The results differ if I run them from the boot floppy or from the ramdisk image via BootX. 'e2fsck -c /dev/hda3' (the root partition is now at hda3) when I boot from the ramdisk yields
e2fsck: No such device while trying to open /dev/hdaand 'e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/hda3' gives the same result. But if I boot from the floppy and run e2fsck, everything is OK.
Furthermore, 'cat /proc/devices' when booted from ramdisk gives the following:
Character devices:But when booted from the floppy there's an additional '3 ide0' under 'Block devices'.
1 mem
2 pty
3 ttyp
4 ttyS
5 cua
7 vcs
10 misc
13 input
29 fb
36 netlink
56 adb
128 ptm
136 pts
180 usb
Block devices:
1 ramdisk
2 fd
9 md
22 ide1
I also tried running the installer from the ramdisk, and then I realized, that not only does it not find the root partition, it does not find the hard drive at all! When installing from floppies, there's no problem.
So, it seems to me that
\begin{guesswork}
the kernel on the floppy is different from the kernel that BootX uses.
\end{guesswork}
As I've said, I have the official cd's and have followed the instructions in the installation manual to the letter. What can I do? Can I fix the kernel somehow (that is, before installing the whole system)? Do I need anpther kernel? Where can I find it? (If the kernel is the problem at all.)
Appreciate all help.
Patrik Nyman
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On Mon, 16 Sep 2002 Patrik Nyman wrote:
Hi all.
I have a Mac beige G3 desktop, 64MB RAM, 20GB IDE hard drive.
There's one root partition of 4.2GB at /dev/hda8, and another equally large
linux partition at /dev/hda9, and 500MB of swap at /dev/hda10. The rest is
for Mac OS.
The installation of the base system of Woody ran smoothly,
except I skipped the last item, "Make system bootable",
since I thought I'd use BootX rather than quik.
I installed BootX according to the instructions in the installation manual:
put a folder "Linux Kernels" in the MacOS system folder, with linux.bin and
ramdisk.image.gz in it. I told BootX that the root is in /dev/hda8.
But, on booting I get:
request_module[block-major.3]: Root fs not mounted.
VFS: cannot open root device 03:08.
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:08.
I have not applied the firmware patch mentioned in the manual. I'm under the
inpression that you only need this if you're gona use quik. Correct?
I am a newbie to all of this, so any help will be greatly appreciated.
Patrik Nyman
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On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Patrik Nyman wrote:
I got two replies to my posting, I'll answer them both here, hope it's not confusing.
On Mon, 16 Sep 2002 07:59:42 -0700 Chris Tillman wrote:
you un-checked the root ramdisk checkbox
Yes.
and added "root=/dev/hda8" to the boot arguments box, right?
Well, there is a special box for naming the root device. I used that.
Other than that, all I can suggest is re-booting the installation
system, executing a shell, and using e2fsck in the installer to check
the filesystem integrity on /dev/hda8. Although, it looks like it's
not finding the partition at all.
I have repartitioned the hard drive now and changed the order of partitions. The root is now at /dev/hda3. Still not working. I'll try e2fsck when I get home.
On Mon, 16 Sep 2002 20:31:59 +0200 Michel Lanners wrote:
> request_module[block-major.3]: Root fs not mounted.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
request_module? Does that mean your kernel doesn't inlcude a driver for
IDE (major 3)? What kernel are you trying to boot?
I have the official cd set, and use linux.bin in the disks-powerpc/current/powermac folder, as mentioned in section 4.4.1 in the installation manual. I also tried vmlinux in the install/powermac folder (I think), with the same result.
Can you try and boot that same kernel from BootX with a ramdisk, and
once it's running, do a 'cat /proc/devices'?
I will try.
Thanks a lot,
Patrik Nyman
