Block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device...

joanneb · n00b Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 4

Hello,

I am attempting to install gentoo on a VMWare partition.

I have been following the Installation guide "Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook" and I have reached the point where I need to reboot the system.

On reboot, the system starts up but after the line

>> Determining root device...

I get the following error:

!! Block device /dev/sda3/ is not a valid root device..
!! The root block device is unspecified or not deteted.

We believe we have set up the partitions as follows:

/dev/sda1 boot ext2
/dev/sda2 swap
/dev/sda3 root ext3

The only options are to type "shell" for a shell or specify a device to boot. When we enter /dev/sda3 it repeats that this is not a valid root device. We can't get to the grub.conf or fstab, or use mount now.
(Before the reboot we had the red livecd# prompt).

In the grub.conf we entered:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0) /grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.12-r9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 udev (all on one line)

initrd /initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r9

I hope you can assist. Thanks.

Taladar · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:47 pm Post subject:

Please try running the shell and post the output of "fdisk -l". If that does not work post the output of that command when you use a livecd.

joanneb · n00b Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 4

I tried fdisk -l and it said: /bin/ash: fisk: not found.

I am not sure how to reboot from the cd? We are repeating how we started by setting it inside VMWare to boot from the cd. How do we get back to the livecd# prompt?

Thanks.

sandcrawler · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:48 pm Post subject:

you can get back to the liveCD environment simply by booting the install CD again.

From there you can jump to the part about chrooting the system.
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sandcrawler

joanneb · n00b Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 4

Hi, thanks for your quick reply!

We tried putting the CD back in and booting from it to get back to the livecd# prompt but GRUB took over and we can't seem to boot from anything else now! Is there any way of disabling/stopping the GRUB boot?

Thanks

jmbsvicetto · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:52 pm Post subject:

Hi.

You should take a look here. You probably have forgotten to include the support for your SCSI controller or the / filesystem into the kernel <*> and not as a module <M>. Also notice that VMware provides two different SCSI controllers - the LSI and the BusLogic.
_________________
Jorge.

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

cchan

I had the same problem. I'm using VMWare Workstation 5. After reading this thread as well as the pointer to the other thread, I simply added the Fusion MPT module to be loaded by the kernel. Note, I used the genkernel option when I built the kernel. I was able to locate the module in /lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r9/kernel/drivers/message/fusion

I just added all the mpt modules, not know which one's are really required. They may all be required, but have not experimented to see perhaps the mptlan or mptctl may not be.

Example: