Arch Linux

brazzmonkey

Member

From: between keyboard and chair

Registered: 2006-03-16

Posts: 818

[PPC] new install fails to boot: root partition not found

Hi,
new ArchPPC installation on a iMac G3. It does not boot further than initramfs because root partition is not found. I get something like:
Root device /dev/sda4 doesn't exist
Attempting to created it
ERROR: unable to determine major/minor number of root device /dev/sda4

then I get a dropbox recovery console but keyboard doesn't work.

I chroot in the installed system to change mkinicpio pata hook to ide, regenerated initramfs but that didn't help.

Any guidance to diagnose and solve this issue would be greatly appreciated.

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what goes up must come down

brazzmonkey

Member

From: between keyboard and chair

Registered: 2006-03-16

Posts: 818

Re: [PPC] new install fails to boot: root partition not found

I eventually solved it by adding a module list I got from lsmod to mkinitcpio.conf and remove the autodetect hook.
I haven't investigated further, but the main suspect is pata_macio not being included in mkinitcpio pata hook (or whatever hook is concerned).

No I break my teeth on display, with a troublesome ATI Rage 128...

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what goes up must come down

driechers

Member

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 1

Re: [PPC] new install fails to boot: root partition not found

what your your exact steps to fix the problem. I tried booting up the setup disk mounting my root partition then editing mkinitcpio.conf regenerating the image and then updating yaboot the problem still existed what does your mkinitcpio.conf look like?

brazzmonkey

Member

From: between keyboard and chair

Registered: 2006-03-16

Posts: 818

Re: [PPC] new install fails to boot: root partition not found

Hi, sorry I just realized you replied to my thread.
I don't have my mac at the moment, but I must have done something like :
- boot the live CD
- get the output of lsmod
- copy this output to mkinitcpio.conf (the one that's on your HD), remove the autodetect hook
- chroot into your HD setup
- regenerate initramfs
- update yaboot (is this really mandatory?)
- exit chroot and reboot.

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what goes up must come down

kahlil88

Member

From: Mendocino, CA

Registered: 2010-08-10

Posts: 138

Website

Re: [PPC] new install fails to boot: root partition not found

I managed to get my system booting by just chrooting from the install disc and adding pata_macio to the modules section of mkinitcpio.conf

Last edited by kahlil88 (2011-09-14 03:35:09)

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There is no system but GNU and Linux is one of its kernels.