booting an "upgraded" kernel (or not, in this case

[bigjohn]

A recently installed system, problems getting updates, that I managed to sort here at the GDF's (different forum though).

One of the updates was kernel version 2.6.11-gentoo-r8. Previously, I've just followed the instruction in the kernel upgrade guide.

This time, I've followed the instructions, but when I try to boot the kernel I just get this

[NeddySeagoon]

bigjohn,

It looks like you have left either the chipset driver or filesystem driver out of the kernel. However, you mentioned updates, have you upgraded from devfs to udev but missed coldplug and hotplug and removing devfs along the way (or some combination) ?
I could read into your error that /dev/hda3 doesn't exist.

Tell us more about the nature of the updates.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[ArsDangor]

If your harddisk is a SATA one, your root will be /dev/sda3, instead of /dev/hda3.
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Cómo usar Portage correctamente

[bigjohn]

[NeddySeagoon]

bigjohn,

Since you have one kernel that works and one that doesn't its an ideal time to learn to 'roll your own', if you want to invest an hour or two. After 2 or 3 goes, it will only be 10 minutes.

If you have X on that box its even easier.
cd /usr/src/linux (make sure thats your -r8 kernel)
make xconfig (a nice gui kernel config tool)
Look but don't change anything. You will be starting from the mess that genkernel leaves if you do.
You don't want to do that.

Post back if you want to go down this route.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[bigjohn]

[bav]

Before you try that, you might like to try adding --udev to your genkernel line. I experienced the same problem as you -

[bigjohn]

that's exactly what I did bav.

did you suss out the new way of doing that, or do you have a link to some new instructions for getting genkernel to "get it right"?

Because I've obviously got something wrong here, and for the life of me, can't work out why, though as both bootloaders are having the same problem it's got to be a problem with either genkernel or the kernel itself (as all indications show that it's not a hardware problem).

regards

John
_________________
How to read manpages
rute users handbook
Take care with "emerge -U"

[bigjohn]

Well, by using the suggestion, I've invoked genkernel as per what bav said (the sym link for /usr/src/linux was already pointing at the 2.6.8-gentoo-r8 so I didn't need to change that), and then I've unmerged lilo and emerged grub and the nvidia driver and it's now booting into the 2.6.8-gentoo-r8

excellent.

the only odd thing, is that grub is still not very nice too look at, i.e. the grub login screen is virtually unreadable, so I'll have to check to see whats going on there i.e. how to "pass it a correct video mode".

but I'm a lot happier now than I have been for a week or so

Plus, I'd still like to understand about what NeddySeagoon said about compiling my own kernel - thats something that I SHOULD learn about for future reference.

regards

John
_________________
How to read manpages
rute users handbook
Take care with "emerge -U"

[NeddySeagoon]

bigjohn,

When you have X running, you can use one of the GUI tools to configure a kernel. For now, just look.
Open a xterm, cd /usr/src/linux then run ome of, make xconfig or make gconfig. Which one will (or maybe both) work for you depends on the widget sets you have installed.

Have a look at what genkernel has done for you. The advantage of the GUI is the you have the menu, the options and the help on screen at the same time.

When you want to have a go for real, get a fresh kernel tree, totally unmolested by genkernel and a large (very large) pot of coffee.
Work your way through all the options one at a time, reading the help as you go. It will take an hour or to the first time, even then it won't boot, about 30 min, the second time, because you build on what you already have, then about 10 min.

The manual config, and build is faster than letting genkerenl build everything known to Linus.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[bigjohn]

Oh, Ok Neddy, a quick question though, I found some stuff about xconfig and the images didn't look anything like the ones I managed to get on screen.

So, how would I identify that I had the correct kernel version to "make"?

Also, if I'm just working my way through the kernel upgrade guide, obviously I'd be using the "manual compilation" section, so does the "make xconfig" just replace one of the parts of the instructions?

