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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 10:31 pm Post subject: Block device is an invalid root device? |
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I finally got everything installed (stage3 with genkernel). When I try to boot, I get the error "Block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device. The root block device is unspecified or not detected. Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell..."
Windows (on /dev/hda) works fine.
I have one IDE drive (/dev/hda) and one SATA drive (/dev/sda). I have Windows on the /dev/hda and Gentoo on /dev/sda.
My grub.conf:
| Code: |
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd1,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.7-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3
initrd /initrd-2.6.7-gentoo-r9
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
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My /etc/fstab:
| Code: |
/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/sda3 / ext3 noatime 0 1
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
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Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?
By the way, my system specs are:
AMD Athlon64 3200+
Chaintech ZNF-250 nForce 3 Motherboard
80GB IDE Hard Drive
200GB SATA Hard Drive
1024MB RAM (PC3200 running at PC2700 due to a motherboard BIOS issue)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Thanks!  [/code] |
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone? Please? |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:38 am Post subject: Re: Block device is an invalid root device? |
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| Scifience wrote: | | I get the error "Block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device. The root block device is unspecified or not detected. Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell..." |
Do you have the correct SATA drivers compiled into your kernel (not modules) ?
| Code: | Device Drivers --->
SCSI device support --->
<*> SCSI disk support
SCSI low-level drivers --->
[*] Serial ATA (SATA) support
<*> NVIDIA SATA support |
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I just used genkernel all, and the installation CD could see the drive... |
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nixnut
Bodhisattva
Joined: 09 Apr 2004
Posts: 10974
Location: the dutch mountains
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Scifience wrote: | | I just used genkernel all, and the installation CD could see the drive... |
The livecd doesn't have to boot from your hd. Your installed system does. That's why the cd can get away with a module and you need to compile the driver into the kernel (or make sure it's included the initrd file, something genkernel doesn't handle). Does that shed some light on the matter?
Good luck!
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2004 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| It also can't see the drive after starting up (I installed on /dev/hda). At which point any modules would be loaded. |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:06 am Post subject: |
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| Scifience wrote: | | It also can't see the drive after starting up (I installed on /dev/hda). At which point any modules would be loaded. |
That means genkernel did not select the drivers needed for your SATA controller. |
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:32 am Post subject: |
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I was under the impression that genkernel all created a kernel identical to the one used on the LiveCD.
Oh well. I guess I'll try and figure out what SATA controller is on my motherboard and what needs to be added to the kernel.  |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| Scifience wrote: | | Oh well. I guess I'll try and figure out what SATA controller is on my motherboard and what needs to be added to the kernel. |
HINT : Look at my first post  |
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 1:33 am Post subject: |
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| cyrillic wrote: | | Scifience wrote: | | Oh well. I guess I'll try and figure out what SATA controller is on my motherboard and what needs to be added to the kernel. |
HINT : Look at my first post |
I thought I already checked that, but I'll look at it again tomorrow. Thanks for the help. Nobody in the Windows community is this helpful when I have questions. |
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Scifience
n00b
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you so much cyrillic! That did it!
I really appreciate the help! |
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schlegsr
n00b
Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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I am getting the same error message as above using reiser on boot, but i know my kernel supports reiser and i dont think i have a SATA drive. Just in case i recompiled my kernel with support for all SATA controllers but still no luck. What else is there that i can check. I actually had Gentoo up and running last week without getting into any of this. If genkernel detected everything then, why not now? I am about to give up and go to Red Hat Fedora.... 
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| schlegsr wrote: | | i dont think i have a SATA drive. Just in case i recompiled my kernel with support for all SATA controllers but still no luck. |
Instead of taking the "infinite number of monkeys" approach to compiling your kernel, you might want to find out which IDE or SATA controller(s) you actually have.
A good way to do this is to boot with the LiveCD, and type "lspci". This will list most of the controllers / chipsets in your computer. This info is very helpful when you are configuring your kernel. |
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schlegsr
n00b
Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:07 am Post subject: |
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Here the listing I get from lspci, no SATA only an Ultra ATA which shouldn't cause any problems. The reason I went for the infinite number of monkies approach was because I ran through all this logically several times with no luck. Had to resort to brute force methods to save my sanity.
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset Host Bridge (re v 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB2 (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev 81)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DB LPC Interface Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM SMBus Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 420] (re v a3)
02:00.0 Modem: Broadcom Corporation BCM4212 v.90 56k modem (rev 02)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139 C+ (rev 10)
02:02.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC15 MPEG-2 Enc oder (rev 01)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801BD PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Contr oller (rev 81)
_________________
It was once thought that given enought time an infinite number of mokeys could write the script for Hamlet. Thanks to the Internet we now know this is not true. |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| schlegsr wrote: | | 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 01) |
OK, so your kernel should include these items compiled-in (not modules)
| Code: | Device Drivers --->
ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->
<*> Intel PIIXn chipsets support
File systems --->
<*> Reiserfs support |
I'm assuming the filesystem on your / (root) partition is reiserfs. Your root filesystem is the important one. You will not get a kernel panic if the filesystem on your /boot partition is unsupported, because the kernel does not access it while booting (I know, this sounds backwards). |
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schlegsr
n00b
Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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Yes I am using Reiser for / (root). I looked in the IDE/ATAPI subgroup of the kernel but almost everything in there appeared to be in Chinese so I just left it alone. I don't know why genkernel would get it right once and then wrong every time after, but it sounds like a better solution than anything else. I'm not sure if I want to try it or not because I've got Fedora Core running now and so far it looks very clean and well done. On the other hand my video performance is about 2 fps at the moment, so maybe it would be worth it to give Gentoo another try, will keep you posted if I give it another go, thanks cyrillic.
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It was once thought that given enought time an infinite number of mokeys could write the script for Hamlet. Thanks to the Internet we now know this is not true. |
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davidgurvich
Veteran
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1063
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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| To boot into your system, edit the entry in the grub boot screen. Replace root=/dev/ram0 and real_root=/dev/hdXY with root=/dev/hdXY. That will get you booted. Then manually compile the kernel. Genkernel seems to be having trouble generating initrd properly. If you really want initrd you would create it yourself. |
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vbenares
Apprentice
Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 205
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| Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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| This is a longshot but, if you don't have a sata drive, remove the sata option from your kernel config. |
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paulecoyote
n00b
Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 61
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aEva|
n00b
Joined: 07 May 2003
Posts: 12
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| Scifience wrote: | I was under the impression that genkernel all created a kernel identical to the one used on the LiveCD.
Oh well. I guess I'll try and figure out what SATA controller is on my motherboard and what needs to be added to the kernel. |
If i remember correcty i believe it says "nearly" identical |
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Installing Gentoo
