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Stuck Post-Install: Root Block Device Unspecified [Solved]
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:45 pm    Post subject: Stuck Post-Install: Root Block Device Unspecified [Solved] Reply with quote

After many Stage 2 reinstalls trying to get Gentoo 2004.2 to work with a 2.6.7 genkernel, I finally saw the beauty of the grub splashscreen. Gentoo started loading, only to see the error:

Code:

>> Mounting filesystems. . .
Started device management daemon v1.3.25 for /dev
>> Determining root device. . .
>> The root block device is unspecified or not detected.
     Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell. . .

So at the next prompt, I made the following mistake:
Code:

boot() :: /dev/hda1

This yielded
Code:

>> Mounting root. . .
mknod: /newroot/dev/console: No such file or directory
>> Booting/linuxrc: 328: echo: not found
/linuxrc: 345: [: not found
/linuxrc: 345: [: not found
/linuxrc: 346: echo: not found
/linuxrc: 352: cannot open dev/console: No such file
Kernel panic: Attempted to kill init!


This brings me to a few questions:
1. Is it normal/okay for it to ask me for a bootable device?
2. If so, should I have entered my boot partition (/dev/hda1) as I did, or should I have entered my / partition (/dev/hda3)?
3. Perhaps most importantly, how can I get out of the "Kernel panic" message to reboot, open a shell, etc.? I've tried "q", "^c", and "^alt+del", but nothing happens. And I don't want to do a hard reset, as I don't know if that'll hurt my filesystem and make me have to redo everything.

In case they're relevant, here're my fstab and grub.conf:

Code:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda3 / ext3 0 1
/dev/hda5 /home ext3 0 2
/dev/hda6 /opt ext3 0 2
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/dvd auto user,noauto,ro 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrw auto user,noauto,rw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy user,noauto,async 0 0


Code:

default 0
timeout 10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.7
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.7 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/hda3 vga=794
initrd /initrd-2.6.7


Last edited by palsyboy on Sat Feb 26, 2005 7:44 am; edited 4 times in total
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BlackEdder
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

3. Just do a hard reset, your filesystem isn't loaded yet, so it won't damage anything.
2. You should have typed in your / partition (/dev/hda3)
1. It's not normal. My guess is your filesystem (ext3) is compiled as a module, you will need to compile it into the kernel. This seems to be a common problem witrh genkernel and quite a big mistake on genkernels part (the handbook says you should use reiserfs or ext3, but genkerenl doesn't compile it into the kernel)
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you kindly. :)

How do I compile my filesystem into the kernel?
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BlackEdder
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Boot from the livecd, remount your partitions (do not forget to mount the boot partition) chroot into /mnt/gentoo (following the steps in the handbook) the cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
in the menuconfig go to filesystem and make sure support for ext3 is marked with * not M
Then make && make modules_install
and copy your bzimage to the boot partition (see the handbook for specific command :) )
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Griswold
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if you made your kernel manually do this:
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig

Now go to filesystems and hit 'y' where it has the filesystem, u said u used ext3 or whatever, so go to ext3 and hit 'y', instead of 'm' or 'n' as u might have done before. Now exit and do this:

make && make modules_install
(assumming /boot is mounted)
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.8-devs (or whatever u wanna call it)
cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.8-devs

edit /boot/grub/grub.conf to match it, and reboot.
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you both. However, I still keep running into the same problem of not finding a device to boot. I told it /dev/hda3 (my root partition), but I end up getting a lot of code that ends like this:
Code:

* Checking root filesystem. . .
/dev/hda3 is mounted

WARNING!!! Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause SEVERE filesystem damage.

Do you reall want to continue (y/n)? no

check aborted.                                               [ ok ]
 * Remounting root filesystem read/write. . .
 * Root filesystem could not be mounted read/write :(        [ !! ]

Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D for normal startup):


To get to this point, I did the following:

Code:

livecd root # mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo
livecd root # mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
livecd root # mount /dev/hda5 /mnt/gentoo/home
livecd root # mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/gentoo/opt
livecd root # swapon /dev/hda2
livecd root # mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
livecd root # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
livecd root # env-update
>>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache. . .
* Caching service dependencies. . .
livecd / # source /etc/profile
livecd / # cd /usr/src/linux
livecd linux # make menuconfig
[Scroll down to “File Systems”.
Press “Enter”.
Press “y” next to “Ext3 journaling file system support.
Press “y” next to “Ext3 extended attributes”.
Press right arrow to “Exit”.
Press “Enter”.
Press right arrow to “Exit”.
Press “Enter”.
Press “Enter”.]
livecd linux # make && make modules_install
[Lots of code]
if [ -r System.map ]; then /sbin/depmod -ae -F System.map  2.6.7; fi
livecd linux # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.7
livecd linux # cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.7
livecd / # exit
livecd gentoo # cd /
livecd / # umount /mnt/gentoo/boot /mnt/gentoo/proc
livecd / # umount /mnt/gentoo/home /mnt/gentoo/opt
livecd / # umount /mnt/gentoo
livecd / # reboot


I'm confused. :cry:
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BlackEdder
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For some reason it wants to check /root and seems to think it's a ext2 filesystem, boot the livecd again and try:
fsck.ext3 /dev/hda3 to check the filesystem. If it doesn't want to check (because it's marked clean) try:
fsck.ext3 -f /dev/hda3
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks. I did the following from the first livecd prompt (without mounting anything):
Code:

livecd root # fsck.ext3 /dev/hda3
e2fsck 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
/dev/hda3: recovering journal
/dev/hda3: clean, 152624/1221600 files, 369351/2441502 blocks
livecd root # fsck.etx. -f /dev/hda3
e2fsck 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/hda3: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/hda3: 152624/1221600 files (1.1.% non-contiguous), 369351/2441502 blocks
livecd root #


Is this a good thing or bad thing? Where do I go from here?

Thanks for taking the time to help me.
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not normally one to violate forum etiquette and bump a thread, but could someone please help me? My computer's been stuck at this same prompt for days. :(
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phew
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm getting the same error. How can it be that genkernel all doesn't compile ext3 support?? How can I have a genkernel all WITH ext3 support? I tried doing a manual kernel, and I fucked it up every time...

me = noob, I typed "real_boot"...
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sorry to hear that someone else is having the same error. I would prefer that it had simply been a mistake of mine. :(

I haven't tried to build my own kernel yet, but I'm thinking about trying it if this can't be resolved. I could always do a Stage 3, but I really want the education of doing a Stage 2.
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phew
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I first did a stage 2, I also fucked that up. So I tried stage 3. It's still doing a lot yourself!
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, screw it, I guess. I just booted up off an official Stage 3 CD (I felt I owed Gentoo a little money), so we'll see how that goes.
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palsyboy
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am currently emerging KDE after a successful Stage 2 install. :D bbqBrain recommended that I make /boot as ext2, not ext3, and this was perhaps the thing that made everything work. I have so many people to thank for their help that I'll never be able to keep track of all of you. :) But I'll try to carry the spirit along and someday contribute something more than just a little money to the community. I'm a nerd who's an aspiring geek, and once I reach geekhood, I'll hopefully be able to help others.

THANKS!
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