[bigjohn]

Ha Ha! I've just done my daily emerge -uD world, and what have I found, a nice shiney new kernel version (2.6.11-gentoo-r9).

Which obviously, I've emerged, so at the moment, it's just sitting there and nothing else.

Something to "get my teeth" into?

Further to the question(s) above, is it also a case, that if the option/selection in make xconfig are ones that I've never heard of, that I'm unlikely to need them ??
i.e. I suppose that I'm asking, is there anything that might be "hidden technology" that's likely to trip me up? because while I don't know a huge amount of the technicalities of the hard ware, I know roughly what it is and if it's anything particular (like my network card, which has a national semiconductor chipset and uses the 821*** support - which I happen to have already spotted when I looked at the xconfig gui the other day)???

regards

John
_________________
How to read manpages
rute users handbook
Take care with "emerge -U"

[bigjohn]

The previous post has been overtaken by events i.e. I did have a go at xconfig but the bugger wouldn't boot. I'm sure I included everything that I needed to. I also paid special attention to bootloader entries so that it should have looked at the correct kernel image/version, but I obviously screwed up somewhere as it just gave me a black screen that said that it thought it should be looking for an ext2 formatted partition, but only saw an ext3 formatted one.

So I said bollocks to it and used genkernel and did

[NeddySeagoon]

bigjohn,

NeddySeagoons' Rough Guide to DIY Kernels
Have to hand (or accessable) the following :-

lspci output
lsmod output
large pot of strong coffee
clean unconfigured kernel tree

cd to the tree, and run one of the configuration tools, in decreasing order of preference

make xconfig
make gconfig
make menuconfig
make config

Work you way through the list of options, reading the help and drinking the coffee, applying the following rules of thumb:-

1. If you need an option to boot, build it into the kernel. Thats (Y) (*) or a tick depending on your make tool.
2. If you need an option after booting, make it a module. Thes (M) (M) or a dot depending on your make tool.
3. If you don't need an option, don't make it at all. Thats (N) ( ) or a blank box depending on your make tool.
4. If you don't understand the help, leave the default alone

We are building a kernel that will not need an initrd file so some examples in ach category are

1. Your root filesystem driver. If root (/) is on an ext3 fs then the kernel needs to be able to read ext3 to load any modules. Your SATA / SCSI or IDE chipset driver for the chipset controlling the drive where the root filesystem lives.
2. Things like sound, networking, usb and filesystem types you don't use often
3. ISA bus (if you don't have ISA) The old IDE disk driver, Non IDE CD-ROMS attached to sound cards etc

Good use of the 'No' option can save you a lot of reading, because some Y/N dont actually do anything except show/hide other options. You can save and come back to it where you left off. there is no need to do it in one sitting.
Save your configuration, then build and install the kernel with the following seperate commands

make
make modules_install
mount /boot (only if you have a seperate /boot partition)
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/<nice_meaningful_kernel_name>

Do not use bzImage for <nice_meaningful_kernel_name>, you will really wish you hadn't overwritten your old kernel one day. The arch/i386 is right for all 32 bit Intel compatible chips. I don't know id AMD_64 is any different.

Now fix grub.conf, so we can choose which kernel to boot, after all, there may be a configuration error in the new one. Open /boot/grub/grub.conf in the editor of your choice. Copy the block of lines for your most recent kernel (like this) to the end of the file. This example is one of mine

title=Kernel 2.6.11-gentoo-r4
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/2.6.11-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/md1 hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi

Edit the bits in bold in the copy as follows:-
The title= is used in grubs menu and is for you - put anything you like here
The 2.6.11-gentoo-r4 is the name of the kernel file <nice_meaningful_kernel_name>above. Grub will give Error 15 if this is wrong.
If you have some initrd junk, its no longer needed and should be removed.

Now its time to reboot and choose your new entry in grubs menu ....
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Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[adaptr]

I personally always use

[jonnevers]

[herkusPT]

Thanks so much for your help
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HerkusPT