scsi boot

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

I installed lilo but i get a kernel panic error :VFS when booting.
I use a scsi drive.
I 'm not sure the partition i aimed is good so i would like to modify my lilo.conf : i want tot change sda5 to sda1
The problem is: I cant boot on my gentoo because of my kernel panic error and i dont know how to modify my lilo.conf beginning from the Cd Live. (and how modify my fstabs, and perhaps reconfigure kernel without beginning the whole installation)
Could you help me because i'm only few steps away from getting my gentoo work.

Thanks.

Maedhros · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:13 pm Post subject:

Basically, do it in exactly the same way as you did when you first installed:

Boot the livecd
Mount your partitions
chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

Et voila! You're in!
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jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

thanks for replying.
Gentoo Community is really great and active.
I posted 10 minutes ago and i'm already answered.
Wow!
salut.

semi-fly · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:20 pm Post subject:

Yep, that's one of the best features of gentoo - you can always go back to your install by booting from a live CD, mounting your partitions, and chrooting into your environment. Makes fixing mistakes a snap.

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whatever..

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

Thanks to your replies i have succeded in booting till i got the error message after the modules are correctly loaded:

"Block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device.
The root block device is unspecified or not detected."

It proposes me to indicate the correct root device, but i have tested /dev/sda1 and dev/sda3 without any success.

Here is my fstab :

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

any idea , please?

Maedhros · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject:

Hmm... does this post help you at all? It sounds a bit similar...

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=206013
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jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

when i said i had looked up other topics , i was pointing this one.
I have , in the good way, put /dev/sda3 in my lilo.conf.
and when i type /dev/sda3 after the message error on booting, it doesnt work neither.
It prints the same error.
This topic hasnt helped me.
Thanks anyway.
Another idea?

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

i think my problem is linked with the fact that i used genkernel to compile the kernel and that i have a scsi drive.
Genkernel seems not to integrate scsi support while compiling.
What do you think?

Maedhros · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:50 am Post subject:

It's possible. Try genkernel --menuconfig all, and look in SCSI Low Level Drivers for your driver...
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No-one's more important than the earthworm.

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

So i made what you told me to do.

My adaptec scsi card and drive are loaded but, after loadiing modules i get the same error saying "block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device, put the good device: boot: .."

I tried /dev/sda1 thinking i could have made a mistake on my lilo.conf. Then it tried to mount the partitions., but i got this error.

"mknod newroot /dev/console no such file or directories
>>Booting /linuxrc : 315 :echo not found"

According to my fstab and lilo, what's wrong?
Should i use /dev/sda1 , since i guess the root partition is /dev/sda3.

Any help?
Thanks in advance and for your previous answers.

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

I have looked for the console file in /dev : /dev/console . I found that it was in my sda3 and not my sda1 so i think that choosing real_root=/dev/sda3 is the good choice in lilo.
What about fstab.? Perhaps it s the problem. (my ibm scsi drive is recognized in the boot!)
I'm really confused. Please help.

Maedhros · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:43 pm Post subject:

Hmm... it ought to work!

Try Anon5710's config from the second post I linked...
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jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

i'll try but i dont understand why typing manually /dev/sda3 doesnt work as it did with the others.
And my lilo already has boot.b ans others.
Thanks.

dcrook · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 83

Okay, booting off scsi can be a bit more confusing than it should be. But its not that hard.

The first thing to look for is to make sure that you have all the drivers compiled into your kernel. Do NOT compile them in as modules [M]. They MUST be compiled into the kernel [*]. You will need to compile in the following drivers/options
SCSI support
SCSI hard disk support
Low level driver support for your scsi card. I'm not sure what you have but you NEED to pick the right one out of the list.
Ext2fs support
XFS support - Your boot partition is XFS based on the fstab you posted.

Run genkernel --menuconfig all again and make sure these are all selected with a [*], not a [M]

After you have all this sorted out then try booting again. If it doesn't work the boot off the CD again and check your lilo.conf and fstab. They looked right to me, but I don't use lilo. Make sure that the kernel and initrd filenames match the ones you have in /boot.

If you still have problems then I can think of one more SCSI gotcha. Do you have more than one SCSI disk? The drive names can be different (/dev/sda /dev/sdb etc) based on what your boot device is. For instance, I have two hard disks, one with XP and one with gentoo. When I boot from the gentoo CD the windows hard disk becomes /dev/sda and the gentoo disk becomes /dev/sdb. I think its based on the SCSI id numbers. But when I boot from the master boot record on my gento harddisk IT becomes /dev/sda and my windows hard disk becomes /dev/sdb. I don't think that it would apply in your case, but it might be your problem.

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

thanks dcrook.
I have already configure these options on the kernel config as [*].

But your second piece of advice may be important: I ' m , at this moment, running Windows 2003 on my ide drive , and i want to install gentoo on my scsi.
When i use explore2fs to see linux files, it prints /sdb and not /sda.
So , i'll try with sdb , knowing that all my installation worked with sda.
Fdisk worked with sda when installing. I'll try with sdb to see if there are partitions on it. I dont think it will work but try anyway.

Ps: my root is know ext3, but i changed it in my fstab and lilo. (no prob with it).

Thanks, but this prob is bugging me. :oops:

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

I have still problems.
I think i'l gonna give up.
I have tried all your pieces of advice.
My last solution is booting gentoo manually if it's possible from the error message i have when it tells me : "Block device /dev/sda3 is not valid, type the correct root, or type 'shell" to have a shell".
What are the commands if it's possible.

If it's not possible. I will be obliged to remove Windows of my IDE drive and install it on my scsi and to install gentoo on my ide.

So much work.
Worth it?

paulecoyote · n00b Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 61

Lookie here:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1415962#1415962

jeredox · n00b Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 60

Thanks but ive already done that.
I'm gonna install gentoo on my ide drive , hoping it will work.
Bye