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John the Kiwi
n00b
Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 39
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 Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:47 am Post subject: Cannot open root device "hda3" (Partially Solved) |
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[Edit}
I switched to a primary IDE drive and everything installed fine. Neither Genkernel or I realized I needed to compile "Intel PIIX/ICH SATA support" into my kernel.
It was a strange problem tho. My old bootable CD recognized the drive as /dev/hda1 provided I turned the IDE emulation on in the BIOS. The later kernels wouldn't recognize the SATA drive without the SCSI low level IBM driver installed.
Hope this helps someone else 
[/edit]
I've followed the Handbook twice and used custom compiled kernels as well as Genkernels and I'm getting this error on the first boot every time.
| Code: | Cannot open root device "hda3" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
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My grub.conf looks thusly:
| Code: | default 0
timeout 10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Kernel-2.6.9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /bzImage root=/dev/hda3
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I tried creating hda3 as ext3 and reiserfs and I made sure the filesystem drivers were compiled into the kernel. I've tried several different kernels, it worked fine with a 2.4 kernel before I wiped my machine. But not even genkernel has made a difference because it still has the same problems.
Can anyone help? I've been pulling my hair out all day!
Kiwi
Last edited by John the Kiwi on Fri Nov 05, 2004 9:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kbitz
n00b
Joined: 25 Sep 2004
Posts: 37
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| Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:01 am Post subject: |
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Try increasing the ramdisk size. The default is often too small.
--kbitz |
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Vidar
Apprentice
Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Posts: 239
Location: Washington, USA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:29 am Post subject: |
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The kernel line looks wrong. it should be something like: | Code: | | kernel (hd0,0)/bzImage root=/dev/hda3 |
Note the (hd0,0).
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The sword runs into the heart of Hverdrungs son
So he avenges his father" -- Amon Amarth - Burning Creation |
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Lajasha
Veteran
Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 1040
Location: Vibe Central
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| Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:34 am Post subject: |
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| Vidar wrote: | The kernel line looks wrong. it should be something like: | Code: | | kernel (hd0,0)/bzImage root=/dev/hda3 |
Note the (hd0,0). |
Actualy you don't need the (hd0,0), but it might fix it???:
| Code: | timeout 5
default 0
fallback 1
# For booting GNU/Linux
title GNU/Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /Gentoo-2.4.26 root=/dev/md2
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That is my grub.conf. Also make sure that you have the Filesystem compiled into the kernel and not as a module.
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John the Kiwi
n00b
Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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Well I really don't know what the problem is  I started from scratch again, tried two kernels - gentoo-dev-sources and gentoo-sources (compiled with genkernel) and I tried Grub and Lilo. I haven't been able to boot my system yet and I'm sure that all the boot loader files are correct.
It's the same errors I reported above. With a Genkernel and initrd the system will stop and ask me for the root partition because it can't mount /dev/hda3.
With a regular kernel it reports the error listed above.
I've been booting off a live CD and mounting the same partitions following the handbook - hda3 for /, hda2 for swap and hda1 for /boot. I can chroot use portage etc without a hitch.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd be interested to hear, otherwise I'll have to keep fedora on this box
Kiwi |
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Lajasha
Veteran
Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 1040
Location: Vibe Central
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| Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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| John the Kiwi wrote: | Well I really don't know what the problem is I started from scratch again, tried two kernels - gentoo-dev-sources and gentoo-sources (compiled with genkernel) and I tried Grub and Lilo. I haven't been able to boot my system yet and I'm sure that all the boot loader files are correct.
It's the same errors I reported above. With a Genkernel and initrd the system will stop and ask me for the root partition because it can't mount /dev/hda3.
With a regular kernel it reports the error listed above.
I've been booting off a live CD and mounting the same partitions following the handbook - hda3 for /, hda2 for swap and hda1 for /boot. I can chroot use portage etc without a hitch.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd be interested to hear, otherwise I'll have to keep fedora on this box
Kiwi |
What kind of HD's are you using and what kind of controller?
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nixnut
Bodhisattva
Joined: 09 Apr 2004
Posts: 10974
Location: the dutch mountains
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| Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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How have you partitioned your disk?
