Hello everybody.

I am new to Linux and can't even seem to be able to install it right. If anyone decides to help me (which i would greatly appreciate), you should probably know my system specs first:

Pentium D 3.0, ASUS 955x Premium, GeForce 7800GTX w/ 256MB, 2x1GB Patriot RAM, 200GB HD (not SATA), and a bunch of other stuff.

Ok, now on to the problem.

I am installing the Mandriva 2005 Limited Edition from a DVD. I have 1 partition as my 50GB NTFS Windows drive. I make the second partition into:
- root: 10GB. (Linux native)
- swap: 7GB.
- /home: 50GB. (Linux native)
The rest I want to be my 2nd Windows drive.

The partitioning goes on smoothly, the only error I get while installing is that Linux cannot recognize my 7800GTX, it's just not listed there. I also copy the DVD to the HD completely to install.

I choose to install GRUB onto the first sector (MBR or something like that). That, also, seems to complete without problems.

After rebooting, i tried loading both in graphical and text modes and also tried installing LILO and any possible combination. No matter what I do, I get the same error, and my computer hangs. Here is the error (not precisely):

mounting root filesystem
mount: error 6 mounting ext2 // [with flags, then optional flags, then no flags at all]
[blah blah]
kernel panic - not syncing: no Init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.

I have searched a shitload of stuff on the internet regarding that problem. It seems to be, the problem is that my partitions are not recognized correctly. Some solutions i've seen on the internet were comparing the grub.conf with the fstab files to make sure they have the same paths. However, I could not find a grub.conf on my system while looking at the unsuccesful install from windows using "explore2fs".

Also, worth mentioning, I have another computer which is very similar, except it has a 160 GB SATA drive and a 6800U instead of a 7800GTX. I was able to install same version of Linux from the same DVD without any problems and could not find the grub.conf file on it as well (searching from Linux this time).

I hope this was a clear enough explanation of the problem, if required, I could hand copy the errors precisely.

I would very much appreciate any help on the subject, as I have already spent 2 days trying to figure out what the problem is fruitlessly.

[modedit]If you want to place an add contact Jeremy[/modedit]

I haven't got much of a clue about your problem, but one thing I have found, is that the grub.conf file is often called something different.

Previous distros I've used have called it grub.conf, but some also call it "menu.1st" - don't ask me why that might be.

Anyways, it's probably in /boot/grub/menu.1st and it should look something like this
The issue with the graphics card ? If you try and either use the generic "nv" driver (/etc/X11/xorg.conf is the file for that) it might work, or you might have to install the proper nvidia driver from nvidia's site (it has some instructions in the readme file - don't forget if you try that, the nvidia installer wants to see both the kernel and the kernel-sources package - if you haven't done any updating yet, the kernel-sources are on the disc(s) but don't install by default - the kernel version is identified by doing the command "uname -r" (no quotes in this case) in a terminal - the kernel and kernel-sources packages must have all the same numbers to match).

regards

John

I have the same problem, but I use "lilo". I have installed the linux and rebooted my computer, then I selected the linux from the list. However, the progress bar did not proceed. Then I tried failsafe mode and it gave the following error;

The precise error is:

Mounting root fileSystem/dev/root
mount:error 6 mounting ext3 flags defaults
well, retrying without the option flag
mount: error 6 mounting ext3
well, retrying read-only without any flag
mount: error 6 mounting ext3
pivotroot: pivot_root(/sys/root,/sys/root/initrd) failed:2
umount /initrd/sys failed:2
umount /initrd/proc failed:2
Initrd finished
Freeing unused kernel memory: 296k freed
Kernel Panic - not syncing: Noinit found. Try Passing
init = option to kernel

May it be related to the hdd?
Please help...

Thank you John.

I was able to locate the file. It seems that everything is in order in those files. Here is what it has:

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
default 3

title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hde5 acpi=ht resume=/dev/hde6 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hde5 acpi=ht resume=/dev/hde6
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hde5 failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hde6 devfs=nomount
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


My fstab is like this:

/dev/hde5 / ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hde7 /home ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdg /mnt/cdrom iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-1,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=ext2:vfat,--,umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hde1 /mnt/win_c ntfs umask=0022,nls=iso8859-1,ro 0 0
/dev/hde8 /mnt/windows_d vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hde6 swap swap defaults 0 0



Therefore, this must not be the cause of my problems.

Any ideas?

Borrowed my friend's hard drive (a 60GB Maxtor) and tried to install Linux on it. Same problem again. Could it be a problem with all Maxtor hard drives, since right now i have a 200GB Maxtor?

Nothing still?

Well the anomally that I've notice, is, that if your above quote is correct, then you've got stuff a little "arse about face".

Why?

Well, to take the first part, That says to me, that the kernel and the initrd are on the first hard drive, on the 5th partition, but the "root=" part is saying that the root is actually at the 5th partition of the 5th drive.

So if you actually only do have 1 hard drive, it should all be saying title linux
"kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img" instead. Notice the difference ??? One drive systems would be hd "a" not hd "e"

I'm guessing that the error is compounded (if your system actually has only the one hard drive - Like mine does), because somehow it's skewed the other listing from the fstab etc as well.

It looks like your windows should be showing as hda1 i.e. the windows is the first OS on the first hard drive then the 5/6/7/8 partitons with the linux and FAT32/VFAT are logical partitions on an extended one???

Personally I don't have a windows install now - but when I got rid of it, I did screw up a bit, as all 4 of my partitions (/boot, /swap, / and /home) are all primary partitions so I'll have to do some "surgery" to be able to re-install windows on that drive, or install a second drive and put it on that.

So with that lot in mind, if you change your menu.1st and your fstab so that the system knows where to look then it should (in theory) boot OK.

That is, of course, if I've read and understood your posts properly and your not dealing with a system with about 5 or more hard drives.

regards

John

Thank you very much john. It is always nice to know that there are people who are willing to help others.

I'm happy to say that after switching from an IDE Maxtor hard drive to a SATA Seagate drive Linux installed properly.

I think what you said might be right, because my motherboard had 4 SATA connectors, so an IDE drive probably identified as the 5th drive (even though it was the first). Now that I plugged in a SATA drive, Linux sees it as #1, so it boots without problems.

In summary: the possible problem associated with that error is one of the following:
- Maxtor hard drives not being supported very well.
- 200GB being too much for that version of Linux (I installed it fine on my ne 160GB drive, instead of a 200GB)
- What john said about fstab and menu.lst (aka grub.conf).

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive and good luck with your Linux installations.