# mount /dev/sda1
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

# dmesg | tail
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.
VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sda1.

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 10.2 GB, 10205282304 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1240 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1182 9494383+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 1183 1240 465885 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 1183 1240 465853+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/hdb: 164.6 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 20023 160834716 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hdd: 10.0 GB, 10005037056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1216 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 * 1 1215 9759456 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sda: 2087 MB, 2087976960 bytes
28 heads, 27 sectors/track, 5394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 756 * 512 = 387072 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 5395 2038921+ 6 FAT16

Disk /dev/sdb: 122.9 GB, 122942324736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14946 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 14946 120053713+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdc: 257 MB, 257949696 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 984 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 984 251887+ 6 FAT16
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(982, 15, 32) logical=(983, 15, 31)


Any more files people need to lend me a hand, i'll be happy to oblige. I've searched google for a few hours now and haven't found anything that I can understand to help fix the problem.

# uname -a
Linux atlas 2.6.25 #1 SMP Sat May 10 13:02:30 BST 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda1 /main ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /storage ext3 rw,user,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/hdd1 /windows ntfs ro,defaults,uid=1000 0 0

Many thanks.

Edit:
# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB (ICH5) SATA Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (rev 01)
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (Secondary) (rev 01)
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

But if I boot up with a stock debian etch kernel, then fdisk -l lists the correct drive, and mounts it successfully.

# fdisk -l


Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 60801 488384001 83 Linux

Edit:

The uname for the stock debian etch is:
Linux atlas 2.6.18-6-686 #1 SMP Thu Apr 24 08:33:59 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

Tried depmod -a as well. No change.

sounds like you are missing a driver from the new kernel

How would I find out if I am missing one or not?

I'm in the process of swapping to Debian Testing to see if that helps or not.

I'm not sure where youve found a Debian 2.6.25 kernel But I'm running Debian Etch (upgraded repositories to testing) and latest kernel is

anc@slave:~$ uname -a
Linux slave 2.6.24-1-686 #1 SMP Sat Apr 19 00:37:55 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

2.6.24. Try changing all repositories to testing, an try the 2.6.24 kernel.
I have a single SATA drive in my Compaq nc6400 laptop.

To find out what module you are missing, one way is to load your 2.6.18 kernel and issue
lsmod > module2.6.18list
this will create a text file of your modules which you can read later. If you can load your system with your 2.6.25 kernel you could create a similar
list; however I dont think your system boots with that kernel, so its going to be difficult.., try 2.6.24 kernel first.

My 2.6.25 kernel does boot. Everything works as it should apart from SATA.

I basically compiled it using the config from the stock 2.6.18-4 kernel provided with Etch.

# lsmod > module2.6.25-list
Module Size Used by
tcp_diag 1888 0
inet_diag 11272 1 tcp_diag
nls_utf8 2176 2
nls_cp437 5888 2
vfat 12288 2
fat 46976 1 vfat
radeon 113600 2
drm 72344 3 radeon
ppdev 8772 0
lp 11108 0
ac 6116 0
battery 13316 0
ipv6 230692 12
nls_iso8859_1 4224 1
ntfs 195840 1
dm_snapshot 17540 0
dm_mirror 25220 0
dm_mod 52836 2 dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
loop 16740 0
sd_mod 26200 4
snd_intel8x0 31708 1
snd_ac97_codec 89888 1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus 2016 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 37760 0
snd_pcm 67780 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_mixer_oss 15008 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 3844 0
snd_seq_oss 28704 0
snd_seq_midi 8128 0
snd_rawmidi 22432 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 7040 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 45872 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 21224 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 7692 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 48772 12 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_ti mer,snd_seq_device
psmouse 35984 0
soundcore 7584 1 snd
i2c_i801 9552 0
serio_raw 6628 0
snd_page_alloc 10088 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
parport_pc 33188 1
pcspkr 3232 0
parport 33964 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
rtc 13952 0
i2c_core 22676 1 i2c_i801
button 8336 0
shpchp 29972 0
pci_hotplug 27172 1 shpchp
intel_agp 25276 1
agpgart 31784 2 drm,intel_agp
evdev 11296 3
ext3 120552 2
jbd 43668 1 ext3
mbcache 8484 1 ext3
usb_storage 75520 2
scsi_mod 138476 2 sd_mod,usb_storage
ide_cd_mod 32992 0
cdrom 32032 1 ide_cd_mod
ide_disk 13952 7
8139too 25120 0
piix 7272 0 [permanent]
floppy 52964 0
8139cp 21280 0
mii 5280 2 8139too,8139cp
ide_pci_generic 4324 0 [permanent]
ide_core 99448 4 ide_cd_mod,ide_disk,piix,ide_pci_generic
ehci_hcd 31532 0
uhci_hcd 22256 0
usbcore 128784 4 usb_storage,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal 19164 0
processor 39628 1 thermal
fan 4192 0

and i'm just rebooting to get the list from my 2.6.18 kernel.