Post the contents of your fstab too.
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John the Kiwi
n00b
Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:32 am Post subject: |
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I'm following the hand book pretty closely. I have a suspician that the problem has something to do with my disk set up. I'm using a Gigabyte 8Ik1100 and a WD 120 Gig drive.
I'm creating three partitions like the hand book says:
/dev/hda1 boot ext
/dev/hda2 swap
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs (tried ext3 too)
Here's my grub.conf:
| Code: |
defailt 0
timeout 10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo-2.4.26 - Genkernel
root(hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linixrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 video=795
initrd /initrd-2.4.26-gentoo-r9 |
My motherboard has this "feature" that installs the hard drive as the Primary Master (/dev/hda). Booting from the 1.4 Live CD works fine and I can partition /dev/hda with no problems. Until last week I had Gentoo running on this box with a 2.4 kernel on /dev/hda. I compiled the gentoo-dev-sources kernel and figured I'd done sommat wrong so I recompiled with genkernel and i still got the boot errors. So I tried genkernel with a gentoo-sources kernel and still got the same problem, so I'm sure that reiserfs support has been compiled directly into the kernel as required.
Everything looks sweet when the system boots up until it tries to mount the root partition, as mentioned earlier.
The strange thing is that when I boot into my Fedora install the whole drive is no longer /dev/hda it's now /dev/sda, even though the BIOS reports it as being the primary Master (not SATA).
| Code: | [root@localhost kiwi]# /sbin/fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hdc: 40.0 GB, 40027029504 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77557 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 203 102280+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc2 204 73494 36938664 83 Linux
/dev/hdc3 73495 77557 2047752 82 Linux swap
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 5 40131 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 6 255 2008125 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda3 256 14593 115169985 83 Linux
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Knoppix sees the drive as /dev/hda. I downloaded and burnt two Gentoo Live CD images today, neither of them are booting for me The 1.4 boot CD I have hangs if I set the WD hard drive to /dev/sda rather than /dev/hda.
I've tried booting from Grub and I also installed lilo, both hang when trying to mount /dev/hda3, I tried entering /dev/sda3 when it asked for a valid root partition but this didn't work either. Unfortunately the initrd image doesn't come with a copy of fdisk so I can't run fdisk -l to see what the system thinks the hard disk is.
Anyone got any ideas?
Kiwi |
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nixnut
Bodhisattva
Joined: 09 Apr 2004
Posts: 10974
Location: the dutch mountains
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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What type sata-controller do you have?
Search the forums for which drivers you need for that. You may need to enable scsi for example for some controllers.
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kbitz
n00b
Joined: 25 Sep 2004
Posts: 37
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Try increasing the ramdisk size in the kernel; it seems to have worked for others in the past.
--kbitz |
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John the Kiwi
n00b
Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:32 am Post subject: |
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I grabbed an 80Gig IDE hard disk today and managed to install the whole system with no problems and first go - custom kernel and all.
I still havent been able to figure out why my SATA drive doesn't work however after trying so many times I am as sure as I can be of these few things:
The kernel was compiled with the appropriate filesystems
The grub.conf file was correct
My partition types and fstab settings were correct all along (for hda)
My assumption is that something changed in the naming scheme every time I tried to boot my system the first time and that /dev/hda3, /dev/sda3 and various other combinations would just not work for my system with the SATA drive installed.
Not much of a solution, but thatnk everyone for your time.
John the Kiwi |
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scud80
n00b
Joined: 09 Nov 2004
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:47 am Post subject: |
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it's a little late in coming but in the original grub.conf you posted your root should have been /dev/sda3 if it's an sata drive .... also the entries in the fstab should have used sda instead of hda ....
later -- jake. |
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edit_21
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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I have a similar problem , set up using sda1 to 3 and now at boot i get the same problem , doesnt recognise this as a root ffs... i am getting very pissed at this and can't seem to see a light at the end lol
PLEASE HELP B4 BILL PULLS ME BACK TO THE DARK SIDE LOL  |
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Installing Gentoo
