unknown filesystem type 'ext2' [SOLVED]

rawbeefman · Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 375

An interesting problem I have. I just upgraded my kernel after not using my mythbox for the summer. I rebooted, recompiled with more options, went to copy it over, and I find that /boot was not mounted. I went to mount it and received the error

cst · Apprentice Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 203 Location: /proc

seems you dont have ext2 support enabled in the kernel
are any other filesystems recognized?
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rawbeefman · Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 375

Yes, everything but ext2. Which is weird because it is enabled in the config file.

My question is how to I manually get and load that module?

Thanks.

cst · Apprentice Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 203 Location: /proc

the one thing that comes to mind is to use different kind of partition for your /boot if you have a one to spare and install everything needed to boot there.

To have a module you would need to actually compile it with from the kernel sources.
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MSI X79A-GD45 (8D)
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latest gentoo-sources on x86_64 Fluxbox (amd64)

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rawbeefman · Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 375

That sucks. Is there a way I can preserve that data? Can I make it an ext3 partition and preserve it.

zyko · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject:

I think you can convert ext2 --> ext3 by simply adding a journal. I'm pretty sure this is safe, but I don't know if it works when the kernel claims it doesn't know ext2 (since it probably can't write the journal to the disk).

The command I'm thinking of is

Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 23062

How did you delete the old kernel if you did not have /boot mounted? Typically, the kernel would be in /boot, so if you cannot mount it, then the old kernel should still be there.

You could recover from this by moving the hard drive to a system with a kernel that recognizes ext2 or by PXE booting the offending system so that you can deliver a good kernel over the network. Before going any further, I would check that the /boot partition is still sane. Use file to check that it has the right magic numbers, and use e2fsck to check it for corruption. If you find any corruption, abort the fsck and make a bit-for-bit backup before proceeding.

rawbeefman · Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 375

Hyko, I see what you're saying, but I dont have the resources to pull it off (new apartment, new state).

But ZYKO, you are the MAN. I was able to convert it, so I mounted and it worked great. Thanks a bunch. Marking as solved.

- Ehren

sluys · n00b Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

cach0rr0 · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:58 am Post subject:

I've not asked, but I still don't know why ext2 support is deselected by default in the config recently

as well, it doesnt jump out at you because it's labeled "seconded extended file system" instead of simply "ext2"

understood that's its long, proper name, but annoying nonetheless.

It is natural for one's eyes to skim and skip right over 'second extended file system', and just assume ext2 is built in
perhaps wrong, but natural nonetheless

on that same token, i can guarantee if i saw 'ext2' unchecked, I would definitely not skip over it.

Wish they'd change that - or maybe do the long name in parethesis e.g. "ext2 (second extended file system)"

qcaze · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 8

azote · Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2002 Posts: 415

crap same thing happen to me ... thank god for the easy convert ext2-->ext3

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cloudcode · n00b Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 5

thanks!