# lsmod > modules.2.6.18-4-list
Module Size Used by
nls_utf8 2208 3
nls_cp437 5920 3
vfat 11872 3
fat 46652 1 vfat
radeon 99744 2
drm 61332 3 radeon
ppdev 8676 0
lp 11012 0
button 6672 0
ac 5188 0
battery 9636 0
ipv6 226272 12
nls_iso8859_1 4256 1
ntfs 192564 1
dm_snapshot 15552 0
dm_mirror 19152 0
dm_mod 50232 2 dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
loop 15048 0
tsdev 7520 0
snd_intel8x0 30332 1
snd_ac97_codec 83104 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus 2400 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 38368 0
snd_pcm 68676 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_mixer_oss 15200 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 3844 0
snd_seq_oss 28768 0
snd_seq_midi 8192 0
snd_rawmidi 22560 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 7008 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 45680 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 20996 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
i2c_i801 7468 0
snd_seq_device 7820 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
parport_pc 32132 1
psmouse 35016 0
snd 47012 12 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_ti mer,snd_seq_device
parport 33256 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
i2c_core 19680 1 i2c_i801
serio_raw 6660 0
rtc 12372 0
intel_agp 22204 1
agpgart 29896 2 drm,intel_agp
pcspkr 3072 0
floppy 53156 0
soundcore 9248 1 snd
shpchp 33024 0
pci_hotplug 28704 1 shpchp
snd_page_alloc 10184 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
evdev 9088 1
ext3 119240 3
jbd 52456 1 ext3
mbcache 8356 1 ext3
sd_mod 19040 8
ide_cd 36064 0
cdrom 32544 1 ide_cd
ide_disk 14848 7
usb_storage 72000 3
ata_piix 13896 1
piix 9444 0 [permanent]
libata 89396 1 ata_piix
scsi_mod 124168 3 sd_mod,usb_storage,libata
8139too 25120 0
generic 4868 0 [permanent]
8139cp 21920 0
mii 5344 2 8139too,8139cp
ide_core 110504 5 ide_cd,ide_disk,usb_storage,piix,generic
ehci_hcd 28136 0
uhci_hcd 21164 0
usbcore 112644 4 usb_storage,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal 13608 0
processor 28840 1 thermal
fan 4804 0

Even if you did a kernel update, you still have to make sure the require modules are included in the initrd file. The initrd file is saved in a gzip file. A utility to help you make an initrd file is mkinitrd. There are others too that are proprietary to your own distribution.

What you are missing is the EXT3 module. You could also be missing the SATA module too. I think it is ata-piix.

I suggest always do make oldconfig when upgrading the kernel. Then use make menuconfig to double check the options then compile. This will make sure you have the options of your present kernel for your upgrade kernel.

I found out a little more. Aparantly, the SATA support is depreciated and there's a new experimental Serial ATA driver. I've enabled that (using my old config, then using menu config as suggested) and it is compiling again.

It seems that since its depreciated, menuconfig removes the depreciated sata option from the config but doesn't enable the new one.

I compiled the kernel by doing..

make-kpkg clean
fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --revision=custom.1.0 kernel_image

Seems to work nicely for sound, graphics, CPU, smp everything but sata. I'm recompiling now with extra options enabled and i'll report back on successes and failures.

Thanks for your help so far.

Edit:

Enabling the new options didn't work... Time to try the old (depreciated) sata option now. Another re-compile x.x

Ah screw it. I'll pick it back up in the morning, i'm half asleep now. If anyone has any brainstorms, i'd apreciate knowing =]

Edit2:

I think I found the option I need to enable:
Intel ESB, ICH, PIIX3, PIIX4, PATA/SATA Support

Recompiling.