did your grub get an upgrade by any chance?

Last edited by George.Harmony (2010-06-24 18:49:23)

Hyugga · 2010-06-24 19:38:52

Can`t remember it was so many packages!
I upgraded the system only a few hours ago.
It seems grub doesn't recieve an update since april.
I remembre that the kernel and xorg where updated, and i had to remove radeon_ucode to make the upgrade.
Thats all i remember.

I tried fdisk -l dev/sda and it says that it doesn't recognize the command fdisk...
I don't know what else to do.

Last edited by Hyugga (2010-06-24 19:55:05)

Stebalien · 2010-06-24 22:12:02

Boot into a live cd and read this: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UUID.

Hyugga · 2010-06-24 22:38:42

Mmm ok, i have an ubuntu live cd but i don't know what to to...I'm kind of a newbie in Linux/Arch.
I know that partitions have names, but the system can't find the partition or something.
I can't run any command because the boot secuence doesn't boot the kernel yet.
...

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 00:37:23

ok i have an ubuntu live cd and i ran some commands.
With fdisk -l /dev/sda, i get this:

Disposit. Inicio    Comienzo      Fin      Bloques  Id  Sistema
/dev/sda1   *           1          13      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS
La partición 1 no termina en un límite de cilindro.
/dev/sda2              13        3825    30617600    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            3825       19457   125567328+   5  Extendida
/dev/sda5            3825        5041     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            5041        5406     2931831   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7            5406       19457   112867914+  83  Linux

My boot/grub/menu.lst looks like this:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

# (2) Windows
title Windows 7
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Sorry for the spanish output. Thanks for the replies.

Last edited by Hyugga (2010-06-25 00:37:55)

George.Harmony · 2010-06-25 00:49:13

Shouldn't root be set to

root   (hd0,4)/boot

since you don't have a separate boot partition. You can edit it from the grub menu to see if it works

Only thing I can see.

Edit: had a thought after I wrote this. Is sda5 your / partition or maybe it is your /boot partition.

If sda5 is your boot partition then you need to change your kernel line to

kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda7 ro

one change or the other but not both

Last edited by George.Harmony (2010-06-25 00:58:40)

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 00:58:47

Ok i'll try that.

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 02:01:41

It didn't work...
I write down the message i get when i boot the system:

Waiting 10 seconds for /dev/sda5 ...
(after 10 seconds...)

Root device '/dev/sda5' doesn't exist. Atempting to create it.
ERROR: unable to determine major/minor number of root device '/dev/sda5'
You are being dropped to a recovey shell
                    Type 'exit' to try and continue to booting
/bin/sh; can't access tty; job control turned off
[ramfs/]#

If i type exit nothing happens either.

George.Harmony · 2010-06-25 02:05:04

Did you see my edit?

If you tried that too then I am at a lose. Maybe someone else with more knowledge will give you a hand. I would hate to run you in anymore circles.

Good Luck

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 02:18:36

Thanks for everything. I tried the 'root (hd0,4)/boot' but it didn't work.
The other one... i don't know... i'm no expert, but my root partition is in /dev/sda5, my /dev/sda7 is the home one.
I'll try that anyways but i think the problem is the linux-firmware package, i saw several people get errors with that.
Thanks for everything!

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 02:42:24

As i espected changing "kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda7 ro" didn't work...
I don't know what to do now, so now i have to look for some way to recover my files and reinstall or something.
With the ubuntu live cd i can't mount my home folder on /dev/sda7. It says tha i don't have permission.
Sudo and chmod don't work...

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 03:44:41

I installed some app to view linux partitions on windows. I have acces to my home partition but there's no files inside!
I mounted it several times in direrent ways. The files are gone forever?
I can see that there's still some ocuppied space, is there any way to recover my files?.

Last edited by Hyugga (2010-06-25 03:47:08)

moimael · 2010-06-25 09:01:03

I have exactly the same problem, i've removed radeon_ucode to make the upgrade too and now cannot boot :s

hokasch · 2010-06-25 10:44:21

Try mounting your partition from Ubuntu again, better not mess around with some windows apps. fdisk could see them, you should be able to mount them.

Also look into Stebalien's tip, some posts above.

Hyugga · 2010-06-25 13:54:32

I am able to mount the partition, but when i view it there's no files inside. Maybe i´m not mounting it corrrectly...

hokasch · 2010-06-25 13:56:17

You can mount it succesfully from ubuntu live cd, but the filesystem is empty? Sure you got the right partition?

Hyugga · 2010-06-26 22:43:45

Finally i recovered my files!
But the problem is still there, i can't access to the system.
Any solution?

rekado · 2010-06-29 04:54:29

Maybe you can tell us how you recovered the files. We might get an idea, then, what's wrong with your system.

Hyugga · 2010-06-30 02:56:08

With an ubuntu live cd, i mounted the partition using the root user. If i mount it with the "ubuntu" user, the partition is mounted empty.
I saw somewhere that the new kernel update uses hda instead of sda for the partitions. I tried that, by changing sda for hda in my fstab and my grub menu.lst with no results.
Thats all for now.
Thanks for the replies.

Last edited by Hyugga (2010-06-30 03:04:05)

Hyugga · 2010-07-08 03:36:13

Nothing yet?

Stebalien · 2010-07-08 07:12:34

You shouldn't need to change sda to hda. Change the lines that now say hda as described in this wiki page: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UUID#by-uuid

Be sure to make the same changes in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

If you are still stuck, post your /etc/fstab, your /boot/grub/menu.lst, and the output of `/bin/ls -lF /dev/disk/by-uuid/`.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-24 18:39:11

Can't acces to system!

#2 2010-06-24 18:41:18

Re: Can't acces to system!

#3 2010-06-24 18:46:04

Re: Can't acces to system!

#4 2010-06-24 19:38:52

Re: Can't acces to system!

#5 2010-06-24 22:12:02

Re: Can't acces to system!

#6 2010-06-24 22:38:42

Re: Can't acces to system!

#7 2010-06-25 00:37:23

Re: Can't acces to system!

#8 2010-06-25 00:49:13

Re: Can't acces to system!

#9 2010-06-25 00:58:47

Re: Can't acces to system!

#10 2010-06-25 02:01:41

Re: Can't acces to system!

#11 2010-06-25 02:05:04

Re: Can't acces to system!

#12 2010-06-25 02:18:36

Re: Can't acces to system!

#13 2010-06-25 02:42:24

Re: Can't acces to system!

#14 2010-06-25 03:44:41

Re: Can't acces to system!

#15 2010-06-25 09:01:03

Re: Can't acces to system!

#16 2010-06-25 10:44:21

Re: Can't acces to system!

#17 2010-06-25 13:54:32

Re: Can't acces to system!

#18 2010-06-25 13:56:17

Re: Can't acces to system!

#19 2010-06-26 22:43:45

Re: Can't acces to system!

#20 2010-06-29 04:54:29

Re: Can't acces to system!

#21 2010-06-30 02:56:08

Re: Can't acces to system!

#22 2010-07-08 03:36:13

Re: Can't acces to system!

#23 2010-07-08 07:12:34

Re: Can't acces to system!

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