First time install....root device is unspecified....

MattLindy · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 5

I decided to put Gentoo on an old computer I had. I burned the Gentoo Universal cd and booted it up. I get to the Gentoo screen and than it says....

"The root block device is unspecified or not detected.
Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell..."

Can somebody please tell me how to get past this?
Thanks

BWoso · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:51 am Post subject:

This probably isn't the problem, but sometimes the cd has problems booting from a sata cdrom, so do you have a sata cdrom?
_________________
I think that the forums are the greatest thing about Gentoo, thanks to everyone that posts on them!

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
-Mark Twain-

ikaro · Advocate Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 2527 Location: Denmark

he mentioned an old computer - so old means no sata.
can you write what that old computer is about ? which hw.
_________________
linux: #232767

madchaz · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:21 pm Post subject:

are you geting this error from the CD-rom or after the installation?

if you are geting it after installation, make sure you edited your /etc/fstab to specify a valid root partition
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.
www.madchaz.com A small candle of a website. As my lab specs on it.

MattLindy · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 5

The computer is fairy old....

Intel Pentium II processor
96 mb RAM
7 GB HD

and the CD rom is not SATA

ONEEYEMAN · Advocate Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 3612

Hi, MattLindy,
Are you able to boot the Windows from this CD? Any other Linux flavor?

Thank you.

MattLindy · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 5

Yes, I installed XP after I couldnt get it to work just for the time being....so I don't think its the CD-rom........HOWEVER......i could have possibly messed up on burning the boot cd for gentoo? I just burned the iso (670 MB) universal disk with nero onto a standard CD-R and went from there...

Thanks

jmbsvicetto · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:23 am Post subject:

Hi.

What do you see on Windows inside the cd? A single.iso file? If so, you must burn the file as an iso image. If you see a lot of files and dirs, the cd should be ok. Furthermore, if you can boot from it, it must have been burned in the proper format.
If you can, try downloading the .md5 file and check that the cd is ok. If this an internal ide cd-rom? If not, you might need to tweek a bit to use it.
_________________
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh

MattLindy · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 5

Yes....there is a bunch of folders and such.....but i also realized this computer is a CELERON processor at 366 mhz...could that have something to do with it?

jmbsvicetto · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:33 am Post subject:

What version of the cd did you get? The x86? If so, that cd will work. I don't believe that's the root of the problem. I'm more inclined to be a question with the cd-rom. Is it an internal ide cd?
_________________
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh

MattLindy · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 5

Yes i did dl that file.......as for the drive......yes it is an Internal IDE drive

jmbsvicetto · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:43 am Post subject:

Well, if you can't boot with the Gentoo live-cd, you can try using [k|g]noppix. If you can boot with it, you can follow the Alternate Installation Guide in the Gentoo website.
_________________
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh